SERMON XVIll.
JoIIN v. 28, Marvel hot af this; for thc hour is eoming, in the wlfich, all that are in the gmve, shall heax his voiee; and shall corne forth, they that bave donc good, nnto the resurrection of life; and they tht have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. As the sun works diversely, according to tho diverso disposition of the subject, (for the sun melts wax, and it lmrdens cly) so do tho good actions of good men: upon,qood men they work, virtuous enmlation, a noble and a ho|y desire to imitate, upon bad men the)r work a vieious, and impotent envy, a desire to disaee and ealumniate. And the more the goed is that is donc, and the more it 'orks upon goed men, the more it flhcts the bad: for se the Phafisees express their raneour and maliity against Christ, in this Gospel, If zee let Mm t alwe, ail m lieve in im'; and that they fooesaw would destroy them in their reputation. And theoefore they enlarged their malice, beyond Christ hielf, te him, upon whom Christ had xought a miræle, te Lazarus, Tey couulted te pu fm te deat, becae reaaon him, ny beliee in JeatuL Our text leads us te another example of this impotency in en'eus men; Chfisç in this ehapter, had, by his only word, eured a man that had been eight and thiy yeam infirm; and he had donc this work upon the Sabbath. They envied the work in the substance, but they quarrel the eioeumstanee; and they em Christ, they turn upon the man, who was more obnoxious te them; and they tell him, That it aa net lawful for im te carry i bed that day . He discharges himself un Christ: I spute net with you concerning the law; this satisfies me, He that ruade &ole, bade me take.up my b and walk . Thereupon they put him te find out Jesus and when he could net find Jesus round him, and in his behalf offers himself m the Pharisees. Then they direct themselves upon him, and (as the Gospd says) Teg ouyht to dat kim, becaue e had done thi upon tke »S'abbath»: nnd, ns the patien h dihnrged himself upon Christ, Christ diseharges himself upon his Father; doth i displense ou work un the Sabbath be angry with od, be angvy with Fnther, for the Father works when I work. nd hen this take woo than his working of miracles, or his working upon the Sabbath, That he would a, that God as hi ath; and therefore in the avering of that, tha so importnnt poin, Tha God w ki ather. Chris grows in n holy vehemenee, and enmestness, and he repeats his usual oth, Veril, eril, seveml rimes: first, ver. 19. That what«er the ather doth, e, the 8on doth alto, and then ver. 2. e tkat belieeth on me, a him that ent me, kath le eerlting. n then gin, ver. 25. The hour i coming, and nom i, hen the dead hag hr the dce of John xi. 4. Jo . 10. Jo v. 10. *er. ll. Ver. 16.
tke 6'on of Goal, and they tkat hear it kall lire. At this, that the dead should live, they marvelled; but beeause he knew that they were men more affeeted with things eoneerning the body, than spiritual things, as in another story, when they wondered that he would pretend te forgive sins, beeause he knew, that they thought it greater ntter to bid that man that had the palsy, take up his bed and walk, than to forgive him his sins, therefore he took that way which was hardest in their opinion, he did bid him take up his bed and walk; so here, when they xvondered at his speaking of a spiritual resurl'ection, to hear him say, that at his preaching, the dead (that is, men spiritually dead in their sins) should fise again, fo them who more respected the body, and did less believe a real resurrection of the body, than a figurative resurrection of the soul, he proceeds to that which was, in their apprehension, the more difl]cult, larrel hot at rhin, says he, here in out text; hot at that spiritual resurrection by ireaching, for the hour is comi.q, in tke wkich, all that are in tke.qraves, 6"c. and so he establishes the resurrection of the body. That then which Christ afl]rms and avows, is, That he is the Son of God; and that is the first thing, that ever was done in heaven, the eternal generation of the Son: that, by which, he proves this, to these men, is, that by him, there sha]l be a resurrection of the body; and that is the last thing, that shall be done in heaven, for, afer that, there is nothing, but an even continuance in equal glory. Before that, says he, that is, belote the resurrection of the body, there shall be another resurrection, a spiritual resurrection of the soul from sin; but that shall be, by ord]nary means, by preaching, and sacraments, and it shall be accomplished every da)"; but fix hot upon that, determine not your thoughts upon that, marvel hot at that, make that no cause of extraordinary wonder, but make it ordinary to you, feel it, and find the effect thereof in your souls, as often as you hear, as often as you receive, and thereby provide for another resurrection, t'or, tke kour is cominff, in which, all tkat are in their ffraves, 'c. Where we must necessarily make thus many steps, though but short ones. First, the dignity of the resurrection; marvel at nothing so much, as at this, nothing is so marvellous, so wonderful as this; and second]y, the approach of the resurrection, The hour i# comln.a; and thirdly, the generality, All that are in yraves; and thcn the instrument of the resurreetion, Tle zoice of Christ, that shall be heard; and lastly, the diverse end of the resurreetion, They shall tome fortl, they that kae done.qood, God hath a care of the body of man, that is first; and he defers it net, that is next; and he extends if te ail, that is a third; and fourth is, that he does that last, by him, by whom he did th flrst, the creation, and all between, the redenlption, that is, by his Son, by Christ; and then the last is, that this is an everlasting separation and divorce of the good and the bad, the bad shail never be able te receive good frein the good, ner te de harm te the good, after that. First then, Christ says, Ne m/remini, ffarrel wt at rhin, net af your spiritual resurrection, net that a sermon shou]d work upon man, net that a sacrament should comfort a man, make