Exposition of the Apostles Creed

1. Our vile body, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . Corpus humile, Beza. Corpus humilitatis, Tremel.

A vile or humble body it is now; but so it was not at the first, it being the most curious piece that ever God made below. Other Creatures were made by his Word only, but man by deliberation and counsel; his hand (as I may so say) went upon him, and he formed and framed the clay into an upright shape, as might set forth the Majesty of that Creature which he ordained to be Lord of all. Objected often indeed it is to this part, that it is fetched from the earth, that base and lumpish, and heaviest of the Elements; earth and ashes, and dust and clay, being everywhere in the Scripture cast in the face of proud man: But if we would consider that it is the Art of the workman gives esteem and honor to the matter, we could not choose but think that body honorable which was immediately framed by God: The skill of some curious Artisan, put case Phidias or Polycletes, frames out of Ivory, or some knotty piece of wood, an Idol in the fashion of a man, overlays it with vermilion, and beautifies it with the choicest colors; This is thought no longer to be tooth of a slow beast, or the stock of a Tree, but perhaps some reverent Deity. Non quia Elephantus, sed quia Phidias tantus. And shall the work be of so great esteem, because it hath passed under the hand of a skillful man, and that which hath been framed by the counsel of the whole Trinity, be of little regard? It is no longer now dust, but another thing; no longer earth and ashes but man. Man framed after the image of God, and the image of God stamped upon any matter, must needs make it Hon • rabble. Besides it is no longer inanimate earth, but a living soul; For God breathed into the earth, which he took, made it vigorous by his own Spirit, which Prerogative he would no more bestow upon that, had it been to continue a base and a vile clod, then we will commit our choicest jewels to the trust of rusty, vile, and abject caskets.

Our Body then at the first creation was an honorable piece, frame by God's own hand, and inspired by his own breath. How then you'le ask, came it debased and humbled! M • thodius in Oecumenius shall tell you: Adams transgression did it, this brought in corruption, and shame, and misery, and trouble, and infirmity, and deformity, and sorrow, and death, and cast it upon the man whom God hath made. Before this, the body though from the heart was glorious; for else now it could not be said to be a body of humility; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 for what was first glorious, if humbled, is humbled by a fall. It was transgression then which brought it low: At first it was immortal, but now it can no more continue then be free from wickedness. At first though it had those which we call uncomely parts, yet they needed no cover, now for very shame we are to wear a veil to hide them. At first nor crookedness deformed, nor blindness disgraced, nor lameness hindered, nor diseases humbled, nor necessities tired, nor lusts distained, nor pasons disquieted this rich piece of God's making. Whereas upon the entrance of sin, there entered 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , all these and many more incumbrances, which did deflowr the Body, and humble it in a vile and abject manner.

It is well observed by Zanchi, that the Apostle saith not our humble body, but the body of our humility; for from us this proceeds. The body is from God, but the humility and debasement from ourselves. We perish by our own darts, by our own folly. Varieties of diseases, sudden death, all incident calamities, banishment, poverty, persecution, prisons: That since that dwells in us, which raiseth the perpetual war betwixt the flesh and the Spirit, all those prostitutions of the body to vile lusts and affections, renders it to be a body humilitatis nostrae of our humbling. For to this low condition it could not, it n • ver had been brought, had we, or could we keep it in that Glory in which God first formed it.

It is now a Body of sin, and is it then any wonder that it should be a body of humility? Pamper it up with the Tribute of sea and land, feed it with the choicest meats, attire it with the entrails of worms, swathe it with the linen of Egypt, and crown it with the buds of roses, yet it is but vile corpus, a base and humbled body all this while. Yea for the most part the baser, the more curiously attired, and deliciously fatted: For what do those powdered frizles, and plaistred cheeks, those errant looks, those spots and wanton hair, those new-fangled dresses, and rich jewels? what those extructae mensae, that pile of dishes, and variety of sauces, but increase the bodies sin? and look how far sin is increased, so far still the body is embased and humbled. They then who go about most to grace these bodies, may debase them most. The ready way to free them from this vility, is to cease from sin. Every sin that is refrain'd, is a recovery of some part of our prime Nobility. For he grows nearest to his original beauty, who is most righteous, most holy, most sober, most just.

2. Which when he hath done to the utmost, yet he shall be sure to carry about him too much sin still; and this will never leave, as some evil humor in the body, never I say leave operating, till it make him acknowledge, that his Body is but vile, and hath designed him to corruption. Even we, saith the Apostle, we who have our conversation in heaven, carry about us but a vile body. The ways of God are wonderful and full of equity. Princes do often command the very houses of rebellious Subjects to be demolished, and some inscription upon an Obelisk to be there engraven, to testify to posterity their base attempt and treason: And the God of heaven seems to deal thus with his rebel Man; he demolisheth and brings to the Grave the house of his body, and sets this Inscription upon it, Dust thou art, and to dust shalt thou return: upon which no man can fasten his eye, but he must needs confess, that he hath but a vile body.

But behold the goodness of Almighty God, in the midst of judgment he remembers mercy; of a punishment he makes a remedy, and of poison a sovereign medicine. He suffered not this body to be base, that it should be embased forever, but hath ordered that the humility should be a step to Glory. Take a view of the ways and works of God, and you shall find this his course, to give Grace to that which is humble. At the first Creation, his Method was to proceed from the more imperfect creatures to the more perfect: Nothing was before something, darkness before light, inanimate creatures, the light, the heavens, the elements before the plants and beasts; beasts and plants before Man: And thus it is in his ways of Grace; he brings low before he exalts; to the dust of death, before he sets up. To the body here, we find a promise of Glory, but there is no claim to that, till it hath been in the grave.

The Apostle reckons of it, as we do of our seed, which you know must be cast into the earth, plough'd in, and harrow'd, nay be changed and die, before it soften, and move, and quicken, and appear above ground: before it be green in the herb, shoot in the blade, grow strong in the stalk, and be crowned in the ear: Thus it is with the Body, sown it is in corruption before it be raised to incoruption; sown in dishonor, before it be raised in glory: sown a mere Natural, a mere earthy body, before it can be either heavenly or spiritual. The first Adam from the earth did embase it, before the second Adam the Lord from heaven will exalt it.

That great Divine Nazianzen gives two reasons why it would please God to send down into the Body the soul of man, being of itself 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 from God, and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and of a divine nature, and humble it by the Conjunction to so base a piece; This, saith he, was done,

1. First, that this Divine part by little and little might mend and better the earthy; that what God is to the soul, that the soul might be to the Body, impart life, and sense, and motion and instruction to it, and after a fit preparation might at last be rejoined to it, and seat it in heaven with it.

2. But the other was, that together with the body it should be in conflict before it were crowned; fast, and pray, and watch, and labor, all which are works of humility, before it could bring the Body its fellow-servant to Glory.

