matter of this mystery follows We shall not all die but we shall all be changed The power and strength of death working unequally upon mankinde it seemes a great wonder and a mysterie indeed how that some should be happier than their fellowes to be exempted from this common law which is a Statute law Heb. 9 27. and It is appointed for all men once to die And how then are these become so happy to escape the common doome inflicted for the sin of Adam upon all mankinde surely to our common sense they are the happiest of all men even those that shall live in those dayes For we love our flesh so well that wee are loath to commit it to the ground wee are loath that dust should goe to dust and ashes to ashes but still wee would continue and be the last men upon the earth And this great ambition we have so truely and so radically in us that a man would give all that he had in this world not to be taken away till the world be taken away It is the greatest comfort of a mans life to be snatched and hurried away when the universality goes away It is a great comfort to have abundance of company in misery But for this the holy Ghost hath taught us Vse to settle our selves in patience the Lord hath appointed our severall times They are never a whit the more happy because they shall not die nor we never the more unhappy because wee shall die for life and death are all one to them that are planted in the Lord Iesus Christ For it is he that is our advantage he is our hope in death that wee shall attaine unto everlasting life And whether we shall come unto it by the way of resting and rottennesse in the grave or by a sudden and extemporarie change and mutation it ought to seeme all one unto us It is true if God should vouchsafe us that blessing to stand the last men upon the earth and to be the last generation it were a thing very plausible and that which we should desire but we ought not too much to settle upon it for the Lord hath made it a mysterie It is a mysterie when any man dies It is a mysterie in the generall and in the particular it is a mysterie when God calls any man unto him and wee must not wish contrary to the will of God but be content with that portion that he hath destinated unto us Our first parents because they were the authors of sin and transgression Adam and Eve the Lord hath given them the longest time of rotting they lie longest in their graves and they dwell in the pavillions and habitations of death the longest because they were the first authors of wrong to us In the later end of the world the Lord will incline in mercie because he hath been long in judgement in the judgement of death he will incline in the latter generations of the world and give them a taste of his mercy All things grow lesse by continuance and use as a raging plague and pestilence when it comes first into a Citie it takes away a number of people three or foure thousand in a weeke afterward the Lord allayes that rage and abates the disease that there are not so many this week as there were the week before nor so many the next week as there were this So in this common calamity as the world growes in yeares nearer the end of her time so her children that is the people of God which lie in their graves they have lesse time to lie The first authors of sinne when Gods anger was fierce and vehement they are condemned to lie longer in the dust to inhabit and dwell there At the last the plague of God shall begin to slacken and to abate it selfe and the anger of God shall be mitigated and mollified so that those that live in the last age they shall have the least time of sleeping in the dust But in these things we ought to make no difference for the patience that God indues his children with makes up this whether a man sleepe a thousand yeares or five thousand it is all one because God seasons their death with a meditation of the Resurrection and in the meane time inricheth the soule with the beatificall vision with the presence of his Majesty and with that joy that cannot be comprehended in the heart of man We shall not all sleepe Observe againe the Apostle speaks in the first person Wee he saith We shall not all sleepe and yet hee is asleep aswell as other men how then doth he say We shall not all sleep His meaning is to take upon him the person of the Church of God in generall and especially that part of the Church that shall survive when Christ shall come For St. Paul is done to dust as wee shall be and there is no difference in that part that went to the grave There is no difference but onely this that he sleeps in the Lord hee sleeps a glorious compasse and yet he saith We shall not al sleep Vnderstand that he speaks still of the â—ommon state of the Church and for that part of the Church which hee brings the argument for For now he brings his argument to answer an accusation or conclusion which might be made against his doctrine Some might aske him What shall become of those that shall be living at the comming of Christ Oh saith he I am of them although I die before that time yet I am of that number For the members of Christ are not distinguished by time but are all one Abel might have said Wee and Adam might have said Wee of the last end of the world This teacheth us how great the communion of Saints is that it is not broken by the entercourse of yeares time but that it still continues We shall not all sleep The blessing of God runs on still with perpetuity and that which is true to one generation is firme to another and that which belongs to one is common to all This is that communion of Saints in the strength of which the Apostle uttered this phrase We shall not all sleep as he doth oft times in his other Epistles We shall not doe this and wee shall not doe that Although the Apostle be dead and rotten 15. hundred years agoe yet he saith We shall not all sleep But we shall all be changed Still We as if he were one of the men Here he teacheth us another lesson that the Apostle was a man that still looked for the day of judgement He saith We shall all be changed It may be I shall be one of the men I know not it may be the trumpet shall blow while I live for the Lord hath reserved the time onely to himselfe the day of judgement is knowne to no man Nay the son of man as hee is man knowes not when Christ shall come to judgement Therefoâ—e I prepare my selfe
by paginalls by leaves that is to say the holy Scriptures contained in so many books But the trumpet at the comming of Christ it shall not be in pagina but in praesentia In the presence of the Sonne with the voice of the Sonne himselfe According as it is said Ioh. 5. Ioh. 5.25 there are many that sleep in their graves and monuments that shall heare the voice of the Sonne of God and shall rise againe Thus the Fathers seeme to incline to that opinion that the voice of the trumpet shall be metaphoricall that it is an allusiâ—n and a figurative speech But howsoever this it is most certaine that it shall be a sensible voice which shall be heard that as St. Ierom Jerome saith they shall heare with their eares and goe along with their feet unto the tribunall seat of judgement The best therefore that we can say and conclude of it is this according as wee see but in part 1 Cor. 13 9. we understand but in part in a darke riddle while wee live in this world the Lord shall then create a voice in the aire an audible voice in the aire which shall run through all parts and passages of the world and it shall be so mighty and so powerfull as that the dead bodies in the grave shall heare it Every thing heares when God speaks The waters heard the voice of Christ the windes heard the voice of Christ the devils heard his voice the rocks and stones heard him So there is an obedientiall power in every thing created and it cannot but heare when God speaks This is that trumpet that is a voice that shall be modulate and framed whether it shall be to descant as it is very likely or to a plain tune But howsoever it shall be a voice and a voice like the sound of a Trumpet which God shall frame in the body of the ayre Who shal blow this Trumpet But who shall blow this trumpet who shall sound it Here the curiosity of man must lay the hand up on the mouth and surcease It is a damnable thing for a man to enquire into that which God hath not reveiled Some of the Fathers have been inching and questioning about this point who it shall be but it is certain it shall be the voice of an Arch-angell Although the voice be properly the voice of the Son of God yet it is not meet that the voice should come from him it is not meet that the voice should be the immediate voice of the Sonne of God that should blow in the aire but as the voice of a Cryer or Herald when the King comes to a place is said to be the voice of the King because he cryes and proclaimes not his owne matters but the Kings So the Angell that shall be imployed in this businesse he is said to utter the voice of God and the voice of Christ from whom that which he utters receives all the efficacy and power And though it be the voice of an Angell and by the ministery of an Angell yet it shall be by the ordinance and power and authority of the Son of God that shall make this voice Therefore the Fathers resolve upon two which they think shall sound the trumpet Michaell or Gabriell They think Michaell shall sound it because he is the Prince of Angels and in the Revelation Michael his Angels Rev. 12.7 fought against the devill and his angels But this is unlikely for Michael there is to be understood of Christ the Sonne of God that fought with the power of satan upon the crosse But I rather incline to the other that it shall be Gabriell the Arch-angell who was hee onely that brought the newes of Christs first comming in Luke 1. Luke 1. As hee was used by God to bring tidings of Christs Incarnation that he should be borne of a virgin in his first comming so it is probable that he shall be imployed by the same Majesty againe to bring newes of the last comming of the Lord when hee shall come to judgement Concerning these things I will not be too inquisitive neither would I have you to be too curious for an Angell or an Arch-angell it must be for the word is so 2 Part. Why called the last trump I come now to the next thing Why is it called the last trump for if hee call it the last trump it hath reference to some others that were before it And so it is true for those that were before were figures of this last trump those seaven kinde of trumpets Theoph. Oecumenius Rev. 8. 9. and especially as Theophilact and Oecumenius observe St Paul hath reference to Rev. 8. there are seaven trumpets and they all sounded and presently there came vialls of wrath upon the world presently upon the sound of those trumpets So St. Paul tells us that there shall come trumpets betweene the time that he wrote and spake these things and betweene the last trump that shall sound there shall be other trumpets then this That is those seaven before spoken of which in the time of the Romane Empire the Lord uttered himselfe by expressing his will in them and also in the time of the Christian Empire And indeed in the time of all Christian Kings these trumpets have blowne and indeed these silver trumpets blow daily if wee could understand what were the right meaning of them and what the newes of them were And if there doe not one of these trumpets blow now a man cannot tell what to determine when there are such common combustions in the world when there are such warres and rumours of wars and such risings of one Prince against another when there is such common effusion of christian bloud Certainly this is a rare shrill trumpet which should be wisely by the cautelous and diligent hearing of every christian souldier observed to prepare them for the battaile to prepare them for the day of the Lord because it cannot be long before the last trump blow These trumpets indeed goe before but they are signes that the last trump is comming after and perhaps it shall come at the heeles and overtake the former before we be aware Aug. For as St. Austin saith well the Trumpet useth not to sound at midnight but in the morning and at the evening so saith he the Lords trumpet sounded in the morning when he gave the law at the promulgation of the law at the building of the Tabernacle at the dedication of the Temple it sounded in the morning of the world And now it sounds at the evening at the later end of the world it begins now to sound if men will open their eares to entertaine it But for the other trumpet saith he it may well be that the last trump of all shall sound at midnight that when men are quiet and secure and give themselves to profound sleepe that then the Lord may take them napping that as they
