IT was yet Good-Friday both with this Prophet and the people, when he vndertooke for them a Text fit for Easter, I am sure for the resur­rection, when the Israelites were stretcht vpon the Racke of miserie, as Hee (of whom they were then Types, but after­wards persecutors) vpon the Crosse, when they were to be lockt vp in the graue of captiuitie, as Hee was for a time in the barres of the earth: quando stillauit ira Dei super Ierusalem, Sixtus Senens. Bib. sanc. lib. prim. (saith Senensis:) from these oppressions, weighty though they were to him, this Robur vel imperium Domini, this strength of the Lord (for so the Prophets name imports) breakes forth; his soule being full of diuinations, as the Riuer Cho­bar, by which he sate, of drops; and through the vi­sion of dead bones, sees Israels restauration to its former liberty, and mans resurrection to his eternity.

[Page 2]The words of the Prophet will best set them­selues together in your memories, if they bee taken asunder into their parts:The diuision. for they haue Three:

• 1 First, Gods care to be knowne, And you shall know that I am the Lord.
• 2 Secondly, to whom, To his owne people; O my people.
• 3 Thirdly, by what meanes, by most powerfull de­liuerance; when I haue opened your graues, and brought you vp out of your graues.

Prima pars. [And you shall know.] Lib. 3. de fals. sap. cap. 11.Gods care to be knowne, first presents it selfe; And you shall know that I am the Lord.

Two things, saith Lactantius, GOD hath made man onely to be most desirous of; Religionis & sapi­entia, Religion and wisdome, the two onely Keyes to open that Well sealed vp, The knowledge of the Lord. But the Author goes on, sed homines ideo fal­luntur, quòd aut Religionem suscipiunt omissâ sapientiâ, aut sapientiae soli student omissâ Religione: either men, in the fury of Religion, will breake vp the seales of Gods secrets, and so rather discouer him then know him; or else they will finde him in the Laby­rinths of their subtill braines, omitting the best Clue to guide them thorow, Religion. We may obserue how vnhappy the first intent to know GOD too neere was, when He that was the subiect of the know­ledge, was not the Instructer. Gen. 3. Shee that was first caught by that golden hooke of knowledge, would know God, but it should be most ambitiously; for shee would know her selfe to bee like Him, in the knowledge of good and euill. That wretched know­ledge she quickly gain'd; good she knew, by its [Page 3] irrecouerable losse; and euill shee knew, not onely by knowing, Perer. in Gen. lib. 1. but being so her selfe: and all because when shee first set her selfe to Schoole, the Deuill was her Tutor. Glorious apparition of knowledge! which fier'd euen innocencie it selfe with a proud af­fection to it: nor could euer since any Age auoyd the spices of that first disease of knowing. But, like ouer-fleet Hounds, wee often out-runne the prey in the pursuite; or else, tyer'd and hungry, fall vpon some dead carrion in the way, and omit the Game. Else how were it possible that Man, who only hath that essentiall consequence of his Reason, Capacity of Learning, should all his time bee brought vp in a Schoole of knowledge, and yet too often let the glasse of his dayes be runne out, before hee knowes the Author he should studie? Haue not the greatest Epicures of knowledge, like children new set to Schoole, turn'd from their lessons to looke on pi­ctures in their bookes; gazing vpon some hard trifle, some vnnecessary subtilty, and forgot so much as once to spell the Lord? How great a part of this span­length of his daies doth the Grammaticall Criticke spend, in finding out the construction of an obsolete word, or the principall verbe in a worne-out Epi­taph, still ready to set out a new booke vpon an old Criticisme? How will an Antiquarie search whole Libraries, to light vpon an ancient Monument, whilest the Chronicle of this LORD, who is the Ancient of daies, shall seldome be looked into? We doe so wearie the faculties of our vnderstanding be­fore-hand by ouer-practising, that when wee come at the Race indeed, where our knowledge should so [Page 4] runne that it might obtaine, it giues ouer the course, as out of breath, before it haue begun.

I speake not but to honour learning and know­ledge, euen the first elements of the Arts; they are like the Cryer in the Wildernesse before our Sauiour to prepare his way: Nor I thinke ought any to be transported with the pangs of so indiscreet a zeale, as to extinguish those first Lampes of knowledge, polite and humane studies: for though they doe not directly teach vs to know the Lord, yet are they the fittest spectacles for vnripe yeeres and tender sights to put on, who are not able to endure at the first vehemens sensibile, so excelling an obiect as the Lord is. God doth not vse now-a-dayes to rauish men extra corpus, as Saint Hierome saith hee did this Pro­phet: or as Saint Paul saith, he doth not know whe­ther it were [...] or [...],2 Cor. 12. whether within or with­out the body, when hee was taken into the third Heauen: God leades vs with a more apprehensiue and ordinary hand, then either by taking vs vp, or sending downe lights and visions from himselfe, to make his Spirit to be at command to euery obstre­perous vnletter'd Extemporist, Hieron. ad Paulin. vt doceat antequam didicit, who will vndertake to teach before himselfe hath learn'd; and so it often falls out, that whilest such are about to make knowne this knowledge of the Lord, though their bodies bee confin'd within the compasse of the Pulpit, yet is their straggling inuention faine to wander for matter, as Saul did ouer Mount Gilboa, 1 Sam. 9. and many other Mountaines, to seeke his Fathers Asses, and yet neuer found them. It is the comparison of that Kingly Priest,B. King Lect. vpon Ionas 24. who was [Page 5] the late Reuerend Prelate of this Sea. All Miracles, wee know, are ceas't; and yet the greatest Miracle that euer God wrought vpon earth, (the Incarnation of his blessed Sonne excepted) the effusion of his Spi­rit, must still be so familiar with vs, that the assiduity of hauing it, hath brought it amongst too many in­to a cheape contempt.