it net a miracle, ner an extraordinary thing, b)" hearing te corne te repentance, and se te such a resurrection. For though St. Austine say, That te convert a man tom sin, is as great a miracle, as creation, yet St. Austine speaks that of a man's first conversion, in which the man himself does nothin,, but God ail; then he is ruade of nothing; but after God hath rencwed him, and proposed ordinary means in the church still te work upon him, he must net look for miraculous working, but make God's ordinary means, ordinary te him. This is Paris qrtotldianus, The daily hread which God gives you, as often as you meet here, according te his ordinances; _Ne miremini, Stand net te wonder, as though you were net sure, but corne te enjoy God's goodness, in his ordinary way here. But it is, Ne miremlni koc, Wonder hot at this; but yet there are things, whieh we may wonder at. Nil admirari, is but the philosopher's wisdom; he thinks it a weakness, te wonder at anythlng, that anything should be stran.e te him: but Christian philosophy that is rooted in humility, tells us, in the mouth of Clement of Alexandria, _Principium veritatis est res admirarl, The first step te faith, is te wonder, te stand, and consider with a holy admiration, the ways and proceedings of God with man: for admiration, wonder, stands as in the midst, between knowledge and faith, and hath an eye towards both. If I know a thing, or
ERo XVIII.] PREACHED 0/ EASTER DAYo 347 believe a thng, I do no longer wonder: but when I find that I bave reason to stop upon the consideration of a thing, so, as that I sec euough to induce admiration, to make me wonder, I come by that step, and God leads me by that hand, to a knowledge» if it be of a natural or civil thing, or to a faith, if it be of a supernatural, and spiritual thing. And therefore be content to wonder at this, that Goal would have such a tare fo dignify, and to crown, and to associate to his own e,erlasting presence, the body of man. God himself is a Spirit, and heaven is his place; my soul is a spirit, and so proportioned to that place; that God, or angels, or out souls, which are ail spirits, should be in heaven, Are mirernini, Never wonder at that. But since we wonder, and justly, that some late philosophers have removed the whole earth front the centre, and carried if up, and placed it in one of the spheres of hea'en, that this clod of earth, this body of ours should be carried up to the highest heavens, placed in the eye of God, set down at the right hand of God, 3liremlni hoc, Vonder at this; that God, ail Spirit, served with spirits, associated to spirits, should have such an affection, such a love to this body, this earthly body, this deserves wonder. The Father was pleased to breathe into this body, at first, in the creation; the Son was pleaoed to assume this body himself, after, in the redemption; the Holy Ghost is plea.ed to consecrate this body, and make it his temple, by his sanctification; in that Faciamus hominern, Let us, ail us, make nan, that consultation of the whole Trinity in making man, is exercised even upon this |wer part of man, the dignifying of his body. So far, as that amongst the ancient fathers, very many of them, are very various, and irresolved, which way to pronounce, and very many of them clear in the negative, in that point, that the soul of man c0mes hot to the presence of God, but remains in some out-places till the resurrection of the body: that observation, that consideration of "the love of God, to the body of man, withdrew them into that error, that the soul itself should lack the glory of heaven, till the body were become capable of that glory too. They therefore oppose God in his purpose of dignifying the body of man, first, who violate, and mangle this body, which is the orgau in which God breathes; and they also which pollute and defile this body, in which Christ Jesus is apparelled; and they likewise who profane this body, which the Ho]y Ghost, as the high priest, inhabits, and consecrates. Transgressors in the first kind, that put God's organ out of tune, that discompose, and tear the body of man with violence, are those inhuman persecutors, vho with racks, and tortures, and prisons, and rires, and exquisite inquisitions, throw down the bodies of the truc God's truc servants, to the idolatrous worship of their imaginary gods; that torture men into hell, and carry them through the inquisition into damnation. St. Augustine moves a question, and institutes a disputation, and carries if somewhat problematical, whether torture be to be admitted at ail, or no. That presents a fait probability, which he says against it: We presume, says he, that an innocent man should be able ¢o hold his tongue in torture; That is no part of out purpose in torture, says he, that he that is imlocent, should accuse himself, by conthssion, in torture. And, if an innocent man be able to do so, why should hot we think, that a guilty man, who shall save his lire, by holding his tongue in torture, should be able to do so. and then, where is the use of torture. lies fragilis, et periculosa quwstio, says that lawyer, who is isteemid the law, alone, UITiai: Itis a slippery trial, and nncertain, to convince by torture: tbr, many times, says St. Augustine again, Innocens luit pro incerto celere certissimas _pwnas; He that is yet but questioned, whether he be gui]ty or no, before that be known, is, witt/out ail question, miserably torture& And whereas, many rimes, the passion of the judge, and the covetousness of the judge, and the ambition of the judge, are calamities heavy enough, upon a man, that is accused, in this case of torture, Iynorantia jdicis est calamitas lolérumoEue innoventis, says that father, For the most part, even the i-morance of the judge, is the greatest calamity of him that is aeeused: if the judge knew that he were innocent, he should surfer nothing; if he knew he were guilty, he should hot surfer torture; but beeause the judge is ignorant, and knows nothing, therefore the lrisoner must be racked, and tortured, and naangled, says that father.
