distant the one from the other the one in heaven the other on the earth God would have his image placed in the two extremities of the world as in two several Tables He hath placed the one in the highest story of the Universe the other in the lowest the one at the centre the other in the circumference To the end that on what part soever our soul casteth the eye be it on heaven or on earth we may contemplate God himself in the one or the other of these two kindes of creatures which bear his image What ought to be gathered from this That God imposed names upon the day the night the heavens the earth the sea yet hath given no general name to signifie the whole world God hath given particular names to all the great pieces of the Universe Gen. 1.5 8 10. but hath not given a name to all of it together Likewise the Hebrew Tongue in which God pronounced his first Oracles never nameth the world in one onely word but expresseth always either the heaven or the earth or both of them together when it would say the world I passe by the question Why in the Creation God hath not given a word which should universally signifie this whole bulk in which is comprehended the entire assembly of all his works But we are to learn by his example still to make a difference between heaven and earth The earth in which man was made the heaven for which he was made Without this distinction it is impossible to know what is the world Whence cometh it that the spirit of man is pleased with variety Not onely the Spirit but also the Senses the Sight especially the Taste love variety This instinct proceedeth from a secret intelligence The wisedom of God could not well be taken notice of but in a great diversity of works of matters and forms different unlike yea oft times contrary in qualities motions and circumstances Hence it is that it hath brought forth so many kindes of food so many of savours so many of colours and generally so great a variety of objects as well for the Senses as the Spirit Now to the end that man should study them to know the perfections of their authour God hath given that curiosity to invite him to passe from one object to another as by change of Lecture which ought to render him more knowing Of the Providence of God Why the Scripture oftener nameth the Hand or the Arm of God then the Heart of God VVE see better the works of his hand then the intentions of his heart His works and actions are perceptible to our eyes but the reasons are for the most part hidden from our souls and inclosed in the brest of that great Worker For Who hath known the minde of the Lord Hence it cometh that himself speaking unto us oftener mentioneth his Hand of which we see the effects then his Heart of which we know not the secrets Of the fundamental Law of the Creation and of the excellent instructions which issue from it In the Creation God hath formed the principles of all Laws yea the Creation is a Law visible and speaking If it were well considered many questions would be cleared which remain undecided and many opinions against which we dispute would not â—eed any other confutation then what is found written in this primitive Law I speak not of that which is well known unto all to wit That by this Law it is forbidden to pervert the order established from the beginning to separate what God hath joyned or joyn together what God hath separated Hence it cometh to passe that the Scripture condemneth Polygamie because God created but one wife for Adam Hence also proceedeth the superiority of the man over the woman because he was first created of them 1 Tim. 2. By this Law of the Creation it is forbidden to multiply the number of species which God hath created at the beginning or to confound them one with another Hence it cometh that the Scripture hath noted with infamy him that first invented the procreation of mules a bastard kinde which God created not Gen. 36.24 By the same Law it is forbidden to destroy a whole species of what creature soever even of those that are most contrary to man It was in the power of Noah when he had within the Ark Tygers Vipers and other pernicious creatures to destroy them to cause the whole breed to be lost for then there were no more of them in the world But it was not permitted to him rather to the contrary he had order to preserve them It is lawful for us to destroy the particular of such kindes but not to proceed to a suppression of the whole kinde though it lay in our power for this were to tear out a leaf of that great Book which containeth the catalogue of the works of the Creation By the same Law it is impossible to reduce any creature to nothing that is to say to make it simply nothing One matter may be changed into another as a living body is resolved into dust but it never cometh to be nothing The Church of Rome doth not formally say that the bread wine are annihilated in the Eucharist but it saith that they vanish without withdrawing themselvs to some other place without entering into the body of Christ without being turned into any other matter Now according to these suppositions it is necessary that the bread and wine be annihilated and come to nothing But this pretended annihilation is contrary to the fundamental Law of the Creation It is impossible and unlawful It is impossible for as God alone had the power to create all things out of nothing so he alone can reduce any thing to nothing It is unlawful for God himself though he can yet never did annihilate any of his creatures no not the devils O Eternal God all thy works subsist by thee If thou withdrawest thine hand they will fall into nothing but if thou sendest forth thy Spirit they shall be as of new created How many times the general order of the world hath been interrupted since the Creation Three times it hath had an interruption to wit twice in heaven once on the earth In heaven when the Sun and the Moon were stayed in the time of Joshua and again when the Sun went backward in the days of Hezekiah For these two wonders changed the measures of the day and night prolonging the light in one half of the world and the darknesse in the other beyond their times In the earth also when the waters of the Deluge made it not habitable for the space of a whole yeer and in the six later months of that yeer there was neither born nor died any humane creature nor any beast of the earth nor fowl of the air God having for a time suspended both birth and death For no creature either was born or died within the Ark. An example of instructions wherewith the
which were raised out of the dust Matth. 27.52 53. Afterward that of Tabitha Acts 9.40 And for the third example that of the young man Eutychus Act. 20.9 10 11 12. There are notable resemblances between the three that were raised under the Old Testament and the three which Jesus Christ raised before his death The first raised from the dead in the Old Testament was the onely son of a widow and the first raised â—n the New Testament was the onely son of a widow The one in Sarephta the other in Naim In both the Testaments God began the Resurrection of the dead by the demonstration of his Mercy as well as that of his Power Moreover the last of the three raised before the coming of Christ was already entered into the grave where he touched the bones of the Prophet Elisha and the last of the three raised by Christ to wit Lazarus had already stayed four days within the Sepulchre Why Christ rose not again the day after his death but suffered the whole Sabbath day to passe over before he returned to life I passe by the ordinary reasons which are brought concerning this and will onely observe a Maxime which I finde in this matter to wit That never any dead man was raised again on the Sabbath day The Son of God hath healed many sick on the Sabbath day but ye read not that on that day he raised any dead And in sum none of all those which were returned to life as well under the one as the other Testament and of whom we have considered the catalogue and the order according to which they are ranked hath been raised on the Sabbath day I shall verifie this when I shall come to expound the fourth Commandment of the Decalogue For the present question we may say that Jesus Christ who is the Head of the Resurrection would shew the communion which is between him and others that are raised in whom we have a preludium of the general Resurrection And forasmuch as none of them recovered life on the Sabbath day he also not to seem to disjoyn himself from them would not that his Resurrection should fall on that day This excludeth not the other reasons of the time of his stay among the dead A comparison of the time which God employed in the Creation with that which he employed in the Redemption And of the days of the one and the other The time of the Creation was six Days that of the Redemption was but of three Days which is the lesse by one half But the Wisdom of God hath divided the time of the Creation in two equal parts each of three days the first three being distinguished from the three following by a most evident mark The first three days of the world with their nights had neither Sun nor Moon nor Stars but preceded the being of all these lights in which they have been different from all other days that since have come As therefore the Creation hath had three days extraordinary so the Redemption in the which the world hath been as created anew hath had these three marvellous days in the which Christ continued among the dead It is to be observed that himself speaking of the three days of his stay within the bowels of the earth Matth. 