I would not be mistaken; (for I speake with a re­uerend estimation of mine owne and all Christian soules) Preaching is an inestimable Iewell; and if the Physician of the body is to bee honour'd, then much more they that minister [...],Basil. resto­ring Balsame to wounded soules. That Angell of our Church, reuerend Hooker, (et tanto nomini sem­per assurgo, his name ought euer to bee mention'd with honour) calls Sermons the Keyes to the King­dome of Heauen;Eccles. pol. lib. 5. part. 22. Wings, by which our soules soare to the heauenly Ierusalem. O what a blessing is it frō heauen? nay, what proportion doth it hold with hea­uen, to heare a Preachers tongue, touch't by a Sera­phim, vtter in the Pulpit, labour'd & mature thoghts, cloathing his sublime Theames in fit Apparell to be presented before that Person whom hee represents; yet non tam loquitur fortia quàm viuit, Cyprian. his life should be stronger, & speak more powerfully then his lines; and euen then, when his words reach as high as the Throne of God, his heart should bee as low as the humble Publicans. All Gods Prophets ought to be of Dauids mind, to esteeme themselues Wormes and no men, whilest their Audience are sweetly forc't to repute them little lesse then Cherubims. What a blessed Martyrdome it were, for any im­ploy'd [Page 6] in Gods Seruice, to breathe forth his soule in sauing others soules? Such a Preacher were like the good seruant in the Gospell,Mat. 24.46. who when the Lord comes, he shall finde so doing. That word [so] qualifies any extremitie that might haue been in his actions; like Saint Pauls [...], so runne; running hee obseru'd many (perchance) too fast, therefore he assignes the modum debitum, the true path in which wee should runne. Men that will be either like him, or like the good seruant so doing, must not fall into any excesse, and bee found ouer-doing; which, euen in this great businesse of knowing the Lord, too many doe. It was St. Hieroms complaint in his time, Sola Ars Scripturarum, Ars est omnium: In no other Profession can any man set vp, before he haue seru'd a set number of yeeres; but in the knowing of the Lord, euery man will bee a Doctor of the Chaire, before euer he saw the Diuinity-Schoole. We ought,Numb. 11.29. I confesse, all to wish as Moses did, Would God that all the Lords people were Prophets, and that the Lord would put his Spirit vpon them; but let them bee enricht with Moses gifts too, who was skilfull in all the learning of the Egyptians:Act. 7. for otherwise, although it were Moses charity to wish such a generall blessing, 'twas Gods wisdome not to grant it.

