16. nature yet in their use which is now become no longer a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Just Mart. Apol. 2. ordinary but holy and Sacramentall when I say they be thus changed in their use then to partake them without faith endangereth that worthlesse receiver as those lusted after quailes did the faithlesse and unruly Israelites unto a speedy and a sudden overthrow even whiles betwixt their b Num. 11.33 teeth And yet all this too not through the least defect in Sacraments themselves for they have apâ—â—tude and fitnesse in their designation naturall not onely to represent to declare and shew as signes and to confirme as c Rom. 4.11 Seales but even as sacred Instruments to d 1 Pet. 3.21 Save and as effectuall meanes though not by vertue of any opus operatum or * See my Lo. Grace sect 33. p. 271 272 273 c. p. 307. sect 38. p. 327. num 3. intention of the administrer both which as Bel-shazzar in the ballance may bee found too e Dan. 5.27 light yet of Gods owne ordinance to exhibite and convey the very body and bloud of Christ unto the right receiver for they be not empty pageants or naked shewes not theoricall but practicall signes though our grosse Romanists would faine perswade the world that we teach otherwise But all the ill issue is in the defect of the good * Tale cujusque sacrificium qualis est is qui accedit ut sumat omnia munda mundis Aug l. 2. cap. 52. cont Petilian motion of the User The better the meat the worse the nourishment yea the more dangerous the humours and the dropsie more deadly if the liver faile in making of good bloud occasioning the body like some marish grounds in the midst of a waterish bogge to swell and the spleene to puffe and not dispersing proper spirits into the veines which may as 't were embroyder the whole body in native and in azure beauty * Horat. lib. 1. ep 2 Sincerum est nisi vas quodcunque infundis acescit saith the Poet the best wines may sowre and become unsavoury if the But bee not rinsed and the purest streames be corrupted through the muddinesse of the channell Take a seale apply it to a stone it makes no more impression of its owne image then those afflictions did on Pharaohs heart which was in judgment f Exod. 9.35 hardened but stamp it on the wax the yeelding melting faithfull heart loe this seale of the Sacrament leaves there a Character as proper to the Elect of Christ as was to Cesars coyne the g Mat. 22.20 21. image of Cesar Whence is this difference not from the Scale that 's still the same but from the severall hearts so severally disposed that there is no more agreement 'twixt them then there is 'twixt faith and infidelity then was between an Egyptian and a Shepheard betweene Christ and Belial the one saith Moses is an h Gen. 46.34 abomination to the other and betweene the other two saith i 2 Cor. 6.15 16. Paul there is no Communion certainly its true Sacramenta non prosunt sine bono motu utentis And that this is the genuine purpose of our Saviour namely under this expression of flesh and bloud to acquaint us that the provision he intends is Cibus mentis and not Cibus ventris is cleare first in the generall as the k Centur. 1. l. 1 c. 4. p. 125. edit 1624. Magdeburgenses have observed from that reply of Christ to his Disciples to whom this saying was so hard ver 63. It is the Spirit that quickeneth the flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speake unto you they are spirit and they are life not to be taken as Capernaites apprehended it in a grosse and carnall meaning as likewise by those many equipollent phrases tending all of them to expresse the same thing in the former verses for that which he in my Text calleth flesh and bloud in the 51. verse he calleth the living bread which came downe from heaven and if any man eat of this bread he shall live for ever and the bread that I will give is my flesh that is my flesh shall be as bread to nourish the soule unto life eternall even as the Common bread doth serve to feed the body unto this life corporall and that the eating and drinking is also spirituall and of faith is evident out of ver 40. where the same effect that is here ascribed to eating and drinking viz. eternal life is given unto beleeving so that these tropical speeches rightly takeÌ„ are convertible for in this variety of expression Christ doth but transpose the proposition as l Pet. Martyr loc com class 4. c. 10. sect 34. p. 856. P. Martyr notes for as * Vers 51. before he said that the bread that I will give is my flesh so in the text his flesh having eating adjoyned to it is in stead of bread and in equipollency the very same utque corpore editis paneÌ„ ita mente vescamini carne meâ And to clear it yet a litle more consider we in the business of the supper two things the outward visible part which the Schools call properly Sacramentum in a more strict acception of the word and that which is inward invisible which they term rem Sacramenti the principal thing exhibited in the Sacrament Thus in the Lords supper the sacrament is bread and wine in the outward part of this mysticall action we