Christus Redivivus: OR THE FIRST FRVITS OF THEM THAT sleep. delivered in a Sermon at the Temple Church, in Easter term last, 1623. Christus resurrectionem in se ostendit, in nobis promisit. Greg. Printed at London by G. E. for Leonard Becket, and are to be sold at his shop near the Temple Church. 1624. COLENDISSIMO, ORNATISSIMO, RELIGIOSIS SIMOQVE VIRO, IOHANNI DODDERIDGE, Equestris ordinis unique è justiciariis eruditissimis Serenissimi Regis jacobi Domini nostri, Ad Placita coram ipso Rege tenenda assignato: Hocce Opusculum Theologi cuiusdam {αβγδ}, pro Rostris in Ecclesia Templariorum Londini nuperrimè concionatum, posteritatis ac Religionis ergò vt in Typos redigatur. Humiliter consecrat, dicat, dedicátque T. S. jesus. MATTHEW 28.6. Come, see the place where the Lord was laid. THat speech of the Apostle, 1 Cor. 13. If I spake with the tongue of men and Angels, is transcendent, and doth intimate a superadded eminency of speaking communicated unto them, above that which is granted unto man: For as we fall short of the Angels in purity of essence, and excellency of graces: so do they exceed us in that celestial language,( best known unto them, least unto us) whereby they do interchange their thoughts mutually each to other, and interpret themselves unto mankind. We never read that Christ road but once, and that vpon an ass, when the people spread the way with branches, and the children welcomed him with Hosannah& benedictus in their mouths; if silence had been imposed to those little ones, etiam saxa, stones should not haue wanted tongues to haue expressed the Creators worth: and though the earth,& men vpon the earth lay their hands vpon their mouths, when they should display a saviours goodness, yet Coeli enarrant: a metaphysical star shall be a Cynosura to conduce the Sages to Christ, folded in the arms of his mother the blessed Virgin: and a celestial angel shall wait vpon the same saviour, wrapped in the bowels of the earth, our common mother. The Lords Incarnation was an initiation to the work of our Redemption, but that work not perfected till his resurrection, for this end was I born, therefore it ended not in his birth; for when the son of God put on our nature, then did he enter the lists, and vpon that armor of flesh did receive all the stroke of his Aduersaries, and then, did he march into this world with a band of heavenly souldiers; so, post victoriam statim serviunt Angeli: Hieron. after a suppression and confusion of his enemies, they are ready to prosecute the victory with a triumph, and to demonstrate it to others: it was an Angels voice, Come see the place where the Lord was laid. It will much enlighten this text, if you will permit me to parallel those adjacent circumstances in his birth with these that fel out in his resurrection: 1, The matter; Luke 2. there, that Christ came into the earth; here, out of the earth: in both was set out by an Angel. 2, And their habit was died with the same tincture, there, Claritas Dei circumfulsiteos; here, aspectus eius sicut fulgur, the gloss of splendency shined alike in both. 3, They agreed in their preface, Nolite timere, no cause to fear. 4, The news in both good, Ecce natus est vobis Salvator, there; here, surrexit, non est hîc. The auditory in both alike, there shepherds, here women: And much about the same time, the shepherds there, watching their flock by night; the women here, before the wanting, seek after the rising of the son: The Preachers here and there gave pledges for the truth of their doctrine, & hoc vobis erit signum, to the shepherds. Venite& videte, to the women. There a manger, here a sepulchre; but yet with this difference, The Lord was there, The Lord was not here: there, wrapped in swaddling clothes, here the linen clothes wrapped by themselves; therefore he appoales unto the Monument for a witness of his assertion, Come( to the women) see the place where the Lord was laid. The Text cuts itself into two parts: 1, an invitation of the angel to the women, Come: 2, a Vision of the women, demonstrated by the angel, See the place, &c. And that spreads itself into three branches: 1, the act, see: 2, the object, place: 3, the periphrasis of that object, where the Lord was laid. These be the branches, whose fruit with Gods grace I am now to shake, you to gather, and that as it shall fall in order. 