Sermons (LXXX Sermons etc.); Holy Sonnets

lEv. xx. 6. Biessed and holy is he that bath part in the first lesurrection. Ix- the first book of the Scriptures, that of Genesis, there is danger in departing from the letter; in this last book, this of the Revelation, there is as much danger in adhering too close to the letter. The literal sense is always to be preserved; but the literal sense is hot alwvs to be discerned: for the literal sense is hot always that, "«hich the verv letter and grammar of the place presents, as where it is literaIIy said, Tkat Crit is a ine, and rite-  1 Cor. xv. 20.  Augustine. « Hag. iL 9.

rally, Tat M flea ia bread, and literally, T«t te new J«rusalem is Mus Mt«ated, tus built, tv« «rn&ed: but the literal sense of eve place, is the principM intention of the Holy Ghost, in that place: and his principal intention in many places, is to express things by allegories, hy figures;  that in mauy places of Scripture,  fitrative sen is the liral sense, and more in this book thon in any other. As then to depa tom the literal sense, that nse whieh the very letter preoents, in the-k of Gcnesis, is dangeus, beeause if we do so there, we have no history of the crcation of the world in any othcr place to stic to;  m bind ourselr to such a ]itera] sense in this boek, will takc from us the eonsdation of many q)iritual happinesses, and bury us in thc earnal things of this world. The first error of being toe alleorical in Genesis, transpocd divers of the aucients beyond thc certain eçidence of truth, and the second error of ing too literal in this ok, fixed many, very many, very ancient, rery learued, upon an evident falsehoed; whieh was, that beeaue hcre is mention ]" a flrst res,rrection, attd  rei9niny wit Christ a tkousaud Ilears aJer tkat fire-t resterrect&n, there should be to ail the saints of God, a state of hal,piness in this world, after Christ's coming, tbr a thousaud years  in which happy state, though some of them bave limited themselvcs in spiritual things, that thev »llould enjoy a kind of conversation with Crist, and an ilnpeccability, and u quiet serving of God without any reluctations, or concupiscences, or persecntions; yc others bave drealned on, and enlarged their dams to an cnjoyi»g of ail these worly happinesses, which they, ing formerly persecuted, did formerly want in this wor]d, and then should haro them for a thousand yers together in recompense. And even thls branch of that error, of imssessing the things of this wor]d, so long, in this world, did very many, and 'ery goed, and very great men, whose names arc in honour, and justly in the church of God, in those first rimes stray into; and flattered theelves with an imaginary intimation of me such thing, in these words, Blessed and kol is ke, tkat at part ht tke firs resurrect&n. Thus far then the text is literal, that this resurrection in the text, is different from the general resurrection. The first differs from the last: and thus far it is figurative, allegorical, mystical, that it is a itual remlection, that is intended. But wherein spiritual  or of what spiritual resurrection  In the fiurtive exposition oçthoee places of Scripture, which requirc that way off to be fimtively expounded, that expositor is hot to ho blamed, who hOt destroying the literal sense, propoees such a fi- tive sense, as may exlt otlr devotion, and adrance out edc tion  and  no one of the exposito di«l ill, in proposing one uch sepse, so neither do those exposi iii, who with those limi- tions, th3t it deroy hOt thc litcral scnse, that it violate hot thc analo of faith, that it advance devotion, do propose nnother and other such sense. So doth that preher well also, who to tho saine end, and within the me limit, makes his use of both, of ail those exTositio; becae aH m3y and, and it is hOt evident in ch fimtive speeches, which is the literal, that is, the princip intention of the Holy Ghost. Of these words of this fir resrcction (which is hot the 1, of the body, but a iritual resurrection) there are three expositions authorized by pcrsons of good note in the church. First', that this  surrection, is a resurreetion from that low estate, te which persution h brought the church; and se it bdongs te this whde state, and church, and Blessed are we wlto hare out art in. tMsfirst resurrection. Secondly , that it is a resurrection from the death of sin, of actual, and habitual sin; se it belongs te every panicular penitent seul; and Blessed art thou, blessed ara I, OE ve hare part in this first res«rrection. And then thirdly ', beca¢ after this oesurrection, it is said, That we hall reçqn witk Christ a tkotsand ears, (which is a certain for an unceain, a linfited, for a long rime) it hath also been taken for the state of the so in heaven, after it is paed from the by by death; for though the soul eannot be said pmperly to bave a resurrection, because properly it cannot die, yet to be th delivemd from the danger of  second death, by future sin, to  removed from the stanee, and latitude, and possibility of temprations in this world, is by ve good expositors eaed a resurœection; and so it belongs to all them who arc depaed in the Lord; Bh'ssed ad oly is ke tat katk pa in tkis first resurrectlon. And then the occasion of the day, which we edebrate now, ing  e.  