deserved well in this world were turned into starres and so they imagined Hercules and Antonius and Arctophilax and a great number of toyes and trifles that they devised as though the starres were the bodies of men or that they were persons of a spirituall substance But the Lord teacheth us that they are no earthly bodies they are things that were created in the first beginning and they are bodies which notwithstanding seeme to be nothing lesse then bodies they seeme to be spirituall things to be spirits rather then bodies being of such a swiftnesse and of that rare operation and brightnesse Yet the Lord tels us that they are bodies that is that they have a kind of earthlinesse in them they have a kinde of matter in them For although they be farre different from these inferiour things from these inferiour bodies yet in respect of the first Creator they are but bodies For there is but one spirit there is but one pure Spirit which is God himselfe All things else have a kinde of dreggie matter in them which makes them bodies the bodies which are heavenly that is the starres are bodies because they are visible because they are circumscribed because they have figure and proportion and they are bodies because they are kept within a certaine compasse and limit Whence it follows that seeing they are bodies therefore they are not to be worshipped as the Heathens used to do and as the Indian people at this day worship them but hence we see they ought not to bee worshipped Why even because they are but bodies nay they are insensible bodies they have not sence to guide them So that for all their puritie and the use they are of to the world yet in the perfection of life they are not comparable unto the beasts of the field for the beasts of the field that have sence are more perfect in their kinde then the Sunne in the firmament Eatenus because to have life and sence is a better kinde of being then to be without it The starres are bodies without sence they are bodies without soules and they are over-ruled by other things or else as they bee bodies they could not possible rule themselves Now these goodly bodies how they should bee carried up and downe every 24. houres after what manner whether they flye as the birds in the ayre so they in their spheares and orbes or whether they swimme as the fishes in the sea as divers men have imagined a man would thinke that one of those wayes they must needs be moved but it is certaine they do neither of them For they have a mighty power that God hath given them and the Angels execute this power and they turne the whole globe over Psal 104.2 as the Psalmist saith where he cals it the curtaine of heaven which is bespangled with stars and the whole curtaine is turned over together as an Ancient or Flagge displayed that is imbossed with gold all the whole compasse and circumference is moved together or as a woman when she turnes the rimme of a wheele about both the circle and the center are moved together and so all the wheele moveth round together so the power of the Angels move the celestiall bodies by the appointment of God that in twenty foure houres they compasse the whole earth which is as much in effect as if a bird should flye fifty times the space of the world in halfe a quarter of an houre The rarenesse therefore of this motion and the strangenesse of it argueth that God hath set over them some spirituall mover which wee call their standings and their Intelligences which move them to and fro in an unspeakable manner And for the manner of it that it should be in such a contrary course that never a starre should rise to morrow in the same manner as it doth to day and that the Sunne should never rise at one and the same point twice in the yeare but still varie and by varying make the compasse of the yeare as the Moone makes the compasse of the moneth For the Sunne hath one motion whereby hee makes the day and the Moone another motion whereby shee makes the night Againe there is another motion of the Sunne whereby hee makes the yeare and the Moone hath another motion whereby she makes a moneth And so for the rest of these heavenly bodies some of them fulfill their course and period in twelve yeares some in five yeares some in thirty some in a hundred yeares the Lord having set such a rare guidance in these things that there is nothing but a man may know it before hand a man may tell fifty yeares yea an hundred yeares before hand when there shall be an eclipse and the presages of these things are certainly knowne This argues that these bodies celestiall are moved by spirits celestiall For of themselves being but bodies they could not possible do thus they could not keepe this exact and swift motion nor they could not rowle over of themselves it is impossible being but bodies that they should do these things Now I come to the second point 2. Part or comparison wherein the Apostle compares these bodies together in respect of their glory There is a great glory indeed in terrestriall bodies there is a great glory in gold and silver and many men esteeme them more then the starres of heaven There is a great glory and lustre in jewels and precious stones there is a goodly transparent beauty in them in the lustre that they give There is a great glory in the beauteous faces of Gods Saints and in the gorgeous and pompous out-settings of Kings and Princes in their Courts of state There is great glory