1. The invitation, Come. Venite. By all likelihood these women had approached the sepulchre before, but now vpon the vision of the angel recoyled, amazed at the splendency of so bright an object. Matuell not if the weaker sex are terrified, seeing worthies haue trembled at such apparitions. Zachary a man, and more then that, a Priest, and which might most comfort him, exercising his holy function, yet fear fell on him at the sight of an angel. The Iewes had a tradition that such sights were ominous, and portended death: Alas, my Lord,( said Gideon) I haue seen an Angel and shall die: judge. 6.22, 23. the Lord takes away that suspicion, Thou shalt not die at all. The true moral cause of fear is sin. Our first Parents conuerst with God in Paradise very confidently,& never grew timorous till they became sinful: Adam had no sooner experience of evil, but became acquainted with fear: Gen. 3.10. I heard thy voice in the garden, and was afraid. fear, shane, and grief, are the waiting maids of sin. Yet these women, though nature had put fear into their hearts, were not so fearful as those men of war that were set to guard the sepulchre: As sin, so fear doth multiply: and wicked men sometimes suggest dreadful fancies to themselves, without any real cause; as the Prophet speaketh, The wicked fear, where no fear is, and when no enemy makes after them, yet They run, when none pursues them. Nihil tutum apud Diabolum, Hieron. what a servile fear possesseth the devils seruants? who would not fear to sin, that makes us thus afraid? Chrysost. Magnum supplicium peccare, etiansi non puniamur: sin itself is a dreadful sting. The righteous is bold as a lion: no comfort like that which is founded vpon innocency, whereas a guilty conscience is ever projecting fearful objects, Conscientiâ vecordes intrat metus. Tacit. & makes cruel men cowards: These women were afraid, yet not half dead with fear, as were the Souldiers. The watchmen lie still in their fear, but the angel speaks comfortably to the women, fear not, come. The souldiers share in fear, but not in comfort. The godly and the wicked may groan alike under the cross, but the Lord entails his special blessings vpon his children. When all the world was washed to nothing, only Noah and his Family sate still in his dry Cabin, Gen. 7. blessing God for his deliverance. The boundless waters make a way for the Israelites in the read sea, but close vpon Pharaoh and his army to their destruction. God suspends the fire from burning the three Children in the belly of the furnace, but in the mouth thereof turns the souldiers into ashes by the same flames. So did he musle the lions mouths while Daniel was in the den, but opened them vpon his enemies. Thus doth the Almighty confine his blessings vpon his children, and exterminates the wicked from the fruition thereof. Get thee( my brother) if ever thou look for safety, within the pale& circumference of the Church, so shalt thou participate of those blessings which God hath set out for those that love him. observe Gods method, how he proceeds with his children: the women begin with fear, but end in comfort. Afflictions season and dispose the godly, and cause them to welcome felicity with greater affection: our Lord went this thorny way, from Mount calvary to Mount olivet, from the cross to the cloud, from a crown of thorns, to that of Glory. And his Apostle Saint Paul knew no other way but through many afflictions. The wicked in this world make holiday, and here receive their consolation: the just sow in tears, but reap in ioy: Lazarus is full of sores, and empty of food, this world was to him a winter, but is now translated into Abrahams bosom,& there concludes in eternal ioy: dives his life was tragical, began in mirth, but closed in misery; spent his life in pleasure, but death wherried him to hell. Domine, Aug. hic ure, hic seca; Lord, let me taste the wormwood of afflictions here, that I may escape the gal of bitterness hereafter. Come. Their early seeking of the Lord, deserved to see the place where he lay, yet not worthy to lay hands on him there, by reason of their incredulity. Christ to Mary, touch me not, faith is the hand that apprehendeth our saviour, whereas infidelity bats us from him. In the two Maries we see their diligence, but desire their faith: Non credentes suscitatum, Aug. credide runt sublatum: for want of belief he was risen, they believed he was carried away. Though the angel ascertained them of his resurrection, and confirmed his narration by the grave now empty, yet were their