Au.t. et nostfi. " RibeoE the resurrection of out Lord and Saviour Christ Jets, invites me te propose a fonrth sense, or rather use of the words; net indeed as an exposition of the words, but as a convenient exaltation of out delOtion; which is, that this first resurrection should be the first fruits of the dead; the first rising, is the first riscr, Christ Jesus: for as Christ says of himself, that tIe is the resurrectiw, se he is the first resurrection, the foot of the resurrection. He upon whom out resurrection, ail ours, ail our kinds of resurrections are founded; and se it belongs te state and church, and partieular persons, a3ive, and dead; Ble«ed and holy i he that tla part in tkia flrst resurreetion. And these four considerations of the words; a resurreetion frein persecution, by deliveraaee; a resurrection frein sin, by grace; a resurreetion frein temptation te sin, by the way of death, te the glory of heven; and ail these, in the first resurrection, in him that is the root of all, in Christ Jesus, these four steps, these four paages, theso four transitions will be out quarter dock, for this hour's exercise. First then, we eonsider this first resurrcetion, te be a resurrection frein a persecntion for religion, for the profession of the Gospel, te a ïorward glorious passage of the Gospel. And se a learned expositor in the Roman church carries the exposition of this whole place (though net indeed the ordinary way, yet truly net ineommodiously, net improperly)upon that deliveranee, which Ced afforded his ehurch, frein those great persecutions, which had otherwise supplanted her, in her first planting, in the primitive rimes. Then says he ('and in part well towards the letter of the place). Tke deril was ckained for a thousand years, and then we began to rei.ot with Chris.fbr a thousand years; reckoning the rime from that time, when God destroyed idolatry more fully, and gave peace and test, and free exercise of the Christian religion, under the Christian cmpemrs, tiil antichrist in the height of lais rage shall corne, and let this thousand years' prisoner, Satan, loose, and so interrupt out thousand years" reign with Christ, with new persecutions. In that persecntion was the death of the church, in the eye of the vorld; in that deliverance by Christian emperors was the resurrection of the church; and in God's pro-

28 PREACHED ON EA8TER DAY. [SEI. XVil. tccting hcr cvcr since is the chaining n l) of thc dcv, and out rciin with Christ for those thousand years. And truly, beloved, if we consider the low, the very low estate of Cristians in tose persecutions, tried ten timcs in the tire, ten several and distinct persecutions, in wic tcn persecutions, God nay seem  have had a mind to deal evenly vith the world, and to lay as much upon his people whom he would try thon, as ho had lid upon others, for his people before, and so to equal the ten plagues of Eg}Tt, in ten persecutions, in the primitive church; if we consider that low, that very low estate, we may justly call their deliverance a resurrection. For  God id fo Jerulem, I hare Jbund tkee i thy blood, and cashed thé, so Christ Jesus round the ehureh, the Ch6stian ehureh in ber bloed, and washed ber, and wiped her; whed ber in his om blood, whieh wa&es white, and wiped her with the garments of his own righteousness, that she might be acceptable in tho ight of God, and then wiped away aH tears from ber eyes, took away all occions of complaint, and lamentation, that she might be glorious in the eyes of man, and cheerftfi in ber own; such was hcr resurrection. We wonder, and justly, at the effusion, at the pouring ont of blood, in the sacrifices of thc old law; that that ]ittle country scaoec bigger than some three of out shires, should spend more cattle in some few da)' sacrifice at some solemnities, and every year in the sacrces of the whole year, than perchance tllis kiugdom cod give to any uœe. Seas of Lion, and yet but brooks, tuns of blood, and yet but basons, compared with the sacrifices, the sacrifices of the blood of men, in the pçrsecutions of thc primitive church. For every ox of the Jew, the Christian spent a man, and for every sheep and lamb, a mother and ber child; and for every herd of cattle, sometimes a toxm of inhabitants, sometimes a legion of soldiers, a martyred at once; so that they did hOt stand to fill the martologies with names, but with nnmbem, they had hOt more to say, such a day, such a bishop, such a day, such a general, but the &ay of rive hundred, t]lC day of rive thound mayrs, and the mayrdom of a city, or the martyrdom of an army; this was hot a ed Sea, such as the

Jcws passed, a sinus,  creek, an arm, an n]et, a t ç  ea, but a rcd occan, tat overflowed, and srromded ail parts  and resnroection. Such as that they which sffered lay, and ble with more ease, than the exectioner stoed an sweat; embraced the tire ore çervently, than hc blew it and many times had this trimph in their eath that even te cxectioncr himself, vs in the act of exection converd to Christ, exected with tem; sc was their resrection. When e te of the Jews was in that depression, in that eoneulcation, in that consternation, in tiret extermination in the captivity of Babylon, as that God presens it to the prophet in fllat vision, in the field cf dry bones, so,,%n of man, as tm art a reastable ma,, dost tkou tkink tkese bones con lire, that tkese me tan eer be re-collected to make  a ation? The prophet aith, Lord thou knowest; whieh is, hot only thou knowest whether they ean, or no, but thou knowes elearly they ean; thou eanst make them up of bones again, for thou madest thoee bones of earth bcfore. It" Goal had called in the angels to the making of man at first, and as he said to fle prophet,,%n of man, as tkou art a remonabl man, so he had said to them, As you are the sons of God, illumined by his facè, do you think, that this clod of red earth can make a man, a