in the Apostles place that they would Vse 1 follow his steps to have their reioycing in this one Lord and master to have no ioy in the world or in men in goods and profits in pleasures honours or in preferments which the world usually buyes and sels To have no reioycing in these but as they bee men that belong to God so let them reioyce onely in God And there is all the poynt of gloriation Therefore let not the rich man boast in his riches Ier. 9.23 or the strong man in his strength but let him that reioyceth reioyce in the Lord for it is he that executes iudgement and iustice and that sheweth mercy to those that reioyce in him as the Lord speakes Vse 2 Againe this must teach us to mingle these two together as the holy Apostle doth Reioycing and death we must labour by the study of pleasing Almighty God to keepe this sweet temper in us Wee are sure of the one but we must labour for the other I wonder not when I heare thee say as the Apostle doth here I dye daily for every man doth so there is not the most sensuall man but he hath a touch of death every day eyther by sensible misery or by the touch of conscience by bringing of his sinnes to his view That is incident to nature and a consequent of sinne to dye But what is thy reioycing what comfort hast thou in Christ This is that we should desire and call upon God continually for even to make this temper and mixture in us for the one is as necessarie as the other and God is as ready to give the one as our nature is ready to draw the other upon it selfe And this must be by this one meanes the making Iesus Christ thy Lord knowing no other Lord besides him no nor none against him nor none with him but that he may have the preheminence and be all in all as he is to his children in the world and shall be for ever in another world So thou must make him all thy ayme all that thou desirest all thy gloriation because thou must or canst desire nothing but it is seated in him To conclude with the time here is a modell of a christian mans estate death and life sorrow and ioy he is composed of such strange differences as the understanding of man cannot attaine unto But yet assuredly the Lord is never so heavy to him in iudgment but he is withall rich in mercy sorrow of heart shall never so surround him but he shall have the ioy of the holy Ghost to survive him As Saint Augustine Augustine saith upon that place of Paul Redeeme the time because the dayes are evill I saith he it is true the time in this world is evill but all the dayes that are in Christ are good dayes all the dayes of the Lord are good all the dayes of sinne are evill Let us sell them then he that redeemes parts with one thing to get another Let us sell these evill dayes in this world that we may get those good dayes in the grace of Christ And as Saint Gregory Gregory saith Good Iesus hee that hath thee looseth nothing and though he be in the midst of death yet he shall be recompenced with life although hee be in the midst and swallowed up with sorrow and deepe pangs of conscience yet thy spirit is there to remove that sorrow for though sorrow indureth for a night yet ioy commeth in the morning Psal 30. Psal 30.5 And in thy light wee shall see light thy wrath indures for the twinckling of an eye but in thy pleasure there is life for evermore This is the blessed state that every Christian is called unto and the Lord make it every one of our portions for Iesus Christs sake Amen FINIS 1 COR. 15.32 If I have fought with beasts at Ephesus after the manner of men what doth it availe me if there be no resurrection from the dead THis is now the conclusion of that argument which Saint Paul draws from his owne person For drawing his principall argument from the sufferings of the Church to prove the resurrection of the dead he begins first with the generall and then he descends to the particular and last of all he comes to the personall First the generall was verse 29. What shall they doe that are baptised for the dead Then in the next verse he comes to the Colledge of the Apostles and saith We also are in ieopardy every day And for his owne particular he protests he dyes daily in the verse before the Text. And now he comes to explaine this how it should be taken saith he If I have fought with beasts at Ephesus after the manner of men Because he had spoken of a thing unlikely and unusuall and unwonted and therefore it might be offensive to Atticke eares such as were at Corinth to say that he lived and yet was dead therefore now he tempers his speech and mitigates it by this exposition when he saith He received the sentence of death against himselfe for hee was cast to beasts to fight with them eyther indeed according to the letter as it was a kinde of punishment and torment that the Pagan persecutors assigned the Christians unto or by way of metaphore as many and most of the Fathers of the Church interpret it But how ever the force of the argument is all one For whether he were cast to beasts and suffered to take his weapons and to defend himselfe and so by the mercy of God to escape without hurt from them or whether he meane by fighting with beasts beastly minded men as the phrase of Scripture often insinuates the strength of the argument is all one For often times a man were better bee cast unto beasts then to men there being more mercy and lesse fury in the pawes of the very beasts than in the working braines of men and the malicious conveyances that they have in the world So whether wee take it for beasts literally or for men that were beasts metaphorically the force of the argument is equall For saith he if there were no hope of the Resurrection then I would doe as the world doth and I would say as they say I would accommodate my selfe to all mens humours I would be so farre from casting my selfe into such dangers as to sight with beasts or with beastly men as that I would seeke to recover my owne which I had once being a Pharisie I would live a quiet and peaceable life among my brethren as I did then when I was rather ready to doe others hurt than to suffer any I would much rather choose that state of life than thus to be plagued and plunged and drowned in misery if there were not a hope of a Resurrection but the vigour and life of that hope duls all the pangs in this world and sweetens the cup of affliction which else would eate out my very intrayles If
and take heed to that our good manners be not corrupted But evill words corrupt good manners there is no such gangrene as evill words are to the good manners of men therefore we ought to avoyd and detest them for if they be evill words they will corrupt good manners these are evill words therefore we ought to take heed of them so the Apostle argues in these words certainly these are evill words and evill words corrupt good manners and good manners are the virginity of the soule and wee should keepe that inviolable Therefore for our life we must strive to avoyd these evill words as the language of the divell and not of men Be not deceived evill words corrupt good manners These are the branches of the Text. You must understand that some of the Fathers reade the Text otherwise for looke on the words and you shall see how the divers poyntings makes diversitie of lections for whereas presently before the Text the Apostle had said If the dead rise not againe some of the Fathers refer those words to this part of the sentence now read If the dead rise not againe let us eate and drinke for to morrow we shall dye And indeed it may as well be referred this way as the other for it is taken from the common tenent of the Chapter If there be no resurrection which is still to be repeated upon every severall argument But our common reading is this If I have fought with beasts at Ephesus after the manner of men what availeth it if the dead rise not Now Chrysostome Chrysost Theophylact. and Theophilact reade it thus If I have fought with beasts at Ephesus what doth it profit me and there they make a stop If the dead rise not let us eate and drinke for to morrow we shall dye But this as you see is not greatly materiall onely I must note it for the honour of the Church of God to see the variety of that gift of interpretation for as I have often told you there is no gift more excellent in the Church then the gift of proper interpretation to know the sence of the Scriptures and to be able to deduce it to the right parts it is the greatest divinity that can be Although the common people understand nothing but that which concernes manners that which allureth them to good and feares and affrights them from their sinnes yet the especiall divinity is in the matter of interpretation But which way soever wee reade it eyther as a thing spoken with an high stomacke with an indignation Let us eate and drinke for to morrow we shall dye Or if we take it as a consequent if there be no Resurrection as Saint Chrysostome saith Let us eate and drinke for to morrow we shall dye the Argument is still one and the same But we follow the common exposition which all Translations follow that the words are spoken from a high stomacke the Apostle speakes in a holy impatience What should I doe fighting with beasts at Ephesus after the manner of men if there be no resurrection If there were no Resurrection I would rather follow my cups as the Epicures I would know the things that belong to the pleasures of the world I would make me friends of all men I would offend no man in matters of faith and profession therefore it is onely the conscience to the doctrine of the faith of the Resurrection that bindes me to resist all men and to encounter with the beasts of the field to take whatsoever fals unto me by the providence of God rather than to betray this one poynt of my faith which is the chiefe of all the Resurrection of the body For the sentence that he brings in in the person of the Epicure speaking it is taken out of Isa 22.13 Isa 22.13 It was the voyce of those obstinate and rebellious people the Iewes in the time of that Prophet saith Isay here is nothing but feasting insteed of fasting killing of sheepe and slaying of Oxen. When they should have considered the judgement of God upon their neckes they fell to pleasures and were so farre from repenting and turning to God by contrition that they devised preparation for their bellies to satisfie their lusts Let us eate and drinke for to morrow we shall dye A base and detestable speech which the holy Ghost notes against those obstinate Iewes that when the Prophet would bring them to a serious consideration of their miserable estate then being returned from Babylon and that all was wasted round about them and they had nothing left but a poore ruined Citie yet notwithstanding they would not bee wonne to God but would fall still to their pleasures and drowne themselves in the cups of excesse that so they might drinke downe their sorrow as the wicked wretches of the world doe that have no other comfort in misery and affliction but to drinke and seeke to be merry to worke out the crosses and judgements of God by some worldly jollity Thus did Caius Marius Plutarch Plutarch saith of him that being a man of great affliction and misery in his latter dayes when hee saw there was no way for him to escape the hands of Scilla he tooke the advantage of his absence and gave himselfe to drinking and excessive courses to forget his misery and so indeed hee shortened his dayes And it is wondrous and remarkable that the Prophet saith in that place These things saith he are entred into the eares of the Lord of hoasts and they are most abhominable in his sight and whereas you say Esay 22.13 Let us eate and drinke for to morrow we shall dye As I live saith the Lord you shall dye indeed the plague shall not be taken from you till you be all consumed till you be all dead under the stroke of it It is the just judgement of God upon obstinate sinners that resolve to make merry when God cals to mourning that kicke against the pricke and strive against the hand of the Almighty that thinke to drowne the memory of Gods judgements in their cups at their tables The Lord shall worke the contrary upon such a man and he shall finde that he hath done himselfe no good by this but hath brought upon himselfe his owne just confusion For so it befell these they dyed indeed and this plague was not removed from them till they were all consumed Vse So we see by this now that the world is no changling The blessed Prophet Isay lived almost 700. yeeres before Saint Paul and in his time there was such a damned crew as this that uttered this speech against heaven against reason against the hand of God and against their owne consciences Afterwards when Saint Paul came into the stage of this world he findes a company of wicked men iust like the former By this we see that the world is ever drowned in iniquity it is alway like it selfe in evill till the hand of God