12. which ought not to be understood of three entire days had regard to the history of the Creation which reckoneth the Evening and the Morning for a Day a part for the whole Gen. 1.5 8. The first and neerest cause of the three days detaining of Jonah in the whales belly The intention of God indeed was to present unto men in Jonah a type of the Resurrection of Christ as every one knoweth But there was first another reason for which the Prophet was not delivered before the third day The chastisement of the sinner oftentimes answereth to the fault even to circumstances This happened to Jonah His History telleth us that Nineveh was a City of three days journey chap. 3.3 For having refused to take this walk of three days in Nineveh he was condemned to keep prison three days within the whale The three days which he would not passe over in a great City among men it was necessary for him to passe in the intrails of a fish out of the sight of men and sun From this historical consideration we come to that of this great mystery which is enclosed in the detention and deliverance of Jonah The Resurrection of Christ figured in Hezekiah by a double resemblance It is sufficiently known that this Resurrection as touching the circumstance of the Third Day hath been prefigured in Isaac in Jonah in Hezekiah A Patriarch a Prophet a King have been the types Isaac destined to be offred an whole-burnt-offering and remaining as dead in the brest of his father is as returned to life on the third day Gen. 22. Heb. 11.19 And this for the more ample correspondence happened very neer the same place where Christ afterward was buried and where he rose from the dead Jonah issuing from the depth of the sea giveth the term of fourty days to the Ninevites And this figure which marketh out the Resurrection of Christ on the third day extendeth also all along the fourty days which Christ gave unto the world after his Resurrection before he left the earth The healing also of Hezekiah is considered as a type He was held in the rank of the dead and his bed was to him a grave He was raised up miraculously on the Third Day as it were surviving himself 2 Kings 20.5 But that which I observe concerning this last and which I adde to the observations of those which have gone before me is another correspondence which is found between the wonders that befell in this subject the one in the sicknesse of Hezekiah and the other in the death of Christ In both these there was a Miracle in the Sun For the Eclipse of this Luminary which happened at the death of Christ was supernatural as well as the going back in the sicknesse of Hezekiah So that this type meeteth with Christ dead and raised from the dead by a double resemblance But the shadow which returned ten degrees backward to foreshew the return of Hezekiah to the course of his life was not so miraculous as the return of Christ from among the dead verified by ten Appatitions by which as by so many degrees he shewed himself living again upon the earth before he ascended into heaven Why none ever was raised again the third day after his death but onely Christ Of all those whom God hath caused to return into the world after they were dead there is not one whom the Scripture saith to have been raised on the Third Day If there had been any one this circumstance had not been omitted in History All have been raised either before or after the Third Day after their decease but none on that day The son of the widow of Sarephta the daughter
that believed in him hath confessed that he saw him in glory after his Ascension 1 Cor. 9.1 and 15.8 The one is the first that sealed this truth with his blood The other is the last who had charge to publish it as having seen it after he had persecuted it All the other disciples saw Christ conversant on earth but these two onely have seen him raigning in heaven All the miraculous prerogatives which have been severally in divers Saints are found united in one onely Christ iâ— a soveraign degree Among the Saints divers have beet rendered famous Either by their miraculous birth as Isaac and John the Baptist Or by the Miracles which themselves wrought as Moses Elijah Elisha c. Or by the gift of Prophecie as Samuel Daniel c. Or by their Resurrection from the dead as Lazarus c. Or for having ascended into heaven as Enoch and Elijah But never had any man all these prerogatives together except the Son of God Some have had a miraculous birth or else have been Prophets which have not had the gift of Miracles Others have wrought Miracles so far as to raise the dead but themselves have not been raised Others have been raised from the dead but their bodies have not ascended into heaven but were returned once more unto the grave Others are ascended into heaven but they have no power to work upon them that are on the earth On the contrary one alone and the same Christ was conceived miraculously exercised the power of Miracles and that of a Prophet came back from the dead is ascended bodily into heaven and that which appertaineth to none other from above governeth the whole Church The same Christ surpasseth infinitely all the others in every one of those miraculous preeminencies which they have had Some were born of mothers which had passed the age of childbearing but Christ was born of a Virgin Some have been Prophets but Christ received not the Spirit by measure Some have had the gift of Miracles in certain occasions but Christ at all times had that power Some have been raised from death by some other but Christ raised himself Some have been lifted up into heaven but Chriâ—â— was carried thither by his own power And finally as he holdeth the firâ—â— place in all things he alone is set dowâ— at the Right Hand of God Of the last Judgement Why doth the holy History never say the God descended but onely where the bâ—sinesse hath been to do justice or to establish it and protect the innocent WHensoever God hath descended it hath been Either to publish Laws as those which he gave 〈◊〉 old to Israel Exod. 19.18 and 34.5 Or to appoint Judges as were read in Numb 11.17 Or to proceed against the guilty as the builders of Babel and the Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah Gen. 11.5 6 7. and 18.21 Or to give protection to Jacob going into Egypt Gen. 46.4 Or to do justice to the Hebrews which were oppressed by the Egyptians Exod. 3.8 Certainly the Scripture intended not to say that God descended locally yet so it is that he will one day really descend in the person of his Son Now forasmuch as he will not descend but to execute judgement all the other Descents which the Scripture attributeth to him meet in the same scope For it never representeth God coming from above but either to do Justice or to preserve it An observation upon the fâ—ur general Judgements mentioned in the Scriptures All the Judgements which God hath shewed or yet doth shew upon any parts of mankinde are but particulars There are four which have concerned or do concern all the generality The three first have already appeared and the fourth is at the door The first Judgement is that which God pronounced against Adam and his wife who represented all their posterity The second is that which caused all the inhabitants of the world except eight to perish by the waters of the Deluge The third is that which divided the society of men by the confusion of Tongues in Babel The fourth is that of the last Day The first Judgement deprived men of immortality and declared them subject to death which by power of it is come upon them successively The second caused all mankinde to die at one time reserving a very small number of persons The third brake off the communion which was among men bereaving them of their universal language and hindering them from understanding one another Now there are divers resemblances and differences between these three first Judgements which are past already and the fourth which is yet to come But we have onely to consider that in the first three God hath judged the living but at the last he shall judge both the living and the dead Upon this subject I am to propound the following Observation A wonderful Mystery which is seen in the several goings out of the three first men which God took out of the world The life of man hath two different issues Some going out of the world by a violent death others by a natural But those which shall be found alive when our Lord shall come to the last Judgement shall passe neither by the one nor the other of these two ways but by a third which shall be a sudden transmutation of their bodies by the which they shall become incorruptible 1 Cor. 15.52 So then there are three several kindes of issues ordained to men to dislodge out of this world some by one some by another to wit Violent death Natural death And the transmutation of them that shall be found alive at the day of Judgement Of these three ways the two first have been open to this day and are the ordinary passage of mortals The third is reserved for the last inhabitants of the world All these three several issues have been visibly marked out in the three first men that have parted out of this life for the first that dislodged was Abel the second was Adam the third was Enoch The first went out of the world by a violent death The second by a natural death The third by a change supernatural and miraculous These three went in this order and the one followed the other immediately among them whose departure is mentioned in the Scripture But they went by different ways which represented all those by which men were to passe after them For all those which shall go out of the world after these three first or who shall go out hereafter by which soever of these three ways go but in the footsteps of some one of these three forerunners who are in this regard an abridgement of all mankinde divided as in three bands And particularly as those who ought to passe by that above-named change to be translated from this life without seeing death shall be the last that dislodge so Enoch who represented them parted from this world the last of the three being preceded by Abel who died a violent death and