man that shall be equal to you, in onc of his par, in his soul, and yet then shall have such another part,  that he, whom ail you worship, my essential Son shMl assume, and invest that part himself, can that lnan ruade of that body, aud that soul, be ruade of flfis clod of earth Tho angels would have said, Domine ttt scis, Lord thou mt needs lnow, how to lnake as goed creatures as us of earth, who madest us of that whieh is infinitely less than earth, of nothing, beforc. To induce, to facilitate these apprehensions, there were some precedents, some such thing had been done before. But when the church was newly conceived, and then lay like the egg of a dove, and a giant's foet over it, like a worm, like an ant, and hill upon hill whdmed upon it, nay, like a grain of coin between the upper and lower mill-stone, ground to dust between tyrants and heretics, whcn as she blcd in ber cradle, in thoso children wholn Herod slcw, so sho bled upon ber crutches, those decrepit mon whom former perseeutions and tortures had crippled belote, when East and West joined hands te crush hcr, and han[% and brains, joincd oxecution te consultatiou te annihilato ber; in this wane of the moon, God gave ber an instant fulness; in this exinanition, instant glory; in this grave, an instant rcsurrection. But beloved, the expressing the pressing of their depressions, does but chafe the wax; the printing of the seal. is the reducing te your memory, your own case: and net that point in your case, as you were for a few years under a sensi»le persecution of tire, and prisons; that was the least part of your persecution; for it is a cheap purchase of heaven, if we ma)" haro it for dying; te sell ail we have te buy that field where we know the treasure is, is net se hard, as net te know it; te part with ail, for the great pear], net se harda bargain, as net te know that such a pearl there might have been had; we couhl net ay heaven was kept frein us, when we might bave it for a fagot, and when even out enemies helped us te it: but your Teater affliction was, as you were long before, in an insensibleness; you thought yourselves well enough, and yet were under a worse persecution of ignorance, and of superstition, when you, in your fathers, were se far f'om expecting a resurrection, as that you did net know your low estate, or that you needcd a resurrection; and yet God gave you a resurrection frein it, a reformation of it. 1New, who bave their parts la tMs first resurrectioa? or upon what conditions haro you it. We sec in the fourth verse, tat are beleadêd.for the witw#s of Jesu.«; that is, that are ready te ho se, when the glory of Jesus shall re«tuire that testimony. In the mean time, as it follows there, They that hare ot wor- #hiTped tle beast; that is, net applied the honore', and the a]legiance due te their sovereign, te any foreign state; ner the boueur due te God, that is infallibility, te another prelate; That bave net wor#hipped the beast, ner bi# image, says the text; that that haro net been transported with vain imaginations of his power, and his growth upon us here, whieh hath been se diligently painted, and printed, and preached, and set out in the promises, and practiees of his instruments, te delude slack, and easy persons; ad then, as it is added there, That hav« net sR. xvm] VaEAC[V OS ArE VAr. 831 recelved Ms mark pon thelr forehes; that i net declared themoelves Romanists apparently; ner in tkeir kas, says the text; tlmt is, which haro net underhnd sdd their secret endc vows, though net their public profeion, te the advancement of his cause. These men, who are ready te be beheed for Christ, d have net worshipd the beast, ner the image of the beast, ner receiçed his mark upon their foreheads, ner in their hands, these have their ps in this  rrection. The r blesseJ, nd oly, ys our text; Blessed, because they hve means te be hdy, in this resurrection  for the Lamb hth unclasped tho book; the Scriptures are open; wh]ch way te holine, our fathers hcked; and then, our blesoedness is, that we sll rei  thound years with Chri: new since this t resrection, since the Reformat]on we have reied se th Christ, but one h years: but if we persist in  good use of it, our posrity shMl add the cher, and make that hundred one thousand, even  the time, when Christ Jesus shall oeme gain, and 3s he hath given us the first, se shall give  the last resection; and  tt, Corne Lord Jesus, come quickly; aud till that,continue this. This is the first resurrection, in the first acceptation, u resurrection frein persecution, and  peaceable enjong of the Goel: and in • second, it is a resuection from sin; and se it bath a more panicular appropriation te every pern. Se St. Austine takes this ploee, and with him many of the fathers, and with them, many of the tons of the fathers, better ns of the fathem, than fle Roman church will confess them te be, or tlmn they are themselves, the exposirs of the reformed church; they, tbr the most pa., with St. Austine, take this first resurrection,  be a resurroction front sin. Inter abjectes abjectissimuspeator': No man thl lower, than he that falls into a course of sin; sin is a fall; it is only  deviation, a turning out of the way, upon tho right, or the left hand, but it is  sinkg,  falling: in the other case, of going out of the way, a man may std upon the way, nd inquire, and then proceed in the way, if he bo right, or m the way, if he be wrong; but when he is fallen, and lies still, he proceeds no faher, inquires no tkher. Te bo too apt te comeive scrul»lcs in mattcrs of religion, stops, and retards a man  Grcgory.