us take it and put it into Gods Iewell-house where it hath its proper and naturall consistence Now for the substance of the sentence 2 The substance of the verse and the two Antagonists it is betweene two great Antagonists and adversaries good manners and evill words and which gets the victory over other evill words corrupt good manners that is they put them downe and so get the victory that they have no place or abiding any more in a man so that it cannot be knowne where they were The word manners First Antagonist Good manners although it be well understood yet we may adde something to give further light to it It signifieth a certaine habite in a man that is acquired with long labour and diligence and exercise by which a man hath gotten it to himselfe For there is no man borne with good manners but he is borne as a beast as Aristotle Aristotle saith a little childe is more harsh untractable than a beast a man were better keep and bring up a young Lyon he may doe it with lesse labour then to bring up a childe For because God will punish sinne in the first reliques of it therefore to shew the misery and deformity of it he suffers in children the way of impatience and harshnesse that it is the great and wondrous mercy of God that ever they should come to perfection and that they should have nurses to beare with them to humour them and follow them in all the wayes of their corruption So that manners are not naturall unlesse it be brutish manners but those here spoken of are not gotten but with a great deale of diligence What a stirre have we to over-master that filth and corruption that is in our children with stripes with putting them to schoole with exhortations with all the meanes in the world and all too little to beate out of them that naturall corruption and that pestilent humour that is crept into them by originall traduction of sinne But now the Lord hath given to the education of parents and to those of discretion by long custome to be guardians and guides to these little ones that the rudenesse of their nature and the barbarousnesse of their affections might be mollified As the wilde ground the husbandman by long tillage of it and the wilde Vine by pruning and cutting of it at the last he brings the wilde ground to be good soyle and the wilde Vine to be a fruitfull one so the Lord hath given a blessing upon the gift of education that at last he makes these wilde oats to be good corne in the harvest of God and he settles good manners where there was nothing but furious brutishnesse And when they are so setled by long labour by feare of punishments by hope of rewards and by such meanes as doth cultivate the ground of God although it be long before they be brought to this for there is much warre betweene these two adversaries in the Text when these good manners and thus settled then they are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sitting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is Sedes Indoles Mos. taken from a word which signifieth to sit and keepe residence For being thus ingrafted and keeping residence they are not easily wrought out againe for they come to be as it were a second nature the law of manners is not easily changed as Saint Basile Basile saith because they were first imprinted when the minde of the childe was tender therefore the impression goeth the deeper and continues the longer When the Lord settles the power of his grace in a man it is not easie for the divell to deface that impression and he shall never doe it utterly Although there be divers actions that may deface it in shew and for the present time but the Apostle here speaks in another respect although hee may extend his speech to the manners of grace among the Corinthians But these things that he speaketh of common profession common religion taught they were brought unto them by God who is the husband man as Christ saith Ioh. 15. I am the true Vine Ioh. 15 1. and my Father is the husbandman This culture whereby by diligent labour they were brought from the harsh Idolatry of the heathen to know Christ to come to the knowledge of his faith of his life of his death of his miracles of the benefits they received by the communion of his body and bloud of his blessed Resurrection and the promise of the reuniting of our bodies and of the returne of our spirits these were manners that grace had taught them besides the common profession of Religion for a man may make a profession of religion and yet have no grace Now if these manners remaine in a man he is past the danger of all the pawes of Sathan The divell shall not be able to plucke up these plants Math. 15.13 which our heavenly Father hath planted as our Saviour Christ saith But if we goe no further then common reason and profession and content our selves with the outward forme of religion then comes that to passe here spoken of that evill words corrupt good manners and though good manners be setled of themselves and keepe their residence strongly yet the mightinesse of our enemy is such that he will pull them out except they have a deeper impression by the spirit of God made in us Now we come to the other adversary which is Evill words Second Antagonist Evill words The manners are called good and the language ill not according to the estimation of men but according to the sheckle of the Sanctuary the ballance of the Sanctuary it is that that maketh good to be good and evill to be evill For many languages among men are accounted good that are base and evill and many manners are accounted evill that are perfect and good Therefore if we will examine what manners are good we must not repaire to the Courts of men to the fashions of men for sometime they are accounted most unmannerly amongst them that are the best mortified and sanctified men of all others Nor when we come to examine what are evill words what is wicked discourse and speech we must not measure it by mans iudgement but according to the Rule and Canon and square of the word of God It is that that judgeth men to be good or ill It is to be observed that the word here hath a great elegancie in it For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth such manners as are of great use and profit And so indeed from all kinde of goodnesse from all honest parts there is great profit profit for a mans selfe profit to his body profit to his soule profit to his state profit to his neighbour by his example so good manners be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things of use and profit whereas the actions of ungodly wicked men they are unprofitable As the Apostle saith
that which keepes the world together These devils are to be shunned as the very roarings from hell And especially those idle jests that concerne the Scriptures and matters of this nature that we now speake of when men like bruit beasts will take upon them to jest out of the booke of God Such as can prompt themselves with more Scripture to make jests and fooleries then they can remember upon their death-bed to give them comfort These that in their cups can abuse God and his booke to his face they are the first-borne of the devill even such as either wrest the Scriptures to a bad sence or else make jests of it to an idle purpose for vanitie and foolerie These jesters with the Word of God are the greatest corrupters of good manners for they take away the feare of God which is the great good manners of a Christian and they take away the authoritie of the Scriptures by which we are all bound to the Lord. So likewise for all matters of disputation Hee that speaks before weake mindes that much may stagger their faith this is a corrupting of good manners In our time it is the fashion we will dispute of all religions when wee meete and one is for this matter and another for that and there is a sort of poore things about us and they heare all but know not who to hold with as having not discretion to make a difference of things But he that makes the greatest clamour and that hath most voices shall carry it away By this meanes they kill the good manners of people and take away that orthodoxe faith that should be in men It is a wondrous thing to observe how the Devill labours to make these kinde of disputations When a man is resolved for the truth yet saith he it is no matter heare what these men can say they bring some colour of arguments for it they do it with a good wit heare them I wish thee not to yeeld onely see their reasons By this meanes we have lost within this short time an infinite company of Protestants The venome hath beene so strong that they have not been able to work it out and so they have been brought into grosse heresie and Apostasie and fallen quite away by this meanes Let us take heed of this these strike at the maine they undermine the very foundation other things may more easily be mended For when a man shall suffer shipwracke in his understanding and in his apprehension of God It is a thousand to one if ever such a one be recovered So to conclude this present point vile speeches in a mans mouth concerning the Resurrection is a damnable thing For this is the maine end of all our profession this is the hope and fruit the harvest of Religion the resurrection of the body and if that be called in question or made a jest of or the majesty of it touched Luther there must needs be a great concussion and shaking of the whole house and frame of Religion Therefore those base words used in former time which Luther saith were used among the Saxons Saxons They had a grosse proverbe amongst drunken fellows Sirra saith one to his fellow drunkard doest thou thinke that I have not another companion within me to this outward companion that is a soule to this body And his fellow would answer Yes Why then saith he againe I perswade my self that they will dye together as friends and the one shall not out-live the other We two spend our time in drinking and good-fellowship and it is hard if my friend within be not better then my friend without But as Luther saith if the devill should have come from hell he could not have spoken worser I am loath to speake these things lest men take hold of it but we must open them to the children of God that they may know and beware of these evill words There is another company of drunkards that when they are met at their pots they will talke of the Resurrection whether they shall know their friends in the other world and discourse concerning the bloud of Gods children that hath beene let out by physicke and concerning the haires of their head which they have lost Such strange devices men have to mocke out the kingdome of God and the glorious relation of the Resurrection There is another company and they will not be buried in the Church by reason of the tumult that will be at the Resurrection lest they should be overwhelmed with the weight of them These beastly things these dialects of hell if Christians admit them into their eares they are in danger of damnation by it but if they take them into their mouthes they are in danger of double and treble damnation Let us know the holy things of God let us use these holy and glorious mysteries with honour and reverence and let us not meddle with them but with humilitie and prayer and great affection For these words that go about to make these holy things prophane and to make these pearles fit for swine they are degenerating corrupting base words and a true Christian should wish as the Poet in the Comedie when he heard that which pleased him not I would to God that this man were dumbe or that I were deafe that either he could not speake or that I could not heare these beastly things that ruine the state of the soule and abuse the apprehension of the majestie of God to loosenesse and to beastlinesse FINIS 1 COR. 15.34 Drunkards awake justly and sinne not for divers have not the knowledge of God I speake this to your shame Or as the words signifie Awake from your drunkennesse justly and sinne not for many certain of you some of you have an ignorance concerning God I speake this for reproofe AFter the Apostle had shewed the great danger that comes by pestilent discourses and communication and had given them charge concerning it take heed be not deceived hee now concludes all that point and makes way to another which is the most notable demonstration the most gracious remonstrance of the manner and order of the Resurrection And so he gives as it were a barre unto them to stop their eares against all contrary speech and discourse For those that wil be content to entertaine discourse contrary to the doctrine of the sGospell they are seldome or never brought to bee choller 's to the Gospell Sathan ever sharpens the wits and whets the tongues of men to rise up in confutatorie speeches that tend to the disgrace and calling in question of the truth and if men will but lend their eares to it the Lord will give them over in just judgement that they shall be insnared and intangled with it Therefore as Plutarch Plutarch saith well concerning yong mens reading of the writings of Poets and lascivious poems that they should be well armed that they should arme themselves with Amphitedes which was a certaine fence