Passeover In which the Israelites dipped a bunch of hysop in the blood of the lamb and marked their doors to serve for their safeguard 2. The Covenant treated between God and the people For after that Moses had rehearsed the Articles he took the blood of the Sacrifice offered to that effect and sprinkled one half on the Altar and the rest upon the people saying unto them This is the blood of the Covenant 3. The Consecration of the Tabernacle and of the Priests In this ceremony Moses sprinkled with blood the Tabernacle and all the vessels of the service Besides he took of the blood from off the Altar and made an aspersion upon Aaron upon his sons and upon their garments 4. The Sacrifices as well Eucharistical as Expiatory For in all Sacrifices the blood was poured all about the Altar of burnt-Offerings In some of them it was also put upon the Altar of Incense In others there was made an aspersion before the Vail of the Sanctuary 5. The general Expiation which was celebrated once a yeer In this Solemnity the High Priest made an aspersion of blood seven times before the Mercy-seat afterward within the Vail afterward also upon the Altar of Incense 6. The purification of the unclean The High Priest took of the blood of an heifer slain for this purpose and sprinkled it before the Tabernacle afterward the Sacrifice being burned with its blood and the ashes reserved they were mingled with water to sprinkle the tents the vessels and the persons tainted with any uncleannesse This mystery is opened by the Apostle Heb. 9.13 14. 7. The ceremonial cleansing of the leprous as well of houses as of persons A sparrow was killed and with his blood the man was sprinkled that was newly healed of the leprosie Besides they took the blood of a lamb with which was marked the right ear of the leper and his hand and his foot Likewise if the leprosie had taken hold of the walls of an house the Priest sprinkled them with the blood of a sparrow after that the infection was gone Thus all this multitude of actions performed by sprinkling of blood is reduced to the seven kindes here mentioned This distinction may serve not onely for the memory to retain them but also for the understanding to know well their differences and the mysteries inclosed in this diversity It shall suffice as for the present to observe the power of the holy Ghost represented by the number of seven which is a mark of perfection to shew thaâ— by it we have an entire application oâ— the blood of Christ Blood hath no propriety of making whilâ— Why then is it said Apocal. 7.14 thaâ— the Saints have made white then robes in the blood of the Lamb Many according to the custom oâ— the vulgar stay themselves at a similitude taking whitenesse for an emblemeâ—â— of cleannesse or of glory But the similitude faileth them then when they should finde this whitenesse in blood which naturally defileth in stead of cleansing and taketh away whitenesse in stead of giving it Some learned Interpreters say very well that this passage beareth an allusion to the habit of the Priests of the Law who entered not into the Temple but in white robes The sense then is that those that are here spoken of which are come out of great tribulation are made Priests unto God whom they serve day and night in his Temple vers 15. For this Priesthood with which they are honoured is expressed under the name of the vestment which the ancient Priests wore when they did the service But the question yet remaineth How these robes are made white in blood I think therefore that this expression denoteth a resemblance between the consecration of Levitical Priests and that of Christians When Aaron and his sons were called to this charge there were given them Priestly gaaments among the which was the linen robe but it was not permitted them to approach to the Altar or to exercise any Office in the Tabernacle till they were first sprinkled with blood both they and their garments Exod. 29.21 Levit. 8.30 As therefore the ancient Priests were consecrated by blood and made capable to wear the Priestly habit in the house of God so in the vertue of the blood of Christ we are reinvested of the quality of Priests represented by the white garment And this is summarily what I had to say concerning this passage which it behoveth to expound rather by a metonymie then by a single metaphor Of the Church and the Communion of Saints Why Moses is more prolix and more exact in the description of the Tabernacle then in that of the whole world VVHosoever shall compare the two first Chapters of Genesis with the sixteen last of Exodus except the two and thirtieth and the two following shall finde a great difference between Moses describing the frame of the Universe and Moses describing the fabrick of the Tabernacle In the one he is very general and succinct in the other he is very copious and setteth down even to the smallest particulars The description of this great building of the World seemed truely to require more words then that of a little pavillion which was but an atome in comparison of this vast extent of the heavens and of the earth But quite contrarily the Spirit of God having shut up and reduced into a little table the whole masse of the world displayeth unto us the structure of the Tabernacle in a long and large picture Now it is very certain that the style of the Scripture hath its measures compassed by the circles of a soveraign wisdom Behold then that which we here consider setting apart many other reasons which we might bring upon this subject The world was not built but for the Church to the end that in it God might be served The Tabernacle was both a figure of the Church and the ensigne under which it was assembled God therefore willing to shew that his Church in which his service is performed is more precious to him and more considerable then all the rest of the world hath spoken of the Tabernacle more amply and more particularly then of all the Elements yea then of all the world together The number of persons that make up the body of the universal Church is not onely presixed and definite but also regulated by measures and proportions God is not tied to Numbers yet neverthelesse he doth and disposeth his works by number weight and measure It is observed that after the going up out of Egypt God caused to be numbred all the Israelites from the age of twenty yeers and upward Exod. 38.26 and there were found six hundred three thousand five hundred and fifty men The yeer following God commanded to make a second review of the people Numb 1.46 but without comprising the Levites which had been numbred the first time with the other Tribes Notwithstanding this substraction and the casualties which might have changed the number of the