in every part of humane felicitie but being compared to this glory of the heavenly bodies they are meere foyles to that For saith the Apostle there is one glory of the heavenly and another glory of the earthly That is there is a farre greater glory of the heavenly then can bee supposed to bee in the earthly For first of all the glory in the heavenly bodies is pure but the glory in the earthly is mixed the purer the glory is and the more it is separate the more singular and excellent it is Now the glory which is in the stars above is pure in comparison of these earthly things And although they bee speckled and spotted in respect of God and be full of dregges in comparison with the Angels yet in relation to earthly things they are most pure even puritie it selfe All these inferiour things in their glory they have a mixture They are mingled of foure things there is nothing so glorious but it is composed of the foure elements even of Earth Water Fire and Ayre and these elements are never so well glued together but they will worke themselves asunder iâ— time whereas that celestiall beauty is pure without mixture it is an Essence that is elaborate to the full God hath brought
his worke Diddest thou ever see the Whale Iob 41. Didst thou ever see the goodly proportion that he hath and the carelesnesse and contempt that he hath of thee and of all the weapons that thou canst bring against him I say in that vast element the wonders of God appeare more then upon the face of the earth What shoales what millions what mighty armies of fishes every yeare passe and repasse the sea and keepe their seasons and times that rather then men shall want they come and offer themselves in their seasons to be meat for man that as some kinde of birds flie unto us at certaine times in the yeare so also at certaine seasons the fishes of the Sea do swimme unto us For God hath given the Sea that qualitie that invites them hee makes the South sea so hot that the fishes are faine to come and refresh themselves in the North and every where where they come they fill the shores with plentie And to this kinde of creature God hath given a flesh that is waterish like to the element where it lives And withall he hath given it the blessing to be fit for the use and food of man and that in admirable delicacie and great variety For whereas there is not of all the beasts and birds upon the earth set them all together not forty kinde of severall dishes for there are but foureteene kinde of beasts that are fit for meat and but twenty five or twenty sixe of birds and no more there are of severall kindes of fishes very neare two hundred that are wholsome and good for the food and use of man And this food it is not ordinarie but to some bodies and in som Countries it is a great deale more nourishing and faemiliar and good then either that of beasts or birds Therefore the Lord hath glorified himselfe in this creature wondrously by the miracle of the two fishes he wrought that upon the fish that we do not reade in the Gospell hee wrought upon flesh Luk 9.16 For in that Countrey as their fish was most delicate so their meat most ordinarily was fish His Apostles were fishermen and his last apparition to them was in giving them a dish of broyled fish upon the shore where a fire was kindled and the fish was laid upon it no man knew how It was a dish which the Lord gave them they found the fire the broyled fish upon it by a miraculous act of Christs hand that as he commanded the fish to have money in its mouth so hee commanded preparation to be made by the ministery of Angels for his Apostles dinner in that place The last flesh he speakes of is the flesh of fowls or birds and that is another wonder indeed and of great varietie For the water and the ayre they differ but in their thicknesse and thinnesse the ayre is a thinne water and the water is a thicke ayre and so the motion of the fishes and the motion of the birds do differ accordingly For the fishes do move with that speed that they may be said to flye in the water and the birds do flye with that facilitie that they may be said to swimme in the ayre they are wondrous things that the Lord hath wrought in these two elements But there is nothing that comes to that height of excellencie for naturall motion as the birds which can be in any place They can rest upon the waters as many of them do they can rest upon the land and yet they can travell in the ayre and in a short space of time they can overcome a great journey To see that a massie heavy body should be carried up with the helpe of a feather of a wing and hang in the ayre that if a man should see them that had never seene it before hee would thinke they should all breake their necks and that it were impossible for them to be free from danger And yet the Lord hath given them such a poyse and such a measure that though they bee made with round bodies yet their spirits are so thinne and fierie and nimble that they can sustaine themselves even in the clouds and soare aloft for many houres together This argueth also the power that shall be in the bodies that shall be raised from the dead For they shall have that abilitie and power to soare about Christ Mat. 24.28 to flocke about him as the Eagles about the body And this flesh of birds to see in what a wondrous varietie it is is strange For the cleannesse and uncleannesse of them For their severall kinds For their forme