hearts empty of faith, believing no more but just what the high Priests and Iewes did. Sustulerunt Dominum, They haue taken away the Lord, was the utmost period of their Creed. Yet because Error mulierum cum pietate sociatus est, Hieron. the Lord takes their devotion for faith;& doth not excommunicate them from him; because he saw in them some seeds and sparks of faith, though implicated with much doubting: so doth the Almighty feed faith in the cradle, and never extinguisheth the first impetus or good motions in any, but inflames them. Mat. 12.20. The smoking flax will he not quench, the bruised reed shall he not break. The Eunuch was well affencted to religion, to undertake so long a journey as from Aethiopia to jerusalem for deuotions sake. The Lord registers his religious steps, and the Spirit shall convey Philip to his Chariot, to give him better instructions. Acts 10. Cornelius was a just man, and feared God, and( which was strange in a captain) made up of alms and good works, pity so deuoutna soul should want instruction. The Lord takes notice of him, and in a vision directs him how to sand for Peter: and in another, warrants that Apostle with a commission to stop out into the way of the Gentiles. The school resolveth, that Cornelius had faith before he met with Peter, but implicit, and that he believed in the promised messiah, but mistook through ignorance the person of our saviour:& before the Schoolmen, Gregory the great, Per fidem venit ad opera, per opera solidatus est in side: His infant faith bore the fruit of good works, which added both growth and strength unto it: But vpon Peters coming his faith is explicit and informed with knowledge: and he believes that more plainly, which but in a mystery he saw before. It is as clear as the sun, that God is never wanting with his mercy to a willing heart. Sometimes he is found of them that seek him not, but never misseth them that seek him: for, thou Lord never failest them that seek thee: Psal. 9.10. and in another place, Heb. 6.10. Forgets not the love of them that seek him. It is a good Axiom in school, if cautelously interpnted, Facienti quod in se est Deus non denegat gratiam, A hand is reached out of heaven to help them that put forward for piety: God tenders grace to al, if men join but to make it efficacious. The Lord denied not himself to these women, though faith were wanting, because they added diligence. Thus haue you heard the Angels invitation, Come; the end followeth, To see the place where the Lord was laid. Come see. 1. Act, videte. The end of their coming was to see: Saint John maketh it plain, joh. 20.11. The two Maries prevented the morning watch, and Came to see the Sepulchre. How many pledges of their affection to him living, Mat. 27.56. to him dead? They were last at the cross, first at the grave: stayed longest there, were soonest here; they burnt no day-light, but with all expedition repaired to see the Sepulchre: Origen. Affectus amoris non est vituperandus: But yet, Defectus fidei non est negandus: that sight could not let in faith, they are deceived that think faith hath a passage through the eyes into the heart. Saint Thomas would see, not beleeue, his Redeemer lived; the Lord rebukes his staring faith, and withall applauds that which is invisible, Blessed are they which beleeue, and see not: and the Apostle sets it vpon it own basis, Heb. 11.1. Faith is the evidence of things not seen. These sedulous women for all their diligence found not faith. Let none presume that to be acquisite by human industry, that merely is infused by divine grace. Let Nature never be so beneficial to Pelagius, yet shall he walk in a circled, unless Grace guide him to the center. Mat. 16. Saint Peter met with a higher schoolmaster then flesh& blood: Christ tells him, that the Father did dictate that confession to him from heaven. Our understanding may further, but it begets not faith. Christ in that great mystery in giuing his flesh to eat, joh. 6.64. blames not their understanding which made them uncapable, but their defect of faith; But there are some which beleeue not; Aug. Ideo non intelligunt, quia non credunt, as the Prophet speaketh, Except ye beleeue ye shall not understand. Hieron. Fiunt, non nascuntur Christiani; Tis the second, not first birth that makes a Christian. every Art admitteth of some principles which call for a necessary assent, and out of them are all conclusions deduced: human industry