It is indeed true, That to know the Lord and his saluation the Scripture affords light enough, and Diuinity needs not to adde to her immortall beauty by any borrowed painting: yet you shall see, that when Saint Paul vndertooke to make the Corinthi­ans know who was the Lord, 1 Cor. 4. hee profest a wealthy [Page 7] variety of much other knowledge besides the Scrip­ture; and thankes God for it, that hee spake with Tongues [...], more then all they did: and able he was to cite their owne Poets among the then learned Athenians, and to apply a Satyricall Verse out of Epimenides, to reprehend the lying, gluttonous and bestiall manners of the Cretians. 1. Tit. His powerfull language so rauish't the Lystrians, in the 14. of the Acts, Act. 14. that hee gain'd the repute of Mercury amongst them: and questionlesse, the sit­ting so long at the feet of Gamaliel, made him vas electionis, a vessell fit to hold that diuine Treasure which the Holy Ghost powr'd into him: not that he, or any other Messenger of God, did euer vse to thrust themselues into a Wildernesse of Diuinity, a­mongst Thornes and Bushes, suffering euery Bram­ble to teare off part of that Golden Fleece, which can neuer safely bee carried out of such Thickets. Therefore the Psalmist tooke a direct Method in learning to know this Lord; hee lookes vpon the booke of Experience, which was the onely volume God himselfe open'd in Paradise, written like the Booke in the Reuelation,Apoc. 5. within, and on the back­side, The Heauens declare the Glorie of God, Psal. 19. and the Firmament sheweth his handy workes; and so out of euery Star could he take notes, by which he might learne who was this Lord. Opus fecit quod opificem visibilitate sui manefestauit, Lomb. lib. 1. distinct. 3. saith the Master out of St. Ambrose; The inuisible workman may be known by his visible worke, The beauty of Heauen, The Glorie of the Starres, an Ornament giuing light in the highest places of the Lord, at the commande­ment [Page 8] of the Holy one; they will stand in their order, and neuer faint in their watches. Eccles. 43. Thus the Sonne of Sirach would make the Vniuerse our Vniuersitie, where we might perfect our soules in experimentall knowledge sufficient to vnderstand the power of Him that made all this All, first of nothing. Acce­dat quaecun (que) vis creatura, Lomb. loc. super. et faciat tale Coelum et Ter­ram, & dicam quia Deus est: if these helps will not make vp our obseruation full, Iob will direct vs to plainer Masters, Interroga iumenta, & docebunt te: Aske now the Beasts; Iob 12. and they shall teach thee, and the Fowles of the ayre, and they shall tell thee; or speake to the Earth, and it shall teach thee, and the Fishes of the Sea shall declare vnto thee. Who knoweth not all these things, that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this? By the perpetuity of these creatures, wee may know the eternitie of their Creator; by their immensity, his omnipotency; by the ordering of them, the wis­dome of him. Yet hath the Deuill so fascinated the eyes of many, that in stead of knowing GOD by these his workes, they haue mistaken many of his workes for their gods: How commonly haue some esteem'd the strong man in the Firmament, the Sun, for the Sunnes Creator? who, could he haue spoken, would haue answer'd them like the Angell in the Reuelation, Apoc. 19. [...], see thou doe it not; for I am thy fellow-seruant, and of thy Brethren. Thus the willing, yet impiously-deuout Heathen, made their vnhappy Piety rather to be a crime, then such blin­ded adoration to be esteem'd knowledge of this Lord. Where was that immortall Soule, that Image of the sacred Trinity? Where all the Faculties of that [Page 9] Soule? Apprehension, Iudgement, and Discourse? Nay, where are they yet, in the greatest and most parts of the world? I desire not to dwell vpon so vnnecessarie a point, as many may thinke the know­ledge of God to be, in this Sun-shine of the Gospell: yet some, I am sure, that this day heare mee, haue beene in parts, and amongst people, who can no more see this Lord, then a blind man is able to dis­cerne the Sunne at noone: where amongst obser­uing many Monsters in their Trauels, the greatest Monster Sea or Earth affords, is the ignorance of this Lord, not yet knowne to the mightiest Mo­narkes vpon earth. Let me beseech you, who-euer you are, that dedicate your selues to treade the vn­trackt paths of the Sea, and negotiate with remote Kingdomes, either for the Gold of Ophir, or the Spices of Arabia, to carry with you along for Ex­change, if it be possible, (but not to forgoe it your selues) this Merchandise, sold at so low a rate now with vs; The knowledge of this Lord. Let euery one of your liues be a Taper to the darkned vnderstan­dings of the Heathen, by which they may at least see that you know the Lord: for to you, to you only doth he beare this loue, of you onely hee hath this fatherly care, that hee would bee knowne to bee the Lord of you his people: for you shall know that I am the Lord, O my people: you are the persons to whom he would be knowne: his people.

Did euer Father in more faire termes entertain the dearest Treasures of his bloud,The second [...] [ [...] my people.] then God doth here his people?Ez. ca. 35.1 [...] A people, who in the Chapter [...] [Page 10] had awaken'd his vnwilling wrath, himselfe saies of them, When the house of Israel dwelt in their owne Land, they defiled it by their owne wayes, and by their doings, wherefore I powred forth my fury vpon them. And who would not haue still lookt for burning from his lips, and Coales of fire from his nostrils? yet he presently forgets to be angry: scattered they were, but they shall not straggle long as sheep with­out a Shepheard; for he will againe be their Lord, and they shall be his people.

His people by order of Creation all people are: many blessings and benefits doe all Nations, Kingdomes, and people receiue from him: But, saith Bernard, Bern. tanquam proprium eum habent singuli Electorum, where he beares a selected and neere affection, there he stiles himselfe and them by a more deare and pe­culiar Title, O my people: He spoke to them before in termes of strangenesse; They defiled their own way, effudi eos in Gentes, I haue scatter'd them among the Nations: still in the third person, as if they were Branches to be cut from the Stocke wherein they were ingrafted, and henceforth to remaine Aliens to his fauour, neuer to be acquainted with him, or any thing of his, but his Anger and punishments.

But his Anger endures but a while: In his fauour is life: so gracious a LORD hee had euer beene to them, that hee could neuer forget that they were his people. How like his owne people did he truely vse them, when they were vnder Pharaohs bondage, where euery lash that was giuen them, seem'd to strike him; and how did he double all those Stripes vpon Pharaohs backe? How did he afterwards load [Page 11] them with Courtesies, because they were his peo­ple? How did hee feede them with foode from his Table, such as they knew not, neither did their Fathers know? How did he bring them tho­row the waters of the great Deepe, and thorow the Red Sea, as thorow a Wildernesse? Yet was not Gratitude for all these fauours so truly planted in their deprau'd hearts, but they made a Molten Calfe, an Idolattrous Sharer in his honour: If euer they were not to be accounted his people, and their names neuer to bee registred more in his thoughts, now was the time they should haue beene blotted out, when such worms, not worthy to crawle before his Throne, should dare to vrge God himself, with their vpbraiding murmurs:Exod. 16. yet, euen then, a word from his Seruant Moses mouth, to put him in mind that they were his people, easily reconciles him; and hee shewes that hee had wrote them vpon the palmes of his hands, and not forgot them, when the Mother hath forgot her sucking Child. Hee was euer wont to re­ioyce in the Title of being a Lord to his people: for, as if his Loue had shut vp all his Care for one Fami­lie alone, and onely they should partake of it, hee calls himselfe the God of Abraham, Exod. 3. the God of Isaak, and the God of Iacob; as if hee meant onely to bee their Lord, and they should onely be his people.