There is a whole epistle in St. Hierome, full of heavenly neditation, and of curious expressions: it is his forty-ninth epistle, Ad inno«t;em: Where a young man tortured for suspicion of adultery with a certain voman, Ut cend;o criat vitaret, says he, For his case, and to abridge his toent, and that he might thereby procure and compas a preoent death, confessed the adultery, though false: his confession was ruade evidence %nst the woman: and she makes that protestation, Tu testis Dn Je, Thon Lord Jets be my witness, no ideo neyare velle, ne peream, sed ideo entlri nolle, ne cem: I do not deny the foet for fear of death, but I dare not belie mlK nor betry my innocence, for fear of sinning, and offending the God of truth; and, as it follows in that story, though no toure could drw any confession, auy aeeusatiou from her, w eondemned; and one exeeutioner had three blows at her with a sword, and another four, and yet she cod hot be killed. And therefore, beeause sto abounds wifl examples of this kind, how uneein a way of trial, and conviction, toure is, though St. Austine vould not say, that torture was unlawful, yet he says, It behoves every judge to nmke tht pryer, Erue me Domine a necessitatibus meis, If there be me cases, in whieh the judge must neeessarily proeeed to torture; O Lord, deliver me, fm hang aly such cse bught beforo me. But what use ever there my be for roture, for confession, in the inquisition they toure for a denial, for the denial of God, and for the renouncing of the truth of his Gospd: as men of great place, think if eoncerns their honour, to do above that xvhich they surfer, to make their revenges, hot only equal, but greater thal their injuries; so the oman ehurch thinks it neceary fo ber greatness, to iiet more tortums noxv, than were inflieted upon her in the primitive chuh; as though if were a just revenge, for the tooEures she reeeived then, for being Chri tin, fo torture better Christians than herself, for being . In whieh tortures, the Inquisition hth fod one way, to escape the general clalnour of the wodd against them, whieh is to toure to that height, that few suaire, or corne abad after, to publish, how they have been tortured. And these, fit, oppose God's
0 PIIEACHED ON EASTER DAY. [SER, XVII|o purpose, in the making, and preserving, and dignifying the hody of man. Transgressors herein, in the second kind, are they, that defile the garment of Christ Jesus, the body in which he hath vouchsafed to invest and enwrap himself, and so apparel a har]ot in Christ's clothes, and make tiret body which is his, hers. That Christ should take my body, though defi]ed with tbrnication, and make it Iris, is strange; but that I, in tbrnication, should take Christ's body, and make it hers, is more. Kizo ye o¢, ys the apostle, that your bodies are te members of Christ"? And again, low you hot, that lw that is jained to a harlot, fs one body«? Some of the Roman emperors, ruade it treason, to carry a ring, that had their picture engraved in it, to any place in the bouse, of low office. ,Vhat namo tan wo give to that sin, to mako the body of Christ, the body of a harlot . And yet, the apostle there, as taking knowledge, that we loved ourselves better than Christ, changes the edge of his argument, and argues thus, ver. 18, He that committetk fornication, inneth a.qainst his ou'n body; if ye will be bold with Christ's body, yet ftvour your own: no man ever hated hia own body; and yet, no outward enemy is able so to macerate our body, as our o,«m licentiousness. Christ, who took ail our bodily infirmities upon him, hunger, and thirst, and sweat, and cold, took no bodily deformities upon him, ho took hot a lame, a blind, a crooked body; and we, by our intemperance, and licentiousness, deform that body which is his, ail these waxs. The licentious man, most of any, studies bodily handsomeness, tobe comely, and graeious, and acceptable, and yet, soonest of any, deforms, and destroys it, and makes that loathsome to ail, which ail his tare,,vas to make amiable: and so they oppose God's purpose of dignifying the body. Transgressors in a third kind are they, that saerilegiously prophane the temple of the Holy Ghost, by neglecting the respect and duties, belonging to the dead bodies of God's saints, in a deeent and comely aecompanying them to convenient funerals. Heirs and exeeutors are oftentimes defeetive in these oflîees, and pretend better emplo 3 ments of that, wlfich would be, (say they) vainly spent so. But remember.vou, of whom (in mueh such a 1 Cr. ri. 1. r Ver. 16.