ŒEE PIIE&CHED ON E&STgR DA'o [SER, XVlI. in the way  to mistakc somc poiuts in the truth of religiov, puts n man for that timc in n wrong way; but to fall into a course of sin, this makes him insensible of auy end, that ho bath to go , of any way that he hath m go by. God hath hot removed man, hot withwn man from this eah; he hath hot given him the air to fly in as m bitS, nor spheres to more in,  to sun and lnoeu; he bath left him upon the eaoEh; and hot only to tread un it, as in contempt, or in mere dominion, but to walk upon it, in the discharge of the duties of his cailing; and so tobe conversant with the eanh, is hot a falling. But  when man was nothing but erth, nothing but • hody, ho lay fiat upon the cash, his mouth kissed the cash, his han embraced the cash, his eyes respected the earth; and then God breathed the breath of lire imo him, and that raised him  far fmm the eanh, as that only one pa of his body, (the soles of his feet) touches it, and yet man, oe raised by God, by sin fell lower to the earth again, than belote, from fle face of the rth, to the womb, to the bowels, to the grave; so God, finding the wholo man, as low as he found Adam's boE[y then, fallen in original sin, yet ects us by  new breath of iife, in the sacrament of baptm, d yet we rail lower than beïore we were raised, tYom original into actual, into habitual sins; so low, as that we think hot that we need, know hot that there is a resurrection; and that is tho wondeff, tht is the fearful fal]. Though those wor% Quomodo ceciditi de art tou.dlen f'om eate 0 Lucèr, te on  te moenina»? be ordinarily applied to the fall of the angels, yet it is evideut, that they are literaily spoken of the fiil of man: it deserves wonder, moro than pity, that man, whom God had raised to so noble height in him, shouid thll so low from him. Man was born to love; he was ruade in the love of God; but then man fas love  whe he ows in love with the creature, he falls in love: as we are bid to honour the physician, and to use the physician', but yet it is said laker, let him rail into the ham of the phyfician; it is bleing to use him, it is blessing to glorify God, in the right use of his creatures, but to   v. 1. • clus. i. I. 7 Ver. 15.

R. XV[[.] PRE.ClIED O l".ASTER DA¥. 3 grow in love with them, is a fall: for we love nothing that is so good as ouelves: beauty, riches, honour, is hOt so go as man; man capable of ace here, of glory hereafter. Nay as those thin, which we love, in their nature, are worse than we which love them, so in our lÇving them, we cndeavour to make them woe than they in their own nature are; by over-loving the buty of rite by, we corrupt the soul, by over-loving honour, and riches, we deflect, and detort these things, which are hot in their nature iii, to iii uses, and lnake them serve out iii puoses: man falls, as a fMI of waters, that throws doxm, and corpts ail that it embroees. Nay beloved, when a mm bath used thoeo wiug which Ood hafl given him, and raid himself to some height in religious knowledge, and rdigious practice, as Eutichus, out of a desire to hear Paul preach, was got up into a chamber , and up into a window of that chamber, and yet falliug aslp, fell down dead; so we may fall into a security of our present state, into a pride of our knowledge, or of our purity, and  rail lower, than they, who never came to our height. So ranch noed have we of a resurrection. So sin is a fart, and eve man is afraid of fMliug, even from his temporal station; more afraid of faHin, than of hot being raioed. And Qtti peccat, qttatemts p«cat, fit seio deterior : In every sin a mau falls from that degree which himself had before; in every sin, he is dishonoured, he is hot so goed a man, as he was; impoverished, he bath hot so great a portion of grace  he had; infatuated, he bath hOt so much of the truc wisdoln of the fear of God, as he had; disarm, he bath not that interest and confidence in the love of God, that he had: and deformed, he hath hot so lively a representation of the image of G, as before. In every sin, we become prils, but iu the habit of sin, we bome bankrupts, afraid to corne to an account. A fart is a fearful dfing, that needs a raising, a help; but sin is a death, and that needs a resurrection; and a resrection is as great a work, as the very creation itselE It is death in semble, in the root, it produces, it brings forth death; it is death in arbore, in the by, in itself; death is a divorce, and so is sin; and it is death in fructt, in thc fruit thereof; sin plants spiritual dcath,  Acts. xxix. s.  Clem. ex.