Some of his seruants haue desired to belong to him, with the same singularity of dutie, as hee hath own'd them with a singular affection. Psal. 30. The man after his owne heart, expresses him in Attributes most pleasing to him,Ioh. 20. Dubitatum est ab illo, nea nobis du­bitaretur. Leo. Domine Deus meus, O Lord, my God. The Disciple, whose doubting faith hath made [Page 12] ours so strong that it ought not to doubt; when the wounds in his side had assur'd him who hee was, he cryes out, [...], My Lord and my God.

Ioh. 20.11.At the same time, that happy sinner seekes this Lord with the same appropriating termes; They haue taken away Dominum meum, my Lord: neither shame for his late reproachfull Death, nor feare to belong to so contemn'd a Man as he was, made her to let fall her Relation, but still My Lord. Some of his then haue been willing to dwell vnder the shad­dow of his wings, as he was to entertaine them in­to his seruice; and ready to acknowledge him for their Lord, as he to call them his people.

His people we are all content to goe for, whil'st he conferr's fauours vpon vs, whil'st he opens vnto vs the windowes of Heauen, and powres forth bles­sings, that there is not roome inough to hold them: But,Mal. 3. like peremptorie Minions, who hauing long enioy'd the fauour of their Prince, and finding themselues crost but in some one Suit, they forget all the good turnes that were heap't vpon them be­fore: Antiquiora beneficia subuertit, qui eadem poste­rioribus non cumulat;Plin. sec. iun. ep. none will any longer bee his people, then his hand of bounty is open to them. Not onely his people in generall, but his chiefest Seruants haue vs'd him so; his Psalmist, his King, whom he tooke from the Sheep-fold, and preuen­ting him with all good things, set vpon his head a Crowne of gold; Then he would bee his seruant; Then he awakes his Psaltery and Harpe, and him­selfe would awake right early; Then hee summons [Page 13] the Heauens, Psal. 118. Psal. 148. and the Heights, the Angels and Hosts, Dragons and Deepe, all must helpe him to praise the Name of the Lord; for himselfe was resolu'd to doe it for euer and euer. Yet in another place, hee sees but the wicked flourish, he sees GOD (as hee thinkes) shew a little fauour to them that were not his owne people;Psal. 73. sees that they are not in trouble like other men, nor plagu'd like other men; forthwith all that God had done for him,Psal. 3. That he had so often heard him out of his Holy Hill, that hee had beene his glorie, and the lifter vp of his head; yet hee tooke ill counsell in his soule daily, and accuseth his carefull Lord, of such peruerse forgetfulnesse, as to be a con­tinued Patron of Strangers, who neuer acknow­ledg'd themselues his, and to take no notice of his best and most obsequious seruants.Apul. de D [...]g. Plat. [...], Though wee may euery where find this Lord, yet if we looke vpon him with carnall eyes, we shall hardly discern him to be the Lord of his people, but rather of the vngodly, who oftentimes in farre more plenty enioy his outward bounties, then his owne people. His people must not looke to spread themselues and flourish like a greene Bay tree, to swimme alwayes vpon smooth streames. When Christ himselfe had once in his company his Apo­stles,Mark. 4. all the poore Familie that he had, all his people, the Winds and the Waters set vpon the Ship where he and his people were; for had there beene a conti­nuall calme, they could not so certainely haue knowne him for their Lord, who both then and since reads to all his people many Lectures of him­selfe, his Glory, his Omnipotency: But alas, they [Page 14] rather pose vs then instruct vs: by all them we only know, that we can neuer sufficiently know him, not the least handy-worke of his. One Schoole onely GOD hath, where most perfectly wee shall learne what he is: That Schoole is the Graue, to which heere hee sets his people, where they shall truely know him to be the Lord, by those acts of his power, by opening Graues, and bringing vp out of Graues.

The last part, [When I haue o­pened your Graues.]This is one of the vnlikeliest places that euer man went to learne any knowledge in, especially the knowledge of the Lord. The Psalmist tels GOD, That was no place for him to be knowne in, quoniam non est in morte qui memor sit tui; Psal. 6. In death there is no remembrance of thee, and in the Graue who shall giue thee thanks? He seconds it in the 30. Psalme, verse 9. Quae vtilitas in sanguine meo? What profit is there in my blood, O Lord? When I goe downe into the Pit, shall the Dust praise thee? shall it declare thy Truth? Yes sure; A blessed Apostle could well thinke of no other Librarie to studie for his chiefe Lesson in, to know Iesus Christ, and him crucified, but the Graue ▪ His Bookes must be meditations of the Carkases laid in their Graues; his fellow-students. Wormes; his writing-tables, nasty Sculs; his maine Author, Christ Iesus, lockt vp a while after his crucifying, in the Archiuis, in the closest and most secret roome of the Graue, out of whom he meant to exscribe those Prophecies foretold, those Types prefigur'd, those Amazements of Heauen, those Terrours of Earth; and aboue all, one Note that transcends all the rest, without which his Preaching had beene vaine, his [Page 15] Epistles nothing worth; That onely makes all his Epistles now to be Gospell,1. Cor. 15. That Christ is risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that sleepe: That as by a Man came Death, so by a Man came also the Resurrection of the Dead. And that alone makes vs his people know that he is the Lord, now he hath opened our Graues, &c.