may add fuel to our faith, but it is the Spirit of fire that must first inflammate it. These women for all the angel had said and shown them, yet were but fidei candidatae, as jerome terms them, Punies in faith, did come, and see, but not beleeue. But what, object Locum. were they called to see his grave? They made no question but to find him there, which made them come with spices and odours to embalm his dead body, whom they so much honoured living. Mary held nothing too dear, in his life time shee spent a box of costly ointment, shee forgets him not though dead, and reputed it a happiness to perform her last deuotions to his sacred corps: But the angel checks them both, Why seek you the living among the dead? Yet how was their expectation disappointed? faith they had none to see him alive, and their hope to see him dead, was now dead. It had been some calm after a storm of tears to haue found his body though dead, that to it they might haue done the last offices of love: Amb. Etiam viso cadauere recalescit amor, at the sight of that will love revive, it will fetch life of love again. But alas his corps are conveyed away, and nothing left but an empty grave to be replenished with their tears; and the heaviness of this loss Mary witnessed with her distilling drops, Origen. labour vngendi periit, dolor lugendi crevit: her labour to anoint him is lost, her grief to lament him lost, is renewed. Prius doluerat defunctum,& nunc dolebat sublatum: When his life was taken away on the cross, shee was no doubt the chief mourner; but to haue his body taken away from the grave, shee mourns and will not be comforted: that Saint Augustine affirmeth, de monumento sublatus, did afflict her more, then occisus in ligno: for after death shee had his dead body, now nothing at all but grief: so, Defuit obsequio, Origen. qui non defuit dolori; defuit quem condiret, sea non defuit quem ploraret; eoque magis plorabat quo magis ille deerat: And might they not well suspect the Souldiers to haue a hand in this suspected conuerance, and withal justly fear some abuse or violence to bee offered to that body they held so dear? Did they not accuse the Iewes of extreme malice, that his death could not quench their hatred; but like inhuman Tyrants will they prosecute after death: or, Cuius vita subtracta fuerit, Augustin. nec memoria remanebit? Did they desire to cut off his remembrance from the earth; or durst they not suffer his Sepulchre to go undefaced, lest their cruelty had been his Epitaph? Well, whatsoever their policy was, the women took it heavily to see no more left of him but a grave. But God prevents thē with his mercy, for whom they sought for dead, they found alive: Simplex& sancta mulier Christum requirebat à Christo: Hieron. she stumbles vpon her Lord above expectation, and demands, Sir, if thou hast born him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him: O quam scienter nescit, Origen. & docte errat. A learned ignorance: to the Angels shee saith, tulerunt, they haue taken; but to Christ, si tulisti, if thou hast born him hence; so, errando non erravit, Greg. speaks more then shee knows, yet the truth: the Lord indeed had removed his body, but in him it was, Petr: Crysol non facinus, said gloria. Now Maries sorrow is turned into gladness, and she weeps for ioy to find him alive in the garden, whose loss she bewailed at the grave. So doth God frustrate our vain hopes, that wee may pitch vpon eternal; and lets the world frown on us, that we may not be irretiated with the snares therof. The due of heaven oft-times disdains the fatness of the earth, as a rival, because his grace is sufficient for vs. Come see the place. Then the Lords body had a place,& that proportionable to his body. Either the Angels wanted subtlety, or else the tender Church as yet capacity, to conceive how there could be Corpus quantum, sine modo quantitatiuo: when God was clothed with our flesh, human nature with all her properties was then assumed, not drowned, not destroyed by the Deity. Eutiches confounded the natures, Monotholaetae the wills, and our new masters the Vbiquitists( pardon a barbarous name for a barbarous error) do euert the properties. The council of Calchedon demonstrated a twofold nature in Christ, by a twofold will, against the Eutichians: And the succeeding Doctors concluded a twofold will from a twofold nature, against the Monotholaetae: for from the essence to the essential properties, the