receive this body and bloud but sacramentally the inward thing which we apprehend by faith is the body and bloud of Christ and in the inward part of this mysticall action which contains rem we receive them really and consequently the presence in the one is Relative and symbolical in the other Reall substantiall as that great light of the Church the deeply-learned * My Lord Archbishop Ussher Serm. on 1 Cor. 10.17 pag. 13. vol. 4. Primate of Armagh hath shewen us And now would all good moderate Christians baulking your wrangling Ismaelites being more shye of all that baggage which the School-men soile Divinity withall out of the Philosophers puddles and their own as m Dr Raynolds p. 652. conclus 5. added to the conference with Hart. Dr Raynolds truly speaketh would they poyse their judgements at this ballance of the Sanctuary and pray for the illumination of that Spirit whose grace in the operation is compared to n Mat. 3.11 fire by John Baptist the nature of which fire is both congregare homogenea segregare heterogenea as in Philosophy we use to speak both to conjoyne those things that be of the same and to dis-joyne such as be of a differing kinde and disposition would they set faith to feed spiritually upon the very flesh and bloud of Christ whose physicall and naturall body is personally in the eternall word locally in * Act. 3.21 Heaven onely the first that
building the two chiefe Pillars of which building as h 1 Kin. 7.21 Jachin and Boaz in Solomons Temple are the two maine Articles of our Christian faith viz. the resurrection of the dead and the life everlasting And that which as John Baptist did to Christ fore-runneth and i Mat. 3.3 prepares the way to solid comfort in them both is to eat the flesh and to drinke the bloud of Christ whose flesh is meat indeed and whose bloud is drinke indeed verse 55. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indeed because no food in shadow or in type but truely and in substance indeed because not provant for the body but spirituall nourishment of the soul indeed because not k Col. 2.22 perishing with the using but an heavenly viond a food l 1 Cor. 8.8 commending us to God and nourishing up for ever unto life eternall These four then viz. The division 1. The manducation of the flesh of Christ 2. The compotation of the bloud of Christ 3. The resurrection of the body And lastly 4. The possession of eternall life the certain issue of the other three These foure like the foure rivers in the garden of m Gen. 2.10 Eden doe all spring from the pure fountaine of this Scripture and must now flow abroad into so many severall streames of discourse which in their present spreading shall make glad I hope this City of God The same hand that gave the opportunity vouchsafe to give successe to this businesse Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud hath eternall life and I will raise him up at the last day I shall begin in that n Singula quaeque locum teneant dicenda decenter Horat. de Arte Poetica order which the Text presenteth the parts in and in the former generalls observe 1. The guest invited to this heavenly Feast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whoso or as the Genevians render it Whosoever answering to that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Saint o 1 Cor. 11.27 Paul the parallel Scripture unto this 1 Cor. 11.27 2. The provision made to entertaine these guests the flesh and bloud of Christ for meat and drink 3. The two actions with their relation to their severall object eating the flesh and drinking the bloud of Christ 4. And fourthly the conjunction of both these together for which cause I called it a compotation not flesh onely without bloud but bloud also as equally as the flesh and both respectively to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the beginning Of these in their order This Whoso is not either so universall The first particular or indefinite that pell mell promiscuously by vertue of it all commers or intruders were to be admitted to this sacred soules-repast though it be true that every worthy and accomplished guest may take p Isa 55.1.2 freely of the heavenly Supper and without cost Come saith the Prophet eat ye that which is good and let your soule delight it selfe in fatnesse and all without money and without price Isa 55.1.2 Procul hinc procul ite profani For if he that thrust himselfe in without his q Mat. 22.11.13 wedding garment to the Kings Feast was shamefully bound hand and foot and cast into outer darknesse where there was weeping and gnashing of teeth if there bee a Nolite sanctum canibus r Mat. 7.6 holy things and pearles be interdicted unto dogges and swine unto persons of a currish and swinish disposition that still as a 2 Pet. 2.22 Peter saith are turning backe to their vomit and to their wallowing in the mire of all impenitency Was a beast slain for touching the b Heb. 12.20 mount and shall not a person that is embrutished and sunke below his species in vile affections bee punished for touching that Table where the Lord is present Loe He that eates Christs