Our Sauiour himselfe, whil'st he was vpon Earth, was a frequent Guest to the House next adioyning in sad neighbourhood to the Graue, the Bed of sick­nesse; from which he scarce euer departed, till he had made them with their Beds able to walke and depart from him: so in that Bed, he made the first way to shew what power hee would afterwards haue ouer the Bed of Dust, the Graue. From sicknes and languishing,Mat. 8.9. he rais'd the diseased, Creante, non medicante manu, not with the hand of a Physician, but of a Creator; Quam posuit cùm formaret ex ni­hilo, imposuit iterum vt reformaret ex perdito: That hand which first fram'd vs of lesse then Earth, is e­uer ready to preserue vs when wee are going to the Earth:Chrysol. Psal. 90. He turneth Man to destruction, and againe he saith, Come againe, ye children of men. But if wee roue into the wonders of ancient dayes, or looke into the Gospell, to see what Graues Christ open'd, these Miracles seeme a farre off, and so they lesse af­fect vs. These daies of ours will change vs from Au­ditors into Spectators, & when we talke of Graues, Ipsa lectio quaedam facta erit visio, Leo ser. de Pass. 19. The discourse will no longer become the obiect of our eares, but of our eyes. The Doores of this House of Death, you all know when they were first open'd: when you shall [Page 16] not see GOD more busie in one Chapter to take Man out of the ground,Gen. 2. then in the next Chapter he was resolu'd to open the ground, that it might take Man in againe:Gen. 3. In puluerem reuerteris, To dust thou shalt returne. An heauy doome from the mouth of the Almightie, and all vnlookt for yet by our vn­happy Father; who though he onely had deseru'd it in Act, yet the force of that Edict stay'd not alone at him; but, as in crowds, if the foremost fall, the whole pressing multitude commonly followes; the posse non mori, Lom. lib. 2. dist. 19. Innocencie that might haue kept vs from the Graue, we had lost; and a non posse non mori, the ineuitable Arrest of Death hath seiz'd vpon vs, from which we can neuer bee so totally bayl'd, but we must appeare at his Summons, and present our Bodies to his Prison, the Graue. We are all but like so many wearied and breathlesse Hares before the Hounds, which euery step lookes to be a prey to their sporting crueltie. May wee not All come to Saint Pauls mournfull Quaere, Rom. 7. [...], O wretched men that we are, who shall deliuer vs from the Bo­die of this Death? or from the Death of this Body?

The words of this Text I neuer meant to vnder­stand as directly to proue the opening of Graues at the Resurrection:Hieron. in hunc locum. Saint Hierome tels vs, Scimus mul­ta robustiora Testimonia in Scripturis sanctis reperiri; The Scripture is not so barren, as to stand in need of an Allegorie to demonstrate such confirm'd Di­uinitie: Euery Chapter in some Prophets, euery Period of some Chapters of the Euangelists, are li­terall witnesses of opening those Graues at the latter Day; And to them may these words be added, as [Page 17] holding proportion with that vniuersall Deliue­rance; for nunquam poneretur similitudo, God would neuer haue taken a similitude from the Graue, to illustrate Israels redemption from Captiuitie,Id. ibid. nisi staret ipsa resurrectio, but that he who meant imme­diately to doe the one, was resolu'd afterwards in his good time to performe the other.Pined. in Iob. 19. And Fidei cog­nitio sola visione beata, inferior est claritate, aequalis cer­titudine; Faith doth as certainely apprehend things that are to be done, as God himselfe knowes that he will doe them, saith Pineda.

No Captiuity beyond the Graue; and no word in this Chapter to set out this Captiuitie, but is translated from a Graue: Shew me, O sonne of Man, the value of dead and drie Bones, Sinewes, and Flesh brought vpon these Bones; Breath fetcht from the foure Winds to animate these Bones: Ossa haec vni­uersa domus Israel est, These Bones are the whole House of Israel; nay, the whole House of the whole world must become as these Bones, Dry and Mar­rowlesse, diuested of Flesh and Sinewes, and lay'd for a time in such a lasting Sleepe, where they shall not so much as dreame of this their Lord. But, e­uen then, that Eye of his, which neither slumbers nor sleepes, will keepe a watch ouer them: And those that vpon the heauie wings of Death, goe to the vttermost parts of the Earth, shall there finde him and his power in opening of Graues.

God speakes in this Prophet hypothetically, if, or when; But this is to vs a Truth already past; And the wide mouth of the Graue hath sufficiently beene its owne Commentarie, to make the Text most [Page 18] plainly vnderstood. Would you willingly forget, O you his people, how lately he shew'd you that out­stretched Arme of his, in opening your Graues?