visive faculty is not given to all although all presume that they have it I will not here speak of them who imagine that if they saw some Miracle they should undoubtedly believe Nor of them who think they have a great Faith because they never doubted of any point of Religion Nor of the learned why they are more subject to doubts then the common sort of Christians Nor of other matters appertaining to this subject which I have touched in my Treatise of Popular Errours I will therefore passe to the second part which is the doctrine of Works contained in the Decalogue FINIS The TABLE Of the Knowledge of God WHy a man that should be perfect may always increase in Knowledge but not in Goodnesse Pag. 1. To love God without knowing him is the most irregular of all affections p. 2. Why the wisest Nations have had more paltry or horrible gods then those that were barbarous p. 3. Quest Whether it be a sufficient reason for adhering to a Religion to alleadge that in it may be found salvation p. 5. Such as a man is in his own nature such he imagineth that God is Strange horrid conceits of the spirit of man concerning this subject p. 6. Of all the Attributes of God which is that which we see first And which is that which we see least p. 8. The two greatest points of Religion p. 10. Which are more culpable those who distrust the Power of God or those that doubt of his Mercy toward them p. 11. Of the holy Trinity THe extent of Faith and the diversity of the objects of it p. 12. Three degrees of language of God in the Creation p. 13. Why God never speaketh of himself in the Plural number nor is ever brought in as consulting but where it concerneth man p. 14. Of the Creation THe diversity of habitation which God hath given to two kindes of Creatures which bear his image that is to Angels and Men. p. 18. What ought to be gathered fron this That God imposed names upon the day the night the heavens the earth the sea yet hath given no general name to signifie the whole world p. 20. Whence cometh it that the spirit of man is pleased with variety p. 21. Of the Providence of God VVHy the Scripture oftener nameth the Hand or the Arm of God then the Heart of God p. 22. Of the fundamental Law of the Creation and of the excellent instructions which issue from it p. 23. How many times the general order of the world hath been interrupted since the Creation p. 26. An example of instructions wherewith the Providence of God hath furnished man by creatures most contemptible p 27. Whence cometh it that in divers disputes and dialogues which we read to have passed between God and man it seemeth without blasphemy be it spoken that man reasoneth better then God himself p. 28. Notable examples of the Providence of God in the Fatalities of Times of Places and other circumstances p 30. Of many kindes of scourges equally dreadful and unavoidable which ought to be chosen if God should leave the choice to us or which is more to be desired p. 35. Whence cometh it that among publike scourges those that passe the hand of men are more frequent more universal and of longer continuance then those which come immediately from God p. 37. It maketh for the glory of God that there be more wicked then good men Ibid. The greatest good that God hath done to the world is come to passe by means of the greatest crime that men could commit p. 39. Nature it self hath restrained the forces and ability of man to the end to bound his desires and the effects of his malice p. 40. Of the marvellous Providence of God permitting that the righteous die by the hand of the wicked p. 41. Why in War the people of God have been often beaten by their enemies and why a good cause hath been overthrown p. 43. Why God never sent above one Angel or two at most when he intended to destroy men and hath so often sent many when he intended to preserve one man p. 45. If man had persevered in original justice there had never been Miracles but onely of one kinde p. 47. Of JESUS CHRIST AConsideration of the divers Names and Titles of our Saviour And the differences that ought to be observed in expressing them p. 49. Wherefore Jesus who received the Sacraments as well of the one as the other Testament had not that external Anointing which was given to Prophets Priests and Kings p. 54. Whence cometh it that divers discourses uttered by Jesus Christ seem to be without method An admirable secret which ought to be observed p. 55. A conjecture of what our Lord wrote when the Pharisees demanded his judgement touching the punishment of the adulteresse Joh. 8. p. 57. Why God sent for the forerunner of his Son a Prophet rather then a King And why there was no Christian King for the space of three hundred yeers after the Nativity of Jesus Christ p. 60. Of the Humane nature of JESUS CHRIST AN excellent gradation in the four Evangelists describing the Genealogie of Jesus Christ p. 62. Why the Scripture giveth the name of Antichrist to him that denieth the Humanity of our Saviour rather then to him that denieth his Divinity p. 63. Why Jesus Christ after his resurrection called himself no more the Son of man as before times p. 64. Why the most glorious miracles which our Lord wrought were often preceded by some action which witnessed those weaknesses to which his humane nature was made subject p. 65. Of an admirable harmony which is found between the three periods of the three fourteens numbred in the first chapter of Saint Matthew p. 67. Two notable preludiums of the birth of Jesus Christ and the agreement of the one with the other p. 69 God hath never published by Miracles the birth of any person except that of Jesus Christ p. 70. Wherefore hath not the Scripture set down the day of the Nativity of Jesus Christ p. 72. Of the service which the Angels have done to the Son of God from his manifestation in the flesh until his Ascension p. 77. Of the Miracles which our Lord wrought so long as he conversed in the world OF the advantage of the New Testament above the Old in regard of the number of persons which have had the gift of Miracies p. 79. Wherefore till the coming of the Son of God there have passed many ages without that any person hath had the gift of Miracles p. 82. Why none of them from whom Christ is descended according to the flesh hath had the gift of Miracles p. 84. Why John the Baptist had not the gift of Miracles p. 85. Of the divers degrees or steps by which our Lord displayed his miraculous power toward the bodies of men p. 86. Of the divers actions which Jesus Christ hath done in the Temple of Jerusalem p. 88. Why no
us that the most bloody adversaries of the children of God are not dispensed but by his order Among the resemblances between Moses and Christ the one of which gave the Law the other brought the Gospel there is one notable likenesse that is that the birth of both of them was made memorable by the death of innocents That of Moses by the cruelty of the Egyptians who drowned in the water the children of the Hebrews That of Christ by the barbarousnesse of Herod who caused the cutting of the throats of the children of Bethlehem Why in War the people of God have been often beaten by their enemies and why a good cause hath been overthrown Run thorow the holy History All the times that the people of God have been overcome in War you shall finde that this hath come to passe through their own fault to wit either because they have undertaken a War without cause as Josiah who quarrelled with the King of Egypt Or because they have concluded upon a War without enquiring at the mouth of God as the Israelites against the Tribe of Benjamin Or that they have fought against the expresse prohibition of God as the Hebrews that set upon the Amalekites encamped on the mountain Numb 14. Or because they have abused a precedent Victory as the children of Israel who having purloined of the accursed thing of Jericho were presently after beaten by the inhabitants of Ai Or for having consulted with the enemy of God as Saul who had recourse to a Sorceresse to learn what successe the battel should have Or for having broken the faith given to the enemy as Zedekiah who brake the agreements past between him and Nebuchadnezzar Or in sum by putting themselves out of the protection of God as the Israelites in the days of Eli the Priest to whom the contempt of Religion caused the losse of that lamentable Battel in which the Ark of God it self was taken and carried in triumph by the Philistines In most of these examples we may see that a good cause hath been vanquished but with reason The justice of the cause hath come to nothing through the injustice of them that managed it or through the injustice of the proceedings Sometimes also two parties that make War together may both have a just cause in part although one of them may have the lesse right of the two The Wars which the Christians have moved against Mahomet have had for their cause the honour of the Name of Christ On the other side Mahomet declareth that he hath taken arms to avenge the honour of God defiled by the Idolatries of Christians This cause which is but too true in regard of many men hath given him so many Victories over Christendom Why God never sent above one Angel or two at most when he intended to destroy men and hath often sent many when he intended to preserve one man Three Angels came to Abraham to promise him the birth of Isaac but there were but two which went to destroy Sodom To protect one Elisha an army of Angels appeared in the likenesse of charets of fire but to put to death one hundred fourscore and five thousand men in one night in the camp of Sennacherib to cause to die of the Pestilence seventy thousand in three days by reason of the sin of David who had numbred the people to destroy all the first-born of Egypt in an hour God employed not above one Angel Whence cometh it that to protect one man alone God sendeth sometimes whole legions of Angels and to destroy thousands of men yea whole Nations he sendeth but one Angel Surely the Angels were created for the preservation of men not for their destruction And although God useth them for the execution of his judgements neverthelesse to shew that this is as by accident and beyond the scope of their creation he never employeth above one or two when the businesse is to destroy man where on the contrary he employeth many when it is to save The Psalmist was not ignorant of this Divinity For when he prayeth against his enemies he desireth that the Angel of God the Angel in the singular number