Credo Resurrectionem CARNIS A Tractate on the eleventh Article of the Apostles Creed By W. H. Esquire sometimes of Peter-house in Cambridge SPES ADDIDIT ALAS LONDON Printed by E. P. for N. Bourne and are to be sold at his Shop at the South Entrance of the Royall Exchange 1633. Credo Resurrectionem Carnis CHAP. I. Of the Creed in generall WHat Origen said of the inventiō of Hieroglyphicall Learning Origen Hom. 7. in Exod. may not unfitly be applyed to these Breviaries and Epitomes of Holy Writ like the Iewes Manna they fall downe in round and small cakes yet afford good nourishment Like rich Iewels they carry worth in every sparke and in these little maps is contained a world of matter As those decem verba the short Law of the Decalogue is a patterne of all duties to bee done As that Oratio quotidiana authorized by our Saviours lips is the curious Archetype master-peece of all prayer the common place the originall copie the platforme of all requests to bee made So the Apostolicall Creed is a plaine and absolute summe of all holy Faith It is called in English the Creed from the first Word Credo quia omnia credenda according to that of Athanasius whosoever will bee saved before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholicke faith which faith except every one keepe whole and undefiled without doubt he shall perish everlastingly It is called Apostolicall because it summarily conteines the chiefe and principall points of religion handled and propounded in the doctrine of the Apostles Other confessions are received not as new but as paraphrases and expositions and enlargements for the better clearing of this for as there is but one Faith so but one Creed as the foure Gospels are indeed but one Gospel so the Apostolicall Athanasian and Nicen Creed are but one in substance This of the Apostles hath ever been accounted in the Church most ancient and of greatest authority which although it be not Protocanonicall Scripture yet is it the key of Scriptures medulla Scripturarum the pith of the whole Bible Here have I an hādful of holy flowers which are called from the several beds of that spacious garden of the sacred Scripture here is collected into one faire body the substance and sweetnesse of all those divine mysteries which either lie hidden or scatterd in the volume of holy writ This is that Parvulus Iudex the little Iudge in matters of quarrell about religion for what doctrine soever is contrary to the Analogie of faith in these things ought and must bee rejected If a foole say in his heart there is no God If a Iew deny Christ If an Epicure beleeve not a life everlasting If a Cain deny the remission of sinnes or a Corinthian the Resurrection of the flesh All these crossing the Articles of our Christian faith the Church rejecteth them God condemneth them And they fearefully perish without his mercy to recall them The matter or object of the Creed concerneth 1 God 2 Church First God 1 The Father and our Creation Article 1. 2 The Son our Redemption in the 6. next Art 3 The Holy Ghost Article 8. Secondly it concerneth the Church in the 4. last Articles which is more fully described by her Properties 1 Holy Article 9. 2 Catholicke Article 9. 3 Knit in a Communion Article 9. Prerogatives In the soule remission of sins Art 10. In the body resurrection Art 11. Body soule everlasting life Art 12. These bee the twelve signes in the Zodiake of our faith through which passeth Christ Iesus the Sun of righteousnes O never may the clouds of infidelity darken or eclypse his beames These twelve Articles are so necessary and so lincked together that hee that denyeth one by consequent denyeth all because that of any one so denyed the denyall of the very foundation of our faith is straightly inferred He that with Marcion denyeth the Humanity of Christ may be easily convinced to deny the passion of Christ because the God-head is impassible he that with Ebion denyeth the Deity of Christ may with the like facility bee convinced to deny the Resurrection of Christ because the manhood onely never had beene able to raise it selfe from the dead Rom. 1.4 And hee that denyeth the Resurrection of Christ cannot beleeve his Ascension because the Apostle telleth us Ephes 4.9 that hee which ascended is the same which descended first into the lower parts of the Earth By this manifest inference may we plainely see the connexion of these Articles If yee deny one yee deny all and if yee renounce any one yee cannot be saved But I will not take a large survey in a small plot It s a good rule to be observed by booke-writers which a great master in oratory hath prescribed ut titulum legant to reade the title of their bookes and often to aske themselves what they have begun to handle From this maine sea I will therefore strike into a little channell and having drunke of the brooke in the way and given a tast of the Creed in generall I descend to this particular Article which is rhe subject of our following Treatise CHAP. 2. Each terme in this eleventh Article remarkable from the explication of which is inferred the immortality of the Soule and consequently of the rising againe of the body IN our precedent Chapter we shewed the dependancy of one Article with another and that to deny any one of these principles is the next degree to infidelity Wee may farther illustrate this truth by this Article of the Resurrection Hee that beleeves not this beleeves all other things in vaine for if there bee no Resurrection from death then can he receive no reward of his faith Nay I will take the note a little higher He that beleeves not this beleeves no other Article of his Creed for as our English Postiller hath observed from Erasmus aptly The whole Creed in grosse every parcell thereof argueth a resurrection If there bee a God Almighty then hee is just and if just then another reckning in another world If a Iesus Christ who is our Saviour then must hee dissolve the workes of Satan sinne and death If an Holy Ghost then all his holy Temples which have glorified him here shall bee glorified of him hereafter If a Church which is holy then a Remission of sins a Resurrection of the body a life everlasting Thus doe wee see how this Primarium Evangelii caput this predominant Article presupposeth all the rest how it is Nexus Articulorum omnium the tying knot on which all other links of holy Faith depend By this hand is religion held up by the head This is the anchor of our hope the reference of our faith the certainty of our salvation and the very dore of the Kingdome of heaven From this mine ariseth another treasure it is worth our observation how this Article of the Resurrection is placed betweene the Article of the