he must stand up and do the actions of an holy life It is true saith S. Austin I see thou are rowsed and wakened but yet thou art drowsie thou art rubbing thine eyes thou hast not yet quite overcome and mastred thy sleepe but I tell thee God will have thee shake off all this sleepe and drowsinesse and so to awaken as Christ awakened from death he once left the grave never to return and come there any more For in that he dyed hee dyed once for sinne but in that he liveth he liveth ever to God Then therefore a man is risen justly when there is no part of drowsinesse remaines in him when he is not like those sleepie creatures that rise in their sleepe and go about their businesse and go to bed againe and when they have done all know not of it There is a kinde of kell or skinne wanting in the braine wherein memory should be retentive therefore they do many things in their sleepe But God would have men so waken as that there should no portion of this drowsinesse rest in them This doctrine is very necessarie For there is much sleepe carries them away that are most watchfull there is infinite heavinesse and slumber waits upon them God is in his children in one part and the devill in another part that they now speake well anon they do ill many make profession of the Gospell and yet shew no pittie to the poore nor exercise charitie where they see occasion These men are awaked and they be doing and stirring but it is not justly as God would have them When once a man leaves that way and habite which hee had before and hath a new spirit of life put into him he is then all for action and for working in the wayes of God Now I come to the Exposition Exposition And sinne not Here the Apostle expounds what he meanes by waking Where first the Apostle gives us to understand that the cause of all foolish and idle speech and communication as those hee speakes of before Let us eate and drinke for to morrow we shall dye the cause of these idle discourses it is meerly an inherent habite of sinne so that corruption is the plague that causeth evill speeches and behaviour and the one as a pestilent serpent brings forth the other It is sinne that breeds monstrous opinions it is sinne that breeds all the heresies in the world they have no other mother As Saint Ambrose Ambrose saith those that make shipwracke of a good life it is no marvell if they make shipwracke of a good faith They that give themselves to base manners they are given over by the judgement of God to erronious opinions For as Saint Chrysostome saith Chrysost a wicked life is a corrupt fountaine from whence comes nothing but mud and dirt and froth Aâ—g and as Saint Austin saith well A man having knowledge once to do the will of God and yet will not do it according to his knowledge it is impossible he should retaine his knowledge he that knows what is acceptable in the sight of God and yet from a stubbornnesse of minde will not follow his knowledge the Lord shall bring that judgement upon him that he shall lose that power that he shall not be able to know what is right and what is wrong Take the talent from that unprofitable servant Mat. 25.28 and give it to him that hath ten talents Matth. 6.23 If the light in a man be darknesse how great is that darknesse from him that hath not shall be taken even that which he hath It is a fearfull and terrible sentence let us all tremble under the blast of it for it concernes every man As long as he lives in sinne it is the greatest miracle in the world that he is not drowned in it To keepe a true faith with a bad life it is meerly impossible Therefore sinne not For that there is all this false and idle communication that there is this base conversation these evill speeches these distrustfull languages concerning God and concerning the Resurrection the cause of it is this inveterate sinfulnesse If God punish men with giddinesse of braine and blinde their understandings that the light in him be darknesse it is a fearfull stroke yet this comes from sinne therefore he joynes both together and injoynes them saying Sinne not But how saith the Apostle sinne not Ob. Doth he not know they were men would he have them of Angelicall natures Doth not the Apostle Saint Iohn say If we that is if we that are Apostles 1. Joh. 1.8 if we say that wee have no sinne we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us And if the Physitian require of his Patient a thing that he cannot possibly do as to tell him that is diseased that hee must fetch such an hearbe from the East-Indies to cure him it were a meere trouble and delusion and the way to make him desperate Therefore what doth the Apostle meane when he saith Sinne not Why all men are sinners and stand in need of the glory of God and a man must pray as duly for the forgivenesse of his sinnes as for his daily bread they follow both as necessarily the one upon the other as it is possible two benefits can do Answ But to sinne in Scripture is taken in these sences chiefly First men are said to sinne that study sinne that hunt after sinne that seeke it many men are so given to the devill in the world that if hee do not seeke them they will seeke him The Apostle bids us take heed of that it is a terrible thing when a man hath a carefull minde to serve Sathan and to leave and forsake the living God The nature of Gods children may be overtaken with infirmities but they do not study for it Secondly they are said to sinne that go on in sinne so Saint Iohn saith the childe of God doth not sinne because they premise it not before hand and they call themselves to account and to judgement for it after they judge themselves for their sinne There is no man nor no barre in the world can devise that punishment for the childe of God that he doth inflict upon himselfe he is his owne judge and his owne executioner Therefore he makes no profession of his sinne but is ashamed and hides his head upon every remembrance of his sinne Therefore he is said nor to sinne by the speciall grace of God that covers his sinne because he cannot indure it As Saint Basil Basil saith If thy sinne please thee not it shall never hurâ— thee Lastly they are said to sin that sin to desperatioÌ„ thaâ— care not for pardon that disclaime the mercy of God that say their sinne is so great that it cannot bee forgiven like Cain and Iudas that will none of Gods compassion that reject his favour and will not subject themselves to his censure but are ready to say thus
more behinde still so to fill the desires of men and to draw their affections unto him As it is thus in these corporall things which are with lesse labour found out still there is an infinitum a kinde of infinite labour and toyle in it that they are not found out but by the hand of God So many golden mines in the earth that are undiscovered so many precious things that are not yet revealed Much more must it needs be in those holy secrets those gracious things in heaven in the glorious Court above when the footstoole is so infinite and secret Psal 77.19 Aug. As the Psalmist saith his footsteps are not knowne Saith Saint Austin well If the steppes of his feet be not knowne how then shall the counsels of his head be discovered Therefore in these things wee must settle our selves and returne the foole upon our owne soules when we meddle with these deepe and secret matters wee know not a great number of things that are created the hearbes that are under our feet we know not the difference of them wee know not the qualities of them nor their natures and operations and shall we then mount up into heaven to see what is done there before our time The Lord will give it us in time if wee keepe our selves within the limits of modestie and restraine our selves within that compasse which hee hath commanded us Vse Secondly we learne out of this in that the Apostle cals him foole and cals these things foolish therefore we should not affect these things and give our selves over to them We learne what to judge of all curious Divinitie and dâ—scourses that it is rather a part of folly then any shew and remonstrance of wisedome And by this reason a great number of Students and Scholars in this Land spend their time meerly in folly 1. Tim. 6.10 As the Apostle saith It is science falsely so called they studie and imploy themselves that they may be madde with reason that is by following a kinde of sublime reason as they thinke they fall from reason and loose themselves Like the Philosopher that so long conversed about the mysterie of the Sunne that at the last he made a question whether ever there were a Sunne or no he knew not whether the light came from the Sunne or from any super-illuminating cause or no. The Lord blindes men that are too quicke sighted to search into things that hee hath not provided for them Such things there be indeed as Saint Austin saith Aug. there are certaine idle delicacies and dainties but they are not for us they are for no man to know that would worke out his salvation with feare and trembling Phil. 2.12 Lastly in that he cals him foole or madde man we see how lawfull and how necessary it is sometimes to use the authoritie of the Spirit to use the majestie of the Spirit in the Gospell to call them fooles that speake foolish things And although Christ forbid us to do it in our particular and private talke and he that cals his brother foole Mat. 5.22 is in danger of hell fire yet it is one thing what a common Christian may do upon a little sleight cause and it is another thing what the Magistrate or what the Minister of the Word may do upon an urgent occasion Gal. 3.1 Wee see Saint Paul cals the Galathians madde men and foolish men and this questionist here hee cals him foole Luk. 12.20 Yea our Lord Christ cals the rich man foole Thou foole this night shall they take away thy soul Mat. 3.7 And Saint Iohn Baptist Oh generation of vipers So that there is left in the Church a power and authority which must be used when there is occasion to draw the sword against contumacious rebels which will not be reclaimed by other meanes As Saint Ambrose Ambrose saith the preacher of the Word must be like unto the Bee he must have both a sting and honey And Saint Chrysostome upon this place saith he Chrysost he gives him a sharpe tearme but hee passeth by him quickly hee gives him indeed a poore title but yet it is a fit one He was afraid lest hee should cut him too deepe therefore hee would not stand too long upon him lest he should make him runne away For as a wise man will easily endure such a word as this from the mouth of a wiser so a man when he is followed and baited too farre he will kicke against the pricks and be ready altogether to cast off the reprehension Now we come to the demonstration That which thou sowest c. 2 The demonstration Here is the substance of the Answer to the first question the answer to the second follows in the next verse The Lord of his great goodnesse and mercie hath made the possibilitie of his owne truth apparant unto us in all the common actions of nature What more usuall what more ordinarie what more necessarie then the sowing of seed Now the seeds man if he do but mark what he doth when he imployes himselfe he shall easily perceive that God teacheth him out of his owne trade what he is to thinke of this great mystery To sow the corne in the ground we know that to flesh and bloud and common sence it is a meere losse of it and if wee had not seene it done before wee should conclude so Therefore there are some men that are celebrated as famous in the Poets for inventing this the casting of the seed into the ground from whence people thought there was no returning Indeed that conceit might be in barbarous rude Nations but it is certaine that this doctrine was taught unto Adam in Paradise and hath beene transmitted to all his posteritie Yet there are some Nations that to this day do not know the common necessity of sowing nor use it not they understand not the mystery the Lord hath so farre blinded them So it is in this sowing of the body In all judgement of flesh and bloud when the body is put downe into the grave into the coffin into the earth it seemes to be gone for ever and it goes from worse to worse till it come to dust and ashes the prime principles of our creation We ought to compare therefore these things together and we shall see how wondrous God is in the one and learne thereby how glorious he will be in the other The seed that is sowne it is quickened and hath life that vegetable life th t things of like nature have to grow againe and to bee greater to feed it selfe and to feed us also For God hath made the seed of a singular piercing qualitie that the lesser it is the more power it hath Therefore the mustard-seed which is the least graine whâ—n it comes up it grows to be a great tree For in these small things God sets forth his power oft times more gloriously then in greater matters And