and figure and proportion For their quantitie For their colours For their feathers in some goodly and glorious in others for necessitie in others their feathers are like the streames of a flagge rather then feathers Of those I meane that are heavier bodies and cannot mount aloft The great God is wondrous in all these things and we ought not to looke upon them with an idle eye but to make it a Sabbath dayes exercise to instruct our selves in these varieties and to praise and blesse God where we see any step of his greatnesse I will conclude in a word 3. Part. How this variety of fleshes proves the resurrection Now we come to the use of all this It is true there is one kinde of flesh of men another of beasts another of fishes and another of birds but what is that to the purpose how doth this prove that there shall be a resurrection The Lord hath made all these things that be in the world to be types and paternes of better things that are reserved for another world therefore if he have set a glorious varietie here much more will he do it there even those things that wee account here to be the best of things they shall be so farre short of that which shall be then revealed as that the best things that are now shall come short by farre of the worst that shall be then Wee can distinguish among the beasts which are best and which are worst and among the fishes and fowls and in the parts of our bodies all are not so beautifull as the eye there are some parts of lesse and worse respect and in the beauty and colour and complexion of the faces of men and women there are better and worse Some are exceeding goodly some are extreamly deformed and we make a difference alway betweene that which is worst and that which is best in every kinde So the Apostle argues thus God shall so alter and change the things that remaine for a better life hee shall so alter them to a betterment and perfection that the best things that are here shall not compare with the worst thing that shall be there Looke how farre the most excellent beautie excels them that are most deformed in face looke how farre the best bodie excels the worst the most crooked and impotent body looke how farre the best
the earthly Now because the Corinthians and other Readers might perhaps not understand this for it is not every mans part to understand the Scripture to the full the Apostle explaines it Brethren I tell you what I say flesh and blood corrupted by sinne cannot inherit the Kingdome of God When it is cleansed and purified it shall but in this condition of corruption it is not capable of that incorruption So that the first thing we are to note here is the diligence of the Apostle in the clearing of his doctrine in the opening of his mind This I say brethren As if he should say If you understand not what I say I will expresse my selfe in clearer and fairer termes Vse This commends unto us a memorable and gracious act of Christian charity still to open it selfe and to doe as much good by way of expression and explanation as possible may bee It is not for a man that is in St. Pauls place to speake in high termes in such phrases as passe the understanding of the people but if they chance to doe it or be carried away in some high straines of language they must descend againe as the Angels ascended and descended upon the ladder of Iacob If they doe ascend to high thoughts and discourses of Divinity they must descend againe to meaner speeches to those phrases and termes that the people may be capable of For preaching and teaching was made for a certaine commutation of mindes for the changing of mindes For by teaching the scholler is made the Master and he puts upon himselfe the nature and person of the Master As one said of another mans booke that he read hee said hee was become the man himselfe whose booke he had read Therefore as St. Austin saith all learning is nothing Aug. but a mingling and mixing of soules and spirits together It is needfull and necessary for him that teacheth to speake so as that hee may bee understood For to what end is speech if it be not perceived If I be not understood when I have said all that I can I have said nothing If I be understood when I have said little I have said sufficient because another man knowes that which I know and another is transformed into that which is inherent in me The Philosophers compare a teacher and a master to the parents of a childe and the scholler they liken to the child As the child beares the image of his father so the scholler beares the image of his Master much more It is much more lively in Art then in nature it can be expressed Therefore this holy Apostle St. Paul Gal. 4.19 hee intends to bring foorth children to Christ My little children of whom I travaile againe till Christ be formed in you He useth that plainnesse of speech and evidence of language that thereby he may flow into their hearts and senses and affections that hee may accommodate them to his intelligence and that he may doe it the better hee useth this word here Brethren This I say brethren As if he would carry them along shew them the thing with his finger in a familiar sweet speaking not as a high Commander to his Souldiers nor as a great Prince to his Subjects nor as the great God to Israell when he gave the Law that they could not indure the voice but said Let not the Lord speak any more but Moses lest we die But he speaks in the spirit