Remission of sinnes and the other of Everlasting life teaching us that then only the Resurrection of the body is a benefit when Remission of sins goeth before eternall life followeth after for as the Resurrection is sepes Fidej so eternall life is Corona Fidej In this as in each parcell of the Creed are two maine things observable First the Act which is to beleeve therefore Credo must be applyed to every Article Pides est tota copulativa Secondly the object which is the ensuing Article In the Act is the personality which is faiths possessive Ego I beleeve This was Iobs Creed Scio quod Redemptor nâ—… I know that my Redeemer liveth I must saith one put all men in my Pater noster only my selfe in my Creed My prayer must bee like the penny which Peter found in the fishes mouth with which Christ bid him pay tribute pro me te I must pray for others beleeve for my selfe No mans faith can do mee good but mine owne for I cannot beleeve by an attorney nor be saved by a proxie When doubting Thomas fouÌ„d his faith at his fingers ends then did hee cry out with an holy appropriation my Lord and my God Vt brevissima sit absolutissima confessio saith Bullinger for hee did utter that in two words which is the contents of the two Testaments and summe of all summes of Faith and holy beleefe That living carcasse whom formerly wee mentioned hee that was even poore to a proverbe was enriched with this singular faith Iob 19.26 I shall see God in my flesh id est as it is excellently glossed on I in my flesh shall see God or Videbo Deum in carne h. e. Deum incarnatum I shall see God having taken flesh on him If I have this faith in particularity and can apply things generall to mine owne comfort then God even my God shall give me his blessing Et non est haec superbia Elati sed confessio non ingrati From the Act we remove our meditations to the object and here wee will first explaine those two Emphatical termes 1 Resurrectionem 2 Carnis For in these models summaries of Christian doctrine there is weight in every word we must therfore herein imitate the finers of pure gold Qui non tantum auri massas tollunt verum bracteolas parvas that make use not only of the wedge but even of the smallest foile or rayes that their mettall casteth Resurrection is properly a rising againe upon a fall taken for this praeposition Re as it hath beene noted B. of WimoÌ„ by a pious and learned Father of our Church doth ever imply not only Againe but Againe as it were upon a losse not second onely but a second upon the failing of the first as Redemption a buying againe upon a former aliening Reconciliation upon a former falling out Orthod fid lib. 4. ca. 28. Restitution upon a former attainder Resurrection upon a fall taken formerly to this suites well the definition of it given by Damascen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Resurrection is a second quickening or setting up againe of that which first fell Resurget quod prius cecidit In this word then Resurrection we do find the strength and sinewes of an argument If the body rise it must first fall in this is implicitly woven up a confessed truth That all men must dye the first death Debemur morti nos nosiraque to dye is as true as good a debt as any the world knowes for the levying of which debt as one excellently and with a silver pen there is an extent upon all mankind and a Statute recorded by Saint Paul StatutuÌ„ est omnibus semel mori This a decree not to bee reversed a debt not possible to be declined Here might I have store of rich cloath to apparel my lines withall but lest the hemme should be bigger than the garment I have taken no more than what is suitable to my purpose My second observation is that in this common cognizance of our faith in this Article of my Creed I do not say at large I beleeve a Resurrection but more strictly more expressely thus Credo resurrectioneÌ„ carnis I beleeve the resurrection of the flesh Carnis scilicet non Animae This word Resurrection doth properly belong to the body the body that fals must rise To thinke that our soules shall sleepe in dust as our bodies doe till the last doome is but a dreame of the Anabaptists the spawne of the ancient Arabicks Ne in somnium quidem cadit anima cum corpore quomodo ergo in ueritatem mortis cadet quae nec in imaginem ejus ruit saith Tertullian and experience tels me that my soule while it is now like the Arke of God In medio pellium in these wals of flesh hath her owne working and lively operation even then when the Publican arresteth my body while my senses are imprisoned in the bands of sleepe For the mind of maÌ„ is a restlesse thing Of the immortality of the Soule and though it give the body leave to repose it selfe as knowing it is a mortall and earthly part yet it selfe being a spirit therfore active and indefatigable is ever in motion it hath no rise at all from this clay It sleepes not in a living body therefore it shall not sleepe in a dead body it is made of an everlasting nature As Gods eternall decrees have an end without a beginning so the soule of man hath beginning without an end It hath beginning to live it shall have no time to dye There is indeed a death of the Soule not that it ceaseth to bee but when it ceaseth to bee righteous Habet anima mortem suam cum vitâ beatâ caret quae vera animae vita dicenda est saith Augustine consonant to this is that genuine and proper interpretation of those words of the Evangelist what will it profit a man to gaine the whole world and lose his soule Perdere animam saith the glosse Est non ut non sit sed ne male sit for the soule being immortall is capable of Eternal either Felicity or Misery and whatsoever life it liveth yet it never ceaseth to live I have briefely set down the riches of the observatioÌ„s that naturally arise from the explication of these two termes both which I find comprised in one verse Psal 16.20 Thou wilt not leave my soule in grave there 's the Immortality of the soule nor suffer the holy one to see corruption there 's the Resurrection of the body This David knowing before saith the Scripture spake of the Resurrection of Christ the accomplishment of which prophecy is often repeated in the new Testament Act. 2.31 Act. 13.35 howbeit David after hee had served his time by the Counsell of God hee slept and was layd with his Fathers and saw corruption yet by the vertue of an insitioÌ„ into that Christ whose sacred body the Lord preserved from the least