The Graue neuer brought foorth any thing but confusion: and therfore if you find it in my words, it may more fairely be interpreted; yet esteeme it not for penurie of matter, or that we could not hold out with the Glasse, vnlesse we inch't out our Pe­riods, by ripping vp of dangers long since past. Past indeed is that sad time; and past (O Lord) let it be, like the word that is spoken, and can neuer bee re­cal'd: past let the Infection of the Disease be, But neuer let Salus Iehouae, neuer let the Saluation of the Lord passe from your memories: let the right hand of Gods Messengers forget their cunning, and their tongues cleaue for euer to the roofe of their mouths, who will not remember those cryes, that then his people made to him, and the speedy haste he made to helpe them. Open your hearts deepe as the Graue, and waken your eyes, that they sleepe not the sleepe of Death: those eyes to which we present a thou­sand alluring spectacles, turne them from vanitie, to looke into the house of mourning; turne them vp­on those affrighting Glasses, and see the Lord, the Lord himselfe, first opening the Graue to the Head, afterwards to the body; first to the King, after­wards to the Kingdome; thousands following to attend his Funerall, with a mournfull Pompe. Did not Fathers and Sonnes then goe to this Graue to­gether? Was it not opened for the Infant, as soone almost as the wombe was open'd to let it into the world? And That which a little before was the [Page 19] hopefull Burthen of the Mother, presently became a small, but heauie load to the Messenger of the Graue.

The Patient wounded the Physician, and recom­penc'd him with Infection for his Antidote: They who one day carried Corpses to the Graue, were themselues the next day Coarses carried thither: All trades failing in your Citie, but the Sextons, you had leasure to walke out to see the Mansions of Death: where if any wondring at their vnwonted vastnesse, askt themselues where the bodies were that should fill them; e're they had past many Streets homeward, they met Beeres enow to make them queston where the Graues were that should entertaine them: In stead of Triumphs that were then begun to be thought vpon, Death onely rid in wofull Tryumph thorow your Streets: The neigh­bours that were wont to imbrace each other at their meetings, now appeare one to the other as fearefull as a Ghost at midnight: Some preseru'd to reade the Bill of one weeke, and their owne selues helpt to fill it vp the next: And who did not looke vpon those dolefull Registers with wet eyes, as if it had beene the Chronicle of a Citie, that sometimes was, and without Gods speedy mercy neuer like to haue beene againe? Did not the Graue open so wide at the length; That the Cormorant and Bittyrne were like to possesse your habitations? The Owle also and the Rauen to dwell amongst you, the lines of Confu­sion to be stretch't vpon you? And the stones of emp­tinesse? Esai. 34. They are Esayes words to as flourishing a [Page 20] Citie, and a people once as deare to God as euer we were: Thornes & Thistles might haue came in our Pa­laces, Nettles, and Brambles in our Fortresses, the Sa­tyre like to cry here to his fellow, and the Screech-Owle like to find here a place to dwell in. Then were your delicate and tender Dames (whom the Sunne in his pride must not looke vpon; and he in all that pride, not so proud as one of them) scorning at another time to grace a Countrey Village with their pre­sence; but then glad to shelter themselues vnder an humble Thatch. Come now you pampred Truncks, and see these Bodies a Feast to their owne corrup­tion, for whom here no fowle was deare enough, no fish rare enough, to content their wittily-luxuri­ous palats; The Fowle in his lyue proportion must come flying to our Feasts; And the fish swimme againe in the platter in a new Sea of Sawce: These bodies which to paint, to cloathe, to adorne, Coun­tries must be search't for Silkes and Sables, and the wooll of Ermines, the Silk-worme must be rob'd of the labour of her bowels; The Taylor must tyre his wits to attyre our Bodies; The Deuill himselfe must renew his inuention to reuiue a fashion: Satanae ingenia, Tertul. could Tertullian call them in his dayes; Dayes of Sackcloth and Ashes, in respect of ours: And all this Cost, Paines, Wit, Curiositie, to feed and cloathe Bodies, that must come to the Graue. Whither if one Engine will not serue to bring vs, he hath many; and although he strucke vs but with one rod, yet he threatned vs with more.

Solomon with a preuenting Deuotion, foresaw all his Whips and Scourges which driue vs to our [Page 21] Graues, 1 Kings 8. Famine, Pestilence, Blasting, Mildew, Cater­piller, and Enemy. Must our Sermons passe them ouer? I pray God the destroying Angell, whose fingers were arm'd with them, may so passe ouer vs too: But Famine hath euer beene a Brand kindled in the fire of Gods wrath; witnesse the Elegies which made Sion weepe forth, when the Lord accom­plish't his furie,Lam. 4.11. When he had deuour'd the foundations thereof. Other punishments preuent their cruelty by a speedy destruction. But famine strikes with deliberate blowes, and makes vs wretchedly sensi­ble of lasting miserieit; cooles the preseruing heate, drinkes vp the nourishing moysture, weares out the vegetable habitude, suckes vp the flowing Marrow, eneruates the Sinewes, vntyes the ioynts, cobwebs the flesh, discolours the face, dambes vp the voice; They that be slaine with the Sword, Ibid. saith the Lord, are better then they that be slain with Hunger. If any think this passage vnnecessary, because they neuer felt it, let them learne by this description of it, to pitty them that doe.