sEn. xvm.] »RE«cnEn e «« VAY. 351 case) that is said in St. John, TMs ]w said, hot becae lw cared for te ¥oor, but becaue e wa a tMef, and/ad tle baq, and be tla ldcl waut tlein«: these executors say, hot because they intend pious uses, but because they bear, and bear away the bags. Generally, thy oinion must be no rule for oher men's actions; neither in these cases of funerals, must thou cal1 ail too much, which is more than enough; that woman's ointment poured upon Christ's feet, that hundred pound weight of perfumes to embahn his one body,,cas more than enough, necessarily enough; yet it was hot too much, for the dignity of that person, nor for the testimony of their zeal, who did it, in so abundant manner. ]qow, as in all these three ways, men may oppose the purpose of God in dignifying the body, so in concurring with God's purpose for the dignifying thereof, a man may exeeed, and go beyond God's purpose, in all tta'ee. God would hot have the body torn, and mangled with tortures, in those cases; but then, he would hot bave it pampered with wanton delicacies, nor varnished with foreign complexion. It is iii, when it is hot our own heart, that appears in our words; it is iii too, when it is not our own blood, that appears in our cheeks; it may do some iii offices of blood, it may tempt, but it gives over, when it should do a good office of blood, it cannot blush. If when they are filling the wrinkles, and graves of their face, they would remember, that there is another grave, that calls for a filling with the whole body, so, even their pride would flow into a mortification. God would not bave us put on a sad countenance, nor disfigure our thce, hot in out thstings, and other disciplines; God would hot bave us mar his work; nor God would hOt bave us go about to do his last work, which he bath reserved to himself in heaven, here upon earth, that is, to glorify our bodies, with such additions here, as though we would need no glorification there. So also in the second way of giving due respect to the body of man, a man may exceed God's purpose. God would not bave the body corrupted and attenuated, shrunk and deformed with incontinency, and licentiousness; but God would hot have that sparmg of the body, to dihonour, or undervalue, or forbear mar- John xii. 6.
riage, nor to fi'ustrate that, xvhich ws one of Godes purço, in the institution of martiale, çrocreation of children. Marriage without possibility of children, lks one hall of Godes purpose in the institution of ntarage; for, the third reason of marriage, after the other two, (which two were, for a helper, and for chil* en) wch is, that marriage should be for a remedy, that third cae in after; for at the tnte of the institution of arriage, man was hot fa]len into any inoldinate concupiscence and so, at that rime, needed no remedy. Marriage without possibi]ity of chi]- dren, lacks one of God's two reasons tbr childn; but marriage with a contract against chilien, or a prtice against children, is not (says St. Augustine) marriage, but a solenm, an avowed, a daily adultery. To choo to he ill in the sight of God, rather than to look ill, in the sight of men, is a perveroe, and a poinous physic. The fin of Er, and Onan, in married men; the fin of procured aboyions, in marfied women, do, in many cases, equal, in some, exceed, the fin of adultery; to rob a husband, or a wih, of a future child, may be in the wife, or husband, great a fin, to bring suppofititio, or a spurious child, into the father's inheritance. God would hot have the comeliness, the hanomeness of the body detced by incontinency, and intemperance, but he xvould hot have the care of that com liness, and hanomeness tustrate his purpose of "chilien in marriage. And as in thooe two, (G would hot have the ody tortured, nor mangled, God would hot have the body defonned by licentiousness) so, in his third respect to man's body, God wod hot bave the bodies of his dead saints neglected, God's puose may be exceeded too. God's purpoe therein is, that ail men should be decently, and honourable persons, honoumbly buried; but his purpose herein is exceed, wheu aay rag of their skin, or chip of their bones, or lock of their hair, is kept for a relic, and ruade an univeal balm, and amulet, and antidote, against ail temporal, and all spiritual dioeaoes, and calamities, hot only against the rage of a fever, but of hell itself. XVhat their counteffeit relics may do, against their counteffeit hell, against their purgatory, I know noE: that powerful, and precious, and only relic, which is given to us, agaiast hell itself, is ouly the coumuuion of the hody, mec. xvm.] ree,cHev o