Iubile which Christiās enjoy under Christ by whose blood wee have not only a reentry into the Kingdome of heaven which we lost in the transgression of our great Grandfather Adam which wee had formerly morgaged forfeited by our sins And this was happily signified by the Israelits reentry upon their lands which they had formerly sould and againe the found of the Gospell which was in this Feast typed by the noise of the Trumpets is gone throughout the world The Redemption of Christ Easter Day is a yeere of Iubile the Resurrection of Christ is the chiefe day in the yeere yea Regina Dierum as Ignatius stiles it All Christians herein imitating the patterne of the blessed Apostle in honour of Christs Resurrection 1 Cor. 16.2 observe their Sabbath on the eight day which is the first day of the weeke wheras the Iewes hallowed their Sabbath upon the seaventh day which is the last day of the weeke So that Easter day is the Sabbath of Sabbaths an high and holy day from which every other Sunday hath its name being so called because the Sunne of righteousnesse arose from the dead this day Christs appearing on the eight day is not without a mystery wee labour six dayes in this life the seventh is the Sabbath of our death in which wee rest from our labours and then being raised from the dead the eighth day Christ in his owne body yea the very same body that was crucified shall reward every man according to his works Happy then is that man whose whole life is nothing els but a Lent to prepare him against the Sabbath of his death and Easter of his Resurrection CHAP. 4. Arguments drawne from divers Attributes of God as his Power Mercy Iustice c. to confirme us in this Article of the Resurrection AT my first entrance into the schoole of faith in the very first Article of my Creed I no sooner reade that there is a God but I learne withall that hee is Almighty The doctrine of his Omnipotency is the basis and fundamentall Arch on which is built our Christian religion from the knowledge hereof proceeds all faith because wee beleeve with the blessed Virgin Quia potens est that God is able to doe all those things which reason is not able to comprehend Cōtrariwise the ignorance or the not right understanding of this truth is the cause that there bee so many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unbeleevers and misbeleevers Atheists without the knowledge of God Infidels without hope or faith in God It was our Saviours own Argument against the Sadduces you erre not knowing the Scriptures Math. 22.29 nor the power of God i. e. saith the Paraphrase yee Sadduces doe erre grossely dānably in this your miscōceit of the resurrection the ground of your errour is your ignorāce both of the Scriptures which have cleerly revealed the truth thereof and of that Omnipotent power of God wherby is only this otherwise impossible worke If with the men of Berea wee do search the Scriptures wee shall find that before the Sadduces had any being in Israel this heresy of theirs was palpably convinced with an example of the resurrectiō even in Elishaes revived corps Now the power that can raise one man can raise a thousand a milliō a world No power can raise one man but that which is infinite and that which is infinite admits of no limitation In the beginning the Word of the Lord was the seminary of all being his will was his Word and his Word was his deed His Fiat and Fuit met together his Dixit and Benedixit kissed each other All at first was nothing and from that nothing carne all How easy is it then for him to repaire all out of something who could thus fetch all out of nothing How should we distrust him for our resurrection who hath approved his Omnipotency in our creation Our remainder after death can never bee so small as our being was before the world ashes is more than nothing The body wee confesse that is once cold in death hath no more aptitude to a reanimation than that which is mouldred into dust only as it was Gods omnipotēcy to create man out of a substāce that had no ability to produce the matter so likewise it is the Prerogative Royall to revive that dust to forme it into a new Adam to fetch a man a second time from the earth to live with himselfe when time shall bee no more This Resuscitation of the dead is one of those foure keyes which the Hebrewes say are in the hand of him who is the Lord of the whole world The Scripture makes mention of each of them 1. Clavis pluviae the key of raine the Lord will open to thee his good treasure Deut. 28.12 2. Clavis cibationis the key of food Thou openest thy hād and fillest every thing with thy plenteousnesse Psal 145.16 3. Clavis sterilitatis the key of barrenesse God remembred Rachel and opened her Wombe Genes 30.22 4. Clavis sepulchrorum the key of the grave when I shall open your sepulchers Ezek. 37.12 By all which places it is intimated that these foure things God hath reserved in his owne hand and custody Namely Raine Food the procreation of children the raising of our bodies For though at first hee made him ex nihilo out of nothing yet he did not make him ad nihilum to returne to nothing There may be a dissolution of soule and body for a time but there cannot bee an annihilation of either because they must be revnited againe to remaine for ever As we have derived a maine proofe of the Resurrection from the power of God so likewise may wee argue from his other glorious and divine attributes but because I will not enlarge a treatise into a volume I will herein follow the Schoole-men who reduce all communiter ad duo his Mercy Iustice These be the two master Attributes which set all the rest on work these bee the two feete of God whereupon he walketh al his wayes When God makes a covenant with his owne it is an incorruptible everlasting covenant Numb 18.19 therefore it is called a covenant of salt to note the perpepetuity of it In this covenant are all the dead Bodies of the Saints and the Lord forgetteth them not When Iacob wēt down to Aegypt Genes 46.4 the Lord promised to bring him backe againe but how did the Lord bring him backe againe seeing hee died in Aegypt the Lord was with him when hee was brought out of Aegypt So the Lord preserveth all the bodies of the Saints Psal 34.20 and hee keepeth all their bones yea even then when their bed is made in the dust because they are within the covenant It is said of Iosias although hee was slaine in battle yet he was gathered in peace to his Fathers i. e. to the Spirits of his Fathers who enjoy peace for hee was not gathered in peace in