the flesh is that which we beleeve the resurrection of this flesh that is of men and chiefly of them that beleeve in Iesus Christ how the Lord hath set his hand upon this flesh his workmanship appeares to be wonderfull How he hath laid the foundation of it in the bones How he hath brought the flesh over it to be a covering and veile for the soule How he hath inlivened it that wheresoever there is flesh there is life and hath put the soule in it to dwell in the cabinet of the flesh How he hath divided and distinguished the parts in their severall joynts in their severall uses and proportions How he hath watred it with bloud and veines and with juyce and moysture every where How he hath inflamed it with arteries How he hath made it sensible with sinews How he hath extended and stretched it out with muscles How he hath covered all with a faire and beautifull skinne How he hath fenced some parts with haire as in men and with divers other fences more thicke and solid as in the diversitie of beasts with feathers as in fowls with skales as in fishes and yet all to live after one manner that there is none of these can live but they have veines and arteries and sinews and a braine which is the place of sence and a heart which is the place of life and a liver which is the place of concoction and they have bloud whereby they live That the Lord I say should set such a wondrous hand upon flesh now it argues he will do greater matters for it hereafter For he would not be so liberall of his grace and providence upon it here except he intended further glory for it hereafter Indeed in the trees and plants and fruits that grow upon the earth there is a glorious and sweet lustre and great variety but being compared unto flesh it is nothing And therefore in the Scriptures the flesh is made the subject of the promises and manhood it selfe is tearmed by the name of flesh as being that habitation or house that God meanes to raise againe when it is fallen downe to rebuild it up better then ever it was before For the flesh must fall as the flower of the field although it continue longer then the flower of the field but the Lord shall raile it unto everlasting glory So then this must teach us in the generall Vse that as oft as we looke upon our flesh or upon the flesh of others we ought still to possesse our mindes with holy meditations of the glory that shall be revealed upon that flesh to thinke of the resurrection of that flesh As the Lord hath built it wondrously and beautified it to singular purpose in this world so when it is ruinated he shall rebuild it to a farre greater beauty that shall never fade away but shall have a constant being as he himselfe is for ever It should teach us also to have a care of this flesh Vse that God hath so graced and that we do not disgrace it and betray it to the divell that we do not subject it to damnable purposes that we do not swell it with drunkennesse that we do not spoyle it with filthinesse that we do not distract it with worldly cares that we do not any way abuse and imbezell that substance that God meanes to grace that he hath set his image and stampe upon here and that hereafter meanes to better this his workmanship let not us prophane that which God hath made holy So much for the first point that the Apostles argument goes greater and higher the further wee go in nature still the more insight we have in the worke of the Lord and in the certaintie of the promises Therefore the Apostle riseth from things that grow in the earth from vegetables to things that live and move and there hee shews the resurrection more clearly 2. Part. The fourefold diversity of flesh Then the second thing to bee considered is this that the Apostle saith that all flesh is not one flesh For there is dâ—versitie of it It is true all flesh agrees in the generall they all live with a soule all men and beasts and fishes and birds they all have a soule and live in one manner by their bloud and by digestion of meat which turnes into bloud and nourishment So in the generall all flesh is one but in their severall kindes they are so varied that there is scarce any proportion one with another when we go to the particular differences of them For saith hee although they be one in the maine yet they be different in their specialties The first and chiefest that he names is the flesh of men And then after that the flesh of beasts Thirdly the flesh of fishes Fourthly of birds and fowls of the heaven For indeed according to their different motion the diversitie of their flesh may be conceived That the motion of men should be upon the earth and yet by reason of an heavenly aspect his countenance should bee erected unto heaven where his thoughts ought to be continually That the beasts should have a prone dejected motion looking alway toward the earth and as it were groveling there That the fishes should glide in the watery element being as it were not of our world but of another countrey That the fowls should mount up in that spirit and vigour that God hath given them by reason of a wing and a feather whereby they leave the seat wherein we must live and betake themselves unto the upper region By this variety of their motion we may necessarily gather this that there is a great variety in their natures For there is nothing more argueth the varietie of a thing then the ordinary motion of it to observe how it is moved The Apostle puts no other difference that might be conceived as the flesh of serpents c. because that may be referred to some of these it may be referred unto beasts or unto fishes but he contents himselfe with these foure as comprehending in them all the world of flesh which God created And in the first ranke in the prime place he saith there is one flesh of men whereon the Lord hath stamped his own image and hath made it the goodliest of all flesh setting such an admirable beautie in it and indowing some flesh with such excellent wisedome and judgement and that which is the chiefe of all setting the stampe of holinesse upon it which is the onely ornament of the flesh and of the spirit also that there is nothing that can compare with man I meane no visible thing in the world can enter into any tearms of comparison with that glorious image of God Such a goodly aspect to heaven Such a majestie and power in behaviour Such an erect upright and tall stature Such a goodly complection and proportion in the parts of the body Such an admirable dexteritie in all his actions Such valour such wisedome such
from death are phrases and termes that properly belong to the life of man yet the Apostle useth it here in speaking of the corne to which it belongs not properly and significantly And now when he comes to speak of the burying of the bodies he useth a phrase which is proper to the corne and saith It is sowne and It is raised up that is it is brought forth in that variety as the corn is cloathed with And the reason St. Chrysostom saith is this Because we are as sure of the one as of the other and also to shew the fitnesse of the comparing of these things There is no comparison that could have been so fit therefore he interchangeth the phrases of the one to the other to shew that it comes all to one It is sowne The body of man hath two kinds of sowings in this world One is when he is sowne into the esse into the being of a man and that is in the wombe of his mother as St. Chrysostom saith in which sense it is said that such and such descended from the seed of Abraham and from the seed of such progenitors Another sowing is this which the Apostle speaks of here which is in the wombe of that great mother the Earth which is the common mother and universall nurse of all mankind Now of the first St. Paul speaks not here although it be true indeed that some Interpreters have turned it that way For it is certaine that the prime principles of men are laid in corruption and the first sation or sowing is a concealed and secret matter a shamefull action and sometimes a dishonest thing but the Apostle hath no intention to speak of that for he speaks here by way of allusion and saith So is it in the resurrection of the dead Therefore I cannot follow those extravagancies but apply it to the Resurrection It is certaine the Apostle meanes of that sowing of God when he sows the body in the ground Earth to earth ashes to ashes as St. Chrysostom saith Chrysost that is the best sowing by far For the first is a sowing to misery and weaknesse to live in troubles and crosses and affliction in this world even as Iob saith Job 14.1 Man that is borne of a woman hath but a short time to live and is full of misery but this sowing of God of his children in the grave of which this Text as also this Chapter must be understood it is a sowing not to a life of misery but to a state of glory There shall be no trouble after that but a quiet and perfect rest and renovation when the fulnesse of time shall appeare So then It is sowne Hee useth this word upon purpose to take from us the feare of death the feare and trouble of that great monster and bugg of the world For as much as to die is a hopefull thing as the sowing of the seed is a hopefull action Sowing is a word of confidence and expectation as we see 1 Cor. 9. 1 Cor. 9.10 11. that he that sowes may sow in hope and he that reaps may reap in hope and he that ears may eare in hope All these are words of hope words that are very full of contentment to the minde for by that meanes there is a certaine expectation of gaine and advantage It is sowne That is when a man dies he is full of hope there is a blessed hope that waits and attends upon him As Iob saith the just man the good man hath hope in his death and the faithfull with faithfull Abraham they hope against hope that when desperation assailes him then he is strongest in his hope to God It is sowne Therefore is is not cast away it is not brought to nothing it is not destroyed but it is sowne it is laid up in a faithfull hand it is laid up as a depositum and not onely so but it is put forth to Interest and hath a great Income againe It is sowne And it is sowne in a due place in the field of God in Gods acre as in many places in Germany the Church-yards are called Gods acre It is not cast into the water it is not cast into the fire to be burned nor to the thorns and weeds to choak it it is not left to be picked by the fowls of heaven but it is sowne in that place where God hath purposed it shall repose and rest Yea it is given upon tale and the earth shall restore and give up her dead she shall surrender every body which God hath committed unto her It is sowne with the diligent hand of the great husbandman the Lord Almighty he that casts his seed with judgement and laies it up with knowledge and great wisdome Ioh. 15. Joh. 15.1 saith Christ I am the Vine and my Father is the Husbandman The Lord therefore takes this seed and he so layes it up where it may bring the most profit and rise with the richest advantage It is sown in the bosome of the great mother the earth which is fruitfull and abounds in plenty which receives the first and later raine Deut 11.14 and sets the vallies thick with corne Psal 65.14 that it makes men rejoyce and sing In such a place is this semination this sowing it is sowne by the hand of God it is sowne in the expectation of hope profit This word the Apostle useth to allure us to familiarity with that which of necessity we must undergoe Men must forgoe this tabernacle but it is grievous to them to think of it they are perplexed and distressed when such melancholy thoughts come in their heads Let us shake hands therefore with that to the which we must needs bow at the last And let us conceive the goodnesse of God which follows us even unto our death and opens a gate of hope and makes us prisoners of hope and gives passage to the performance of those blessed promises wherein we are instructed and whereto we are called by the lure of the glorious Gospell So much for that metaphor Now the other for the body to come 2. The metaphor for the life to come Chrysost it is very significant It is raised up Saith St. Chrysostom the Apostle doth not say it grows up of it self but it is raised up as being done by another so indeed our redemption it is not wrought by any thing that is inherent in us but it is an externall action that comes from God it is the hand of God that works on us and raiseth us up It is raised therefore by the power of him that raised Christ from the dead Rom. 8.11 It is raised by him that raised for us a horne of salvation in the house of his servant David Luke 1.69 John 11.17 It is raised as Lazarus was raised after he had been foure daies in the grave It is raised as a house is raised from the foundation It is raised as the Temple
God is able to make one flash of lightning to shine from the east to the west in a moment and he is able to make one thunder to crack about in the ayre and all the ayre to continue it to the end of the hemisphere Therefore it is also most probable that the Lord shall make the noise and sound of a trumpet to be dispersed and diffused over the face of all the earth and not onely over the one hemisphere but over the other also where our Antipodes lie buried and doe looke for the Resurrection as well as we But although I think this to be the better and more sound interpretation because it agrees with the letter and because also it agrees with other Scriptures As that the law was given in Mount Sinai with the sound of a trumpet and that the gathering of the people also Numb 10.2 the convocating of of them was by the sound of the two silver trumpets Although these things leade me to imagine that it shall be a true materiall trumpet that God shall make that is of a matter of his although not of the same matter that mens trumpets are of but shall be a trumpet made after the wisedome and power of God yet the Fathers most of them goe another way They say it is a metaphoricall trumpet a trumpet by way of allusion Because great Kings and Lords and Princes have their trumpets goe before them to signifie their comming so the Sonne of God that shall come as a great King hee shall send his Angels before him that shall give notice of his comming and the Angels shall gather all together to the Iudgement seat and when they are gathered together to the Throne of Iudgment then the Lord shall come downe then the Iudge shall come So they will have the sound of the trumpet to be before Christ come downe from heaven And they have thought that from the top from the heavens unto the place where Christ shall sit to judge which shall be neare the earth in all that space the elect shall be gathered from the foure winds of the earth they shall be gathered into all that space of the ayre To understand this the better we are to remember what trumpets wee reade of in the Scripture that hence we may see what shall be the use of this trumpet we now speak of There was first a trumpet for counsell as we may see in Numb 10. Numb 10.2 The Lord bade Moses make two silver trumpets wherewith they might call the people together And when one of them blowed that was a token that the Elders should sit in Counsell about some matters of necessary concernment about the Army and people of God when one trumpet sounded single it was for matter of counsell There was another trumpet which was the trumpet of danger As when there was any great mischiefe any sedition or uproare in the tents or when the enemy made an invasion or when there was any plague or sudden judgement then both the trumpets The two silver trumpets which Moses had made were appointed to be sounded and then not onely the Elders but also all the people were to runne together at that common calamity to see what the matter was As if there were fire in any of the Tents both the trumpets were to sound and all the people to assemble together The third trumpet was the trumpet of banquetting or of feasting And that was in the moneth of September especially in which moneth Ver. 10. one of the feasts is called the feast of Trumpets There is also the feast of Tabernacles and the feast of Expiration in the same moneth yea and all the feasts and banquets that they had throughout the yeare they were to celebrate them by the voice of the trumpet the trumpet sounding now in a plaine tune or plaine accent The fourth trumpet was the trumpet of removeall when they were to remove out of their tents For alway when the tents were to remove at the first sound of the trumpet Verses 5. 6. the quarter of Iudah rose and marched forward At the second sound the quarter of Ephraim At the third sound of the trumpet the quarter of Dan removed And so these sounds of the trumpet were made not with a plaine tone with a common accent but with a descant For the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of which word Tarantara which is the proper voice of a trumpet is derived Therefore the best and most learned Divines turne those places Tantararizabitis according to the proper voice of the trumpet For they were to use descant and division and flexure when they were to remove from place to place Matth. 6.2 The fifth trumpet is the trumpet of Manifestation of which Christ saith Matth. 6. When thou givest thine almes blow not a trumpet that is make it not manifest to all the world neither be arrogant and vaineglorious of that thou dost but doe thine almes in secret let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth So that the trumpet of manifestation is a metaphoricall acception and according to that the Fathers expound this word here of a trumpet Isay 58.1 The sixt trumpet wee reade of is the trumpet of the Gospel of which it is said Isai 58. Lift vp thy voice like a trumpet be not silent but speak aloud Tell Iacob of his sinnes and Iudah of her transgressions This is that trumpet which hath blowne ever since the ascension of Christ and shall blow till his descension againe from heaven to Iudgement The seventh and last is the trumpet of judgement the last trump as the Apostle calls it Now in all these trumpets there is a reference to this one trumpet which wee are to speake of For it is certaine in this great judgement there is a trumpet of counsell the Lord himselfe shall enter into counsell with the blessed Persons in the Trinity hee shall as it were enter into counsell about the destruction of the world about the collection of his Saints about the eternall doome what shall befall them and how they shall bee And although the things are counselled of him before and hee knowes from everâ—â—sting yet it shall bee then published it shall be acted now As the counsell that a King gives for warre or other intendments which way hee may best invade the enemy and which way hee may best work his owne designes And so for the trumpet of danger in warre Now the Army of God shall bee summoned every where by his mighty command He shall gather his chosen and they shall stand at his right hand and hee shall collect by his power the reprobates to stand at his left hand and accordingly hee shall doome those his enemies Luke 19.27 Bring those mine enemies before me that would not suffer me to rule over them and slay them here before my face And it is the trumpet of feasting too For there was never such a
Supper as that shall bee the Supper of the Lamb. Apoc. 19.9 Blessed are they that are called to the marriage Supper of the Lamb. I say the bidding to the supper of the Lamb is nothing else but the fulnesse of glory which the Lord shall invest his children with at his comming to judgement This trumpet shall call us to that supper to that banquet which shall be a continuall feast to last forever And for the trumpet of Tents the trumpet of Removeall it is manifest it shall bee so For there is no such removing in the world as that shall be For some men to remove to hell and other some to remove to heaven it shall be the greatest kind of progression that ever was taken So that this last trumpet hath an embleme or signification of that also And for the trumpet of manifestation we know it is that The Lord shall manifest at that day who are his and he shall manifest every thing tha◠hath been wrought were it never so close and secret it shall then bee brought to light And as the face of man or woman is knowne one of another by their aspect now so then the thoughts and secrets of the hearts shall bee mutually knowne and understood one by another That is the light that shall reveale all things it is that that shall manifest all things that is the trumpet of manifestation As Christ saith Matth. 6.2 Blow not a trumpet before thine almes doe not manifest it The manifestation of things indeed never comes till the end of the world and then every thing shall bee manifested Those things that are hidden from the eyes of men now either by the policy of men or by the connivence of God as there be many things that are though now they were never seene by any eye then they shall be manifest and laid open And for the trumpet of the Gospel this trumpet shall bee truely that for this trumpet shall bee the fulfilling of all the Gospel When the Lord shall gather by the last trump those whom he hath raised before by the trumpet of his doctrine by the holy trumpet of the Scriptures by preaching of the Word by the Sacraments them that hee hath rowzed by baptisme and by his gracious admonitions in this world he shall then bring upon them another sound which shall tend to the like effect to the same purpose to put them into glory which his voice had raised before unto the holy warre against the devill and the flesh and the world in this life So that this trumpet that wee here speake of is the miracle of all miracles it concludes all that was before it it comprehends all perfection that may be imagined It is a voice magnificall a voice angelical it is a voice terrible it is a voice that hath life in it a voice that shall give life It shall bee a voice so full of majesty as that all the world shall be taken with amazement and astonishment the best children of God shall not bee without feare saith St. Cyprian Cyprian at that day And saith St. Chrysostome Chrysost Woe is me when I thinke of that fearefull day For although we should bee so prepared for it Rom. 13.11 as that we should lift up our heads because our salvation drawes nigh yet saith hee I would see any Saint of God that dares looke there with a confident countenance For though our justification by Christ shall give us comfort yet love and feare shall bee mixed and mingled together a filiall feare shall possesse men in the hearing of the silver trumpet It must needs therefore be full of majesty and terror As St. Austin saith Aug. You know brethren that a trumpet hath not so much delight in it as feare and trembling having naturally a kinde of musique in it which makes the body to shake and shiver in the parts of it and that most of all separates a man from himselfe So shall be the voice of this great and mighty thunder which God shall give that it shall sound in the manner of this musicall instrument of this speciall instrument that gave the Law and that set forth the Prophesies and that was used at the solemne feasts It shall be full of majesty and full of comfort and joy and yet it shall bee with feare and terrour to the best of them that shall heare it For as the voice of God was so great when the Law was given that Gods owne people could not endure it Let not God speake unto us Exod. 20.19 but let Moses speake Let not God speake to us any more for then wee die for feare the chosen people of God were faine thus to say So at that day those that be the most sanctified although they shall bee full of joy in one respect that their redemption is consummate in Christ yet that joy shall consist in a mixture and mingling of feare For it is befitting Gods children as they love him so to feare him to feare him in love and to love him in feare to yeeld unto him all submission and reverence that they may bee reconciled and made one in those contrary passions feare and love which is a sweet union and reconcilement in the contemplation of one and the selfe same God To conclude therefore this point concerning this trumpet and what it is One saith That the trumpet is properly a priestly instrument a holy instrument for holy purposes But hee spake this above his clement Chrysost St. Chrysostome saith The presence of the Lord Iesus Christ is this trumpet this silver trumpet which shall passe through the world And St. Theophilact his scholler and follower Theophil hee saith This trumpet is nothing else but the will of God the command of God which shall runne thorow the world as it is said in the Psalme Psalm 147.15 the word of God runnes swiftly and fills all the world And St. Augustin in his Epistle to Honorius Aug ad Honoriū saith he In the name of a trumpet the Lord would have us to understand some most evident and rare thing And hee saith in his Epistle to Constantius Aug. ep ad Constantium not knowing what to determine of it In the last trump that is that signe which God shall give last to the earth whatsoever signe that shall be St. Ambrose Ambros thinks it is nothing but the comming of the Lord signified by the noise of a trumpet As Princes and great men and noble men when they come to a Towne have it divulged and manifested before they come by the sound of a trumpet So this same sound of this trumpet here spoken of is nothing else but the manifestation of the presence of the Sonne of God Genebrard Genebrard upon the Canticles saith The trumpets of God are of two sorts the one is paginall the trumpet of his word which is written clearly in this life The trumpet here is manifested