E,Srr.a v.ty. 353 and blood oï Christ Jesus, leït to us by him, and preserved ïor us in his church, though his body be removed out of out sight. To end this, Miramini hoc, Marvel at this, at the wonderïul love oï God to the body of man, and thou wilt ïavour it so, as hOt to macerate thine own body, with uncommanded and mhuman flagellations, and whippings, nor afltict their bodies, who are in thy-charge, with inordinate labour; thou wilt hOt dishonour this body, as itis Christ's body, nor deïorm it, as it is thine own, with intcnperance, but thou wilt behave thyselï towards it so, as towards one, whom it bath pleased the king to honour, with a resurrection, (which was our first) and hOt fo deïer that resurrection long, which is out next step, Venir ora, The kour is com.ny. IVou talem Deum tuum loutes, qtutlis nec tt debes esse, is excellently said by St. Augustine: Never presume upon any other disposition in God, thall such as thou findest in thine own heart, that thou art bound to bave in thyseff; for we find in out hearts a hand of conformity, and assimilation to God, that is, to be as like God as we can. Therefore whatso-er thou findest thyself bound to do to another, thou mayest expect at God's hand. Thou art bound to help up another that is tllen, thereïore thou mayest assure thyself, that God will give thee a resurrection: so, thou findest in thy heart, that the soul of an alms, the soul of a benefit, that that gives it lire, is the speedy, the present doing of it; therefore thou mayest be sure, that God will make speed to save thee, that he will hot long defer this thy resurrection, hora vetit. St. AugtLstine comparing the former resurrection, which is the spiitual resurrection of the soul, ver. 25, with this in the text, whieh is the resurrection of the body, obsem-es, that there Christ says, T[ora qenit, et nunc est, The hour is coming, and ow is; because in every private inspiration of the Holy Ghost, in every sermon, in every meeting of the con.egation, the dead may hear, and lire; u.c est, they may do it now. But that in this resurrection in the text, the resurrection of the body, it is not said, tc est, that the hour is nov; for the son of man who says it, (as he is the son of man) kuows hot when it shall be; but he says Hora eit, It is comby, and coming apace, and coming quickly, shortly. VO1,. I. 2 A
As soou as God ad ruade man he gave him is patent, Domi- amini, Dominion over the creature; as soon as man ws fallen, God gave him the promise of a Messiah; and of his second coming, imself says, Ecce, eno cto, E«oM, I cme seeily- Venir, He cornes, e is nçon the way; and Ecce, venir, Beold, he coma, he is within sight, you nmy oee im in is forernnning kens; and E«e cto s little way as he hat to go, he makes baste, and there is a Jesuit * that makes the baste so great as that he say owsoever St. Anguine make nse of that note, that it is hot id in the text uc «st, That te our of the resrection is now, yet he does Lelieve, tat Crist did y so, though the evangelist let it ont. Ve need not say so; we do hot; m much less libelXy do we take in depaing fmm the fathers, than the Roman anthors do: but yet, so as St. John speaks, Hora,zovissima, This is the last rime, (Now tere are aay a«ticrist, wereby we now tAat tis is te last rime»,) and so, as St. Pemr speaks, Be «ot iynorant OE tis one tM»y, tat one day is with the Lord as a thousaud year, ad a tho.usad years as one day": oe as this Nunc lnay signify Ultimvm stature, The lt eonrse of rimes, the rime hOt of natte, nor of law, bnt of grace; so we ait that tion in this resnrreetion toe, Hora venir, et mmc est, The hour is comiça, and now is, becanse there are no other means to ho hereaher institnted tbr the attaining of a happy resurrection, than those that now are established in the church, especially at a man's death, may we very properly y, hSt e, Now is the resurrection corne to him, not only becanse the last judent is involved in the first, (tbr that judnent which passeth npon every man at his death, stands for ever withont real, or appel, or error) but because aKer the death of the bodb there is no more to be done with the body, tiH the resnrrection; for as we say of an arrow, that it is over shot, if is gone, it is beyond the mark, though it be hot corne to the mark yet, because thero is no more to be done to if till it be; so we may say, that he that is corne fo death, is corne to his resurmction, because he bath not another step to make, another foot to go, another minute to connt, till he be at the resnrrection. The resreetion then, being the coronation of man, his death, o 5Idon ! Jolmfi. 18. ] 2 Pet. iii. 8.