flesh with a foule mouth and receives him into an uncleansed and sinfull soule doth as one saith well all one as if he should sop the bread he eates in dirt or lay up his richest treasures in a sinke No such unworthy and undressed guests are to touch here yea if they should all that they eat or drinke is but sure c 1 Cor. 11.29 judgement and damnation to themselves by such a presumptuous impreparation laying themselves open to the strokes of Gods displeasure of which Nadab and Abihu in a parallel case are exampled out for our warning being suddenly destroyed for offering d Lev. 10.2 strange fire at Gods Altar and no lesse are those endangered that present strange souls and a false faith at Christs Table for surely as Moses said to Aaron God wil be e Ver. 3. sanctified in them that come nigh him Wherefore our Saviour whose essence was Purity it self in abstracto when he meant though not to lay downe any thing which he had before to wit his Divinity save only as f Pantolcon tract de lumin sanct pag. 587. in patrum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pantoleon hath it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the act and time of his exinanition he seemed awhiles to shadow the manifestation and as it were to hide the glorious splendour of the same yet to assume unto his divine Person another Nature and that not of Angels for some of them stood but of Man whose whole species was quite lost as say the School-men in the fall of Adam In this his incarnation or assumption of his humanity he chose the wombe of none but of a pure Virgin to be lodged in for as no uncleane thing can enter into the kingdome of Heaven no more would the King of Heaven enter into any uncleane thing hee was a Lamb without h 1 Pet. 1.19 spot or blemish and could not therefore enter into a leprous soule yea his very body and his flesh so pure that those two noble Converts of his Joseph of Arimathea and his i 1 Joh. 7.50 night-Disciple Nicodemus thought it fittest as Primasius noteth out of St. John to be wound up onely in linnen cloaths and with sweet spices and fragrant odours to be interred in a new sepulchre never soyled by a sinfull body Joh. 19.40 41. And when himselfe was now about to give this same body of his in Sacrament at the first institution of his last blessed Supper unto his Disciples its noted by the same Evangelist chap. 13.4 5. that he riseth from supper that is if I misconceive not from the second and common supper now begun next to the eating of the Passeover which was the first and legall supper which the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rising up partly intimates For the legall Passeover as we may gather from Exod. 12.11 was to be eaten standing with staves in their hands and at which common supper it was before it was wholly ended that Judas eate the sop and had his traiterous hand with his Master in the dish after which sop no Sacramentall sop as I beleeve with a n
Lapide the Jesuite who faith that by the words of consecration Truely and really as the bread is transubstantiated so Christ is produced and as it were generated upon the Altar in such a powerfull and effectuall manner ut si Christus â—ecdion esset incarnatus per haec verba Hoc est corpus meum incarnaretur corpusque humanum assumeret That if Christ had not yet beene incarnate by these foure words This is my body he should be incarnate and take an humane body What is to be mad if this be to be sober yea how doth this grate upon the foundation of the faith of the incarnation And surely much of this proceedeth from their not allowing any Tropes or Figures which yet is contrary to the ancient Fathers of whom notwithstanding they bragge so much in Sacramentall speeches though the Scripture abounds this way so Circumcision is called the Covenant because it was the n Gen. 17.10 11. token of the Covenant and the o Rom. 4.11 Seal of the same and in this very businesse of the Supper its most apparent besides others in that one place of S. Paul 1 Cor. 10.16 The cup of blessing which we blesse Sacramentall speeches are tropicall is it not the communion of the bloud of Christ The bread which wee breake is it not the communion of the body of Christ In this passage The cup of blessing which wee blesse there are three Tropes 1. First the cup metonymically put for the wine in the cup. 2. The wine by a metonymie of the subject is put for the drinking of the wine 3. It s called the cup of blessing by a metonymie of the adjunct because it hath blessing adjoyned to it and that blessing is put for thanksgiving Prayer declaration of Institution as if he had said The drinking of the wine consecrated which we blesse sanctifie and over which we give thanks Is it not the communion of the bloud of Christ This interrogation affirmeth with more strength Yes it is the communion that is say some the signe say others the seale and obsignation say a third sort the declaration and some the instrumentall meanes of the communion which the true Beleever hath with Christ in his bloud so that the sense amounts to this The drinking of the