Can but the soul at the last day put in some such plea as this in behalf of the Body: Lord, when I thy servant was sent by thy command to sojourn in a house of clay, I met with a companion hat did submit unto me, that bowed the knee with me, that spared no pains or me, that wore out itself for my good, in much fasting, in often labor, in watchings above measure, in hunger, and thirst, and cold: Remember therefore this my fellow-servant, let it not lie in the dust, let it not putrefy and rot there forever, but raise it from thence, and join it once more to me, that we both may be joined in thy glory, which were once joined in thy service. Such an Apology as this of the soul; will be of great force to the Body, that of a vile, humble and ignominious body, it may be made Glorious like Christ's: which is the second state in which we are to consider it.

2. It shall be like Christ's Glorious Body.

As those who never were in a strange Country, after much hear-say travailing that way, ask before they arrive, what manner of land it is? how it is situated? what commodities, what pleasures, what profit it yieldeth? So we in this our passage to Gloty, because we are pilgrims, and onward in the way, are still desirous to know what our estate shall • be in that state of happiness. This the learned have taught us shall consist in the beauty of a double robe, that then shall be bestowed upon us; one upon the soul, another upon the Body. The stole or robe which shall then invest the soul, shall be composed first in the manifest vision of God, which is to succeed our faith; for we shall see him face to face: then in the perfect fruition of God, which completes our hope; for we shall nor hunger nor thirst anymore: And in the perfect love of God, which will satisfy our Charity; for charity shall never fall away. To see God, to enjoy God, perfectly to be joined to God in love, must needs be a greater happiness then heart can conceive or tongue express. So true is that of Gr • gory, Cum homo mortalis de aeterna gloria disputat, coecus de luce disserit.

But for that Stole and Robe put upon the Body, the Apostle hath said enough to satisfy any sober mind; It shall be like Christ's glorious Body, and would you have more: he that shall he like Christ, shall be glorious enough. The particulars of this Glory, cannot be truly known by us in this life, yet may be gathered by Christ's words comparing them to the brightness of the Sun; and affirming them to be e • ual with the Angels; by the story of the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ, and his transfiguration on Mount Tabor; as also out of Saint Paul's Epistles to the Corinthians and Thessalonians, that they shall be very glorious. And the wisest Divines and Schoolmen conceive their glory shall consist in these excellencies. In Immortality, Beauty, Impassibility, Agility, Subtilty.

1. The first is Immortality; For this mortal shall put on immortality, and this corruptible incorruption; and if Christ by his death, destroyed sin and death, then the life of the Saints must be immortal. Besides, how could the reward of their works be eternal life, except they should live forever to enjoy them? evident then it is, that this body which now dies, shall be no more subject to the stroke and sorrows of death, after it is once raised from the grave.

2. The second endowment of these glorified bodies, is Beauty, arising from that splendor, brightness, and clarity that shall be revealed in them. How singular this shall be our Savior himself declares, when he saith, that the just shall shine like the Sun, that is, some of the just; for others shall shine as the Moon and Stars; all shine then, but not all in a like degree. A wonderful and strange thing, that this clod of earth, so thickened and compacted, that it is opacous, should become so light and transparent, as is the most Crystal glass, or clearest Diamond. Of this our Savior gave us a pattern in the Mount, when his face did shine as the Sun, and his raiment was white as the Light.

3. And as these Bodies shall be beautiful, so shall they be impassible also. Those troublesome affections of grief, and fear, or what else here disturb, shall not fall upon glorified Saints. It is true, they have love and joy in their greatest perfections; for they could not be perfect withou them. But look as God is said to love, and hate, and joy, but in a manner far abstracted from human sense, so do his Saints also in imitation of him, but far from all infirmity and passion.

Of affections and passions there is not the same judgment to be given. For some there are of a froward nature, which do pine away and trouble the body, as hunger, and thirst, and diseases, and grief, &c. From these and the like incumbrances the Saints in heaven shall be freed. For they cannot be distempered with heat and cold, nor tormented with hunger and thirst, nor afflicted with sickness and infirmity. Caro in patria secundum naturam erit, non s cundum desideria passionum: Our flesh is there, but not our desires, and passions; for we can no more be molested, then we can die; But other passions there are, which do rather help and perfect, then hurt, as the information of the senses, as the eye is not offended with a beautiful color, nor the ear with harmony, and these shall remain in our glorified bodies, because our happiness could not be perfect without them; but yet so ordered and regulated, that the man from them shall receive no prejudice.

4. The next endowment of a glorified body, is Agility, nimbleness, and quickness, whereby the flesh is freed from all lumpish heaviness, with which it is now hindered. The body and the parts shall be so subjected to the soul, that ubi volet Spiritus, protinus ibi erit corpus. No motion shall be quicker. For they shall follow the Lamb, wheresoever he goeth; which motion in him being very speedy, the motion of their bodies must be very speedy also: so that no gravity or ponderosity of the flesh shall be able to retard them. Which were it not so, they never could rise with such speed, to meet the Lord in the air, and to be ever with the Lord.

5. To these in the last place, they add Subtilty, which is not so to be understood, as if the Bodies of the Saints were converted into a Spirit, or were to be very aery or like the wind, but that their perception of anything by the senses shall be exquisite, sharp, and subtle, acute; all feculency and grossness which migh hinder the operation of the soul, being removed, which I conceive is Saint Paul's meaning, when he saith, It is sown a Natural, it is raised a Spiritual Body, that is, a body coming as near the nature and activity of a Spirit, as a Body can do, both in its knowledge and affections. Ad vitam excitati liberabimur servitute animae, & Spiritus administratio continua succedit.

Hitherto as in a glass, I have presented you with the prospect of the future Glory; in the speculation of which if you have taken any content, without question the enjoyment will far more delight you. For all this is as a noise brought afar off to your ear; that will be a pleasing object to ravish your eye. To behold the change, and be partakers of the alteration, will ravish you with so much joy, that you will forget all your labors and sorrows: Of which that I may give you some certainty, give ear again to our Apostle, and he will inform in what manner and by whose hand this shall be done; the manner is by a Change, the power that of Christ; which are the two remaining points, of both which I will now speak in order. First of the Manner.

3. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , transformabit, transfigurabit: Who shall change, transform, transfigure, or reformabit, shall reform.

〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , &c. The Apostle here gives us a strange and indubitable argument, that this vile body shall be changed and made conformable to his glorious body; for if our Lord Jesus Christ comes for that end, who can doub • but it shall be done?

A change there shall be in the qualities, not the substance of the body; such as was in our Savior's body in Mount Tabor, which was not in the lineaments and proportions, or parts, but in the fashion: and our body at that day shall be 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , conformable to that change. The word used by Saint Matthew and Saint Mark in that transfiguration. The self same corpse that died and was dissolved, and laid up either in the womb of the earth, or the maws of wild beasts, or the depth of the Ocean, or any whereelse, shall be set up with the same bones, enlived with the same blood, moved with the same sinews, muscles, arteries, and covered with the same skin. Whatsoever only was imperfect, shall be done away; what was here vile and base, shall be there glorified.

Let not then the Philosopher tell me anymore of natures ignorance and disability to make a dead man live; for our Christian profession hath taught me that which will make Nature and Death amazed: Nature; that living men should rise out of the dust and ashes scattered and varied into a thousand forms: Death, that life would be born out of its bowels. And Death and Nature both stricken with amazement, to behold the same man Virbium, twice born; first a weakling and an infant, then again firm and perfect; first an heir of corruption, and at last a son of glory.