and lying down in the grave, is his enthroning, his sitting down in that chair, where he is to receive that crown. As then the martyrs, under the a]tar, though in heaven, yet do cry out for the resurrection; so let us, in this miserable lire, submit onrselves cheerfully to file hand of God, in death, since ti]] that death we cannot have this resurrection, and the first thing that we shall do aftcr this death, is to fise again. To the chi]d that is now bore, we may say, llorz enit, The day of his resurrection is coming; to him that is o]d, we may say, the hour is corne; but to him that is dcad, the minnte is corne, because to him there are no more minutes till if do corne. /llreminl hoc, 5Iarvêl af this, at the descent of God's love, he loves the body of man, and 3]ireml»i hoc, 5Iarvel at his speed, he makes baste to express this love, lIorz zenit, and then x]lire- inl hoc, blarvel at the gêner.lity, it reaches to ail, all that are in the grave; 411 tact are in the yraves shall hear $is 'oice, &c. God bath ruade the body as a house for the soul, till he call ber ont, and he bath marie the grave as a honse for the body, till he ca]l it up. The misery, and poor estate that Christ submitted himse]f unto for man, was hot determined in that, Thatfo«es had holes, but he o 'herê to la!! his he«d , while he lived; but he had no grave tha he eould claire, when he was dead. It is some discontimmnee of the eomnmnion of saints, if I ma), not be buried with the saints of God. Every man that hath hot divested humanity, bath a desire to have his bones lie at test, and we cannot provide for that so well, any way, as to bnry them in consecrated places, which are, in common intendnent, safest ri'oto profane violenees. J,;ven that respect, that his bones might lie at test, seems to bave moved one prophet, to enjoin his sons, to bury him, in the sepnlchre, where the other prophet was huried . He knew that Josiah would bnrn the bones of ail the other graves, upon the altar of Bethel, as was prophesied; and he presumed that he would spare the bones of that prophet, and so his bones should be sale, if they were mingled vith the other. God expressed his le»ve to Moses, in that partieular, That he b«ried him * and to deliver, and rcmove him, from the violence of any that loved Imita hot. and so might dishonour his memory, Matt. viii. 20. ° 1 Khgs xiii. 31. Deut. xxxiv. 1;.
and from the superstition of any that over-loved him, and so nfiht over-honour his memory, God buried him in secret. In ore than one place doth David complain, T tre u'«s none to «ry GoE's «alnts; and the dinity that is promised here in the text, is approprited to them, wo ure te yrav«, who are buried. But then, as that genera] Is it simply, planly, literally of them, and tem on]y, wo are in raves, who are buried Shall none enjoy a resurrection, that hve hot enjoyed a ave Still I sy, it is coo to yin man, it is an honour to his memory, it is discharge of a duty in is friends, it is piece of the communion of saints, to ave concrted mve: but the word here is, moumentis, Ail that are in monuments that i in receptacles of bodies, of what kind soever tey be: wheresoever the and of God lays up dead body, that place is the recepcle, so the monument, so te grave of tht body. God bees all te boes te iyhteo, so tkat none them are broken»: though they be trod fo dust in out sight, they are entire in his, beeause he can bid them be -hole again in an instant. Some nations burnt fleir dead, there the tire is the ave; some drowned their dead, there the sea is the grave; and some hung them up un trees, and there the air is their grave: some nations eat their dead themselves, and some nmintained dogs to eat the dead; and as they called those dogs, Canes,S- pulchrales ', Sepulchral dogs, so those men were sepulchral men, those men and those dogs were graves. Death and kell sltall delirer «p their d«ad , mys St. John: that is, the whole state, and mansion of the dead, shall be emptied: the state of the dead is their grave, and upon ail that are in this state, shall the testimony of God's love, to the body of man, fall; and tha is the generality, All that are in tlte.qrare, &e. Out next step is, the instrument, the means, by which, flis, first so speedy, and then general love of God, to man, to man in his lowest pa, his body, is accomplished unto him; these, ail these, ail these thag are in grares, in ail theoe kind of graves, shall kear his eoice, and that is the means. First, whose voice Tha is expressed immediately before, The Son " ma». In the :' Psalm xv. 20. t« IIerod. Strabo. t Rev. x. 13.