might persecute them Psal 35. But when he promiseth to the faithful the protection of God He shall give saith he his Angels charge over thee We know that in another place he speaketh in the singular of the Angel that encampeth about them that fear him and that often God is content to send onely one Angel to defend a great number of men But withal he hath often used the service of many Angels to this effect whereas to destroy man he never would employ in any occasion above onely one Angel or two at the most If man had persevered in original justice there had never been Miracles but onely of one kinde Miracles have been wrought to convince the incredulity of man and therefore they had not been at all necessary if man had not first become incredulous Besides Miracles have been wrought to teach men that which all Nature together knew not how to teach them to wit the benefit of Redemption which presupposeth the fall of man Certainly if man had remained in his first integrity he had never seen the waters of the deluge nor Lot's wife turned into a statue of Salt nor any of all those wonders which have served to chastise man Neither had he seen those miraculous healings nor the dead raised for neither death nor diseases which have furnished the subject of these Miracles had had any place in the state of innocency The onely kinde of Miracle which God would have shewed unto man if he had stil persisted in his integrity had been according to all probability to transport him at the last from earth to heaven without passing thorow death And this is a notable point that after the Creation God wrought no Miracle till the translation of Enoch who was carried up from earth to heaven God began his Miracles with that kinde of Miracle which onely ought to have had place if man had still continued righteous Of JESUS CHRIST A consideration of the divers Names and Titles of our Saviour And the differences that ought to be observed in expressing them VVHen we name him sometimes we call him onely Jesus sometimes we say Jesus Christ sometimes we say onely Christ sometimes we call him Our Lord sometimes we joyn all these names together Our Lord Jesus Christ sometimes we say The Son of God Now it seemeth indifferent by which of these Names we call him and we pronounce the first that cometh in our mouth But howsoever all these names designe the same Person neverthelesse every one of these doth not mark out to us all the qualities and relations which we consider in that person rather one signifieth him in one regard and another hath to it self also a particular meaning So that these Names ought not to be used confusedly or without choice but we are to pronounce that or those
or quality of an Altar in this Oblation Neither doth the Scripture ever call it so although it speaketh so often of the Crosse and of the Sacrifice of Christ Let it not displease so many learned men who have authorized this vulgar phrase That Christ was offered on the Altar of the Crosse The Crosse was not the Altar of this incomparable Sacrifice The name of Altar is of greater importance then many men consider This is an irrefragable Maxime That the Altar is greater then the Offering in as much as it is the Altar which sanctifieth the Offering Matth. 23.19 Whence would follow that which none should dare to think that the Crosse should be more excellent then the Body of Jesus Christ yea that it had sanctified it All that can be said when the name of Altar is given to the Crosse is this that it is not understood so in effect but onely by way of similitude or allusion But such a similitude transferreth to the Crosse a title which appertaineth to none but Christ for on the Crosse himself was the Altar the Sacrifice and the Priest altogether Under the Law these were different things because one of these figures alone could not represent Christ in all these three qualities but in him they are found united and no creature hath had part in this honour Why then should we communicate it to the wood of the Crosse Either this phrase hath helped toward the adoration of the Crosse or it hath proceeded from that Superstition or howsoever it be it hath been unwisely introduced without taking heed to the consequences which it draweth after it Why the Scripture speaketh of what matter the Crosse was made yet expresseth not the form of it It concerneth us to know that it was of wood This particularity should seem little considerable if the Apostle had not opened the mystery shewing that Christ hath delivered us from the curse insomuch as he was hanged on the tree because this kinde of death was cursed by the Law Deut. 20.23 Gal. 3.13 But for the structure of it of how many pieces it was composed how they were placed and in sum what figure it had this is that which the Scripture passeth under silence as not necessary The form which is commonly given to the Crosse is contradicted by the learned which represent it quite another We shall observe from hence that supposing we had the true figure of the Crosse and that it were an object of adoration as the Church of Rome teacheth this honour would not appertain to any but Crosses of wood for Jesus Christ was not crucified on a Crosse of stone or silver Neverthelesse they make Crosses of all things but this is to falsifie that of Christ under pretext to represent it None hath wrought Miracles at his death except the Son of God This is remarkable against the Jews Divers great servants of God have wrought Miracles in their life but never in their death Was there ever man at whose death appeared such wonders as at the death of Christ Whence cometh it that neither Moses nor Joshua nor Samuel nor Prophet nor King nor Patriarch hath wrought any Miracle dying And whence cometh it that this crucified having given up the Ghost rendeth the Veil of the Temple darkeneth the Sun cleaveth the Rocks shaketh the Earth and opened the Sepulchres The exploit of Samson dying howsoever prodigious yet it was not miraculous to speak properly nor doth it approach any thing neer to those great wonders which our Lord wrought in his death Wherefore is Jesus Christ the onely man among all men whose death hath been honoured with visible miracles if not to distinguish him from all other men by a mark so illustrious So as I have observed before as well the Birth as the death of Christ have been signalized by miracles and never any man whatsoever hath had the like honour Three signes from heaven exhibited in three several passages by the which Jesus Christ hath been declared publikely to be the Messiah In the course of the life of Jesus Christ in the days of his humiliation we consider his Nativity his Baptism and his Death His Nativity in which he began to appear in the world His Baptism by which he entered into the functions of his Office And his Death by which he finished the work of the Redemption Every one of these mystries was immediately followed and overtaken by a signe from Heaven and that way shewed unto the world His Birth by the Star which carried the news as far as the East preceded by the acclamation of Angels publishing this happie Nativity His Baptism by the opening of the Heavens and the descent of the holy Ghost in the shape of a dove accompanied by the voice of God His Death by the miraculous darkning of the Sun which filled all the earth with darknesse When the Jews demanded that Jesus Christ should authorize his calling by some signe from Heaven they should have learned that which passed at his Birth and his Baptism and afterward they ought to have considered that which happened at his death They had then seen his calling attested by three signes from Heaven Why the High Priest who represented Jesus Christ never came neer to the dead and yet Jesus Christ did the contrary The Law forbade the High Priest to touch a dead corps yea to enter into any house in which there was one deceased yea to shew any signe of grief were it for his own father or mother Levit. 21.10 11. Whence it appeareth that if he found himself in any place where any person was at the point of death it behoved him to depart from thence immediately his presence being incompatible with that of a dead body But on the contrary Jesus Christ entered into the house where lay the dead body of the daughter of Jairus Himself took her by the hand He touched the Coffin of the young man of Naim that was carrying to the grave He shed tears over Lazarus already putrified These particuiars are more important then they seem to be Certainly the defiling which the Law findeth in dead bodies might bear a reflexion upon the Priest because he was not capable of removing the corruption of death But he which is able to give life unto the dead is above this Law and the reach of this infection Here is seen a notable difference The Mosaical Priesthood abandoneth the dead and leaveth them in their uncleâ—nnesse because it cannot remedy it But the true and eternal Priest because he raiseth the dead hath conversed with them and his touch hath restored their life He cometh to search us yea within our graves yea he guardeth our bones Why the fear of death was more excusable in the Saints of the Old Testament then it is now And why we ought not to imitate them in all that which have spoken concerning this subject We should finde it strange that the apprehension of a natural death should make a Christian to