Nor let those wicked offspring of the old Sadducees, pretend no more the defects or deformities of the body as a colorable argument to scoff down the Truth of the Bodies Resurrection; as if a lame leg, or a blind eye, or a gowty foot, or an infected liver, or putrefied lungs, or other imperfections of a diseased man were sufficient allegations to confine the body to an eternal imprisonment. What, say they, shall the body rise again to be vexed with all these? to be anhelous, and dark, and apostemated, and diverse ways necessitated? Better lie in the grave forever, then to arise to such inconvenience; Better indeed; for,

But how foolish and blind these Objectors are, not understanding the Scriptures! For the Apostle saith here 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , that Christ at that day shall make a change, a change like to that of his own body, glorious like his, perfect like his; all then which was decayed, imperfect, weak and ruinous, shall be changed into such perfection as may beautify a glorified body. The composition shall be the same, not the deformity.

But they reply, How is it then the same body? as if a sick man recovered were not the same man; or a repaired house or ship, the same vessel or edifice. Will any man say that Moses hand when it was leprous, white as snow, and when it was restored and full of blood, was not the same hand? If a man should set his slave at liberty, because he carries about him the same body, must he of necessity be sub • ect to the same lash, the same torments, the same injuries, or else not be the same man? Give God but the same liberty, that men us • rp over their slaves, and then I hope he may easily alter the condition, though he change not the substance of our flesh; he may make a man aliu • s, though not aliud; another man, though not another thing; take away he may the imperfections, and bestow upon it integrity: make that, which of its own nature is passable, become impassible, because it is manumissed by him.

Nay it must be so; for how otherwise should it be restored to its first integrity, how to immortality? Is not the contusion or infirmity, or defect to any part, a kind of death to that part? do we not call that a dead hand, which in a palsy is of no use, and dead flesh, that cannot be recovered and made useful? Now if the universal sentence of death over the body be reversed, shall it remain in force upon some part? shall an indulgence be granted to the whole, and shall any one Member suffer? The dead shall rise incorruptible, saith our Apostle, but how incorruptible, if a hand be dead, or the back be bruised, or a foot be full of ulcers? As we must be changed into Glory, so we must be changed from corruption.

Again, all the maims of the body are but adventitious and outward casualties; Nature intends them not, God made them not; it was the defects, or excess of the matter, or some outward or inward impressions which caused these exorbitances. An entire body was intended by the first Cause, and so God made man perfect after his own image. Prius est genus quam casus. In what perfection then life was bestowed, in the same it shall be restored; naturae non injuriae reddimur, we shall be renewed after the model of our first generation, not to the pattern of our degeneration; rise we shall as we were first created in Adam, not with those hurts, and wounds, and blows, and defects and deformities which sin hath given us.

Further yet, si non nisi integros Deus suscitat, non suscitat mortuos; If God shall raise none but entire men, and without defects, he must raise no dead at all. For what man is there lies entire and uncorrupted in his grave, let him die never so entire and complete in every part? What body is there that receives not some maim, when the soul parts from it, when it lies cold, and pale, and wan in the grave! even those embalmed carcasses in the Egyptian Pyramids laid up with the greatest cost and care against the teeth and injuries of time, are not yet so absolute and beautiful, as when the soul enliv'd them. If then the deformities and decays of the body should hinder its resurrection, it must needs follow that none should arise, when there is not one, which either alive or dead, contracts not deformity.

But this is contrary to the Apostle, who saith, he shall change our vile Body, and make it glorious. Which how could it be done, should it not arise? The soul is indeed Christ's Spouse, and the body is cast in for the dowry: Dot is nomine sequetur animam caro: He that marries the wife, hath right to the portion, and may call for it. The Body then as the dowry laid up in these receptacles below, shall in good time be called for again, and joined to the soul, and both together be presented to Christ, never to be divorced either from each other, or from him forever.

And there be these weighty reasons that persuade it.

1. The soul is but the half of man, though the better half. The other half is the Body: so that should Christ be a Savior of the soul only, and leave the Body in the grave, that great work were done by halfs, and so he should not be a whole Redeemer, which is quite contrary to the order in which • e works, who never did anything but he made it full, perfect, complete.

2. This out of doubt is the souls desire. These two old friends that live so many years together, do not part without great reluctancy, never but upon assured promises, and expectation to meet again. The ashes of the dead were not reserved in urns for nothing, nor rheir bodies embalm'd, or their bones carefully laid up to no purpose. It shows that they, for whom this charitable act was done, had a mind this way: One that while he was yet in the body, desired to be dissolved, yet in another place corrects or interprets himself thus, We that are in this Tabernacle, do groan being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon. And this desire shall not be frustrate; for God hath decreed that the graves shall open, and Christ hath promised, That if any man keep his word, he shall not see death forever, but shall pass from death to life. Moritur ergo, moritur omnis, &c. Every man, every man dies who is born of a mortal condition; but every man shall live forever, who is re-born of an immortal seed.

Thirdly, Suppose the Body should not rise, the sentence of the Judge at the great day might be evacuated; For if the soul should appear alone, it might answer to the accuser of the brethren; The sin charged upon me rose not from me, but from that corruptible and earthly body; that committed the adultery, that stole, slandred, lived intemperately; for since it was separated from me, it cannot be found that I have committed any such thing; An honest Apology, and seasonable to stay the Judges sentence. On the other side, should the Body appear without the soul, it might plead, It is not I sinned, but the soul; for I never committed any villainy since it departed, and to • k leave of me. To remove then all excuse and Apology, God hath decreed to conjoin both parts of man, soul and Body together again, and set them before his Tribunal, that they who labored in the ways of holiness, receive a good reward from him; and they who have wearied themselves in the works of wickedness, be judged accordingly; the body together with the soul, and the soul together with the body.

Fourthly, I add, that this is most agreeable to God's justice; For shall both parts be co-workers in good and bad, and not both partake in pain and joy? What reason is there that the body should fast, should kneel, do penance, be in want, in torment, in peril, and the soul only rewarded? again the soul draws the body to act her wicked designs, and shall it only be punished? Deum non licet injustum credere Judicem, aut inertem. But unjust he should seem, if he kept the co-partner in the work from the reward: and neglectful, if he should separate the companion of evil from the deserved punishment. Oh be it far from the Judge of the world, but to do right; far from him to take the work of his own hands, the image of his own body, that part which he hath washed with his holy water and Spirit, and set his own seal in Baptism, which sometime fights for him, sometimes dies for him, and cast it to the worms never to be seen again.