 PREACHED ON EAflTEB DAY. [SEI. XVll. and this death produces more sin, obduration, impcnitence, and the like. Be pleased to return, and ca.st one halï thought upon each of theso: sin is the root of death; Death. by sin entered, and deatiI passed «tlon all men, for all ne tav« sinned '°. It is death beeauso we shall dio for it. But itis dcath in itsdf, we are dead already, dead in it; Tlwu hast a nains, that tltou livst, and art dead , was spoken to a whole church. It is hot evidcnce enough, to prove that thou art alive, to say, I saw thee at a sermon; that spirit, that knows thy spirit, he that knows whcther thou wert movcd by a sermon, meltcd by a sermon, mcnded by a sermon, he knows whethcr thon be alive or no. That which had,vont tobe said, that dead men walked in dmrches, is too truc; men walk out a sermon, or walk out after a sermon, as iii as they walked in; they have a naine that they live, and are dead: Bnt the hour is corne, and ow is, won th &ad shall hear the ¢oive of the on of God ': that is, at these hours they may hear, if they will, and till they do hear, they aro dead. Sin is the foot of death, the body of death, and then it is the fruit of death. St. Aumastine confesses of himselt; that he was A llisus btra parietes in velebritate solemnitatum tuarum, that in great meetings Ul»On solemn days, in the church, there, within tho walls of God's bouse, l:,'yit ne.qotium lrocurandifrnvtu mortis, Ho was hot buying and selling dores, but buying and selling souls, by wanton looks, cheapening and making the bargain of the fruits of death, as himself ex-presses it. Sin is the foot, and the tree, and tho fruit of death; the mother of death, death itself, and the daughter of death; and from this death, this threefold death, death past in out past sins, present death in out present insensibleness of sin, future death in those sins, with which sins God will punish out former, and present sins, (if he proeeed merely in justice) God affords us this first resurrection. How . Thus. Death is the divorce of body and soul; resurrection is the reunion of body and soul: and in this spiritual death, and resurrection, which we consider now. and which is ail dctermined in the soul itself, grace is the soul of the soul, and so the departing of grace, is the death, and thc returniug of grace is to Rom. v. 12.  Rev. iii. 1. ' John v. 2.

s.R. XwL] PREACE» o .AsT« VAY. 335 the resurrection v this snful soul. But how  By what wy, what means Consider Adam; Adam w ruade to enjoy an immoality in his by; he induced deth upon himself: and then, as od hving ruade mige for  remedy aginst n, intemperate men mke even marrige ielf n occion of mv unclenness, than if they hd never mrd  so mn having induced nd creted deth, y sin,  tkes death, nd makes it  means of the lorifying of his body, in hevem God did hot induce deth, dth w hot in his purpe; but VduK oFFoeunm, ç as cractum usu finyeretur , As  means, whereby  mken vsel might be ruade up again God took death, and ruade it serve for that purpose, that men by the grvc might be tmnslted to heven. So then to the resurrection of the body, there is an ordina w3y, the gve; t the resution of the soul thcre is an ordin3 wy too, the clmrch. In the rve» the ody that must theoe prepared for the lt rurrection, hath vo»ms tht et upon it: in the church, tire soul that cornes to this first resurrection, mt have worms, the worm, the sting, the remorse, the compunction of conscience; in those tlmt hve no pa in this first rurction, tire worm of conscience shall never die, but aw on, to despertion; but those that hve hot tbis vorm of conscicnc this remorse, this compunctiom shall never live. In thc ave, which is the fumace, which ripcns the body for the last rerction, there is a putrefaction of the body, nd an ill favour: in the church, the womb where my soul nmst be mel]owed for this ff»st resrection, my soul, which hath the svour of dc3th in it, as it is leavened throughout with sin, must stink in my nostrils, nd I corne to  deWstation of all those sin which have putrified ber. And I must nt e afraid to accuse myse, to condemn myself,  humble myself, lest I become a scorn to men; No e de.rat ab eo ico çqrum sanari, a uo sibi prwstitum at ne oeotaret", Let no man despise me, or wonder at me, that I  ao humbled under the hand of God. or tllat ] fly to God to my physieian when I ara sick, sinee the saine God th hath recovered me as my physieian when I was siek, bath been his physieian teo, and kept hin ri'oto being siek, who, but for that  C)il, Alex. * Austine.