speak so as Hezekiah spake when he believed he should die Isai 38 or as David Psal 6. It is a matter of astonishment that these great men have been so exceeding fearful of their departure out of this world Here I passe by the particular causes from whence proceeded this weaknesse But in general before that Jesus Christ died death was more dreadful then it hath been since for as yet death was not swallowed up in Victory and the faithful of the Old Testament had not the example of Jesus Christ dead as we have The fear of death therefore was more just in them then it can be in us From whence it followeth that it is not still permitted to us to speak as they did when we are menaced with death It would be very hard to approve that a Christian should complain of this that he should no more behold God in the land of the living and that he is deprived of the conversation of this world or to alleadge that he might not die that the dead praise not God These complaints and the like discourses which the Fathers of the Old Testament have uttered upon this subject have no more place since that Christ died and rose again as I shall speak more particularly upon the Article of the Resurrection The descent of CHRIST into Hell An observation upon the words of the Apostle Rom. 10.6 7. forbidding to ask who shall ascend into heaven or who shall descend into the abysse AMong so many men signalized by extraordinary events there are two remarkable one of which ascended into heaven and descended the other descended into the deep and re-ascended The first is Elijah who was carried up into heaven and afterward came back to the earth to accompany the Son of God in his Transfiguration The other is Jonah who went into the bottom of the gulfs and returned living But the one and the other were but a shadow of Christ to whom all these passages and returns agree more particularly For not onely he descended into the Abysse and returned but he is also ascended into heaven yet once more to come down Now I go not about to examine in what sense he said even before his Ascension that already he had ascended into heaven and already had descended from heaven Joh. 3.13 But concerning his descent into the deep the Apostle explaineth it openly when he opposeth those two one to the other To descend into the deep and To be brought back from the deâ—d For from thence followeth that to be brought back from the dead is to reascend from the Abysse And this also presupposeth that to descend into the Abysse is none other thing then to be reduced to the estate of the dead As for the name of the Abysse it is known that Jesus Christ calleth his Sepulchre the heart of the earth comparing it to the place where Jonah had been in the Abysse Matth. 12.40 From hence it cometh that many understand by the descent of Christ into hell that after his burial he was yet farther humbled so far as to sojourn in the estate of the dead that is to say within his Sepulcher from whence he was raised by his Resurrection Why Christ being on the Crosse pronounced the first words of the 22 Psalm These words expresse the complaint which he made of being forsaken of God And many Orthodox men take that extreme humiliation of Christ for his descent into hell Now why he did use the words of this Psalm a reason is given There is not a passage in all the Old Testament which better representeth the estate of Christ upon the Crosse There is seen the parting of his garments the casting of lots for his coat his hands and feet pierced his enemies wagging the head and vomit-out their mockeries He therefore used this Psalm as having been dictated for him But to this reason which is notorious to every one I will adde another which I ground upon an hypothesis maintained by some interpreters The first action say they that the Priests and the Levites daily did in the Temple into which they entered at break of day was to sing this two and twentieth Psalm the which upon this occasion beareth for the title A Psalm of the dawning of the day and beginneth My God my God why hast thou forsaken me I observe from hence that the first words with which the Priests began the first hour and the first act of their Functions are the same which Christ uttered in the last hour and the last act of the Redemption For having been already three hours upon the Crosse upon the point of rendering up his spirit into the hands of his Father and of declaring that all was finished he cried out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me He ended where the Priests began to shew that all the ancient Priesthood and all the service of the Temple from their beginning then expired and finished in him who is the end and closure of the Law The fruits of the death of CHRIST Why the Son of God deserred so long time to come and expiate the sins of the world THis question which the ignorant will blame of rashnesse is suggested unto us by the Scripture it self which hath set down the solution of it It is not enough to say according to the fashion of the ignorant that Jesus Christ came not sooner because God would not have it so We are to know why he would it not since himself hath shewed us the causes in the which are seen the rays of his wonderful wisdom About four thousand yeers passed after the fall of Adam before the Son of God came Sin multiplied with the multiplication of mankinde Death destroyed one generation after another All ages groaned for the Deliverer but he appeared not till after so long a time Now setting aside the marvellous Oeconomy by which God measured and divided the times which preceded the coming of Christ in which is seen an infinity of steps and proportions as so many stars which marched before the Sun we will onely say That it was important for the glory of God and to render so much the more glorious the benefit of Redemption that sin and death should reign a long time and devour a long rank of generations before the Saviour should shew himself For that long durance of sin and death extending it self thorow so many ages and infolding all the successions of people born the one after the other hath caused to be seen how great was the misery of mankinde and the necessity of the remedy and how great is the vertue of Christ who hath healed an evil so universal and so inveterate Rom. 5.14 That for these ends and to shew the abundance of Grace God permitted that sin should abound and that it might abound the Law intervened Rom. 5.20 It behoved therefore first that there should passe a long time before the Law should begin her raign and a long time before she should
nameth the number of young people raised from the dead is greater then that of aged persons of whom we have none but Tobitha and it may be him that was raised in the grave of Elisha Now this also is a short table or patern of the great Resurrection which is to be at the last Day For that shall raise far more young people then old This needeth no demonstration The number of them that die young hath still surpassed the number of them that die old How many human creatures die in their childhood or in their growth or in the flower of their age Those that go beyond all those first seasons of their life and arrive as far as the last are very few in comparison of them whom death intercepteth in the way As therefore the number of the younger sort is the greater among the dead so also it shall be the greater in the Resurrection of the dead And to represent this to us God would by a mysterious Preludium raise more of young people then of old Of the first Resurrection and of the second death mentioned Revel 20. And from whence those terms are extracted THis passage hath divers difficulties For it speaketh of a term of a thousand yeers during which the Saints must raign with Christ It is also said that the rest of the dead are not to rise till those thousand yeers be accomplished and this is the first Resurrection Concerning which the Expositours both ancient and modern have very different opinions And many renewing the opinion of the Millenaries figure to themselves a bodily Resurrection of the faithful which they believe must precede by many ages the Resurrection of other men Now I will not contradict the common exposition which beareth that by the first Resurrection is meant the Regeneration by which we rise again into newnesse of life And by the second Death that which is otherwise called eternal But that which I have to observe here is that these terms the first Resurrection the second death carry with them an excellent allusion which is not considered though it be very visible and that it giveth abundance of light in the obscurity of this text This therefore is to be noted that according to the literal construction of these words there are two Resurrections The one which is or already hath been performed in this world the other which is to be at the last day The one is particular the other is universal Now this is true historically and really For Lazarus Eutychus Tabitha and divers others mentioned in Scripture have been already raised once this is the first Resurrection and shall yet be raised once