Lastly, this argument fetched from God's justice, is as powerful for the Identity of the Body: thar must arise the same that was conquered by Death, and no other. The Body with the same eyes, the same lips, the same knees, the same back, the same skin. For what justice were it for one back to be beaten, and another to receive the reward? for one pair of eyes to drop down tears day and night, and another couple of eyes to have the tears wiped from them? Meet it is one would think, that the pay be reserved for that Body, that did the service. Either then flatly deny the resurrection, or grant this indu • gence also. But that no Christian doubt of either, the Scriptu • es speak fully and expressly for both. The Body shall rise, and not at large, but individually. This Body, This corruptible shall put on incorruption. These eyes shall see, and no other. The same grain, that whole grain which was cast into the earth, not another kind nor a part of it only: as it was with our Savior's Body, which after three days was raised whole and the same, which was embalm'd and wrapped up by Joseph in fine linen, to which ours, saith our Apostle, must be 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , every way conformable, and then must arise the same, and entirely the same; For what reason can there be given, that God who is no accepter of persons, should raise one part, and cast aside another? Enoch was translated wholly in his Uncircumcision, Elijah wholly in his Circumcision; Enoch a Husband, Elijah a Virgin. The Shunamites Son was restored to life, the same, and entire; and Lazarus fetched from his Sepulcher even with his grave-clothes about him. But why do I seek proofs for this, since our Apostle teaches us, that it shall be only 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , a change only? now, that is, when the qualities of a body are altered, and not the substance: and therefore I shall conclude with Tertullian; Resurget igitur Caro, & quidem omnis, & quidem ipsa, & quidem integra. The flesh shall arise, all flesh, the same flesh, and that entire. Are you ready to ask with Mary in admiration, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , How can this thing be? The Apostle hath put an answer in my mouth, almost the same which the Angel in that place gave, Virtus altissimi, the power of the most High shall do this! There it was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , here it is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ? there it was the power, here it tis the working of that power; He shall do it, saith our Apostle.

4. According to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself.

Christ shall do it, and he shall do it by that power whereby he is able to subdue all things, and then he must be God against Arius. This power to subdue all things, can be no less than the power of the Deity, among which this is a chief to raise the dead. That Christ was the Exemplar of our Resurrection, ye have heard before; for it was expressed in him, and begun in him, our body being to be reformed according to his body, and to be glorified according to his body. Now we are to look upon him as he is the efficient cause, one that hath power to do it.

All power was after his Resurrection given unto him, and therefore he hath power to subdue Death; and well doth the Apostle use the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 for something there is which doth carry a great sway in the World, and brings all things out of order; among which Death is chief, which subdues all things, and brings them to that place where there is nothing but confusion. Well then death itself shall be ordered; as it hath subdued all things, so itself must be subdued; 'tis our last enemy, and it shall last be destroyed. Nothing is able to bind this King of fear, but the power of Christ: Three great works there are of God, in which he doth manifest his power especially. The Creation of all things; the Re-creation of man, and the Resurrection. The Creation was a work of power; for he said the word only, and all things were created. The Regeneration is a work of power; for who can make a clean thing of an unclean, but the power of his Spirit, that came in a mighty rushing wind? And to raise a dead body from the Grave, can be done by none, but by him that hath power, in which Christ shall come again: The sound of the Trumpet, the voice of the Archangel, which they in their Graves shall hear, and rise, being of this evident testimonies; for at the last day this potent and unruly Tyrant death shall deliver up her Captives, and bring forth her prisoners, and set everyone of them before the Judge; the power of the Lord of Hosts shall do this.

That the body shall arise from the Grave again, and the same body that was laid up in the Grave, there be proofs to be fetched as you have heard, from the justice of God, with whom it is a righteous thing to join them in reward, who have been yoked in the work: But it is not an act of justice to raise a dead body, to change a rotttn body, and to glorify a vile body; there must be power to do this. Justice may reward after it is risen, but power it must be that must first raise. And power it is, that 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , is working here, the voice and Trumper of the Archangel, by which the Son of God works; that being heard by all these sleepers in their Beds, awakes them, and calls them up.

He that doubts of this change, let him but consider what God can do, and it will stay his diffidence. Sarah's dead womb to conceive a child; the shrivel'd Rod of Aaron to bud forth in a Night, and bear Almonds; children to be raised to Abraham out of stones; a Prophet to be kept alive in, and fetched out the belly of a Whale, were all effects of his power, and every whit as strange as this can be. What is anything impossible to him who is Almighty? He made the whole World out of nothing, and what cannot he do that did that? Plus est f • cisse, quam refecisse. More it is to make, than re-make; more to build an house, than to repair it. No question then, but God is able to repair his building when it is destroyed, to set it up again, when it is dissolved; to beautify it, when it is defaced; otherwise we shall at unawares confess, that it is a harder matter to raise a dead body from the Earth, which is somewhat, than to make the World out of nothing. I know well that from h • s power to the effect, necessarily the Argument will not follow, except there be an evidence of his will also: But this he hath signified to us by a Cloud of witnesses, all which have taught us, that he will do it; so that being certain of his will as well as his power, there can be no doubt made of the event.

Cast but an eye upon the examples of God's will and power conjoined, and you will cease to wonder how this can be done; for we have in nature obscure significations, and pawns as it were of the bodies uprising. The day dies every Evening, and is buried in a pitchy darkness, which Funeral as I may so say, of the Sun, is solemnly observed, every Creature being a Mourner; for all costly vestments are deposed, all creatures are silent, as in the lamentation of Thammuz. There is everywhere a vacation from labor, and a cessation from work; and yet within the compass of a few hours, this dead and entomb'd day rises again; and shows to the World itself perhaps in more beauty and luster; in brighter beams and rays than it departed the night before, taking revenge on the former night that murdered it, and breaking asunder the grave of darkness, in which it was imprisoned. What doth the Moon else, but every Moneth suffer (as I may so say) a Resurrection, when the darker parts are again enlightened, and the eclipsed Orb filled up with a full light.

I descend lower; Quippe Terrae de Coelo Disciplina est; the earth is disciplined by the heaven above to revive and show her youth; in which every Tree after a Winters nakedness, appears in a Summer fresh suit; every flower puts forth in a party coloured vest; the earth is mantled w th green; corn that was buried, shoots toward the blade and ear, and Dame Nature, like a careful Nurse, returns back again those seeds and fruits, and sustenance which was exhausted: O wonderful work, this provident mother defrauds us for awhile of these things, that she may preserve them for us the next year; takes them away, that she may return them; devours, that she may keep; vitiates, that she may make them more entire; seems to waste and destroy, that she may increase them; for in the next year she presents them again in a better hew, and greater plenty than she laid them up, paying us manifold use for our fo • bearance, and large interest for the wrong she seems to do in the burial, and detaining our seeds a great part of the year.

Th • s annual revolution of all worldly things, is no other than a natural emblem of the Resurrection of our Bodies; God writing this Article in fair letters upon his works, before it was book'd in his Word; he would have us first take out this lesson from nature, before he would instruct us by Scripture, that when his Prophets should reach us that of which he had before given us some praecognita, we might the easlier yield our assent. A good Scholar in Nature will not easily deny that principle in Scripture which he hath learned before; but must needs judge that possible, which he sees daily feazable; and upon the self-same ground of God's omnipotency and power that this is to be done, doubt he will not, but the same hand of God is able, and will raise the body, which can and doth revive all other th • ngs: It is not easy to imagine, that when all things besides have their revolutions and vicissitudes, and innovations for the sustenance of man's body, that that body for which they were ordained, shall fall and die, and perish forever.