Those are the lesser Conducts to the Graue, Bla­sting, Mildew, Locust, Caterpiller. Would not the mighty men amongst vs neglect them,1 Sam. 17. as Goliah scorn'd Dauid the Youth? Yet Solomon, knew that this Army was able to bid Battell to the greatest power vpon earth. So disdainfully did God ouer­come Pharaoh by an Army of Flyes and Frogges; And brought Herod to his Graue with a few wormes;Acts 12. manifesting vpon him at once both his strength and scorne.

One maine Instrument he hath more to open our [Page 18] [...] [Page 19] [...] [Page 20] [...] [Page 21] [...] [Page 22] Graues; that is, the Enemy, but since the affrighting Drum hath not a long time strucke vp his Panicke sounds in our land, nor the watchfull Beacon lent vs the fearefull light to see an Enemy, the name of an Enemy may be thought, as needlesse a thing as a Souldier. Transport then your thoughts a while, but where the Enemy hath beene, see how the Ene­my hath opened a Graue, not for people, but for Prouinces. What is become of the stately Towres? of the wall'd Cities? of the fruitfull Vines? of a Countrey deare to vs? But I question not the let­ting out of the bloud of the Vine; since the Bloud of the men was shed forth in fuller Cataracs.

Sen. Nat. Quaest. Vrbes constituit Aetas, Hora dissoluit. We may now seek that Country in the Country, and not find it so much as in the Ruines. We and our Sins had almost caus'd God to employ all these Arrowes of wrath a­gainst vs. What Country? What Nation vnder hea­uen do we Trade withall; from whō the Sins of that Nation is not brought hither? and those are Mer­chādises that might welbe spar'd: we al vse our Lord like forgetfull Mariners, promise much in a Storme, & neuer think of it in a Calme. God himselfe could tell his people in the 5 of Hosa, I will goe and returne to my place till they acknowledge their offence, Hos. 5.15. and seeke my face: in their affliction they will seeke me early. Opti­mi sumus, Plin. Ep. dum infirmi sumus. Neuer doe we truely kneele to him, but when we are vnder his strokes, vpon which strokes, we must not looke through the false Glasses of our deserts, but of his Mercies. Cain and Iudas look't vpon him through the Perspectiue of their sinnes: and so in stead of reading the Pro­phets [Page 23] Text, That his Mercy was aboue all his works, they mistooke, and thought their owne foule works aboue his Mercy: so though he would haue forgi­uen them; they could not forgiue themselues; whereas the goodnesse of God endureth for euer: and although he chastens euery Sonne that he loues, yet his Stripes are not to driue vs from him, with a desperate feare, but to call vs to him with a Religious hope;Austin. Flagellat omnem filium quem amat, saith Saint Austin, he chastens all the sonnes whom he loues; yes, we may truely say All, for hee had one Son,Idem. fine peccato, non tamen sine flagello; who neuer deseru'd a stripe, and yet he felt many.

How was he faine to driue vs All to his Temple not long since? How did a few strokes sinke vs vpon our knees? Lift vp our wearied hands? Exalt our tyr'd voyces? Turne our heads into Fountaines? our eyes into Streames? And all our selues, for a time into so many Saints? How did we come to him with hearty groanes, Deuout thoughts, Sob­bing Breasts, Humble Knees, Serious Cryes, Char­ming Tongues, Emphaticke Prayers, and aboue all, a full Resolution of Amendment? All which hee listen'd to with such a pleas'd Attention, that he caus'd the Minister of his Iustice to put vp the Sword of vengeance, & with a hand of Mercy shuts those Graues that he found open, and so all we that stand here this day, and many thousands more, are as men brought vp out of our Graues, and may know that he is the Lord, and that wee his people ought for euer to praise him in the great Congrega­tion, who thus hath brought vs out of our Graues.

Neuer did the penne of the Almighty, either from his owne mouth so truely speake himselfe, when he seal'd Moses Commission with his name Iehouah, I am that I am, Exod. 3.14. Nor by any powerfull Act so proue himselfe, nor by any Hieroglyphicke so deliniate himselfe, as by this last Particle by bringing vp out of our Graues. The Sonne of Sirach imployes all the Rhetoricke he hath, to set out the Omnipoten­cy of this Lord; from the Rainbow first which hee bids vs looke vpon and praise him that made it: Eccles. 43. very beautifull it is in the brightnesse thereof, it compasseth the heauens about with a Glorious Circle; ver. 11. And the hands of the Most high hath bended it. vers. 12. Then he di­rects vs to the Meteors, Lightning & Thunder: then to his Treasures from whence the Cloudes flye forth as Fowles, ver. 20. and the hoare Frost is powr'd as Salt vpon the earth, which the North winde congealeth into yee, and cloatheth the waters as with a Brestplate. Can Diuinity assume more then that pen giues it? Yes, the Holy Ghost tels vs of a Creature in the Sea, whom he calls Regem super omnes filios superbiae, Iob. 41. The King of all the children of pride: The Leuiathan, Lay thy hand vpon him remember the Battell, doe no more, who can discouer the face of his Garment? Or who can can come to him with his double bridle? Who can open the doores of his face? his Teeth are terrible round about. You shall neuer find Gods owne pen drop­ping vpon this Creature, but euen the Creator as pleas'd with his owne worke; is againe ready to cry out as at the first, Valdè bonum; letting it breathe forth his praise, as it doth the Ocean out of his No­strils. [Page 25] Yet this [...] this wonder, at which all other wonders may iustly wonder, must not, can­not, shew him so maruellous in our eyes, as by the promise that he here meanes to make himselfe known by to his people, by bringing of them vp out of their Graues.