argument holds. And may it not bee lawful for us from the verity of Christs body, to infer a certain position of place: for, dans proprietates datnaturam, tollens naturam toll it proprietates, saith Luther himself, essential properties can never be divorced, without the dissolution of that nature from whence they are emergent. The Church of Rome cries down ubiquity, with an eager pursuit after the favourers thereof, but in the interim calleth not to mind her own monstrous assertions at home: Hypocrite, first cast forth the beam out of thine own eye, then shalt thou discern more plainly the moats in others. I resolutely speak it, there are more concomitant absurdities that issue from by Transubstantiation, then depend vpon the error of ubiquity, and not to digress about the very placing of Christs body in the Host, I offer with Scotus four absurdi●ies to be considered by thy proctors the Iesuites, that the body of Christ is there present: 1, without the just quantity of a body: 2, cast into the mould of a lesser quantity: 3, without mutation or ceasing of the corporal place& just quantity it hath in heaven: 4, and that at once it replisheth diuers places: Hieron. Thus vestras sententias recitasse, superasse est: These, if any, are those opinions, which to rehearse, is to vanquish: and that carry their confutation in their faces. Surrexit, non est hic, was the Angels argument, So phistry was not yet hatched to deny that consequent, that Christ might be here yet risen, by acquisition of a new place, without the deperdition of the former ubi. Lib. 3. de Eucharist c. 18. Bellarmine smelled these absurdities, and desired, as it seemeth, with a new distinction to turn down the leaf vpon them; and tells us of a conuersio productiua,& adductiua: that conversion produceth a new existence, this a new place. So the body of Christ saith the jesuit, is not produced a new out of the bread, but seated in a new place: This new device gave such distaste, that Sixtus Quintus fell foul vpon the cardinal, as if that great Master of controversies had let in a giddy sweezing about the great mystery of papism, and in stead of a received Transubstantiation, had endeavoured for a naked Translocation: that his brains must bee purged with an Hellebore, and hereof his gray hairs must make a special recognition. But to let slip these {αβγδ} and subtleties, plusquam Crysippeia, as fit exercises for Italianated wits, and how Rome with her credit may come out of these Labyrinths, let the jesuits see to that. I proceed to that which may inflame our deuotions to piety: So my Text tells you the grave is a place, and is bold to let you know, that as all things tend to their proper place, so all flesh is ended in this Center. Quid est vita nisi cursus ad mortem: Greg. life vshereth to death, and that layeth us in the grave. Man is but congealed Ice, soon dissolved: compacted dust, by death easily dispersed: as wee begin, so shall we end in the earth, though some spin out their dayes to a greater length then others, yet at the length their thread is cut, and they haue followed that tract so much beaten by others before thē. Consider further: that as no element is heavy& ponderous in its own place▪ so to the godly, death is a place of ease. That celestialvoice was to be filled vpon record for succeeding ages, writ, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, for they rest from their labours. Death bounds the storms, surges and waves of sorrow which here inuolve Gods Saints, and seems to say, hitherto shalt thou come, and no further: therefore, Bern. justus etsi mortem non cavet, non tamen pauet: death to the wicked comes with a sting, to the godly hath lost it: O death where is thy sting, O hell where is thy victory? And convert the Angels speech into a meditation, let our thoughts invite us to come, and see the place of our end. Iosep● of Arimathea had placed his Sepulchre in his Garden, to demonstrate the sum of his meditations even in his place of solace: good men who make not this earth the period of their hopes,& determine not in these transitory pleasures, are never so transported with the fruition thereof, but in the midst of them remember their end; contemplating vpon this grave wherein they must be placed. Come see the place. See the place. Dominum. But whose? If ever the dignity of the person graced the place, then now the place where the Lord was closed: what? the Lord of heaven placed