The APPLICATION.

The comfort of this Doctrine is very cordial, even to that part to which we wish well. Death may wrestle with, cast down, trample upon, and make a prey of this our body; but devoured by death it shall never be, for it shall be changed; so that our very body may rest in hope, that it shall be restored again, and made like to Christ's glorious body. Certain it is that death is a fall, but not like that of a stone into the Sea, that falls, and falls, and falls, and mounts no more. It is more like to that of the seed in our Gardens, which shoots the next Month; or that of our bodies into our Beds, from whence we hope to arise at the appearing of the next Sun. Now that this our hope should be Anchora spei, Anchor-hope, fast, firm, stable, our Savior hath secured us by a pawn or a pledge. He hath taken a body upon him, humble like ours, mortal like ours, and carried it to heaven, and glorified it there; that this of ours, of the same mould and condition with his might have access thither.

Say no more then, flesh and blood shall not inherit the Kingdom of heaven; for flesh and blood shall, and flesh and blood doth inherit that Kingdom. The impur • ry and corruption of neither shall ever come there, but the substance shall. A man like unto us, sin excepted, is ascended thither, is now there glorified; and therefore why may not we come thither in good time also? For if Christ's body be glorified, then there is a glorifying of the body; and if a glorifyifig of one, then flesh and blood can be no impediment, but there may be the glorifying of another. If he be glorified in our nature, then is our nature glorified; and if our nature be, why not our persons also?

O Death, how bitter is thy remembrance to a mere son of nature? which disjoin'st the dearest friends tied in the links of love; separatest the nearer brothers cemented by the flow of blood. I have felt thy malice when thou snatched'st away half my soul, when thou gavest a Bill of Divorce to her in my bosom; when thou didst pull away my dear Infants hanging at the breasts; when thou removedst from me my wife, my learned, my sweetest counsel: In a word, when thou tookest from me my sweetest soul, and laidst up my body in a darksome Dungeon; this was thy Tyranny, such thy rage.

But behold, all thy strength is become as Towe, thy fury as flax; all thy nerves are weakened, and thy sinews shrunk, ever since thou hast devoured that Prophet greater than Jonah, whom against thy will thou returnest to life. O Death, where is thy sting? O Grave, where is thy victory? We know now that our Redeemer liveth, and that we shall see God; that is, the power of God in our flesh.

Christ is now glorified, solus, non totus; glorified he is with all kind of happiness, essential, accessory; but he is not glorified whole, or all Christ; for his Church bears his Name, and is a part of the whole; till then these bodies of his Saints shall be glorified also, he may be said to be glorified but in part; and that he may be wholly glorified, all we that are members of his body, must be changed from this humbled body, and be glorified also. A type of this he gave us in Enoch, whom he translated, and security for it in Elijah, whom he mounted in a fiery Chariot to Heaven; both these were umbrae futurorum, shadows of things to come; but shadows are but empty things; that therefore we should have real dealing from him, he hath passed over to us for performance of this a greater security, the body of his Son. His body in heaven is our security that our bo • ies shall come thither.

Neither can the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the vility, ignominy, meanness, lowness, baseness, humility (call it be what name you please) of the flesh hinder our glory; for can there any flesh and blood be more humbled, more ignominious than his was? The God whom the heavens cannot contain, in a child's body of a span long, array'd in Clouts, housed in a Stable, laid in a Manger; This was his beginning; as he grew up, so his sorrows: In his body he suffered cold and heat, hunger and thirst, fainting and weariness. But all this was nothing to his end; then we shall find such a body so rent, so torn, so black with stripes, so blew with blows, so bloody with whips, so scratched with thorns, so pierced with nails, that even they who were by, for very shame turned away their faces from him: His visage was more mar'd than any man; and his form more than the sons of men. Sure I am that you will confess, that here was a body of humility, and yet this was no let or impediment to the glorification of it, neither shall the like be to yours; for the body, which was thus disgraced and vilified, is the very pattern for your glory. In heaven, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , like to this body yours shall be, and no other.

To conclude then, Enter into those Chambers of the dead, and look upon their Beds with comfort; See where thy Father, thy Mother, thy Husband, thy Wife, thy Child, thy Friend is at rest, and weep for him, yet weep not without hope; for these are all but asleep, there is a Trumpet that will awake them, there's a voice that will call them up, when they shall be clothed again, and suited with a clearer skin than they put off; 'twill do you good to behold their glory, and they will be glad at heart to see yours. Both will stand amazed at each others perfections, and both will join together to praise the God of glory.

Look upon death then, not as it is in itself, with a bare skull, hollow eyes, a pale face, and a bony Sceleton; but as thy Savior hath made it, Death without a sting, Death without the Trophies of Death. At that day it will not be so terrible as comfortable; for it will reduce the soul back to the body, men to their friends, children to their parents, husbands to their wives, all these to the Angels, when the Angels will present them to Christ, Christ to God, with whom they shall live forever and ever. Amen.

1. Into life.

The gift is everywhere answerable to the giver; the Lord of life bestows that he is Lord of, life: A benefit of that great esteem, that men will do and suffer anything to purchase and prolong it. Be it but this of nature, which is pestered with so many discontents, sour'd with so many troubles and diseases, yet I know not how we desire to protract it, and eeke it out. Is David's life in hazard? he cries, O spare me: Is Hezekiah threatened to leave the Land of the living, he mourns and prays, and weeps, and petitions? It was a great truth proceeded out of the mouth of a great liar, Skin for skin, and all that a man hath will he give for his life. Go but to the Bed-sides of sick men, and judge of what I say; with what charge is the Physician sent for, and retained! with what irksomness and loathing is many a bitter pill, and nauseous drug taken down! what cutting and lancing, and cauterizing, and dismembering is there undergone, and all to keep a poor mortal carcass alive for a few days longer! so sweet a thing is life; so that if any man voluntarily cast away this, as some discontented persons do, we esteem them as poor, miserable, abject, and seduced wretches, who so easily throw away that which the meanest worm desires to save. Under that then which is so dear to us, God hath thought good to set forth our felicity in another World; partly out of necessity, partly for our greater content.

1. A necessity there is in it; for necessary it is that everything should be, before it can be capable of the least favor. To omit other instances, man must be before he can be blessed, to which every kind of being would not serve neither; not that of inanimate creatures, not that of plants, not that of a Beast; and therefore the Almighty, because he intended him the Subject of happiness, breathed into his nostri • s, spiraculum vitarum, the breath of lives; of all life and perfection that could proceed from the vegetative, sensitive, or rational soul. The glory we expect, the joy, the rest, the Crown are but empty words, if man live not; or which is all one, be not; for vita est ipsum esse viventis; life is the very being of the living.

2. But to l • ve is not much, even the poorest Bugg that crawls on the Earth, enjoys that with the greatest Monarch. This may be besieged with so many pressures and sorrows, that it may prove 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , vita non vitalis, a life that hath no life in it; and then a man had as good be under ground: Other appurtenances then it must have to bear it up, and sweeten it, or else by having life we can never be happy. A life the very damned souls in hell retain, and an eternal life too; but because it wants the accessories, we more usually and properly call it death. Men must be free from sorrow, trouble, pain, they must be endued with a reasonable portion of wealth, have some good society, liberty, health, with many other outward accoutrements; or else they will in a moody fit exclaim with Rebekah, What good will this life do me? or break out with discontented Elijah, Lord take away this life from me.