wine consecrated is a signe of our communion with Christ all which is couched under these Tropicall expressions Besides our Saviour even after consecration calleth it the * Mat. 26.29 fruit of the vine and Saint p 1 Cor. 11.26 Paul after too q See my Lord Bish of Duâ—â— fâ—â—â— c. 15. sect 24. thes 2 p. 403 404. Grand Impost bread and cup. Moreover if we mark it well the subject of that Sacramentall proposition that is the demonstrative particle This can have reference to no other substance but that which our Saviour held in his sacred hands viz. a Pronomen hoc demonstravit panem materialem Franciscus Mason noster l. 5. de minister Anglic cap. 6. p. 604. panem materialem to the materiall bread and wine which are of so different a nature from the body and bloud of Christ that the one cannot possibly in proper sense or but common reason be said to be the other and againe in the predicate or the latter part of the same propositions there is not mention made onely of Christs body and bloud but of his body broken and his bloud shed to shew that his body is to be considered here b My Lo. Primate of Armagh cap. 4. of the Irish Relig. apart not as it was borne of the Virgin or now is in Heaven but as it was broken and crucified for us and his bloud likewise apart not as running in his veines but as shed out of his body which the Rhemists have told us to be conditions of his person as he was in sacrifice and oblation Besides they are bid to doe this in remembrance of him Now c Luk. 22.19 1 Cor. 11.24 25. remembrance is of things absent at least and if in remembrance then which I note by the way we may see whether the Romane Church did ever erre or not when for 600. yeares together it allowed though since indeed it be rejected the sentence of Innocentius the first who enjoyned the Eucharist to be administred even unto d Maldonat Jesuit in Joh. 6.53 Espencaeus de adorat eucharist l. 2. c. 12. Idem probat Binius ex rescript Innoc. Pap. tom 1. concil p. 585. edit 1606. Infants who through want of discretion cannot possibly Remember what they are not yet capable to Know. To conclude this point to shew that all this is to be meant onely in a e Joh. 6.63 spirituall way and that this is a f Convivium tam sublime tam spirituale Rabbi Samuel Israelita ociundus de civitate regis Morochiani ad Rabbi Isaac Magistr Synagogae cap. 20. p. 646. in Parr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sublime and mysticall banquet as even a Jewish Rabbi 600. yeares agoe acknowledged it is to be noted that Christ saith first Take eat and then This is my body to intimate unto us as learned g Hooker lib. 5. 359. Hooker observeth that the Sacrament however changed by consecration from common use yet is never properly to be called the body of Christ till taken and eaten by means of which actions if they bee actions of faith that holy bread and wine doe as really as meanes and instruments convey whole Christ with the vitall influences that proceed from him into the soule as the hand doth them unto the mouth or the mouth unto the stomacke Wherefore is then this so great adoe Surely h Chemnit quâ supra Chemnitius sheweth plainly to be because the Sacrifice of the Masse may be supported asservation circumgestation may be upheld that the Romish * My Lo. of Puresm quae supra p. 403 404. Moloch Christs substance corporally under the colour and species of bread and wine may be adored and that Christ by this dreame being corporally present might though onely as a sacrifice unbloudy be continually offered up upon their superstitious I had almost said Idoll-Altars when yet the Scripture tells us plainly that as men dye but once for all no more is Christ offered up save onely Eucharistically and i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys hom 17 in Heb. commemoratively and by way of k Repraesentatio veri sacrificii P. Lumb l. 4 dist 12 G. confer Du Moulin Art 9. versus fin defence of K. James Representation but once for all hylastically and in propitiation the iteration and repeating of the sacrifice implying imperfection and insufficiency under the old law Christs owne oblation of himselfe upon the Crosse most complete perfection because but once for all Heb. 9.27 28. And as they are thus grossely out in this provision it selfe viz. the flesh and bloud of Christ so doe they become injurious also to it in the usage