of meeknesse and mildnesse Brethren fellow-souldiers fellow schollers you that are partakers of the same salvation come along and see the doctrine that I deliver to you This is that I say herein I expresse my selfe When I said the image of the earthly and the image of the heavenly my meaning is this that flesh and bloud which is corrupt cannot enter into the Kingdome of God which is uncorrupt Let us consider what hee saith when hee saith Flesh and bloud shall not inherit the Kingdome of God Hee meanes to expound himselfe that corrupt flesh and bloud shall not enter As St. Austin saith Lib. 6. Aug de gen lit Cap. 18. de Gen. ad Literam Cap. 18. hee meanes that flesh and bloud that is thus tainted and defiled with sin shall not inherit the Kingdome of God the Kingdome of heaven And why not Because it is a place of that purity and of that perfection that it cannot indure sinne or any sinfull neighbour As soone as the devill sinned hee was throwne from heaven there was no place for him there As soone as Adam transgressed hee was throwne from Paradise which was the Type of heaven there was no more remaining for him there The blessed eyes of God are so pure that they cannot looke upon a defiled thing and because the Lord will have all the world which is tainted with sin to be cleare and pure the element of water came once through it and because that could not doe it the element of fire shall come and purge it and shall make all the goodly stately palaces all the goodly castles and the faire groves and pleasant meadowes in the world it shall make them all dust and ashes that the sinne that lodgeth in them and the corruption which they have contracted unto them by the transgression of Adam may be wrought out of them So pure is the Majesty of God that he cannot indure any evill thing to approach or come neare unto him Therefore flesh and bloud because it is full of sinne For all the acts of sinne are done in the flesh and the beginning and proceeding of the action begins in the bloud There is a tainted bloud about the heart of man wherein all these evill imaginations nestle and hide themselves there is an impure bloud that runnes through the veynes of man which fils him full of impiety So that the blessed God shall never suffer this corrupt bloud to enter into his Kingdome that can indure no corruption But he shall cleanse it and purifie it hee shall annihilate it and bring it to nothing that it may be something for ever But here may be many things excepted against us As first Objectiōs 3 If flesh and bloud shall not inherit the Kingdome of God then how are the Saints said to be partakers of the Kingdom how have they the first fruits of the Kingdome in this life how are they called the children of the Kingdome Those that belong to the Kingdome they are called heyres of the Kingdome and Co-heyres with Christ and if they be heyres and Co-heyres and fellow-heyres with Christ and yet be flesh and bloud how is it true then that flesh and bloud shall not inherit the Kingdome of God Secondly it may be objected of Enoch and Elias that they never saw death and corruption not that corruption which falls upon our nature and yet it is presumed that their bodies are in heaven So that flesh and bloud enters into Gods Kingdome For Enoch and Elias were flesh and
you fishers of men And in many places in Scripture men are compared to fishes by reason of the laver of regeneration Lastly he saith there is another flesh of fowls or birds and he saith by those are meant the bodies of the Martyrs that have dyed for the testimony of Christ Those are like unto birds that flye from this world Psal 55.6 that take unto themselves the wings of a dove and flye away to be at rest that separate themselves from the world and worldly things that forsake father and mother and countrey and land and goods and life it selfe to be for Christ and for his profession So Tertullian Tertull. makes the sence to be this that in the Resurrection some shall rise as good and perfect men and some shall be as beasts that is in great uglinesse and deformitie and some shall rise as fishes that is with the benefit of their baptisme and some with their glory and crowne of martyrdome as the birds and fowls of the aire But in this exposition there is a great deale more wit then soundnesse for we must not indure to expound Scripture in this manner It is a dangerous thing for a man to build allegories to ground upon idle conceits to destroy the letter withall For the letter of the Scripture must stand and if there be any possible construction to keepe it it must bee kept and maintained If not we are to abhorre niceties and then to expound it by way of similie and allegorie but never till then Others expound it as if the Apostle meant it of the different degrees of joy in heaven whereof we shall have more occasion to speak if God permit when we come to speake of the difference of starres One starre differeth from another in glory Divers men have diversly distracted the sence of this Scripture while they thinke the Apostle speakes of the different flesh of men because that beasts and fishes and fowls they are things that belong not to the Resurrection and what then should they do in this argument But I take it the best and true sence is that the Apostle takes it according to the letter and out of that he draws an argument to perswade us of the glorious bodies that shall be in the