336 vRxcn o V.^SrF. V.«V. iSSU. XVm physician, had been as ill as I was: at least he must be his physician, if ever he conte to be sick, and corne to know that ho is sick, and corne to a right desire to be well. Spiritual death was before bodily; sin belote the wages of resorrection for both deaths, but first for the first; this is the first resurrection, reconciliation to God, and the returning of the soul of out soul, grace, in his church, by his word, and his seals there. /N'ow erery repentance is ]lOt a resurrection waking out of a dream, than a rising to a new life: nay it is rather a startling in out sleep, tllan any awaking at all, to ha'e a sudden remorse,  sudden flash, and no constant perseverance. a4 wa['e ttou tlat sleepest , says the apostle, out of the prophet: first au'ake, corne to  sense of thy state; and then arisefrom the dead, says he, front the pratice of dead works; and then, Crit sall.qiz'e thee li.qht: life and strenh to walk ° in new ways. It is a long work, and bath mnany steps  awaie, arise, and,t'alk, and therefore set out betimes  at the last day, in those, which shall be found a]ive upon the earth, we say there shall be a sudden death, and a sudden resurrection  /'z ra]tu, in transitu,  ctu oculi, In an instant, in the twinkling of an eye; but do hot thott trust to bave this first restu'rection/':t 'aptu, n trasitu, in ctu oculi, In thy last passage upon thv death-bed, when the ling of the eye, nmst be the closing of thine eyes: but a we assign to glorified bodies af'ter the last resurrection, certain dotes, (as we call them in the school) certain endoaaents, so labour thou to find those endoxauents, in thy soul here, if thou beest conte to this first resurrection. Antongst those endowments we assign snbtilitatem, ayilitatem; The glorified body is become more subtile, more nimble, hot encumbered, hot disabled for any motion, that it would make; so hath that soul, 'hich is corne to this first resurrection, by grace, a spiritual agility, a holy nimblêness in it, that it tan slide by temptations, and pass through temptations, and never be polluted; follow a ealling, without taking infection by the ordinary temptations of that ealling. So have those glorified bodies clariratera, a brightness upon them. from the face of God; and so have these souls, which are corne to this fit resurrection, a suu in themIves, an inherent light, by 'hich they tan preoently distinish between action and tion; what must, what may, what must hot be done. But of all the endoents of the glorified body, we oensider most, ]»diltatem, that that by shall suflr nothing; and is sure that it shall surfer nothing. And tt which answe that endoent of the body most in this soul, that is corne to this fir resurrection, is as the apostle speaks, Tha neltker emecution, sickne, nor deatk, skall eparate ber from Ckri, de, u, «. In heaven wo do hOt sa)-, that out bies shall divest their moality, so, as that naturally thoy eould hot die; for they shMl hve  comsition still; and every oempounded thing may perish: but they shall be so sured, and with sueh a preservation, as they shall always know they shall never die. St. Austine says well, A,ai maio, abdt fatigatio, it otesta, escendi, abdt nece, sita, esuriendi; They haro in their nature a moality, and yet bo immoral; n possibility and an impossibility of dying, vith those two divers relations, ono to nature, tho other to preservation,  eonsist together. So in ts soul, that bath this first resurreetion from sin, by graee, a oenseiene« of her o infirmity, thnt sho may relapse, and y a timony of the powerthlness of God's spirit, that easily she shall hOt relapse, mny eonsist well together. But the last seal of is holy confidence is reserved for that, whieh is the third aeee ttion of this first resurreetion; uot fmm peecutions in this world, nor from sin in this world, but from ail possibility of falling back into sin, in tho wodd to eome; and to this have vers exsitors referred these words, this first resurreetion. Bssed and kol 9 is he, that kath part in this flrst resurrection. ow, n resurreetion of the soul, soems an improper, an impertinent, an improbable, an impoible form of speeeh  for teurrection implies denth, and tho soul does hot dio in her passage to heavon. And therefom Danlaseene  makes aeeount, that he bath sueiently proved the resurreetion of the body (which seems so ineredible) if ho eodd prove any resurreetion; if there be any resurreetion at ail, savs he, it mu be of the dy, for the soul eannot die, therefore not rioe. Yet have not those fathers, nor those expositors, who havo in this xt, aeknowledg a resurree- « Rom. vifi.  De ooEho, fid. 1. 4. e. uit. VOL. 1. Z tion of the nl, mistaken nor mcaIIed the ]natter. Take Damascene's own definitlon of resurrection: 9uod cecld.i secuda rrectio: A resurrection  a econd sing to that state, from which anything is formerly tHen. ow thouyh by dth, the ul do hot fall into any uch state,  that it can complain, (for what can that lk, vhich God fills ) yet by death, the  fas from &at, for which it w infus, and poed into man at first; that is, to be the fo OE that by, the kin of that kingdom; and therefore, when in the general resta'rection, the soul retums to that state, for which it created, and to which it bath had an affection, and a desire, even in the thlness of the joys of heaven, then, when the  oetus  ber oce, to make up the man, because the whole man bath, therefore the ul bath a resurrection; hot from death, but from a deprivation of ber tbnner state; that state, which she was ruade for, and is ever inclined fo. But that is the last resta'rection; and so the ul th pa even in that lt resurrtion; but we are in hand with the first resurrection of the ul; and that is, when that , which was at first breathed from (;od, and bath long suffered a