of it They by oblation asservation circumgestation and carrying about adoration and the like prophane it Whereas the actions enjoyned to us herein are Sacramentall only expressed in the Text by eating and by drinking which is the next particular though but in a little mouthfull of words onely to bee discoursed of Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud These actions of Eating The third particular and of Drinkking are both of Sacramentall Institution and signification symbolically representing the inward application of and as it were the mysticall mastication or feeding upon Christs flesh and bloud by faith which is the mouth of the soule and her exercise and acts about this mystery as 't were the very eating and the drinking of Christs flesh and bloud Now this eating is as Christs body to which it doth relate twofold 1. Sacramentall 2. Spirituall both are required but chiefly the spirituall because the wicked may equally share with us in the first and if we have the second though necessity perchance barre us of the first yet we are safe still remembring the Rule that Nuda carentia non damnat but contemptus because that Christ doth not universally and alwayes l Deus gratiam Sacramentis non alligavit quasi absque illis neque possit neque velit ullos servare Pet. Martyr loc com class 4. c. 5. sect 16. p. 826. tye without any exception his saving graces to the outward means Hence is that of m P. Lumb l. 4. dist 4. 9. Lumbard Some saith he take both the Sacrament and the thing signified with it so the Elect and faithfull in their health or well-disposed some the Sacrament onely and no more so the Hypocrite a third sort the thing onely without the signe which is indeed the principall eating hence is that knowne word of S. n Aug. Tract 25. in Joh. Austin Ut quid paras ventrem dentem crede manducasti Why preparest thou thy teeth and belly beleeve only and thou hast eaten Christ Now though I might here take occasion justly to exhort my selfe and you to a frequent partaking of Christ even Sacramentally too and so o Eph. 5.16 redeem the time of our freedome herein because the dayes are evill so that we may either be taken from the Sacrament or it from us we finde that the Primitive Church was p 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 2.46 daily in it which made Saint q S. Cyprian in orat Dom. sect 13. Cyprian to interpret the daily Bread in the Lords prayer of the Sacramentall bread And in Saint Chrysostomes dayes there was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Chrys hom 3. ad Ephes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a daily sacrifice in use and he in wonder cryed out on the slacke comming unto the holy Altar and blamed it as an ill custome But though I urge not such a frequency lest the commonnesse might abate somewhat of the reverence to it yet at least let not the moone pace over the Zodiack oftner sith the spouse of Christ is likened to the b Cant. 6.10 moone then we performe if possible our course this way St. Paul is at his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his c 1 Cor. 11.26 oftennesse of which d Thom. 3 qu. 66 art 9. ad 5um in fine Quia homo semel nascitur multoties autem cibatur semel tantum datur baptismus multotiens autem Eucharistia Thomas gives a reason though Baptisme be but once for all administred because though man be but once borne yet because he stands in need of often feeding and nourishment therefore though the Sacrament of Initiation Baptisme be but once given yet the Sacrament of farther confirmation and strengthening the Lords Supper or the Eucharist is often administred In Concilio Agathensi as I find in Isidores Councels he was sentenced for an unsound Christian who did not at the three great Festivals of the yeere at least communicate Our own Church hath pressed her children to e Canon Angl. 21. Three times a yeare at the least whereof one to be now at f Certum habemus quia Christus resurgens ex mortuis jam non moritur c. tamen ne obliviscamur quod semel factum est in memoria nostra omni anno fit sc quotiens Pascha celebratur August praef in 2. expos Psal 21. de cons dist 2. apud Lumb l 4. dist 12. G. Easter But as for our spirituall eating that must be every day for else the soule would starve and dye which liveth not but by the g Hab. 2.4 Gal. 3.11 The fourth particular life of faith And as Christs flesh must thus be eaten by us so must every good Christian drink his bloud too for which cause we find a Conjunction coupling them both together in the Text And both bread and wine too were prefigured in Melchisedech his oblation of both bread and wine to Abraham Gen. 14.18 as St. h S. Cyprian sect 2. de Coen Dom. Cyprian i Rabbi Samuel quâ supra cap. 19. p. 645. Rabbi Samuel k Thom. 3. qu. 61. Act. 3. ad 3um Aquinas l Hales par 4. qu. 10. mem 1. Art 2. p. 223. edit 1622. Hales and many others have well observed See yet if herein our Romanists be not directly Antichristian and both wayes run themselves upon the rockes the dangerous Scylla of * Apoc. 22.18 19. adding on the one side and the engulphing Charybdis of taking away on the other side both pernicious In the Councell of Florence for loe a deepe silence of this till that time in all Antiquity which was but in the yeere 1200. some 30. yeares after that Hugo de S. Victore and P. Lumbard had vented their conceits herein and they were the first that made any noise about it as m Dr Whitaker l. 8. sect 59. de paradox cont Duraeum Dr Whitaker sometimes Oracle of the chaire in Cambridge hath shewed us Then and There they decree for seven Sacraments whereas our Saviour appoints but two They might as well have settled 70. times 7. in the larger acception of the word Sacrament as it signifies the signe of an holy thing in generall And now here they mangle the use of these that our Saviour appointed allowing the cup only unto the Clergy pretending that Christ meant that onely to the Apostles then present with him at the institution but as well they may say the same likewise for the bread But besides the expresse institution of our Saviour himselfe under both kindes and not of the bread onely in the maine the wine being by n Pet. Martyr loc com clas 4. c 10 sect 18. p. 849. concomitancy alone consecrated as some of them doe tell us not onely the Primitive but even the whole o Cassander consult Art 22. initiō Catholicke Church of Christ yea even the purer Romane too for a thousand yeares continuance which had