Resurrection For in the similitude that went immediately before he teacheth us how we shall finde the doctrine of the Resurrection in our gardens in our fields in the things that we sowe and admit into the ground Now he riseth to a higher argument and teacheth us how we should find it in our flesh in this flesh that we carry about us for that is the principall thing that is here spoken of It is the flesh that must rise againe and if wee can find an argument so neare home in this our flesh it is certainly a plausible and delightfull argument and the Apostle tels us that if we come from our fields and our gardens if we come home to our selves and looke upon this flesh of ours we shall see in that a most lively representation of the glorious Resurrection And whereas all the whole bodie of living creatures is nothing else but flesh although it be diversly and with a strange varietie distinguished the same God that can make such varietie in the selfe same thing that can make one flesh to be washy and waterish as the flesh of fish another to be ayrie and spiritly as the flesh of birds another to be sullen and drowsie as the flesh of beasts another to be temperate and meane as the flesh of men the Lord that works this difference in this fraile subject much more in the Resurrection can hee worke a diversitie in the forme and shape and in the colour and representation in the flesh that shall be then glorified To proceed in order Division into 3. parts 1 The Resurrection proved from flesh 2 A fourefold diversity of that flesh 3 How this peâ—swades the Resurrection First he would have us to consider that the flesh it selfe affords an argument of the Resurrection and he riseth from things sowne in the earth to flesh that moves in the world and that in what part soever they are whether in the ayre or in the water or upon the earth And then he tels us that that flesh is not all one but there is a diversitie And he makes the diversity foure fold as the flesh of men the flesh of beasts the flesh of fishes and the flesh of birds Thirdly we are to consider the use of this argument how it inferres and perswades the soules of men that there is a likelihood and certaintie of the resurrection 1. Part. Argument of the Resurrection raised from flesh and raised higher and higher Concerning the first the Apostles method is most singular and excellent he proceeds in his arguments from things that are lesse perfect to those that are of greater perfection All the seeds that be abundant in the earth they argue indeed the mighty hand of God in their power and varietie and in their growth and successe but yet flesh is a farre more constant body then they be Now if the Resurrection do appeare in things that grow upon the earth much more doth it appeare in things sensible in things that have life For the vegetables although they argue somewhat yet the argument is obscure as their life is obscure but the sensibles those things that stirre and move they are farre more cleare preachers of the Resurrection then the other can be The flesh as Methodius Methodius saith it is nothing but the middle way betweene incorruption and corruption the flesh is neither corruption nor incorruption of it selfe but the middle way betweene both For the flesh was so created at the first by the hand of God that if man had not purchased corruption by sinne if he had not brought in the sting of sinne to rot it it had never putrified but had continued in that goodlinesse and beautie wherein the Lord created it But now by reason of the sinne of man there is entred a worme into the flesh which is a necessitie of dying which is alway gnawing upon it and decreasing and abating of it till it bring it to the tearmes of corruption And yet the Lord suspends the action for a time and gives the flesh a certaine flourish in this world in some to twenty yeares in some to forty in some to a great many more but the flower cannot last long the flesh may live when the glosse is gone So this body of flesh wherein God hath set his glory more a great deale then in plants and trees and things that grow out of the ground it doth affoord us a stronger and more forcible argument that the bodies shall rise in a glorious qualitie when the day of judgement shall come There where God hath now taken more paines and hath shewed his hand most glorious there hee intends hereafter to bee more glorious Now the resurrection of
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
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
to worke then the labour of love which is alway working like the soule in the bodie The soule and life it is in every part of the bodie and where any part is out of temper or sick there is heat and anguish there every member condoles with that member that is affected and out of place So it is with the labour of love among Gods children 2 Cor. 11.29 Who is offended and I burne not who is weak and I am not weak The passion of Gods Church is as combustible matter when it once takes hold it runs over all this labour of love is the work here spoken of Now he shewes the reason it is a comfortable and sweet speech It is not in vaine The word properly signifieth a thing where there is nothing where there is a vacuum They say in nature there is no vacuum or void place but still there is something every where and rather then there should not bee something things would forget their owne