his body for hee was slaine in warre 2. Chro. 35. In 22. of Math. and the 32. Christ saith I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaack and the God of Iacob God is not the God of the dead but the living Hee doth not say I was the God of Abraham and of Isaack and of Iacob or I am the God of Abraham that once was but as implying his owne eternall being and the certaine being of those holy Patriarches hee saith I am the God of Abraham c. Now God is not the God of those that are not and have no existence at all but of those that have a being So that hee will raise their bodies or else he did Dimidium tantummodò Hominem restituere else hee were God but to one part of Abraham But as his mercy is over all his works so his works of mercy are over all his His mercy extends both to soule and body and in the mercy of the most High they shall not miscarry Therefore shall God raise the bodies of dead men But wee must not frame unto our selves a God all of mercy but learne to sing that compounded ditty of the Psalmist of mercy and Iudgement Gods iustice is himselfe as well as his mercy As his mercy which wee have already shewed so likewise his iustice requires that their must bee an universall resurrection If in this life saith the Apostle wee have hope in Christ 1 Cor. 15.15 we are of all men most miserable Paul indeed was at a quotidie morior every houre in danger to bee drawne to the blocke every day dying ready to bee offered up for the name of his Lord and Saviour But to what purpose did hee expose himselfe to such variety of perils if there were no resurrection Miserable is that man that either laboureth or suffereth in vaine Shal Paul beare in his body the markes of Christ Iesus and shall he not beare in the same body the crowne of his glory Shall the labourer endure the heate of the day and shall hee not at length receive this penny his wages Christiani ad metalla was a usuall condemnation but what made them digge so willingly in the mines Surely they had a treasure there which the Emperour knew not of they had infinite more precious wealth from thence then hee For the hope of the gaining a better life is the perswasive Rethoricke against the feare of loosing this Haec vespera est necesse est addi matutinam laetitiam and then shal our birth be consummate when the evening and the morning are made one day These mixt meditations compounded of contrary ingredients as a Crosse and a Crowne Martyrdome and glory Mortality and heaven death and life are strong grapples and ties to hold a Christian and his patience together It were iniurious to cōplaine of the measure when we acknowledge the recompence Afflictiōs are the flowers of eternall felicity and who would not willingly gather the flowers for the fruits sake He that hewed timber out of the rocke Psal 74.6 was knowne to bring it to an excellēt peece of worke so was Ioseph hewed in the stocks and in the prison God brought him to an excellent peece of work to make him Lord of Aegypt Thus was Christ Iesus hewed and squared on the Crosse with hammers nailes and speares of that excellent work see where he sitteth at Gods right Hand Thrones Powers Dominations Angels subjected to him And thus will God deale with the dead bodies of his Saints which though they have bin persecuted here and the iron hath even entred into their soule yet at length they shal come out of their graues like so many Iosephs out of prison for Death like that Aegyptian Mistresse hath only power over their coates their upper garments their bodies and the grave like the serpent is dieted and feedes on nothing but dust It is not so much the death of the body as the corruption of the body Mortalitas magis sinita est quam vita When the Lord brought the Israelites to Canaan he made them goe Southward into the mountaines the South was a dry and barren part Thou hast given me a South land give mee also springs of water Iudg. 1.15 Thus doth God deale with his children in this life hee sheweth them great afflictions and troubles the South part as it were at first but afterward he bringeth them to the land that floweth with milke and hony He that shall build his faith on this rocke hee that doth thus Reponere fidem in sine will supervolare crucen◠triumph o're the Crosse and with Iob comfort himselfe on the dunghill with a videbo Deum and outface death with his Resurrection in hope and expectation of that glory hee shall once enjoy with Christ Benedictus sic Deus saith the Apostle Blessed hee God who hath begotten us againe unto a liuely hope by the Resurrection of Iesus Christ to an inheritance incorruptible c. It hath beene well observed by one of no vulgar Iudgement how the Resurrection is there placed in the midst betweene our hope and our inheritance To hope before it before the Resurrection hope but after to the inheritance it selfe to the full possession and fruition of it So from the state of hope by the Resurrection as by a Bridge passe wee over to the enjoying our inheritance Before I shut up this stage I must cleere a doubt and remove an objection which hangeth on this thinge Some of the Rabbins have conceited that the wicked by corporall death shall utterly bee extinct and that none shall come to Iudgement but they shall bee saved grounding their opiniō on those words of the Psalmist Psal 1.5 The wicked shall not rise in Iudgement But here insteed of the naturall milke of this text they