other resurrection, in that of the dead sou], ver. _o5, therc t said, T/e dead sall ear t/e 'oice of tac,S'on of God. In this, svhich is the resurrection to judgment, it is Te The former resurrection (that of a sinner to repentan,ce by preaching) is wrought by a plain, and ordinary means here in the church; whew you do but hear a man in a pew, read prayers, and pronounce abso|ution, and a man in a pu|pit preach a sermon, and a man at a table consecrate, and administer a sacrament; and because ail this, though it be the power of lire, and the means of yom" spiritual resurrection, is xxTought by the ministry of man, who might be contemptible in your eye, therefore the whole work is lferred to God, and hot the Son of man, but te said to do it. In this resurrection of the text, which is a resurrection to judgment, and to an account with (od, that (od whom we bave displeased, exasperated, violated, wounded in the whole course of our life, lest we shouhl be ten'ified, and dejected at the presence of that (od, the whole work is referred to tlc »Son ofna», which bath himself formerly felt ail our infirnfities, and hath had as sad a soul at the approach of death, as bitter a cup in the form of death, as heavy a fear of God's forsaking him in the agony of death, as we can bave: and for sin itself, I would not, I do not extenuate my sin, but let me have fallen, not seven times a day, but seventy-seveu times a minute, yet what are my sins, to those sins that were upon Christ. The sins of ail men, and ail women, and ail children, the sins of all nations, ail the East and West, and all the orth and South, the sins of ail rimes and ages, of nature, of law, of grace, the sins of ail natures, sins of the body, and sins of the mind, the sins of ail growth, and ail extensions, thoughts, and words, and acts, and habits, and delight, and glory, and contempt, and the ver T sin of boasting, nay of our belieing ourselves in sin; ail these sins, past, present, and future, were at once upon Christ, and in that depth of sin, mine are but a drop to his ocean; in that treasure of sin, mine are but single money, to his talent; ail thetfore, that I might corne with a holy reverence to his ordinance, in this place, though it be but in the nlinistry of man, that first resurrection is attributed to the Son oïtïod, to give a dignity to that ministry of
58 PREACHED OIg ArER DçY. [SEI]. XVIIL man, which otherwise inight bave been under-valued, that thereby we might bave a consolation, and a cheerfulness towars it; i is he, hat is, the Son of God, and the Son of man, Christ which relnembors us also, that ail that belongs to the expressing of the law of God to man, must be received by us, who profe ourselves Christians, in, and by, and for, and through Christ. We use to ascribe the creation to the Father, but the Father created by the Word, and his Vord, is his Son, Christ; ];hen he prepared te heaes, I was t]tere, (ys Christ of himself in the peon of Visdom) and chen he appolnt«d the bn»datis tf the earth, then u'as I by him, as one brouyht Ul» «ith him ; it is no, one brought in to him, or brought in by him, bu with hinl; one as old, that is, as eternal, as much God as he. We use to cribe sanctification to the Holy Ghost; but the Holy Ghost sanctes in the church, and the church was purchasl by the bood of Christ, and Christ remains Head of the ehnrch, tsque in consnmmationem, till the end of the wodd. I look upon every blessing tllat God aflbrds me, and I consider whether it he temporal, or spiritual; and that distinishes the inetal; the temporal is my silver, and the spiritual is my gold; but then I look ain upon the inscription, Cçus imao, Whose image, whose inscription it b, and whose naine; and except ] have if, in, and for, and by Christ Jesus, tomporal, and spiriual things too, are but imaginary, but illusory shadows; for God conveys hinself to us, no othcr way, but in Christ. The benefit then in our text, the resurrection, is by him: but it is limited thus, it is by hearing him, They that are i their yraes shall hear, 6"c. So it is in the other resurrection too, the spiritual resurrection, ver. 25. There, they must hear him, that wiH lie. In both resurrtions, that in the church, now, by gre, and tha in the grave hereafer, by power, it is said. Tkey shall hear him. They shall, whieh seems to imply a necessity, though hot a coaction; but that neeessity, hOt of equal force, hOt equaHy irresistible in both: in the ave, They shall; thouh they be dead, and senseless as he dust, (for they are dust itmlf) though they bring no concurrence, no coeoperation, Tbey shall hear, that is, They shall hOt choose but hear. In the other resurrection, xvhich is, in the church, by grac«, in od's ordinance, Tey sa[l e«r too, that is, There shall be a voice uttered so, as that they may hea if they will, but hot whether they xvill or as in the 6ther case, in the grave. Therefore when God expsses his gthering of his chch, in this world, it is,S'ibilt«bo et abo, I ill iss, or eirp ]br tem, and so 9ater tem »: he whispel in he voice of the spirit, and he speaks a little louder, in the voice o) a man; Le the man be a nere, son of thunder, never o powerful a spker, ye no thunder is heard over ail the world. But for the voiee that shall be heard a tlle aurrec[ion, He sall end is aels, tru»et ç; grea sound, sueh may be ruade by a trunpe, such as au angel, ail his agela can make in trumpet, and more an all that, Te Lord i»se'sall deoend.om eae , and fllat, with a shottt, and wlth tke voice OE a archatgel, that is, saff St. Ambrose, of Christ hillselt A nd in the tru»q»et God, that is also, Christ himseff. So then, you have the peon, Christ; the means, a voiee, the poweffness of that voiee, in the naine of relmngel, whieh is named but once more in all the Seriptures: alld theretb, let no ma.n, that bath ail holy auhelation and panting airer the resurreetion, su)eet that he shall sleep in the dnst, for ever; tbr, this s a voiee, that wiH be heard, he nust rise. Let no man, who beeause he bath me his course of lire like a beast, would therefore be content his state in death might be like a beast o, hope that he shall sleep in the du, tbr ever, tbr this is voiee, that must be heard, And all tkat hear hall cmne.forth, tkey that kave done yood, e. He skall cbrth; evell he that hath done ill, and would not, shall corne foll. Çou may have seen moral men, you may have seen inlpious men, go in eonfidently enough: not affrighted with death, not terrified with a grave; but when you all see them eome forth again, you shall see them in another eonlplexion. Tht man that died so, fith thnt confidence, thought death his end; it el« llis sevellty yea.rs, but it begins his sevellty millions of generations of tornents, even to his body, and he never thought of that: indeed, Jtuticll, nisi qui vitw wternoe prwdestitatus eet, » Zee. x. 8. o tt. v. 31. 1 Thes. iv. 16.