a beleever thus feeding upon Christ by faith hath Christ himselfe who is stiled eternall life Joh. 17.3 for Christ by faith a Eph. 3.17 dwelleth in such an one and he in him Joh. 6.56 yea Christ himselfe saith as much Joh. 11.25 I am the life and hee that beleeveth in me shall never dye for he hath in him life eternall Again if eternall life be here set as I think it is as the Reward of faith then how hath the beleever it already Ans In Spe though not in Re In hope and expectation he hath it though not in actually complete fruition and by this hope they are i Rom. 8.24 saved Or else they have it in arrhabone in the k Eph. 1.14 earnest in sigillo in the l Eph. 4.30 seale and marke of the spirit which marke is for ever indeleble it 's as a foundation m 2 Tim. 2.19 sure not to be shaken no not by all the machinations or n Mat. 16.18 policies of Hell it selfe But how so sith they that beleeve dye Ans What of that sith he that beleeveth in Christ though he were o Joh. 11.25 dead yet shall hee live Dye hee must because of the statute Heb. 9.27 But let not this trouble the beleever for as Christ is the life so is he also the resurrection too and therefore in the Text it 's added by way of assurance that I will raise him up at the last day and I like * Beza ad locum Beza his guesse well that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here stands for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the and here is a causall note serving by way of prolepsis or of preoccupation to remove that objection likely to bee raised by a weakling though a Beleever Thus You promise life eternall and loe I die where then is your promise Ans Why I will raise thee up againe at the last day and if yee note it at your leisure you shall finde this speech of the Resurrection no lesse then p John 6 39 40 44 54. foure times in this one Chapter repeated to double the observation and comfort The fourth generall part And at this saying of a Resurrection at the last day we may well resume that of the Disciples John 6.60 Durus est hic sermo This is a hard saying who can beare it Surely no unbeleeving meerely naturall man on earth yea more then so the very Apostles themselves were q Luke 24.25 slow of heart at the first to beleeve it and the reports of those good soules the women that having seene Christ after his Resurrection told it to the Disciples seemed to them as r Luke 24.11 idle tales saith S. Luke cap. 24.11 yea S. Thomas expresly protested that for his part hee would ſ John 20.25 not beleeve it till he felt him John 20.25 The Philosophers at Athens derided the doctrine and made a mock of S. Paul when hee delivered it to them Act. 17.32 At other times he was not onely called in t Act. 23.6 question but in danger almost to be torne in u Ver. 10. ib. pieces for the same the x Ver. 8. ib. Sadducees a certaine sect in the Apostles dayes yea rise also in our y Math. 22.23 Saviours owne time flatly denied that there was any Resurrection or Angel or Spirit for alas the poring eye of z To conceive of Divine things by Philosophy is no other then to take out a red-hot Iron with our fingers and not with tongs My L. of Exon Sect. 18. No peace with Rome Nature was too dimme to discerne so high a mystery as this was so farre remote from her best-disposed Organs The wisest Ethnick was no better at this then S. Peters a 2 Pet. 1.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that was pur-blind like to a Bat or Owle or like S. Austins man betweene sleeping and waking That Common Principle of à privatione ad habitum non datur regressus that from a totall privation of life from the Body there was no possibility of a returne was so fastened in them that like to a first Principle or a Mathematicall Rule it must be taken True for granted and he that should offer a disputation against it he was as S. Paul at Athens to be esteemed a b Act. 17.18 Babler or as a Naturall Ignaro the ground of all is because this is a businesse meerely of Faith to which all Carnall c Thom. 1ª qu. 1ª Art 8. ad 2um Oportet quòd naturalis ratio subserviat fidei Reasonings must give way in the Naturall man both the medium which is Faith is wanting or unprepared and the object Christ risen stood at too great a distance to bee kenned no not so much as Moses did from mount d Deut. 34.1 Nebo the land of promise a farre off by him It 's the proper work of Gods spirit only as he did those Dead bones in e Ezek. 