more to wit in the end of the world with the rest of the dead So that they have two Resurrections having already passed thorow the first This allusion is extended yet farther It is said touching them that have part in this first Resurrection that the second death hath no power over them Upon which it is to be considered that it is never said that Lazarus or any of all them which were raised from the dead died the second time It is very true that they died again for Christ is the first of them that rose to immortality Neverthelesse the Scripture which is so exact to set down all that which is worthy of consideration never relateth the second death of them which have been raised no not of one of them It did import as it should seem to know so much the consequents and the effects of the divine power which restored them to life that we should know whether they lived any long time after they were raised from the dead Yet their second death is not read in the Scripture A silence so constant and universal as well in the one as the other Testament is not without some great ground I think therefore that this omission is mysterious as divers others which are seen in the Scripture There is no doubt but that Melchizedek died as well as other men Yet as every one knoweth he is said to be without end of life Heb. 7.3 That is to say in as much as he is presented as such in the holy History the which reciteth not either the birth or the decease of this person but rather produceth him as a man eternal Accordingly howsoever those that have been raised have been returned to the grave yet this is not expressed The Scripture after having raised them leaveth them as living for ever without ever saying that they died afterward So that their second death is not found Where therefore it is spoken Revel 20. of those which have part in the first Resurrection that the second death hath no power over them it is evident that this expression is drawn from the history of them whom we read to have been raised from the dead which is the first Resurrection but we read not that they died the second time Thus the Spirit of God draweth matters Historical to frame the images of future events which it setteth to view in Prophecies This Book of the Revelation is all composed of such pictures whereof the stuff and colours are borrowed of that which hath come to passe really according to the letter but animated with a spiritual and mystical sense For it doth not follow that that which is literally in History ought to be understood literally in Prophecie On the contrary it representeth one thing by another quite different though there be a resemblance of one to the other These Prophetick terms that the second death hath no power over them which have a part in the first Resurrection expresse formally the history of Lazarus and the rest which already have had one Resurrection which we read not to have been followed by a second death Shall we therefore yet expect that some shall be raised before the last Day yea a thousand yeers before By the same reason it will be requisite that we expect two men which shall have power to shut up heaven to hinder that it rain not to turn waters into blood to smite the earth with all plagues to consume their enemies with fire coming forth of their mouth Revel 11.5 6. But this if we take it literally is as absurd as if we would make Moses and Elias to come again for this Prophecie is moulded upon their history By the same reason we must imagine Jaspers Amethysts Emeralds in the heavenly Jerusalem Rev. 21. where the magnificence of it is represented under the figure of those precious stones which were set in the brestplate of the High-Priest Exod. 28. And by the same reason we must rebuild the Altar and Temple of Jerusalem which represent the Christian Church Revel 11. Everlasting life The first and the last of all Miracles THe first Miracle that came to passe after the Creation is as I have already said the translation of Enoch And the last Miracle which shall be wrought in the world shall be the translation of the faithful which
at the last Day shall be carried up to heaven All the Miracles from the first to the last tend to carry man to heaven And by their beginning God would shew what should be their conclusion Why Adam was not carried bodily to heaven as well as Enoch The translation of Enoch was a preludium of ours which we expect and a testimony of eternal life where we shall be gathered together in body and soul But it is worth the enquiring Why God wrought not this Miracle in the person of the first man but deferred it until the seventh generation Behold then what may be said concerning it If Adam who represented all mankinde had been carried up to heaven as Enoch afterward was there would not have wanted some that would conclude that heaven appertained naturally unto men as children and heirs of Adam Now to prevent this errour and to teach us that heavenly beatitude is given by Grace and not by Nature the Wisdom of God found it not good that the common father of men should ascend corporally to heaven but would that he should die and that his body should remain in the earth Besides that which is most worthy of observation God would not translate Enoch till such time as Adam was dead and yet Enoch had already lived above three hundred yeers before the decease of Adam But after that Adam was dead Enoch was the first Patriarch that went out of the world For great reasons the going forth of Enoch was preceded by that of his grandfather In that of Adam who died God did shew what it is that men hold of their Nature to wit death In that of Enoch who was carried up without dying God hath shewed what it is that the righteous ought to expect from Grace to wit immortality In that of Adam the father of all is seen the condition of all men to whom it is appointed once to die In that of Enoch is seen the priviledge of Believers who shall be carried to heaven And as the death of Adam went before the rapture of Enoch so it behoveth that we die iâ— Adam before we can be carried up with Enoch Why God hath shewed the glory of heaven to some that were yet upon the earth and yet never shewed hell to any person while he was in this world Saint Steven being as yet here belowe the heavens were opened unto him and he saw the glory of God Saint Paul being as yet mortal was in the third heaven and heard unspeakable words that there were uttered But none whether Elect or Reprobate ever saw hell but after his death Why hath not that place of torment been shewn unto mortals as well as Paradise The cause for which God hath caused the joys of heaven to be seen hath been to the end to comfort his children and to encourage them to those sufferings which should be followed by such a glory The sight of hell maketh not for this purpose Nor is it enough to say that it might serve for the conversion of unbelievers For if a wicked man had seen hell he would no more amend then the brethren of the wicked rich man would have done upon the word of one dead that had come back from the bosome of Abraham Luke 16.31 Why Saint Paul being come back from the third heaven speaketh not of having Seen but onely of having Heard 2 Cor. 14.4 It may be that in effect he was transported thither rather to Hear then to See And this Either because being yet mortal God revealed himself to him as to Moses not by the sight of his face of which every man living is uncapable but by the words of his mouth Exod. 33.18 c. Or because being to descend yet from heaven hither below to instruct others he had need to receive instructions and by consequence it was more necessary for him to Hear then to See more profitable both to him and to those that were afterward taught by him For howsoever the words which he had heard were unspeakable yet they furnished him with great lights the which he forgot not but brought them from above to enlighten both himself and others Of Faith The Conclusion of this Treatise Two onely things at which Jesus Christ as man wondered THe one was the Unbelief of his country-men the Galileans Mark 6.6 The other was the Faith of a stranger to wit the Centurion Matth. 8.10 We read not that Jesus Christ in the days of his humiliation ever admired any thing but these two It is truely a thing to be admired that many are unbelievers in a greater light and that many have a great faith being enlightened but by a little spark Of a strange method by which God obligeth men to believe It were an impertinency and folly for one man to say to another I command thee to believe this for Belief is not formed by Commandment but by Perswasion None is master of the Belief of another no not of his own For a man cannot Believe all that he would yea he is often constrained to believe that which he would not as the devils believe against their will that there is a God The object of Belief is not Imperative but Indicative nor is it proposed in form of a Commandment but in that of a Narration Neverthelesse God doth not onely invite us to Believe in presenting to us the Truths which are the objects of our Faith but himself commandeth us This is his Commandment that we should Believe on the Name of his Son Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 3.23 Upon which we ought to consider that in commanding to believe he can cause us to believe His words when it pleaseth him to animate them with his Spirit plant Faith in the heart of man Nor doth it import that they be narrative or prohibitive or otherwise conceived For their efficacy dependeth not upon the form of the expressions but upon the secret vertue of their Author It were a great impropriety every way if a man should command me to believe for with all his commandments he cannot cause me to believe as long as my spirit perswadeth me to the contrary But God who is the Father and the Master of spirits can speak in the terms of Commanding because in commanding to Believe in effect he giveth the grace to Believe So that language which were absurd in the mouth of man is admirable in the mouth of God Of those that promise to Believe if the truth be shewn unto them There is nothing more ordinary among them which dispute against the true Religion then these words Prove me that which ye say and I will believe it But these people speak as if Faith onely depended upon themselves They promise that which is not in their power This is as if a blinde man should promise to know colours provided they be shewed unto him The Truth what evidence soever it bringeth with it is not perceptible but to him that hath eyes capable of discerning it Now this