sucke out the blood of misinterpretation And they which shall tenter and wrest the Scriptures which is a fault Saint Peter complaines of with expositions and glosses newly coined to make them speake what they never meant must needs bring forth aut heresim aut phrenesim If wee tread in the steps of the best interpreters we shal find as Hierome others observe that this is not to be understood Quod non furgent sed quod in judicio non resurgent Hee saith not that the wicked shall not rise but in judgement they shall not rise not rise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 faith Christ as Felons whose fact being evident are placed at the bar not so much to be convicted as to bee cōdemned Their conscience that like a Blood-hound hunts drie foote shall set before them the sent of their sinnes soe that the Lord Iudge shall not make any great inquisition to find out their faults but proceed to sentence At that great assise shall wee all appeare Nam oportet nos omnes 2 Cor. 5.10 saith the Apostle confusi confisi both Christs confessors his crucifiers but the end
of their Resurrection shall bee different the one to glory the other to shame which was properly figured in Pharaohs two servants Gen. 40. the Baker and the Butler both of them were taken out of prison but the one to bee restored to his office to minister before the King the other to bee put to death So shall both the godly and the wicked come out of their graves the one Rapi in occursum to meete their Saviour in the clouds the other verti retrorsum to be turned down to hell with all the people that forget God But I will not straine this note I have the rather touched upon it because it is one of those Quantuor nocissima which wee should still have in remembrance for after death commeth judgement whose forerunner is the universall Resurrection The day of death and the day of doome are the two Pole-starrs on which wee pilgrimes and travellers on earth should fix our eyes May my soule still keep on this wing Dan. 6.10 may my heart be like Daniels window which was open in his chamber toward Ierusalem may I oft repose my selfe on the rose bed of this contemplation for they that never have any holy whisperings with God that never walk up to Mount Tabor into some retired place of meditation and prayer such as Isaacks field Cornelius his Leads Davids Closset carry their soules in their bodies as Iosephs brethren did their money in their sacks and know not what Treasure they have And here for methode have I occasion given to treate CHAP. 5. Of Sadducisme and other heresies which flatly oppose this Article of the Resurrection SVperstition and Atheisme are the two extreames of Religion the Pharises ran on the Rocke of the one and the Sadduces sunke in the Sand-beds of the other This grosse errour of Sadducisme crept into Moses chaire many of the high Priests themselves as Ioannes Hircanus with his sons Alexander and Aristobulus and likewise Anaus the younger were of this Sect. To shew the originall occasion of this heresie I must open an antiquity and take up a story as I finde it already related to my hands The Sadduces were so called from Sadoc the first Author of this heresie this Sadoc lived under Antigonus Sochaeus who not long after the daies of Nehemial was the chiefest Rabbin in the great Synagogue at Ierusalem this Antigonus gravely instructing his Disciples that they should not be of servile mindes or doe their duties for hope of reward His Schollers hearing this desired him to expound his mind more fully whereupon hee added that men must not expect the recompence of a good life in this world but stay for it untill the world to come To these words Sadoc a chiefe disciple of his tooke exception and said Hee never heard of any such thing as the world to come whereupon hee with his fellow Baithuâ— turned Apostates and repaired to the schismaticall Temple built upon Mount Gerizim and became principall Rabbins of the Samaritans Amongst them did Sadoc first broach his heresie and taught them that there was no Resurrection of the dead because no immortality of the soule and spirit and so consequently no judgement to come Will you have a fuller relation of their impiety shall I present you with the picture of a Sadduce as I find it curiously penselled out Castly our eyes on the Table of that counterfeit Salomon where you have him lively set forth in his proper colours In his second Chapter of his Booke of Wisdome hee recounts at large the sensuall thoughts the earthly conceits of all such Epicures and Atheists Qui non agnoscunt saeculum nisi praesens and at length hee windes up all on this clew such things doe they imagine and goe astray for their owne wickednes hath blinded them verse 21. yea so blinded them that as they live like beasts so they imagin they shal dye like beasts that they shall not onely mori but per mori dye like Oxen knocked on the head that they shall be annihilated and therefore they dance after this pipe Let us eate and drinke for to morrow we shall dye 1 Cor. 15.32 Nay the Apostle hath it in the present tence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 morimur to not the sensuality of these wretches who think that their soules and bodies shall bee quite extinguished together But on rotten joists is this fouÌ„dation laid Our blessed Saviour with the modesty of truth hath long since confuted this bold broad fac'd heresie of the Sadduces Wee reade Math. 22. That he put them to sileÌ„ce the Originall is significant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee bridled their mouthes which is a phrase borrowed from fierce and stomackefull horses which beeing held in by a strong bit become subject perforce to the wil of the rider Hee that spake as never man spake so resolved their doubts and dissolved their sophismes that they were tongue-ride had not a word to returne upon him It is farther observable how our Savior in that place fits his Answer to the Questionists and concludes most evidently against theÌ„ by pressing them with their owne principalls Concerning the Resurrection of the dead he prooves it not out of the Prophets but drawes his Argument out of Exodus Exod. 3.6 For wheras the Sadduces rejected all Scripture save onely the Pentateuchi Christ disputes with them in their owne Canons and makes Moses give them an answer whose authority was sacred with them The Pharisees in their Doctrine were much neerer the truth than the Sadduces for they confessed that there were Angels and Spirits they acknowledged the Resurrection of the dead Hereupon Saint Paul perceiving that in the Councell the one part were Saduces Act. 23.6 the other Pharisees cryed out of the hope id est of the reward expected and of the Resurrection of the dead I am called in question yet though these Sectaries had a branch of the Tree of knowledged they bowed the sprig the wrong way They taught that the soules of evill men deceased departed into everlasting punishment but the soules said they of good men by a kinde of Pythagorian transmigration into other good mens bodies Of which Opinion Herod may seeme to have beene for when newes was brought him of Christ hee said that Iohn the Baptist being beâ—…ded was risen againe thinking that the soul of the Baptist was passed into the body of Iesus Hence againe arose the like different opinions concerning our Savior some saying hee was Elias Mat. 16.14 others Ieremias as if Christs body had bin animated by the soule either of Iohn Elias or Ieremias It were a world to rake up the old errors of all such as have drawn in the same line it were infinite to traduce the fond conceits of the Saturnians Basilidians and those whom Tertullian calls Partiatios Sadducaeorum or Semi-Sadduces But I forbeare to set down fancies for truths I willingly spare that oyle for as it was noted by some as a token of Gods
speciall providence that Saint Augustine Pelagius the heretike should come into the world much about one yeere that the Antidote might bee contemporary with the poyson so truth in all ages hath beene justified by her children and our Church hath ever found some Advocate to plead her cause so that the gates of Hell which Origen well expounds to be blaspheming heresies shall never prevaile against it And here may wee cast a Dart at the Sadduces and Epicures of our times for these be not the names of a nation but of a disposition every Countrey may have a Sadduce every Table an Epicure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This heresie is every day brought on the stage and is but vetus fabula per novos histriones the same play acted againe by other Actors The palliated hypopocrite that gives God the complement of a fashionable profession who weares Christs livery but serves the Devill is a Sadduce all his holinesse is but theatricall and personate a stage-devotion he doth but play Religion by his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his rough cast countenance he deceives the world Sir Thomas Moore It was pleasantly spoken by him who said of a vitious Priest that hee would not for any thing repeat the Creed lest he should make him call the Articles of his Faith into question Quis audiet illum docentem qui seipsum non audit He that daily feeds on cibos desiderij whose lushious appetite walkes from dish to dish Et pittisando totum consumit diem as if his soule which some Philosophers held were made of salt is an Epicure that digges his grave with his teeth and adoreth Deum stercorarium he makes his belly his God This argument is too demonstrative it shall content mee onely to glance at the generality of so copious a theame Surely this loosenesse of living ariseth from the self-perswasion of the mortality of the soule that is the Nilus wherin this Crocodile is bred for as Tertullian well Nemo tam carnaliter vivit quam qui negat resurrectionem carnis On the contrary he whose mind is deeply seasoned with a meditation of our humane frailty doth so live Tanquam Ephemeridem Deo traditurus every day beeing ready to give an account to his God hee considers that this world for all the World is like a Globe of Chrystall which though it take the eye with variety and delights of objects yet the glory thereof is but little and brittle Wee reade in the Acts that Agrippa and Bernice came into the place where Pauls cause was to be heard Act. 25.23 with great pompe it is in the originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intimating thus much that the glory and pompe of this world is but a phansie a dream This life is but saeculi falsi vita as the Heathen man spake but the hope of the life immortall is the life of this hope mortall In the language of Canaan in the Scripture phrase death is called a change Iob 14. In the third of Iames we read of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. as the word carrieth it the wheele of our nature this wheele turneth apace and daily turnes off some and we know not how soon our turn will come Our estate in this life is like the verticall Dyall which sheweth neither our Ortum or Occasum our Genesis or our Exodus our comming into the world or the time when we are to go out of it But our estate in the life to come is like the Horizontall Dyall upon which the Sun shineth alwayes there shall the Sunne of righteousnesse for ever shine and in his light shall wee see light I have dwelt long on this subject and am loath to part with so sweet a meditation but lest I strike too much on the same string which is a fault in musicke I will like a skilfull Gardner delight your eyes with variety of objects and in this maze shew an order in confusion and because the Articles of our faith are not only Credenda but Credibilia I will see what fruit I can pluck for our purpose from the Tree of Pophiry I will fetch some Arguments frō the schools and give you a sight CHAP. 6. Of many resemblances in the booke of Nature of our Resurrection IF we borrow some Iewels from the Aegyptians and search the writings of prophane Authors we shall often find some shadow of holy history among the Heathen Plato Moses alter Moses Atticus Plato the divine amongst the Philosophers as it is observed by one who sweetly descants on the songs of Sion which Ionas sung in a strange land when he was imprisoned in a living tombe within a Chrystall cage this Moses amongst the Athenians differeth but a little in describing the Nature of the god-head from that other Moses which was as I may so say absit invidia verbo a Plato amongst the Hebrewes each of them doth but a little