to thousands and millions in the world that beleeve in him that although there be sinne now in our mortall bodies yet it doth not raigne it commands us not to every thing it finds us not as the Centurions servants to goe when it saith goe but it is in many things broken and dissipated and the Lord hath beat sathan under our feet that is the usuall work of sathan sinne and foule impressions in your soules and understandings Thus the Lord hath given us victory over sinne in himselfe fully in us it is begun but for that wee shall have occasion afterwards to discourse The Lord himselfe being free from all sinne hee was therefore a Conquerour over that pestilent viper that poyson of our nature and he gave his people the infusion of his Spirit to guide them by the which Originall sinne is weakned the sire is abated and allayed the edge of sin is lessened The last is over the Law That still is the greatest enemy that still layes before us the judgments of God Doe this and live Doe that and be damned Follow this course and thou shalt be damned for ever If thou be a drunkard if thou be lustfull if thou be covetous and worldly if thou be revengefull and malicious the sentence of damnation is passed upon thee that is all the comfort wee have by the Law but Christ hath given us victory over this enemy which followes us at the heeles when wee doe amisse and still puts us into qualmes of conscience for our misdeeds and curbes and bridles us by the checks of conscience that if a man could but see the end of these foule actions as hee seeth the beginning he would never doe them because there is no equality between the short time of sinning and the eternity of punishment But against all this Christ hath given us victory for he hath fulfilled the law of God he hath stopped the crimination he he hath stayed all those slanders and all those accusations that the devill would make by the law or that those that have been curious observers of the law would make and those accusations that an evill conscience would make by the power of the Law of God which hath enlightened it He hath silenced all these in this life but the consummation of this we must understand is to come when this corruptible shall put on incorruption and this mortall shall put on immortality They are now gone before in the head they shall then follow in the body Saith St. Austin Aug. Whatsoever Christ hath done in his owne body it shall follow in our mortall bodies When hee shall change them 1 Cor. 15. and make them like unto his owne glorious body according to his mighty power whereby he is able to subdue all things to himselfe This is that goodly victory in the which the Lord hath interested us all To conclude and refer the rest till the next time I beseech you beloved in the Lord let us consider what part we have in this victory wee ought not to insult and triumph in a vaine presumption in blessings that pertaine not to us but if we think we have the victory let us labour to finde it and so enter into judgement with our owne soules who it is that overcommeth Apoc. 3. To him that overcommeth will I give to eate of the tree of life in the middest of the paradice of God to him that overcommeth will I give a white stone c. And what must he overcome He must overcome himself and all his passions he must overcome the feare of death the power of sinne and the terrours of the Law A fearfull encounter and a great troop of enemies is laid open the Lord strengthen poore David that he may be able to encounter with this mighty Goliah for it seemes that hell it selfe is open upon him when therefore we doe give our selves that liberty as to doe what our selves list against the good will and command of God let us not thinke to have any part in this victory we are rather as so many conquered slaves and vassals that lie at the command of death that whereas wee should tread Satan under our feet Satan tramples us under his and makes us the most base and vile creatures in the world Thou that hast enough in this world and yet canst not tell when thou hast enough but still art distracted with envious desires and makest thy self great by other mens falls that raisest thy owne fortunes by other mens ruines that usest any meanes good or bad by hooke or by crooke to advance thine owne estate to make thy selfe rich and settest thy selfe onely to the study of the Idoll Mammon what kinde of victory or what hope of conquest canst thou have in that great and mighty victory which wee pretend the Lord Iesus hath given us surely none There is no such gally-slave in the world as a man that is given and addicted to his wealth and riches in this present life for it pierceth men through with many sorrowes as the Apostle saith They that will be rich 1 Tim. 6. pierce themselves thorow with many sorrowes Behold the sting of death is the sting that pierceth them the sting of death is sinne and this sting it pierceth through the heart and stabbs the soule of every covetous man in the world that they cannot claime any part of that victory which God communicates to his children but they are foyled base creatures that are made for slaughter and destruction And so againe for them that live in their pleasures in their voluptuous and filthy courses that will grow old in adultery that will make no end of their filthinesse and uncleannesse but with greedinesse seeke when one prey is enjoyed how to obtaine another these that make their vessells that should be Temples of God the brothell-houses of the Devill that are no sooner tempted but they yeeld these comming Creatures how or with what face with what confidence can they lay claime to the victory that we have in God through Iesus Christ our Lord being nothing else but bruits and are given over yeelding themselves they have taken the marke of the beast and follow Satans direction and command as if Christ had no power to be their Chieftaine but the Prince of darknesse must rule The like may bee said of all these malicious prowling spirits that be in the world that take delight to sting their brethren to doe mischiefe without cause to sow the seeds of dissention that will wrangle out their lives to trouble others to bring upon them endlesse suits and questions that shall never be decided to vexe the world with begging or buying of new found offfices to make their hands full out of every thing sacred and prophane to play the very roaring Lions in their dennes that no man can tell how hee should live or keepe himselfe quiet with them That these Creatures I say should come and claime any part in this
is a lively hope made over to all the branches that they shall rise againe with the root It was graced by the manifold apparitions of Christ and confirmed unto us according as the Apostles had receiued it from the will of Christ to grace that day the eighth day with his apparitions It was confirmed unto us by the Apostle Saint Iohn who maketh mention of the Lords day hee was rapt in the Spirit upon the Lords day And by these two places Act. 20.10 and this present place 1. Cor. 16.2 The time prevented me that I could not shew you the authoritie from age to age and the concurrence of these two things which was the gathering of collections upon that day for the Apostle includes both these both that the day should be changed to the first of the Sabbath that is to the first day of the weeke And secondly that upon this first day of the weeke it should be a particular appendix of the Sabbath dayes worke to lay up somewhat for the Saints because then there were no such officers appointed in the Church therefore every man waâ— his owne Treasurer every man was his owne overseer for the poore to lay up by himselfe as Chrysostome saith this priesthood thy charitie and thy love to thy brother hath bestowed upon thee that a man should provide and ordaine by his owne hands till such time as the Church should provide overseers and collectors for the poore and Deacons that they should be every where as they were then at Ierusalem Now it may seeme a matter not worth the labour to prove this point concerning the time of the Sabbath if it were not that some phanaticall spirits in these latter dayes had raised such a mist and vapour to cloud this truth and to bring backe the Iews ceremoniall Sabbath which saith Gregory if any go about to do he must bring in the Iews sacrifice and so he shall derogate and destroy the bloud and sacrifice of Christ which was offered once for all Give me leave therefore a little before I come to the residue of the Text for indeed it is full of matter to shew you how the Church of God in the first beginning acknowledged this day for the true Sabbath of the Lord. And upon these grounds out of Scripture I need not do it I know among you that are fully perswaded but there are some men that do infringe the glory and purpose of this Text and contradict the Fathers even some of our late Writers that are otherwise worthy Interpreters of the word of God yet here they hold that the Apostles meaning is where he saith One of the Sabbath that it is not to be understood upon the Lords day but they thinke it may be any one day in the week Wherein it is a wonder that they should give such a scandall to the Church of God in weakening the arguments and the faith of the Fathers that were before us and to make us uncertaine what to adhere and cleave unto I spare their names because they are worthy instruments of the Gospell Onely I go about to refute and cast down their opinion which I will do briefly and by the libertie and licence of the time that I may make the shorter worke The first of the Sabbath the Lords day Therefore that this first of the Sabbath is the Lords day it is manifest by other places of Scripture whose consent make an absolute verity every where for the rule of Scripture is to expound one place by another In Matth. 28.2 The woman came to the grave upon the first of the Sabbath when as it shined up when the light shined up upon the first of the Sabbath then came the woman to the grave the same word is used there as there is here The first of the Sabbath which was the day of the Lords resurrection and not every day in the weeke but the eight day from the creation So againe more clearly in Mark 16.2 and vers 9. it is said there verse 2. the women came very early in the morning upon the first of the Sabbath or of the weeke And in the 9. verse it is said Iesus did rise upon the first of the Sabbath in the morning that is upon the first day of the week This phrase in Scripture alludeth to that in Gen. 1.7 the morning and the evening were the one day that is the first day for one and first in the Hebrew tongue are promiscuously taken which is in every one day of the Sabbath that is in every Sabbath or upon the Lords day or in every first day of the weeke which is the Lords day Then the authoritie of the Acts of the Apostles and this place and that of Saint Iohn which saith he was rapt in the spirit upon the Lords day The judgement of the Fathers for the obâ—ervation of the Lords day All these things be firme and true establishers of the point we have declared Now for the Fathers that they were all also of the same minde you shall heare Iustin Martyr Iustin Martyr Apolog 1.2 that lived an hundred yeares after Christ within an hundred and foure yeares after he saith in the second of his Apollogeticks In the day saith he that we call Sunday the day which the Heathen men called Sunday which is now our Sabbath day for the other day before was called Saturne day of Saturne which was the Iews Sabbath in that day saith he the congregation come together and there are prayers offered up to God and after the Sacraments are received there is a collection made every man layes up as much as his own good will is according to his own election and it is given to the superintendent or to the chiefe Minister of the place and he seeth the poore provided for with it he seeth it be bestowed upon them Tertullian which lived two hundred and foure yeares after Christ in his booke called Tertull. in sould Crowne Apolog. ca. 16. The souldiers Crowne he saith Vpon the Lords day wee abhorre fasting for it is a time of feasting with us And in his Apolloget Chap. 16. saith he If we give one day in seven to merrinesse and joy to joyfulnesse in the holy Ghost it is but all one as the Iewes do which give yet superstitiously the day of Saturne to idlenesse and meere superstition so saith Tertullian there is a certaine little chest in the Church and every man puts into it what seemes good to him if he can and if he will for there is no man constrained and this is done once in a moneth For the place could not endure that it should be done every Sabbath as the Apostle saith here upon every first of the Sabbath but because of the povertie of the countrey it was but once in a moneth that they brought their charitie for the poore Clemens Alexandrinus in the fifth of his Stromata Clem. Alexan. Strom. 5. Pâ—ato he brings a prophesie out of