within the bowels of earth! All ages are amazed that ever the Creator should stoop so low. Lord if thou art pleased to put on mortal flesh, yet let thy Deity dispense with death. And certainly it was a wonder that by grace of personal union it was not preserved from dissolution; yet as the ioy arising from the divine vision in our saviours death, Melchior Ca●● was for a while subtracted from him, to make his heaviness the more: so for the accomplishment of our Redemption, the Deity did suspend itself from glorifying the human nature, that Christ might suffer, die, and for a time lie in this place. Yet for all this humility, he lost not the honour of the hypostatical union, Christ carried that along with him which way soever he went. The angel saith not, where the body, but where the Lord lay. In the Instant of his Conception, Dominus tecum, Luk. 1. Luk. 2. Act. 3.15. was the Angels salute; in his birth the shepherds heard, Natus est Christus: In his death Peter is bold to tell the Iewes of it: Dominum vitae interfecistis; and in the grave, the angel to the women; P. raven. ubi posuerunt Dominum, Crucem dicit, loquitur passionem, fatetur mortem, said resurrectionem mox, mox Dominum confitetur: never did the Lord it so apparently as in his Resurrection, now did the beams of his power shine out, and his sovereignty over death appeared: ever was he Lord de jure, now de facto, when he vanquished death, and put the grave to flight. The school disputeth, An Christus in triduo fuit homo, and varies vpon the resolution thereof, but never so much as question, An Christus in triduo fuit Deus: If ever any doubt it, let his Resurrection witness it to the world, an effect that none but the supremest cause can produce. The grave changed not his nature but entombed his infirmities: Dicit crucifixum, ostendit locum, ne alter non ipse putaretur: none other Lord put in his place, but the same nature that tasted of death, is restored in the resurrection. Therefore to Thomas he exposeth his body and wounds, as evident demonstances, dispersing those mists from this disciples heart, which incredulity had formerly suggested. And verily except the same individual body that fell should rise, and the earth and sea repay the same dead, mortality for a time hath lent them, it could not properly be termed a Resurrection. Holy job knew this, that he should see his Redeemer with none other then those eyes, And that his soul should be appareled with no other but the old coat of flesh, though newly repaired. And our faith gives it to be most convenient, that soul and body to be joined in reward, that did consociate in merit: The adulterous soul shall bee united to that body which was an instrument of sin, to be a joint sufferer in punishment: and that body committed to the flames for the quarrel of the Lord Iesus, shall be together with the soul adorned with the crown of martyrdom. Eutychius of Constantinople, wrapped with the fig-leaves of some mistaken Scriptures, hatched a chimera of his own, that in stead of our fleshly bodies, too mean he thought for glory, the blessed souls should haue theirs compact of an angelical or heavenly substance: and why? because Gods kingdom would admit no entrance for flesh& blood: weak man, let Gregory catechize him in the Scripture, that as flesh importeth that which is besmeared with corruption, which heaven never will admit of: so doth it denotate the substance not stained with sin, and that vpon its resurrection shal find a place in heaven. But where is our saviours promise?( saith the heretic) at the resurrection you shall be like unto the Angels? Luk. 7 listen unto jerome, In obitu Paulae. Similitudo promittitur, non natura mutatur: Christ saith not, you shall be, but, shall be like unto the Angels. But what say you to the Apostle?