37.14 Ezekiel which were a figure of the Resurrection to quicken and enliven his first apprehension and faith for this purpose Some Heretiques there were after the Apostles dayes in f Tertul. de praescript adv Haer. c. 46 48 49 51 Saturn Basilides Carpocrates Cerdon c. Tertullians time that were against the Bodily Resurrection the Anabaptists and Libertines of late were all for the Spirituall Resurrection of the soule from sinne unto the life of grace in this life though that good Martyr Polycarpus S. Johns Disciple stileth such whether Epicures or others g Polycarpus Epist ad Philip. Primogenitos Satanae the first-begotten of Satan yea even h Tertul. lib. de Monogam Tertullian himselfe that ancient Father of the Church after his infection by the heresie of Montanus whom hee stiled his Paraclete and his Prophet i Lactant. lib. 7. instit Div. c. 21 24 26. Lactantius also and divers other Doctors of the Church having a tang of the errour of the Millenaries these though they granted a Resurrection to bee yet were out in the understanding of it for mis-understanding that Prophecy Rev. 20.5 where there is mention of a first Resurrection imagined that there should be a first Resurrection of the Just that should raigne here a thousand yeares even upon earth and after that a second Resurrection of the Wicked at the day of the generall judgment Whereas we know there shall bee but k John 11.24 one generall Resurrection of the Bodies of the just and unjust at the last day that first Resurrection in S. John being to be understood onely of the inward and spirituall Resurrection of the soule out of the grave of sinne which as a body in the grave lies too much rotting and corrupting of the soule for which cause S. Paul hath called it the l Phil. 3.10 see Rom. 6. Power of Christs Resurrection These some then and divers more that might happely be named have either flatly denied or else
receive the seeds of grace One sting of the fiery Serpent in the wildernesse drives the pained Israelite to look up for remedy to the i Num. 21.9 brasen Serpent there set up so when the Conscience is as it were stung with the bitings of the k Rev. 12.9 old Serpent the Devill by the sight and smart for sinne Then flies the Penitent and sobbing soule for ease and remedy to the True brasen l John 3.14 Serpent Christ Jesus who hath broken the teeth and plucked out that m 1 Cor. 15.55 57. sting which so much pained the good soule The n Initium salutis notitia peccati qui peccare se nescit corrigi non vult Sen. Frustra medicantis auxilium expectat qui vulnus non detegit Boctius sight and sense of misery by sinne is the sure preparatory meanes to seek and finde a remedy by mercy as when the powers of the jaylors soule were shaken with as strong an earth-quake as the Prison it selfe was Then but not till then hee o Act. 16.29 Non potest scire quo modo morbos curare conveniat qui undè hi sunt ignorat Cornel. Cels de Re Med. lib. 1. sprang in to Paul and Silas desiring both ease and direction from the guilt of sinne unto the life of Christianity The like to which wee read of S. Peters Converts when they were p Act. 2.37 * A man were better feele wrath then nothing D. Sclater in sick souls salve pricked in their hearts then they cry out What shall wee do to bee saved 2. Secondly Christs Resurrection was q Thom. 3ª qu. 54ª Art 2. Integrall whole in every part a most complete and perfect Resurrection he had nothing wanting or defective in his body which now arose in incorruptibilitate as r Primasius in 1. ad Corinth c. 15. v. 20. Primasius speaks in an absolute incorruption yea and impossibility of returning back againe to Death He being risen dieth o Rom. 6.9 no more death hath no more dominion over him for he arose Immortalis Totaliter as p Raymund à Sabunde in Theolog. Natural Raymundus à Sabunde saith Totally Immortall Now his Resurrection being an example of ours from hence wee are instructed to a Totall Integrall and Universall abrenunciation of all sinne unto the contrary reformation A Christian must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whole in regard of sincerity universall in regard of the extent of his obedience unto q Psal 119.128 all Gods Commandements for hee that allowes himselfe in any one knowne sinne cannot bee said Truly to hate any sinne even as a loose adulterer that hath many curtisans but some one above the rest on whom hee doates on whom his luxurious affections are more intensively enamoured though hee entertaine the rest but onely in a generall salute and so goes them all by to glut himselfe with pleasure on that one Though the manifestation of his carnall love be greater to this one then to all the other yet hee cannot properly be said to hate any of the rest But a Christian must not onely as Herod be at his r Mar. 6.20 many things nor as Agrippa at his ſ Act. 26.28 almost nor as Naaman at his Rimmon and his being pardoned in t 2 King 5.18 This though but an onely minion but he that is in Christ must bee a new Creature throughout and u Act. 26.29 altogether x 2 Cor. 5.17 all things must become New