banishment, a close imprisonment in this body, retus to God ain; the returning o file soul to him, from whom it pwceeded at first, is a resurrection of the ul. Here then especially, I feel the straitness of time; two considerations open themselves tog ther, of such a largeness, as ail the time from Moses' In ciio, When time began, to the angels' affdarit, in this k, Tat sall sy and swear, tot tm sall b o more, were too narrow fo contemplate these two henfispheres of man, this evening, and norning of man's everlasfing day; the miseries of man, in this banishment, in this imprinment, in this grave of the soul, the body, and the glo, and exaltation of that oeM in ber resurrfion to hven. That soul, whieh being born free, is marie a slave to this body, by coming go it; it must aet, but 'hat this dy will give it leave to act, according to the orns, which this by affords if; and if the body be lame in any limb, he ul must be lame in ber operation, in that limb toe; it must do but what the body will lmve'it do, and then it must surfer vhatever tha body pus it to, or whatsoever a»y othcrs will put that body too: if the body oppress itself with melancholy, the soul must be sad; and if other men oppress the body with injury, the soul must be sad too; consider, (it is too immense a thing to consider it) reflect but one thought, but upon this one thing in the soul, here, and hereafter, in ber grave, the body, and in ber resurrection in heaven; that is the knowledge of the aoul. Here says St. Auostine, when the soul considers the things of this world, Von veritate certior, 8ed cosuetudin« 8ecurior; She tests upon such things as she la hot sure are truc, but auch as she seea are ordinarily received and accepted for truths: so that the end of ber knowledge is hot truth, but opinion, and the way, hot inquisition, but eaae: but says he, x-hen she proceeds in this life, to search into heavenly things, Verberatur luc« i:eritatis, The beams of that light are too «troug for ber, and they sink ber, and cast ber down, et ad.familiaritatem telebrarum »uarum, on «lectloe sed/tiqatloe cotvertitur; and 8o she returns to ber own darkness, because she is most familiar, and best acquainted with it; o electioue, hOt because she loves ignorance, but because she is weary of the trouble of seeking out the truth, and so swallows even any religion to escape the pain of debating, and disputing; and in this laziness she sleeps out ber lease, ber terre of lire, in this death, in this grave, in this body. But then in ber resurrection, ber measure is enlarged, and filled at once; there she reads without spelling, and knows without thinking, and conc|udes without aring  she is at the end of her race, without running in ber triumph without fighting; in ber haven, without sai|ing; a freernan, x ithout any ]renticeship  at full years, withou.t any wardship; and a doctor, without any proceeding: she knows truly, and easily, and immediately, and entirely, and everlasinly; nothing left out at tïrst, nothing worn out at last, that conduces to ber happiness. Vh3t a death is this |ife! Vhat  resurrection is thi. death! For though this world be  sea, yet (which is most stran) our harbour is lal'ger than the sea  heaven infinitely larger than this world. For, though that be hot truc, which Origen is said to ay, That at last ail shall be saved, nor that evident, which Cyril of Alexandria says, That without doubt the number of them that are saved, is thr greatcr than of thCm that peri»_h, yet SUl'ely thc z= o

-0 VREACHED ON EASTER DAY. [SEIlo XVIlo number of them, with whom we shall bave communion in heaven, is greater than ever lived at once upon the face of the earth: and of those who lived in out rime, how few did we know. And of those whom we did know, how few did we care much for. In heaven we shall bave communion of joy and glory with all, always; brbi non b, trat inlmicus, nec amlcus exit 8, Where never any man shall corne in that loves us not, nor go from us that does. Beloved, I think you could be content to hear, I could be content to speak of this resurrection, our glorious state, by the low way of file grave, till God by that gare of earth, let us in at the other of precious stones. And blessed and holy is he, who iu a rectified conscience desires that resurrection now. But we shall hot depart far from this consideration, hy departing into our la.st branch, or conclusion, tllat this first resurrection may also be understood to be the first riser Christ Jesus; and Blessed ad holy is he that bath part in that first restrrection. This first resurrection is thcn without any detorting, any violence,,,-ery appfiable to Christ himseff, who was Primitioe dormiettium, in that, that action, Tkat he rose affaler, he is become (says the apostle) thejrst fruits of them that sleeT TM: he did rise, and fise first; others rose with him, none before hinl: for St. Hierome taking the words as he filtds them in that evangelist, nlakes this note, that though the graves were opened, at the instant of Christ's death, (death was overcome, the city opened the gates) yet the bodies did hot fise till after Christ's resurrection. For, for such resurrections as are spoken of, Tkat tcomen received their dead raised to lire ayait °, and such as are recorded in the Old and New Testament, they were all unperfect and temporary resurrections, such, as St. Hiemme says of them ail, tesurgebant iterttm moritttri; They were but reprieved, hot p.rdoned; they had a resurrection to lire, but yet a resurrection to another death. Christ is the first resurrection; others were raised; but he only rose; they by a foreign, and extrinsic, he by his own power. But we call him hot the first, in that respect only; for so he was not only the first, but the onlv; he alone arose by his own * Augustine. » 1 Cor. xv. 20. 8 tteb. xi. 35.