( replieth the Eutychian) Thou sowest not that body that shall be, but God giveth it a body? I answer, 1 Cor. 15.36 37. God giveth it not another body, but the same with some addition: Greg. Cum culmo,& foliis nascitur, quod sine culmo& foliis seminatur: dost thou not reap that stalk and chaff which thou never sowest; nothing is detracted from the seed butted in the earth though it riseth with increase, the substance of our bodies shal not be changed, but bettered in the Resurrection, our infirmities that fell with us shall not rise: and as an interest to our lying in the grave, will the Lord qualify our bodies for glory and immortality. I beat not that decayed heresy any longer, Where the Lord lay. but cast mine eyes vpon the period of my Text, where the Lord was laid: And therein can never admire enough the last step and lowest descent of my saviours humiliation. Lord was it not enough to assume my nature, but to yield unto it? If thou woulest become man, and sojourn amongst us, yet as an absolute Mo●arch hadst trode on nothing but Cownes and sceptres, and necks of Kings; and enjoined all Princes to attend thy train; and at last transported thyself in a triumphant Chariot vpon he wings of the winds into thy heaue●ly Palace: it had carried some port with it suitable to the heroical majesty of Gods son. But thy birth in ● stable, life without harbour, death on ●he cross, butted, and sealed up for more security, astonish us more with wonderment at thy great humility, then thy splendent glory doth amaze vs. Who, my Brethren, will now fear to enter into that womb, out of which wee were taken? to lodge within the bowels of the Earth our common mother, which are sacred with Christs abode, and three dayes residence: this dust hath wherein to glory, we to receiu● comfort, that the Lord did so much grace it with his presence: Abraham is dead, and the Prophets are dea●, was Elias his comforable plea to God to abreuiate his persecuted dayes. But to go that way, enter into no other vaults, wrapped with the like syndon, and grave cloatles, raled up into the same earth with our saviour, what Christian soul will not cheerfully sing, Nunc dinittis, with old Simeon, Now lettest thou thy seruant depart in peace? Time now bids me sound a retreat, Conclus. I reflect once again vpon my Text, and propound for a conclusion, the angel saith not, where the Lord lieth, but, was laid: his death verified his passion, and his burial sealed his death; yet his lying in this place was but of small continuance: as Christ on the cross stayed not Deaths leisure, but met him on the way; so doth he command the earth to make way for his resurrection. Christ is risen, and by the influence and beams of his power shall we rise likewise; but with this difference, he rose by his own power, wee by his: he hath so weakened the strength of the grave, and dissolved the bonds of death, that we need not fear the appalled forces of either. Christ is the first fruits of them that sleep: all the while our head floats above the water, our bodies may be inuolved with waves, but shall never endanger drowning. Here Reason questions Faith, How that flesh which is turned to corruption, that corruption into dust, that dust resolved into the Elements, should be restored to its former state: and demands how one and the same individual body that fell, should bee made and remade: and if there be a twofold making, how not by a twofold act; and if by a double act, why should not those two acts constitute two bodies, seeing every effect by itself depends vpon the proper act; thus you see Reason stands in competition with Religion, and boasts to haue the more clients. Yet let Reason view the mutual vicissitudes of day and night, the annual budding and blossoming of the Earth; every Spring redivivo colore vestiri, to bee clothed with a green mantle; out of a little seed a great three to arise; Gregory demands, ubi lignum? ubi cortex? ubi veridit as foliorum: ubi vbertas fructuum? Where is the solid wood? superficial bark? the flourishing green leaves? or plenty of fruit? add hereunto Gods power, he that could make eve of Adams rib, Adam of dust, dust of nothing, can speak to the dust to surrender the same man she took into her possession. But the works of the Almighty may not be scanned by the weakness of our understanding:& we must know, that difficulty and impossibilities are the prime objects of our belief: and faith must penetrate those mysteries which gravel reason. Our Lord Iesus hath shewed the way both in himself,& others that rose with him. Let not curiosity inquire after the manner, but devotion prepare us for it. The Resurrection shall but bring us before the judge to receive our doom: Let us listen to our saviour, who hath often premonished us of his second coming: and as those Souldiers in war, — accensos monitis,& claratuentes Facta ducis:— may so take his admonishments to heart, that wee may rise from sin in this world, and to glory in the world to come: whither Iesus bring us that hath so dearly bought us, &c. Soli Deo unico& Trino, Honor,& Gloria. FINIS.