nature the aire will descend to fill up the roome If a man should dig to the Antipodes the aire which is a light thing will descend downe like a heavy body rather than it shall be empty and the water which is a heavy body will ascend up if a man draw with his breath in a conduit or pipe it will mount to the top of a house rather than there shall be a vacuum Now the Lord as hee fills all things with substance so he shall fill your labours also hee shall give it substance and being there is nothing vain in his creation much lesse shall there be any thing in vaine in the regeneration It is a great incouragement for a man to worke when hee is sure of his wages for it not like that foolish saying among foolish men that take up their money before hand and when they have drunke it out and spent it then they say they worke for nothing But hee that works for the Lord he never works for nothing but he is ever sure of his recompence Apoc. 22.12 Behold I come and my reward is in my hand and plentifull is your reward in heaven be glad and rejoyce for copious and great is your reward in heaven Because therefore your labour hath a reward it is a great incouragement to you to the worke The children of God work not for a blind day for a blind purpose but they are sure of the consequent they are sure of a copious reward in heaven But what is this to a Christian he should doe it for Gods cause although there were no reward a christian is bound to doe good although there were no heaven nor no hell It is true I cannot stand upon it at this time but onely to shew the principle of it when the Apostle saith Be abundant because you know your labour is not in vaine This is not a prime argument but a secondarie argument indeed it is a good incouragement It is true we should love the Lord it is due debt we are his creatures we depend upon him and hee may conclude of us as it pleaseth him to make us vessels of wrath or vessels of honour and wee should doe good workes for his sake without any reference to wages God must be loved without any cause and without any measure hee must be loved above all things with all our heart with all our soule and with all our strength Saith Saint Austin We worke not for God as a meane but as the end the maine and chiefe end of all things If wee should love God for some other thing then we should think some other thing better than God and then wee should make God inferiour to another we should make him inferiour to our owne desires which we must not doe Saith Saint Austin Aug. It is a foolish thing for a man to use that which hee should enjoy and to enjoy that which he should use for the things of this world are but the things that wee use and our owne salvation is a thing that wee use in comparison of God It is God that wee enjoy and nothing else there is nothing else that can be enjoyed and wee must not love our salvation it selfe in respect of God hee is the price of all things all things else are of no price but drosse and dung in comparison The blessed Apostles meaning therefore is not that hee would have us labour as hirelings to give a mercenarie love to God but to love God for his owne sake Hee disputes as a man because it is a fit argument to stir men up to labour because they shall have a recompence for it the greatest argument to encourage a man to worke to worke abundantly as the Apostle saith here is to set before him the copiousnesse of the reward it will make him worke plentifully not for the rewards sake but chiefly for the love of God and in the second place for the other Therefore it is unlawfull which the Popish Doctors say for a man to work simply upon the sight of divine wages but a man must worke first and chiefly for God and then in the second respect for the reward And that a man may thus doe for his incouragement it is plaine in the Scriptures The blessed man of God Moses Heb. 11.26 he rather desired to suffer affliction and persecution with the children of GOD than to enjoy the pleasures of sinne for a season Why Because hee had respect to the recompence of reward So Christ incourageth us in this that hee saith Verily I say unto you the more troubles you have in this life the greater shall be your reward in heaven And Saint Matthew speaking of the great blessings that are laid up for the godly he saith Those that have borne part with Christ in the doctrine of his regeneration they shall sit upon twelve thrones and judge the twelve Tribes of Israel Aug. The reward saith Saint Austin is that that sets a man in spirit and if wee would sustaine our labours and troubles let us look to the recompence of reward as Moses did And as St. Paul saith These momentany afflictions they worke unto us an eternall weight of glorie And as Calvin Calvin saith well when the Apostle saith So run that ye may receive 1 Cor. 9.24 saith hee If you take away the hope of the reward all the hopefulnesse and alacrity in running the race it doth not onely waxe cold but it falls downe and failes for the hope of a reward from the Lord it sets us up to make us worke chearefully because wee serve not a churlish Laban but a chearefull God wee serve not as Iacob did a long time to little purpose for two wives and two maids and a little flock but wee serve the blessed God that gives an infinite reward for a cup of cold water hee gives a glorious Kingdome for ever and ever Your labour is not in vaine Why Because it is for the