vary the Article The one writes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He that is the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That that is From whence wee may take up this note when God had a purpose to reveale his eternity to Moses hee chose to do it by a word which being but one syllable amongst the Greeks doth notwithstanding signify and containe three times that which is past that which is present that which is to come all which are indistinct in God because hee is not changed but is yesterday to day and the same for ever more for in Gods Grammer as it is wit tily said there are no lerters but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no Nowne but Bonitas no Pronoune but Ipse no Verbe but Sum no Adverbe but Nunc. But to leave generalities and to returne to the head of our race where wee first began In this point of reuniting the soule with the body this Athenian Eagle hath soared higher than any other of the Philosophers Anma Platonicus for hee held that in the revolution of so many yeeres men should be in the same estate wherein they were before which is obscurely drawne from the Resurrection when wee shall bee in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Math 19 28. as wee were in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Principall Secretary in nature dictator of reason holds the immortality of the soule and consequently strong reasons even from his own axiomes and rules of Philosophy may bee derived to confirme the Resurrection of the body For if wee admit the soule to bee immortall then it must necessarily follow that the body as the Organon or instrument thereof bee revnited thereunto The soule was not made to live to it selfe but in the body and resteth not fully content so long as she wanteth her cōpanion Secondly the soule separated from the body is imperfect Et nulla res imperfecta est capax perfectae falicitatis Thirdly Non est perpetuum quod est contra naturam but it is contrary to the nature of a mans soule to
be separated from the body seing it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the perfecting act thereof wherfore the Soule cannot be continually separated but must necessarily resume the body It is not my intent to leade my Reader into the Lycaeum of the Peripateticks or the Gallery of the Stoicks or the Tusculatum of the Oratour The season of the yeere doth now invite us with Isaack into the fields and with Ioseph of Aramathea into our gardens And here as it hath ever beene the guise of godly men from the beholding of worldly things to beget heavēly thoughts to turne the sight of every solemnity into a Schoole of Divinity and from things they see here downeward to make a prospect upwards whatsoever is presented to our eyes may be an Embleme to us of our resurrection How doth it feed us with delight to view the trees apparelled with a fresh beauty to see The mealy mountaines late unseene Change their white garments into lusty greene The gardens prancke thē with their flowry buds The meades with grasse with leaves the naked woods For what is the Spring but as Tertullian calleth it the resurrectiō of the yeere and it is no way consonant to reason that man for whom all other things doe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shoote forth wax fresh spring and rise againe should not have his spring and rising too The whole creature doth write a commentary to give us comfort in this point but principally the Arabian Phenix that sole bird of wonder The Phaenix never did the Roman Emperors lye in their beds in greater state when in their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were to bee burnt and changed to Gods then she doth consume herselfe in cost because shee knowes she shall bee revived By all writers she hath ever been held a type of our glorious Resurrection In the 91. Psalme it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the vulgar translation wee reade it hee shall flourish like the palme but it may be translated hee shall flourish like the Phenix for the greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 admitts of both significations Dies diei discipulus one day teacheth another and one night certifieth another each day dieth into the night and riseth into the morning againe these vicissitudes of times and revolutions of seasons are but so many deaths and so many resurrections Homo est nummus Dei Man is Gods coine stamped with his Image Nazianzen speaking of Rulers as of the Image of God compareth the Highest to pictures drawne cleane through even to the feet the middle sort to halfe pictures drawne to the girdle the meanest to the lesser sort of pictures drawn but to the necke and shoulders But all in some degree carry his Image as well the poore penny as the coine of gold In these lively pictures of ours may wee see some shadow some resemblāce of our future Resurrection doe not our nails pared our haire being cut grow againe And if these dead parts of the body bee restored by the ordinary power of God in nature much more shall his mighty power restore the bodies of men hath God given me the security of the very haires of my head and shall I distrust him for the raising of my body These and the like meditations are armor of proofe against the feare of death Pulvis es in pulverem reverteris is Mans Epitaph writtē with Gods own finger Libenter mortalis sum quisim futurus immortalis is a faithfull mans suscription and reply I might here without disgression record what I find upon file many memorable sayings Apothegmata merientium and novissima verba the last breath of such Seraphycall Zelots as have gone to heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with some sentence of piety in their mouthes with good words in their lips and like so many dying swans have warbled out their soules into the hāds of God But this field hath bin already reaped to my hand Since an Angell sate on our Saviours grave and proclamed those good tidings Resurrexit non est hic wee have added to our tombe-stones too Hic jacet-this happy clause speresurgendi for wee know that the bodies of the dead are not lost but layed up that they doe not perish but rest in hope that the sepulchers are not gulfes to swallow thē but repositaries to keep thē