To give us then content, God hath provided for us in this life whatsoever may please. First, a freedom from whatsoever may disquiet us; and next, an enjoyment of whatsoever may advance our happy estate. In it all evils shall be removed, and we shall be settled in all good. The first of which we call a Privative, the second a Positivive Happiness.

1. The first part of our future blessedness is Privative or Nega ••• e, there being a total abolition and banishment of everything that might aba •• , allay, or retard our happiness; even so saith the Spirit, There shall be no curse, no night, no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be anymore pain; they shall hunger no more, nor thirst no more; neither shall the Sun light on them, no • any heat; and God shall wipe every tear from their eye, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , every tea • in singulari, not one left.

In this World, those that belong to Christ especially, have experience o • some, or all these; for our Savior's words must be verified, In the World yo • shall have affliction; but in heaven there is nor persecutor, nor persecution, nor afflicted, nor affliction; nothing to grieve, nothing to vex or torment: And then this blessing must needs be the more grateful, the experiences of sadnesses and dangers having this peculiar, that being escaped, it makes always the present happiness to be more acceptable. Thus have I heard a Mariner with great content relate in the Harbor the storms at Sea, Billow encountering Bis • ow, and Wave mounting upon Wave, to the hazard of his life at every shock.

With what pleasure will a Shepherd point to the Lamb that he pulled out of the mouth of the Wolf, or paw of the Bear! An answer to the same purpose the Elder gave to John, These are they that came out of great tribulation. After then so much trouble and sorrow, to come into a place of joy and rest, must needs be a great accession of content and happiness; and to make a long narration to his Fellow-Saints of the temptations and dangers they have escaped, and are sure to escape forever.

2. But all this is not comparable to the positive happiness of that life; for as a clear Air follows a tempestuous, the day the night, and Summer succeeds a frosty Winter; so comfort follows those tears, and eternal happiness this misery. You must not expect that my tongue should express unto you that which nor ear hath heard, nor eye hath seen; I shall only entertain you with what the Spirit hath been pleased to teach.

1. The place in which this eternal life is enjoyed, is heaven, the seat of God's glory, the Throne of his Majesty, the Paradise of delights; the dwellers in it are God, Christ, Angels Saints; and if each one of those blessed Spirits, be more beautiful to behold than this visible World; what a sight will it be to see thousand thousands of those beautiful Spirits, and to understand the perfections and offices of everyone of them? There be Angels to be sent on Embassages; Archangels to minister and serve; Principalities to triumph; Powers to rejoice; Dominions to govern; the Virtues shine, the Thrones glister, the Seraphims abound in love, the Cherubims give light; and all together as in a Choir, sing land and praise to God: And if the company of good and virtuous persons be even among us amiable, and to be desired; what a felicity will it be to converse daily with so many blessed Angels, to sing praises with the Apostles, to speak with the Prophets, to communicate with the Martyrs, and to have a perpetual familiarity with all the Elect!

Farther yet, if it be so great a happiness to enjoy the company of the good, what shall it be to be in the presence, and see the face of him who is the Author of all goodness? to see him, who being but one, is all things, and comprehends in himself the perfections of all things? If to hear and see King Solomon were thought so great a matter, that the Queen of Saba said, Blessed • r • • he men, and blessed are these thy servants that stand in thy presence, and hear thy • isdom: What shall it be to behold the Creator of Solomon, that eternal wisdom, that infinite greatness, that inestimable beauty, that exceeding goodness, and to enjoy the same forever and ever? This is the essential felicity of the Saints, and o •• ht to be the last end of our desires.

Man is of a curious, prying, searching disposition, ever inqulsitive into the nature of this or that; he reads much, and asks much, and tries many an experiment; and because he cannot be satisfied, he is anxious, discontented, restless. By that Beatifical Vision he shall have his full desires satisfied; in God see he shall what he desires to behold; for God shall be to him all in all. He shall see here the power of the Father, the wisdom of the Son, and goodness of the Holy Ghost; Totam Trinitatem, licet non totaliter; he sha l apprehend the whole Trinity, though he shall never be able wholly to comprehend it. He shall behold all the goodness and perfect • ons of worldly things compacted and united in God, as in the first cause, beginning, and end of all. In him he shall behold all the Mysteries of Faith, all the Secrets of Nature, all the Administrations of Providence so far forth as may give any contentment to the soul, or add any help to our present happiness.

3. I descend now to the Accessories, being all those Consequents to this Beatifical Vision, without which, yet this life could not be a life of happiness; the first of which is love.

1. For upon this perfect knowledge which we shall have of God, and of all things in God, the will of man will be so affected, that it will love nothing but God, and what is his express. Our love is ever according to our knowledge; what we know not, we desire not; what we desire not, we love it little, and in a greater measure where we know more. In this world we know but in part, and therefore we love God but in part. In heaven, because we know God perfectly, we shall love God perfectly: And this is Loves prerogative, that it lives, when her other two Sisters are extinct; for Faith and H • pe have their periods, but Love never falls away: For when we are possessed of the truth of God's promises, then faith is at an end; and when we are enstated in that we hoped for, then hope is of no use: But love lasts even then; in heaven the Saints love God, and they love one another; and this love sets such an extraordinary price upon what is loved, that they joy to have it always in their sight, and would think it their greatest misery to be deprived of it.

2. So that the second Accessory to their happy life, is joy. The good servant in the Gospel is called to come and take it; Enter into thy Masters joy; and because it is our Masters joy, this is it which makes it the fullness of joy; were it not our Masters, it would not be full: For all the joys of our fellow-servants in this World have been, and are subject to their discontents; This World being at the best but the Region of the dead, in which there is crying and dying, and crosses, and diseases, all which will abate of our joy, and keep it from being full: But in that life all tears being wiped off, there shall be a merry heart, and a cheerful countenance, joy, and fullness of joy to all the parts and faculties of soul and body.

What a day of joy will it be to the soul of man, when loosed from the prison of this body, it shall be conducted by the Angels unto the Tabernacle of heaven, received there by the honorable Citizens of that place, and presented there by that Princely company, before that Seat and Majesty of the blessed Trinity, with a large and full Declaration of all thy good works, thy prayers offered, thy labors and sufferings sustained, the hours and minutes spent in the love and service of this God!

3. No marvel then, if from clear knowledge, and perfect love, and excellent society, their souls being ravishit with joy, they labor with their tongues to express it; for this is another addition to their happiness, that they shall spend their time in sweet songs of praise and thanksgiving. In this World the Saints do nothing but weep; weep for their own sins, weep for other men's sins, weep for what they suffer: But in that life above they shall do nothing but sing, Hallelujahs and Holannahs shall be their Celestial Anthymns; and because they could not sing truly Peace on Earth, they shall sing Glory to God on High.