in heart and affection in life and conversation in body in soule in spirit y 1 Thes 5.23 Wholly Integrally Universally for so was Christs Resurrection 3. Thirdly Christ arose speedily the z Luke 24.46 Third day from his death and that no sooner nor no later first saith a Thom. 3ª qu. 53. Art 2. in corp Aquinas to shew the Truth of both his Natures it behoved him to rise quickly least if his Resurrection had beene deferred till the end of the world the Truth of his Divinity might with his omnipotency have beene suspected as if hee b See John 10.18 could not have raised up himselfe before and it behoved him to lie till the third day before hee arose least the Truth of his humanity and his death might have beene questioned now continuing in the grave untill the Third Day so that the grave to our Saviour was not onely Sheol but also b Bp. Lake quà supra p. 152. Shacath not onely a greedy swallower but a ravenous digester also it 's manifest that his Death was True No Apoplectick extasie being compatible with life under favour above three dayes Secondly Hee rose the third day that is speedily no long delay intervening betweene his Dissolution and his Resurrection to bee a Patterne to us herein of our speedy and c Luke 24.1 early arising out of the grave of sinne unto the life of grace Ne differas de die in diem saith d Ecclus. 5.7 Siracides Make no tarrying to turne to the Lord and put not off from day to day I love them that love me saith God and they that seeke me early shall finde me Prov. 8.17 God loves such as bee aurorantes ad se that with the first peeping of the day give up themselves to God Let us with Abel offer up the e Gen. 4.4 firstlings of our Time in Sacrifice to God we shall so be the first in his acceptation Let us die the wooll of our infancy and youth into the graine colour of sanctity that when our dayes are woven into more yeares wee may never after change colour Awake up my glory saith King David awake Psaltery and Harpe I my selfe will awake right early Psal 57.8 Or as some render it Excitabo auroram I will stirre up the morning non illam ut me à somno excitet praestolabor sed illam ego morantem excitabo saith m Granatens tom 3. concion de temp conc 1. in die S. Pasch Granatensis And surely my Beloved Christians would wee as now it 's n Rom. 13.11 high time awake out of the sleepe of our carnall security and sin and as Bildad advised Job seek unto God o Job 8.5 6. betimes surely now he would awake for us and make the habitation of our righteousnesse prosperous Yea if thus we would awake and arise from the dead in the first Resurrection Christ himselfe shall give us p Eph. 5.14 light that is himselfe for so old Simeon calleth him The q Luk. 2.32 Joh. 1.9 Light to lighten the Gentiles and in thy a Psal 36.9 light O blessed and sweet Saviour we shall surely see light This was the way that a * Dr Peterson the reverend Dean of Exeter in his learned and elegant sermon upon Eph. 5.14 preached in the Cathedrall of Saint Peter there upon Easter day 1639 bright starre pointed out unto me lately as yee all know and the readiest affections of mine heart lending mee winde and sayles at will for present would now put mee on to steare amayne in the same course This was the Musick that so tooke our eares and hearts upon the solemne Festivall it selfe Oh that as the voice and eccho in the woods that most divine Sermon and our true Practice might make up one sound and termination I confesse my meditations have since that time as Moses on the Mount b Exod. 32.1 stayed long upon it and were it not that I justly feared my jarring notes would marre that taking harmony I could yet winde up mine instrument a while longer but so divine an Orpheus could not but draw even the stony heart to follow Doe then what then you heard I will assure you it is that which leads the way directly to the life eternal in this my Text Concerning which if ye would now enquire of me and aske me what it is I must needs tell you that its that which sooner swallowes up our thoughts in wonder then it can become capable of but a competent expression by our speech it s better knowne indeed by True fruition then discourse Therefore leaving that let us now rather all pray so to bee enabled all to feed upon the flesh and to drinke the bloud of Christ by faith that in the issue we may make sure of the full fruition of the same and in the end of all things obtaine infallibly the c 1 Pet. 1.9 end of all our faith even the salvation of our soules and this through the alone merits and mediation of the same Jesus Christ the d 1 Joh. 2.1 righteous who hath risen from the dead is e Eph. 4.8 9. ascended up into Heaven there to f Joh. 14.3 prepare those eternall mansions of blisse promised to all that cleave unto him by a true effectuall and lively faith even for ever and ever Unto him with thee O righteous Father and thy blessed incomprehensible Spirit our God in Unity our God in Trinity be all honour and praise thanksgiving immortality dominion salvation and glory in the g Eph. 3.21 Church throughout all ages world without end Amen FINIS