therfore do the Germans wittily call the Church-yard Gods acker because the bodies are sowne there to bee raised up againe Securus moritur qui scit se morte renasci Soules take your rest whose soule in heavens attends A blest reunion of two loving friends When Christ shall come with a Prodi Lazare the graves shall set ope their marble doores when the Ark-Angell shall sound the trump of collectiō the scatter'd bones of the Saints shal be gathered together with sinewes and those sinewes incorporated with flesh and that flesh covered o're with skin and by a new Metempsycosis or rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as Pythagoras never dream'd of the same soule shall reenter into the same body But of the perfect restauration of our bodyes and glory of our soules wee shall discourse more largely in the close of our meditations Before I unlade my ship and put her into the creeke before I lodge my colours I should collect something by way of refutation from the absurdities that arise from the deniall of this truth The blessed Apostle hath set them downe at large in his Epistle to the Corinthians to which most comfortable Chapter wherein is store of Manna for the soule to feed on I referre my Reader To comment upon each of those texts were to set up a candle before the Sunne many of them being plaine and easy to bee understood I will only select one period of harder construction and give you the. CHAP. 7. Divers readings and interpretations of those words 1 Cor. 15.29 Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead Or as others baptized for dead if the dead rise not at all c. SOME Chymicall wits as the Advocates of Rome have extracted from hence a proofe of their Purgatory as Stapleton and that Franciscane in the Treatise of the fiery Torrent Du Moulin in his confut of Purgat p. 268. who disguising the passage thus what shall they doe that baptize themselves for the dead expound that which they have corrupted in this manner To baptize ones selfe signifieth to doe laborious and satisfactory workes for the dead and withall wee must understand that it is to fetch them out of Purgatory How fruitfull is errour of absurdities But 〈◊〉 will not sit on the skirts of this firy hil since Nabuchadnezzar cannot interpret his owne dreame nor the learnedst of our Adversaries cannot aread us their owne riddle this Somnium Monachorum nor resolve us concerning this mathematicall and imaginary fire either where it is or what it is This ignis fatuus hath been sufficiently quenched by the waters of Shilo which have
apple of contention grow between God and us It is Nazianzens note upon that divine Anthemne of three parts which Saint Luke the Evangelist and Psalmist of the new Testament Luke 2.14 records Pugnas dissidia nescire Deum Angelos no broiles no brables in Heaven There shall the soule bee satisfied in all her desires there shall bee no Actuall or Potentiall evill no Actuall because grace being consummate in the Saints excludes al sin No Potentiall for they being confirmed in goodnesse cannot sinne There shall bee no sorrow nor teares which are the effects of sorrow those rivers of our eyes shall bee dried up There shall be no more death for Resurrectio eriâ— mors mortis At that Iubile of glory victus vincet the Conqueror shall bee disarmed and wee whom death hath overcome shall overcome death And now having sung deaths Epitaph sounded the victory I retreit This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall bee my conclusion were my Inke nectar or my pen takeÌ„ from the wing of an Angell I could not set forth to the life the joyes of the life immortall This casteth me into an extasis and maketh me imagine some great matter I cannot well expresse what Silence shall bee my Eloquence what I comprehend I will admire and what I comprehend not I will more admire A Peroration to the Reader THus have I walked about Sion and viewed the bulwarks thereof I have shewed the strength and munition of this Fort of Faith In a plaine and short way nec breuius potui nec apertius I have meditated somewhat one this sweet and comfortable Article of our Creed Expect more generous wine from old vine-trees for resolutions of sacred riddles and deepe mysteries of religion consult with such whose very trade is Divinity with those cunning Bezaliels which are continually digging in the precious gemmes of the holy Scripture And now having cast my Mite into the publike treasury having made my thoughts legible and sent them in dias luminis aâ—…ras This little Manuall habent sua fata libelli must either stand or fall at the uncerteinty of my Readers Iudgment I doe not embosome such a Mountebanoke opinion as to set the garland on my owne worke I dare not arrogate to my selfe Arachnes motto mihi soli debeo and boast that I have spun this thread out of mine owne bowels No I will freely confesse it were meere ingratitude should I not acknowledge it Nihil egi sine Theseis where I liked the water of other mens wells I have drunke deepe I will therefore with Lyranensis rejoice in this that I deliver what I have learned not what I invented I have feld much wood out of other mens groves wherewith to build but as one spake in the like case I have so hewed it and squared it and polished it with my owne phrase and my own methode that the Authors though good Enditers can hardly bring in evidence of theft against me If this Enchiridion or my vade Mecum shall meete with a faire and candid interpretation from the Ingenuous the file may perchance bee drawne over it againe Not that I hunt after the fume of vaine glory what but an Herodian eare will sucke-in such breath but because our second thoughts are commonly more refined and meditation like the wind gathers strength in proceeding W. H. FINIS Errata Pag. 28. the quotation in marg juxta finem hath reference to Damascen in pag. 29. p. 62 l. 8 for superst reade suppositionâ— 70. l. 4. for not only r. both 77. l. 6. r. worke is effected 80. l. 4. r. his pâ—erog 82. l. 15 r. made man 89. l. 8. r. life only 96 l. 13. for fidem r. spem 99. l. 6. r. they that 121. l. 10. r. heare him repeat l. 17. lest it 133. l. 13. of nature 144. l. 11 r. added on 145. l 12. for Soules r. Bones 167. l. 3. for love r. liue 189. l. 6. for gemmes r. mines