4. Now to these Hallelujahs they will be the more encouraged, when they shall look about them, and view their own glory, which also must needs add very much to their happy estate. What here on earth is more esteemed than glory? so precious it is to men of spirit, that it makes them prodigal of their blood. Without doubt thus ambitious were the blessed Martyrs, which made them lay down their lives in the flames! They were assured of the Crowns in heaven, and this made them gain-say the Crowns on earth; they believed the Robes and Scepters, and Thrones, and Palaces above, which so much raised their thoughts, that nor threats, nor blows, nor fire, nor tortures could hinder them from attaining this glory.

Wonder as much as you may at this honor, and in comparison thereof contemn this earth; 'tis but a place of flies and fleas. In our Paradises the Gardens of our pleasure, we meet with worms; and in the Presence-chamber we take down the Spiders house; and when you meet with dust and Cobwebs, and the Lord's of both, can you properly call this a place of glory? How you are blinded now I cannot tell; but sure I am, that if ever you come to have a shate of glory in heaven, you will have other thoughts. One day when you shall be set upon Thrones, and cast your eyes from that height of glory, viewing the muck-worms here upon earth, creeping on this Mole-hill, as so many Ants, and digging so many holes in their Mothers bowels, to fetch thence her hidden treasures; how will you then laugh at and condemn your sometimes inglorious ways? Then you will be apt to think, alas, how basely I once lived, how poorly I dwelt! what base Company I kept! how meanly I was esteemed! was yonder Dunghill the place I so much loved, and was so loath to leave! Think all this before hand; and since of heaven thou canst not, yet judge of earth as it is worthy; and of what is it worthy, except of thy contempt, except of thy neglect? esteem it as it is, an Inn, which no man yet did equal with a Palace: Hold it but for a Tabernacle, which no man hath • hought a glorious house: But of heaven make an higher account, think of it as of a Kingdom, as of a Mansion, a continuing City, where the King of glory, the Crown of glory, the Thrones of glory, the exceeding weight of glory only remains.

This is the glimpse of our future life and happiness, where the joy is absolute, the glory excessive; you shall not meet with any distemper, any loss, any pressure, any complaint which may make that life unpleasant. You shall perfectly then know God, and be joined to him in love, and what would you yet more to make your life happy? there can be but one thing wanting, and yet that you shall have, eternity; for such this is.

2. Eternal life.

The light is a pleasant thing, and it is good to the eyes to see the Sun; but when an Eclipse, or a dark night comes upon it, there is a general sadness. Than life nothing more pleasing; yet when temporal is added to life, I know not how it abates much of the content: For they which joy to think of life, yet grieve to think it will not last. One of the aggravations with which old Age is charged, is, that hand procul abest à morte, that the life of an old man borders upon death▪ Riches also are of high esteem; but when we say they are uncertain, high and fly from us in our greatest need, men are much vexed and troubled that they should be such sickle and mis • rabble comforters. The like is to be said of glory and honor, which we would affect better, if we might be sure of their continuance: So loath are we, that anything which should give us content, should vanish so easily. And yet this is the conditi • n of this life itself, and all that should make it vital, which we can love, which we can enjoy, be they riches or honor, or glory, transitory they are, and their end borders upon their beginning.

In that other life it is that we must expect all these to be permanent and eternal, which addition of eternity is it which makes this life of knowledge and love, love and joy, joy and glory to be the more sweet, because it is lasting; for joy and glory would not make us happy, were they not perpetual. To be happy is not so pleasing an estate, as it is miserable to have been happy: Fuimus T • oes, is but a poor comfort; to have worn a Crown, as Adonibezek, and to be brought to that low servility, to • at Crumbs of bread under a Table, will even break the most noble heart: To sit upon a Throne, and after to draw a Chariot with Sesostris; to swim in wealth, and after to be set upon a pile with Cr • sus, would make a wise man burst into a passionate complaint, and cry out, • Solon, Solon. So miserable it is to have fallen from the top of honor, to a base estate, and to have lived a better life than now we do. In great passion it was spoken,

Should then the Saints in heaven not be secured of the continuance of their glory to be perpetual, and their possession to be eternal, their joy must needs be less; least therefore ought should be wanting, behold their felicity knows no • nd, feareth no intermission, is not subject to the teeth of time; but is as eternal for continuance a parte post, as he who had no beginning, and shall know no end.

But shall now the son of a woman be capable of an eternal being? shall mortal put on immortality? and a creature be of the same continuance with the Creator: this is a privilege wh • ch belongs 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , to the King • f Ages, im • ortal, eternal, invisible, the only wise God. Not the soul, be the substance thereof never so spiritual▪ nor the whole man, be he never so excel • ent a piece, can challenge or assume to its self an everlasting existence.

True indeed; but to satisfy the doubt, this word everlasting is to be taken in two senses.

First, Simpliciter, absolute, per se, & suâ naturâ; and thus God alone is eternal; for being the fountain of life, he must live forever; he is as St. Paul hath taught us, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the King of all time; and therefore must reign for all time, having dominion over death; for could death domineer over him, death should be the great God, and not he, who hath not beginning of days, no • yet end of life.

But secondly, everlasting hath another meaning; that though anything of its nature being a creature, it may return into that of which it is made, yet by the will of God it nor dies, nor can die; and in this sense everlasting belongs to the soul, and the life it is to live; for if God had so ordained, it might perish with the body, as the soul of other creatures, because the power of God, that made it of nothing, could return it to nothing; but it was his will to have it otherwise, and to make a creature immortal, that in him he might show his justice and his mercy▪ His justice to the bad; for they shall go into eternal pain: His mercy to the good; for the righteous shall go into eternal life.

3. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . The Righteous.

Life is the reward, everlasting the Quality of it: now let us consider to whom it belongs, which is not to all promiscuously, but to the Just and Righteous only. The Righteous shaell go into Everlasting Life.

Should righteousness be taken for such exact justice that hath no unrighteousness admixt with it, such righteous men may not be found, since in many things we sin all. Or should a comparison be made with that justice which is in God, this in a creature may not be expected; for shall mortal Man be more just then God? shall a man be more pure then his maker? But let justice and righteousness be examined and measured according to the condition of this life, so all the elect that are destined to eternal life, may in some sense be called Righteous and just men.

First and especially for the imputation of Christ's Righteousness; for he to them is made justice. Secondly, Because a comparison being made of their lives and actions with the ways and works of the most men, they may well be honored with the name of Righteous; such was Noah, Job, Zacharias, and his Wife Elizabeth, both just before God. Or thirdly, Righteous they may be said to be for their sincerity, being far from all hypocrisy, deceit, and guile. Or lastly, in respect of their works, which are the fruits of their faith informed by charity, according to which they shall be judged, (as appears, verses 35, 36.) and for the doing of these accounted and accepted for righteous.