w» ]otest reminlsci, says St. Ambrose, No man can, no man dates think upon the lt judment, but he that can thi upon it with comfo, he that is predeinated eternal lire. Even the st, are sometlmes shaked with the consideration dE the resurrection, becauoe it is impossible to sepsrste the consideration of the r surrection, from the consideration of the judent; and the tro of that may bate the joy of the other:,'ive coco, s[e bio says St. H]erome, Whether I eat, or drink, still methinks ] hear this soun 8uryi rtui, et eni ad fidiciu, Arise you dead, and eome m judgment: when it ealls me up from death, ara gld, when it calls me to judent, that impairs my joy. Can I think that God will not mke a strict oeeount; or, can be xthout fear, if I think he will $ bn epazescere reguisiturum est dicte, on requiret, is exceHently id by St. Berna, If I ean put off ail fear of that judent, I bave put off aH imagination, that auy ch judtent shall be. But, when I be#n this tar, in this life, here, I end this fear, in my death, and ps away cheeully: but the wieked be#n this fear, when the trumpet sounds to file resurrection, and then shall never end it; but, a man eondenmed be half hanged, and then quaered, hath a feafful addition in his quaering after, and yet had no case in his hanging before; oe they that have done ill, when they have had their hanging, when they have suffered in soul, the ents of hell, fm the day of their death, to the day of judent, shall corne to that day with fear, as to an addition to that, which y, 'as infinite before. And therefore the vulgate edition bath rendered this wdl, Pruedent, hey sall proceed, they shaH go faher and faher in torment. But this is not the object of out eeulation, the subject of o meditation, now: we proposed this text, for the contemplation of G's love man, and therefore we rather comfo omelves mth that bneh, and refresh omdves with the shadow of that, That tey o ave done çood, sall corne fo nto te rurrection of i. AI, the othem shall lire as long they; Lucifer is m immorml as hlichael, and Judas as immol as St. Peter: but ta damatort«m, ms est , That whieh we caH immolity in the damned, is but a oentinual d#ng; however if m be called lit'e, it hath ail the qnalities of death, saving the case, and the edd, which death hath, and danmation hath hot. They nmst corne tbrth they that have donc evi|, nmst do so too: neither can stay if, their honse, thei," grave; for their l,onse (though that honse shonld be the sea) shall be bm'ned downl ail the vor|d dissolved with tire. But then, they who bave donc evil, shal! pz. from that tire, into: farther heat, withont |ight, they who bave donc good, into farther light, wthout heat. But fix upon the conditions, and pertbrm them; they nmst ha don yood; to hve known good, to hve believed it to hve intended it,,my to have preached it to otl,ers, not serve, they must have donc good. They mnst be rooted in faith, and then bring forth fi.uit and fruit in season; and then is the season of doing good, when another needs that g.ood at thy banals.. God gives the evening rain, but he gave the morning rain before; a good man ves at his death, but he gives in his lifetime too. To them belongs this resurrection of the hody to litb; upon which, since our text inclines us to umrvel rather than to diseourse, I will not venture to say with Dax-id, I u'ill show all thy condrons u'orks , (an angel's tongue could not show them) but I will say with him, l?emember the ma'rellous u'orbs he hatl donc ', and by that donc, God will open your eyes, that you may behold the wondrous thiugs that he will do: remember with than "kfulness the several resurrections that he hath given you; from superstition and ignorance, in which you, in your fathers, lay dead; from sin, and. love of sin, in which you in the days of your youth, lay dead; from sadness, and dejeetion of spirit, in whieh you, in your xvorldly crosses, or spiritual temprations, ly dead; and assure yourself, that that God that loves to perfect his own works, when you shall lie dead in your graves, will give you that resurreetion to lire, which he hath promised to ail them that do good, and will extend to ail them, who h.ving done evil, do yet truly repent the evil they have donc.,s Psal. ix. 2. ' Psal. cv. 5; cxix. 18.