BER. XVIIo] REACnED ON EASTER DAYo pover; but with relation to all out future resurrections, he is the first resurrection. First, If Christ be hot raised, your./àith is ain , says the apostle; ¥ou have a vain faith if you believe in a dead man. He might be truc Man, though he remained in death; but it concerns you to believe, that he was the Son of God too; And he was declared to be the,S'on of God, b!! tke resurrectionfrom tke dead 2. That was the deelaration of himself, his justifieation; he was justified by the Spirit, when he was proved to be God, by raising himself. But thus our justifieation is also in his resurreetion. For, lIe u'as raiêed from the dead, for our justi)qcatior 8: How for ours. kat we skould be also in the likeness of his resurrection. What is that. that he bath told tas beïore; Out resurrection b Christ is, that we should u'alk heu'ries, of lire". So that then Christ is the firs resurreetion, first, efleiently, the only cause of his own resurreetion; first, meritoriously, the only carme of our resurreetion; first, exemplarily, the only pattern, how we should fise, and how we should walk, when we are up and therefore, blessed and happy are we, if we refer ail out resurreetion8 to his firs Resurreetion Chris Jesus. For as Job said of eomforters, so nfiserable resurreetion8 are they without him. If therefore thou need and eek this first resurreetion, in the fir aeeeptation, a resurreetion from perseeutions, and ealamities, as they oppress thee here, have thy reeourse to him, to Christ. Remember that st the death of Christ, there,vere earthquakes; the whole earth trembled; there were rendings of the temple schlsms, convulsions, distractions in the church, will be: but then, the graves opened in the nfidst of those commotions; then when thou thinkest thyself swallowed, and buried in affliction, as the angel did his, Christ Jesus shall remove thy grave stone, and give thee a resurreetion; but if thou think to remove it by thinv own wit, thine oaa power, or the favour of potent friends, Di9itus Dei nor est hic, The hand of God is hOt in ail this, and the stone shall lie still upon thee, till thou putrefy into desperation, and thou shalt have no part in this riz'st resurrection. If thou need, and teek this first resurreetion, in the tecond  1 Cor. xv. 17 n I¢om. l. 4.  Rom. iv. uit. 2, Rom. q., 4.

aeeeptatlon, from the fearful death of heinons sin, bave thy reeourse to him, to ('hris Jesus, and remember the sins that lay upon him: ail thy sins, and ail thy father's, and all thy ehilen's sins, all those sins that did induce the fir flood, and sll mduee the lt tire upon this world; all those sins, which that we migllt take example by them to escape theln, are recorded, and which, lest we shouhl take example by them, to imitate them, are left unrecorded; ail sins, of ail ages, ail sexes, ail places, ail times, ail callings, sins hea in their subance, sins ag.ravated by their circumstances, all kinds of sine, and ail particular sins of every kiud, were upon him, upon Christ Jesus; and yet ho raised his hdy head, his royal hod, though under thorns, yet crowned with those thorns, and triumphed in this st resurrection: and his body was hOt left in the grave, nor his soul in hell. Chri's first tone w a tone that might be heard, he oke to tlle shepher by an.gels; his oecond tongue was a ar, a tone wch might be seen; he spoke to the wise men of the Ea by that. Hearken after him these two ways;  he saks to thine car, (and to thy soul by it) in the preaching of his word, as he eaks to thine eye, (and so thy so, by that) in the exhibiting of his sacraments; and thon shalt bave thy in thih first resurrection. But if thon think to overcome this death, this sense of sin, by diversions, by worldly delights, by mirth, and music, and iety, or by goed works, th a confidence of merit in them, or witll a relation to God himself, but not as God bath manifested himself to thee, hOt in Christ Jesus, the stone shaH lie still upon thee, till thou putrefy into desperation, and then hast thon no pari in this st resurrection. If thou desire this first resurrection in the third acceptation, as St. Pa did, to be disoelved, and to be with Christ, go Christ way to that also. He desired that glory that thou doest; and he cod bave laid down his oeul when ho wod; but he staid his ho, says the Goel. He could bave ascended immediately, immediately in time, yet he staid to descend into hell first; and he could have ascended immediately of himsdf, by going up, yet he staid till he was taken up. Thou hast no such power of rhino ox soul and lire, hOt for the rime, hot for the means of coming to this first resurrection by death; stay theretbre patiently,

• ZR. XVII.] PREACIIFD ON EASTER DAY. 3 cheerfully G's leisure till he call; but hOt so over-eheedully,  te ho loth te go when ho calls. Relief in peroeeution by power, reeonciliation in sin by graee, dissolution, and transmigr tion te heaven by death, are MI within this first resuection; but that which is beforo them ail, is Christ Jus. And thereore, as all that the natural man promises himse[f thout God is impiou se all that we promise ourselves, though by God, without Christ, is frivolous. God, who bath spoken te us by his Son, works upon us by his Son too  ho was out ere tion, ho was o redemption, ho is out resurrection. And that man tros in the world without money, and goes out of tho fld thout commendation, that leaves out Christ Jesus. Tobe a good moral man, nd refer all te tho law of nature in out hearts, is but diluculum, tho dwning of tho day; te be a godly man, and refer aH te God, is but crepusculum,  twilight  but tho meridional brightness, the #orious noon, and height, is te be a Chriin, te pretend te no spirituel, no temporal blesin, but for, and by, and through, and in out only Lord and Saviour, Cist Jesus; for ho is this first resueetion, and Ble, sed and oly is e, tat at part n tMs.fira rurrecti.