It was a question wisely proposed by the young Pharisee, that came to our Savior; Good Master, What shall I do to inherit eternal life? that something was to be done, he knew, without which eternal life could not be had, and gladly he would know what that was; Now our Savior sends him and the Lawyer to Moses; Do saith he, what the Law prescribes, and live. Not intending thereby that he should obtain Life; for Christ knew that his performance would fall short, but to humble the pride of the young man and the Lawyer, by setting them a task which they must labor to perform, if ever they meant to, attain to life. A life lead by the prescript of Moses Law, an honest and a godly conversation, fruits worthy of Repentance, must be brought forth by that man, whom God will denominate Righteous. For howsoever we shall not be justified for them, yet God will never reckon us for just and Righteous men without them. Talk no more then of faith without works; for what shall it profit a man, to say he believes in God who is in heaven, when he so leads his life as if there were no God in heaven? Is this man, do you think, one of those righteous that shall inherit eternal life? No, no, The life of Grace is the way to the life of Glory.

A life of Nature there is, when our soul dwells in this Body, and informs, and enlivens, and moves this earthly burden. A life of Grace there is, when the Spirit of God dwells in the soul, and frees it from the command and dominion of sin. And a life of glory there is, when the Body united to the soul, or the soul alone shall be united to God. The first is common to all, the last proper unto those who in this life shall follow the conduct of Grace, and live a righteous, sober, and godly life. For this is Saint Paul's chain; Those whom he did fore-know, those he did predestinate to be conformable to the image of his Son; whom he did predestinate, them he called; whom he called he justified; whom he justified, he glorified. Glorified is the last link, Predestination is the first, and that limited by Conformity to Christ's image; the intervenients are Justification, Vocation: Out of which we may collect, that if we mean to arrive at the life of Glory, by the way we must take heed to our calling, have a care to be assured of our justification; which assurance quoad nos, will arise by a life conformable to the image of God's son. In a word, we must endeavor to serve God in righteousness and true holiness, which alone can quiet our consciences, and assure men that we are righteous before God.

USE.

It is an error then that is hatched in profane men's brains, who suppose they shall come to the life of Glory, though they never walk in the way of Grace. Let their life here be never so dissolute, never so licentious, yet they make no question to arrive at heaven, and live there forever. This were to go to heaven per saltum; for doth not Saint Paul say, those who will be glorified, must be conformable, &c? doth not Saint John say, He that hath this hope, purifieth himelf? that is, is every day in his progress, endeavor, study of Sanctification. If this benefit and reward were common to all, and not proper to those who live the life of Grace, less care might be had of it: But since it is peculiar to some alone, to the regenerate, to the sanctified, to the conformable, to the Righteous, let our greatest labor be to be found among these persons, and since we have such promises, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the Flesh and Spirit.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God: blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. See God, I know you all would; to be satisfied and blessed, not a man alive but desires to be; but this desire will be utterly frustrate, except an earnest and constant hunger and thirst after righteousness, except purity of heart do accompany it: Of which if you fall short, see God you shall not; admitted within those celest • all courts you never shall be; But you shall stand withou • among the Dogs, that is, the contemners and snarlers at Holy things, among enchanters, and murderers, whore-mongers and Idolaters, among th • ives, covetous persons, and extortioners, &c. for all these are without the gate of the City.

Be not deceived; for they which do such things, shall not inherit the kingdom of God. I say not, all that have done these things, but only such as do, which notes a present and continual act of doing wickedly. As if the Spirit should have said, All they who do this, and die thus in their sin, without remorse and amendment, shall never inherit eternal life. He then who means to live in heaven, must begin his life of heaven upon earth; he must have his conversation with Saints there, though he live and converse with sinners here; like to an Eagle, he must cast his beak, or a Serpent slip off his old skin, that is, he must put off the old man that is corrupt, and put on the new man which is after God, and so he shall see God at last in his flesh, and live forever.

The CONCLUSION.

Behold I have set before you good and evil, blessing and cursing, life and death, a Kingdom in heaven replenished with rest, with joy, with glory such as fades not, such as fails not: as I did the last day the torments of hell, which shall universally afflict, incessantly torture, everlastingly punish, in a word, a torment prepared for the Devil and his Angels; and for such malicious spirits, you cannot imagine the torments to be easy. And if neither of these, nor joys, nor sorrows, nor glory, nor shame, nor life, nor death, nor reward, nor punishment, nor heaven, nor hell can work upon you, I am at a Non plus; what words shall I use to do you good?

I have power to charge you here in the presence of God the Father, and of the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall show himself from heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire, rendering vengeance not only to them that know not God, but to them also that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you do as you are taught, become new creatures, and live holy lives, if you mean to escape the wrath to come. But I rather choose to speak to you after the manner of men. I know Men, good natured men are most easily drawn on by love and kindness, by honor and rewards. By the mercies of God then, even the mercies of God the Father: By the Meritorious death and bitter passion of the Son, that Son of God, who loved us, and gave himself for us: By that joy and glory, by that life, that everlasting life he hath prepared for us, I beseech you, that you would be righteous, you would be pure, you would be holy.

Look not on me who commence this petition, but look upon your own souls for which I commence it, and have pity on them. The benefit will be yours, the life yours, I shall but share with you. Only the greater share I shall have, the more of your souls enter into heaven. T'is my humble suit to God, that they may all come thither: For thither, if they come not, they must go to a worse place: it grieves me to say whither, the torture of that place is so extreme.

Surely rhere is a heaven, there is a hell; and as sure there will be a day, when the Judge shall be set, the books opened, sheep and goats appear, and enquiry be made, whether we the Watchmen of Israel have stood upon our watch, and given you warning, and whether you of the Laity have been content to be warned. Deceive not your own souls; think not when these words are ended, they shall scatter and vanish in the air, and never be called for again. For the day will come, when for these, and all the rest, an accompt must be made. It will be told you then how the rejection and malediction, the pain and perpetuity of pain, those four Essential parts of hellish torments, were presented at large unto you, and all for no other end, but that you come not into that place of torment. You will be put in mind then, that a Kingdom, a Crown, a blessing, a life full of joy and honor; honor at God's right hand, that was durable and lasting, nay everlasting was prepared for you; and yet how much you did undervalue all these for some petty profit or pleasure. The accompt will be strict, the answer I fear me, will be very cold and faulty.

That which may be for your advantage, will be, that while you have time, you no longer seek death in the error of your life, but sit down, and sadly bethink yourselves, whar will become of you in Novissimo, at the last Day. Yet you have Hell before you, tremble you not at the Name! quake you not at the torments? See, the fire burns, the smoke ascends, and the Ghosts roar; The mouth is open, and if you come once within it, there is no getting out, but you shall be burnt, and tortured and tormented forever.

I know your knees are ready to smite together at this report. So many of you then as intend to lead a new life, and to enter your names in the catalogue of the Righteous, Lift up your heads, and behold a more comfortable spectacle; Your Savior at the right hand of God, the Saints your brethren singing Hallelujah, life prepared for you, a Kingdom of which you are heirs, Crowns for your heads; palms for your hands, robes for your backs, a most glorious state which will never come to an end.

I cannot leave you in a better place and better company; be righteous, and enjoy it; serve God, and be thus happy. Now that God who hath prepared this place for our souls, prepare our souls for this place. Prepare them in holiness; prepare them in desire, that when this life of Nature, which is but a bubble, a smoke, a shadow, shall vanish away, we may be partakers of this joyful, glorious everlasting life in heaven;