man ever wrought Miracle within the Temple of God except the Son of God An observation upon this subject p. 89. Why Jesus Christ when he was hungry or thirsty or weary with travel never helped himself by his miraculous power to give himself refreshment p. 91. Why the Son of God after he was raised from the dead ceased from healing the sick p. 92. Of the Tears of Christ in the days of his Flesh p. 93. Christ condemned by Pilate AConsideration why the names of diveâ—â— wicked men are set down in the histâ—â— of the Passion of Christ p. 9â— The name of the Romane Empire hath is tervened both in the birth and death of Christ p. 97. The Death and Burial of CHRIST FOur glorious occurrences distant many ages one from the other and coming â—â— passe on the like day p. 98. An advertisement touching the Name of Altar improperly ascribed to the Crosse p. 100. Why the Scripture speaketh of what matter the Crosse was made yet expresseth not the form of it p. 102. None hath wrought Miracles at his death except the Son of God p. 103. Three signes from heaven exhibited in three several passages by the which Jesus Christ hath been declared publikely to be the Messiah p. 104. Why the High Priest who represented Jesus Christ nâ—ver came neer to the dead and yet Jesus Christ did the contrary p. 106. Why the fear of death was more excusable in the Saints of the Old Testament then it is now And why we ought not to imitate them in all that which they have spoken concerning this subject p. 108. The descent of CHRIST into Hell AN observation upon the words of the Apostle Rom. 10.6 7. forbidding to ask who shall ascend into heaven or who shall descend into the abysse p. 110. Why Christ being on the Crosse pronounced the first words of the 22 Psalm p. 112. The fruits of the death of CHRIST VVHy the Son of God deferred so long time to come and expiate the sins of the world p. 114. An admirable concurrence of the time of Redemption with the times of the most famous Ceremonies of the Law An observation upon this subject p. 118. A mysterious reason of the name which the Apostle giveth to the Sacrifice of Christ calling it A Sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour Ephes 5.2 p. 120. The Resurrection of CHRIST NIne examples of the Resurrection of the dead which have gone before or followed the Resurrection of Christ An Harmony between those that were raised under the Old Testament and those that were raised by the Son of God while himself was yet mortal p. 123. Why Christ rose not again the day after his death but suffered the whole Sabbath day to passe over before he returned to life p. 125. A comparison of the time which God employed in the Creation with that which he employed in the Redemption And of the days of the one and the other p. 127. The first and neerest cause of the three days detaining of Jonah in the whales belly p. 128. The Resurrection of Christ figured in Hezekiah by a double resemblance p. 129. Why none ever was raised again the third day after his death but onely Christ p. 131. Three miraculous Sepulchres in the holy History p. 134. Four men that raised the dead before and after the coming of Christ p. 135. The continuation of the Article of the Resurrection of CHRIST His Ascension into Heaven His Sitting at the right hand of God CHrist hath verified his Resurrection by all the proofs which could be given p. 136. Why God never raised any person of note to converse among men except the Messiah p. 137. Of all those that have been raised from the dead none is introduced in Scripture speaking except Jesus Christ p. 141. Three several Fourties of Days in the time that our Saviour stayed in this world Observations upon this circumstance p. 143. Why the Son of God entered no more into the Temple after his Resurrection And the difference in this regard between Him and those which were his principal types p. 145. Of those which have seen the Son of God being in heaven p. 146. All the miraculous prerogatives which have been severally in divers Saints are found united in one onely Christ in a soveraign degree p. 148. Of the last Judgement VVHy doth the holy History never say that God descended but onely where the businesse hath been to do justice or to establish it and protect the innocent p. 150. An observation upon the four general Judgements mentioned in the Scriptures p. 151. A wonderful Mystery which is seen in the several goings out of the three first men which God took out of the world p. 153. Why God who hath foretold and set down the measures of certain particular times hath not revealed how long the world should endure or when the day of Judgement should be p. 156. Of the holy Ghost FOur remarkable productions which the Scripture attributeth to the Spirit of God to wit two in the Creation two in the Redemption p. 159. Why the Scripture representeth the holy Ghost and his effects under the names of Water of Fire of Anointing with Oil and of Sprinkling of Blood The true interpretation of these terms contained in divers passages p. 160. A catalogue of those actions which were celebrated with Aspersion of Blood in the time of the Law p. 163. Blood hath no propriety of making white Why then is it said Apocal. 7.14 that the Saints have made white their robes in the blood of the Lamb p. 166. Of the Church and the Communion of Saints WHy Moses is more prolix and more exact in the description of the Tabernacle then in that of the whole world p. 169. The number of persons that make up the body of the universal Church is not onely prefixed and definite but also regulated by measures and proportions p. 171. Of the small number of believers in the three several comings of the Son of God Resemblances on this subject p. 174. Three several states of the Church in three several times and three several titles of it p. 175. A difference between the Church of the Old Testament and that of the New in regard of the Communion of those things which were ordained to sanctity p. 176. Four several buildings of which God hath been the Architect representing severally the estate of the Church p. 178. Why the most notable periods of the Church and many famous mysteries had their beginning in a Desert p. 180. All the Church was never gathered together in one place except then when it was in the Ark. p. 182. The Remission of Sins A Difference between the Remission which the Law presented of old to sinners and that which is offered unto them by the Gospel p. 184. Which is most injurious and repugnant to God Either Despair or Presumption p. 187. A believer having commited some sin very enormous is it credible although he have repented and obtained pardon that God will love him altogether as much as he loved him before the offence committed Ibid. Examples of divers great sinners reestablished in their first estate p. 190. The Resurrection of the Flesh WHy is Abraham so highly commended for having believed that God could raise the dead Heb. 11.19 p. 192. An admirable gradation in those which have heen raised from the dead p. 193. Why there have been more young people raised from the dead then old p. 195. Of the first Resurrection and of the second death mentioned Revel 20. And from whence those terms are extracted p. 197. Everlasting life THe first and the last of all Miracles p. 203. Why Adam was not carried bodily to heaven as well as Enoch p. 204. Why God hath shewed the glory of heaven to some that were yet upon the earth and yet never shewed hell to any person while he was in this world p. 206. Why Saint Paul being come back from the third heaven speaketh not of having Seen but onely of having Heard 2 Cor. 14.4 p. 207. Of Faith The Conclusion of this Treatise TWo onely things at which Jesus Christ as man wondered p. 208. Of a strange method by which God obligeth men to Believe p. 209. Of those that promise to Believe if the truth be shewn unto them p. 110. FINIS