was most acceptable to them To others he came as welcome as water into the shippe nay they had a great hope that he would never come there but that his occasions would so intangle him that hee should never set foot that way So we see that Saint Pauls veniam is expounded according to the contrary dispositions and qualities of men and accordingly it occasioned matter of joy or sorrow in Corinth Now if Saint Pauls comming to visite were a matter of such emphasis Vse as to make his friends rejoyce and to cause his enemies to repine and murmure what then shall be the veniam of the Lord Iesus the master of Saint Paul and the master of us all which will come and will not tarry Heb. 10.37 which comes unto us every day and visites us every houre if we had but sence to perceive it whose footsteps are at our doores who comes in mercie giving us long peace from the broyles and garboyles of warre he comes unto us in his judgements in these unseasonable seasons threatning us with this abundance of raine and deluges he comes to us in the judgement of scarsitie and want and many kinde of defects whereof every man complaines and whines and is in misery and yet no man can tell the cause or reason why certainly it is a steppe of the comming of the Lord Iesus he comes also in the ratling and tumults of warre therein the Sonne of God seemes to have girt his sword upon his thigh as the Prophet saith Psal 45. And he will make head hee will march and go forward and never leave the field untill his horse goeth up to the bridle in bloud as Saint Iohn prophesieth in the Revelation Thus the Lord comes and draweth neare unto us any man of wit or understanding may easily see him and may heare the noyse of his horse heeles as the Prophet Isaiah saith concerning the King of Babylon But suppose he do not come thus or that men will be deafe that they will not heare this nor perceive it yet there is another veniam his comming to judgement which shall certainly be and wee know not how soone it shall be for these things are fore-runners and presages of that dismall comming and that comming shall be as this veniam of Saint Paul with acceptation to his friends but with terrour to his enemies the comming of Christ to them shall be more terrible then all the Armadoes and Invasions of the world if they were all joyned together they are nothing comparable to the comming of the Sonne of man in the clouds To those that are perfect and just men that waite for his comming he saith Behold I come and my reward is with me Revel 22. Hebr. 11.5 Behold he that shall come will come and will not tarry saith Saint Paul And to this the Church in an earnest eccho replyes Yea come and come quickly Lord Iesus for they waite and expect that great visitation of mankinde when he shall come to root all the weeds out of his garden and shall make an everlasting spring of grace and shall settle his plants so strongly that they shall no more be subject to extirpation On the other side his enemies shall have a fearfull sentence at that veniam the wicked men of this world they would then give all to avoyd that fearfull comming of the Lambe of God and wish that he might never appeare nor come to judgement As for the godly they know that when their glory When Christ which is their glory shall appeare Col 3.4 then they shall appeare with him in glory So the enemies of the Lord they know that when he which is judge both of the quicke and dead shall come that he shall passe a sentence of judgement against them Matth. 25. Go ye cursed into hell-fire prepared for the divell and his angels Let therefore this sound be alway in our eares that whether it be men as Saint Paul that come to visit us let that keepe us in awe if Saint Paul say he will come certainly it will make a man look to himselfe the better for there are many men that can indure no visitation a man that lives and goes on in sinne and impietie these sacrilegious patrons these Lords and Ladies that maintaine the Priests with old shoes as the Prophet speaks that take all his livelyhood from him these cannot endure to heare of a visitation they are afraid lest their sacrilegious acts should be called in question Although they be secure enough and carelesse in these kinde of acts and there is no law that can take hold of them for it yet they do not love to have the memorie of them rubbed afresh they do not love to have themselves proposed and traduced they cannot endure to have other men to blaze it There are many other simonicall contracts that are come into the Church not by the doore but they come another way they take downe the tiles as the men did for the poore man that came to bee healed of Christ they tooke downe the tyles of the house and so let him downe so there are a number of simonicall Priests that come not in by the doore but are entred into the Church another way they climbe in at the windowes like theeves and robbers and these cannot endure to be visited if Saint Paul say hee will come it is likely they will flee if Paul come they will go they cannot consist together in one place because they live in sinne and in open profession of their impenitency Therefore it is good whatsoever a man do in this life to thinke still that there will come a visitation upon him and he is an happie man that can endure the visitation although it be but the visitation of a mortall man But when Christ shall come to visite and to visite all the world when he shall come with his fanne in his hand he shall purge his floore and gather the corne into his garner he shall come to plucke the proud feathers of the potentates of this world that could not be quiet and peaceable but were still disturbing each other he shall then come and heare the cries and lamentations of the afflicted he shall come to redresse the cause of the fatherlesse and widdow he shall come to remove all scandalous doctrine from his Church and to plant his owne truth there to flourish for evermore This shall bee the great and wondrous apparition this is that admirable marching and procession this is that comming that shall worke wonders this comming shall bee more terrible to the consciences of wicked men then the comming of all the power and glory in the world if they should come all together Therefore let this sound in our eares as Hierome saith that he did alwayes thinke he heard the trumpet sound in his eares Surgite mortui Arise ye dead and come to judgement Certainly beloved we must looke for a visitation either from men or from God or
the Text saith that they went presently as soone as they saw the vision they went forward to goe to Macedon knowing by certaine arguments that the Lord had called them there to preach the Gospel So from Troas hee went to Samothracia and from thence hee went the same day to Neapolis from thence he passed to Philippos c. Now in this first journey to Macedon the Apostle was intercepted and hindred that he could not goe through as hee purposed to doe as we finde in the story from Philippos he passed to Appolonia which were a company of people that were strangers carried and planted in a strong place in the confines betweene Thrace and Macedon From thence he came to Amphipolis from thence to Thessalonica where he stayed three weeks untill the Iewes persecuted him thence for his life and then he came to Berea which were most noble minded men which examined the Scriptures tried daily whether those things that Paul spake were the Word of God as we see Acts 19. Act. 19. From Berea the Iewes hunted him they came from Thessalonica with permission to take him wheresoever they could find him therefore the brethren conveyed him from thence to Athens and then he came to Corinth where he stayed 18. Moneths that was the first time of his being at Corinth where he conversed I say a yeare and a halfe At Macedon he was twice for the second time he went he passed almost by Dalmatia and Illiricum as he speaks in the Epistle to the Romanes and then hee came backe and thought to have gone to Corinth but newes was brought him that the Iewes would take away his life therefore he returned and could not come but hee desired the money to bee sent to him to Philippi by Titus which they did and so it was carried to Ierusalem and bestowed on the brethren But here is some difficulty Object For how could it be that their benevolence should be put off for so long a time a poore man must have reliefe quickly or else he perisheth this money that was gathered at Corinth either it must be conveyed upon the sudden or else the brethren at Ierusalem for whom it was destinate are like to lose life and state and all Answ But for this we must understand that the want was not so great it was not so urgent but that they could stay some time and so it was almost a year indeed before he dispatched his journey in going to Macedon and returning from Philippos and if he receive their benevolence and it be sent from thence there will be time sufficient for it to relieve them at Ierusalem at the time of Pentecost These things are needfull to be knowne although the common people cannot brook them because they think they edifie not yet it is no great matter as long as I follow the Text I am carelesse of all censures 2 Part. Macedonia what Now I come to the particulars of the Text hee saith hee will come to them when he shall come from Macedonia Macedonia it is a great and large country in the North of Greece it is now called Ronnelli and Albania in old time it was called Emathia and Emonia it is that country which is intimated to us by the name of Kittim Macedonia Kittim Gen. 10.4 or Kethim Gen. 10.4 The sons of Iavan were Kethim and Dodanim of Dodanim came the inhabitants of Rhodes or Rodanim and of Kethim came the inhabitants of the Isles and especially the inhabitants of Macedonia And though Macedonia be no Isle but a Continent yet it is adjacent and they were the mother of it and this word Kethim I stand upon the more because the Scripture hath many ambiguities about it In Dan. 11. Dan. 11. The ships of Kethim shall come against them that is against the Assyrian Kingdome under the Antiochees In Isay 23.1 Isay 23.1 Houle ye ships of Tarshish for Kittim shall make good this word that is Alexander the great King of Macedon shall make good this word for that which Nebuchadnezzar had done before him he did in a short time after him againe that is to the Iland of Tyre which was seperate from the sea by the span of two miles or a mile and a halfe both Nebuchadnezzar with the strong and indefatigable labour of his men and Alexander after him by his infinite high spirit brought it of an Iland to be a Continent and made themselves Lords of the place so that where he saith Houle yee ships of Tarshish for Kittim shall make good this word that is that prophesie that I give of it There shall come a man out of Kittim that is Alexander Alexander the great King of Macedon hee shall make good this that I have prophesied this is a plaine demonstration that Kittim is this Macedon And in Ezek. 27. Ezek. 27. saith he speaking of the ships of Kittim although the Iews alway understand it of Ciprus yet better judgements have and doe take it for Macedon because there was a city built there which was called Ketiem or Ketium for Livie Livius saith that Perseus Perseus the last King of Macedon hee gathered his people together at Ketium and it is an easie translation of the word as Suidas Suidas a learned man notes that from Kethim comes Macedon by appendix of the syllable Ma Makethim Makedon or Makethia so the name is very natural and agreeable with the first Originall Kethim This I note onely to shew you the congruity of these words which we meet with oft in the Scriptures I know that Kethim is more than the City of Macedon I know that the Macedons possessed Italie and built a city there and called it Kittie but it was called Kittim of that city in Macedon the Macedons I say possessed great part of Italie as all the parts about Apulea and Brundis Brundusinm which were for a long time after called Magna Grecia Great Greece This is that Macedon saith Plinie Lib. 5. Cap. 11. that was once the mistresse of the world This is that which overcame Egypt Plinâ— l. 5. c. 11. that was Lord of Asia this is that which wandred as far as India namely by the prowesse and strength of Alexander the great King of Macedon but saith hee the same Macedon is fallen to a low ebbe and shee that was the mistresse of the world by one of our valiant men Paulus Aemilius Paulus Aemilius was in one day sacked and he did sell and mortgage 72. Cities of it See saith he what great difference there is in the luck and fortunes of two men Alexander the Great and Perseus the last King of Macedon Alexander the Great won and purchased all Perseus the last King of Macedon hee lost all that was won before This is that country therefore that the Apostle purposed to goe to it was fallen from the glory of the world and now it was come to receive the glory