Downe with your Scepters, all Monarkes vpon earth, fall at his feet, you heauenly powers that at­tend his Throne, for you may all here vse Dauids words:Psal. 115. Non nobis, Domine, non nobis; Not vnto vs, O Lord, not vnto vs, but vnto thee onely belongs the power to bring vp out of the Graue.

This Prerogatiue, vnshar'd to any, doth God euer keep to himselfe, I wound, and I heal; I kill, and I make aliue: for Quis Deus nisi Dominus, who can bring frō the Graue, but our God? He neuer delegated his dearest seruant in this Ability,Num. 12. his seruant Moses, so often stil'd his seruant, imploid to deliuer his peo­ple from Pharoahs Bondage, and therefore was arm'd for a time with many miracles; made able to turne his Rod into a Serpent,Exod. 7. and his Serpent againe into a Rod; could at his pleasure call for Flyes, Lice, Frogs, Darknesse, yet he neuer brought any from the Graue. Christ Iesus himselfe, amongst all his world of Miracles which hee did whilest hee was in the world, did not make this power of his too familiar: he brought one from the Bed, another from the Beere,Ioh. 11. but neuer, saue onely one, from the Graue; and that was he whom he lou'd. Hee would not put the strength of his Godhead to deale with so weake an aduersarie as a Disease;Chrysost. but Cui plus est mortem vincere, quàm remouere languorem, he prouided not [Page 26] to cure Lazarus in his sicknes, but to honour him­selfe in his raising; and euen by that temporall Re­surrection of him, to proue the eternall Resurrecti­on one day of vs▪ he doth but speake to him, Laza­rus, come forth, and he came forth, not to bring a­mazement, but faith to the beholders; who might then haue shouted with that voyce of triumph; Death, 1 Cor. 15. where is thy sting? Graue, where is thy victory?

But if we goe to no other Graue but this, and on­ly looke vpon the deliuerance of Lazarus from it, we may sound a Conquest before the Field bee wonne, and so our Enemie which lyes in Ambush may inuade vs with an vn-lookt for assault. Laza­rus rose indeed, and for a time enioy'd some benefit of longer life:Cypr. de Resur. Res quidem honorabilis, & dominatio potestatiua fuit, saith Cyprian: The power that our Sauiour shewed ouer the Graue euen there, ought e­uer to be honour'd in our memories; but he was to goe to the Graue againe.Heb. 9. The [...] the Statute in Saint Paul, that all men must dye, will euer stand in full force, strength and vertue: and therefore the Psalmist makes it an angry question to any that shall doubt it;Psal. 88. Quis viuit? Who is he that liues, and shall not see Death? All the comfort one of the best Hea­then could euer giue in this case,Sen. ad Polib. was, Cogitare id sibi accidisse, quod antè se passi sunt omnes, omnes (que) passuros: The community of all suffering alike, may some­what ease the seuerity of the punishment: for when we goe to our Graues, they are the most sure Posses­sions that euer our Fathers could leaue vs, inheri­ted by them that went before vs, and shall succes­siuely be taken vp by all generations that shall come [Page 27] after vs.Iob 17. We must all say to Corruption, Thou art my Father; and to the Wormes, You are my Mo­ther and my Sisters. And yet now, euen this com­fortlesse place, the Graue, can yeeld vs comfort; the walls of that Prison being in a manner broken downe, since Christ Iesus, who was the Surety for our first Fathers Debt, was lay'd for a time in it, to redeeme vs from it. The Deuill knew that he had giuen his word for the payment, but did not vnder­stand that the Principall did not at all belong to him:Leo serm. de Pass. 10. Non autem errabat in genere, sed fallebatur in crimine; 'Twas we had forfeited the Bond, and he must be arrested: so a Heard of Tigers came to seize vpon the Lambe slaine from the beginning of the world; for whom, he (being God) became Man; they (being men) to him became Deuils; they apprehend him with their bloody hands, whom their hearts could neuer apprehend; all wic­kedly intending to confound him, who onely in­tended to preserue them, and thinking one death too little for him, who esteem'd his owne life, and eter­nitie it selfe a blessing too small for them. The E­lement of Sinne, which in one of our hearts weighes not at all, because it is in its proper place, (and Ele­mentum non ponderat in loco suo) vpon him lay so heauie, because he was no Center for it, that it made him who was wont to bow the heauens, bow him­selfe vpon the earth, in the Garden of Gethsemane, knocking there at the doore of his Graue to be let in: from thence hee was carried to the Theater of Death, strew'd with Bones and dead Bodies; where the vnwholsome sauors might haue brought [Page 28] him to his death without a Crosse. Thus both the liuing and the dead were equally prepar'd to bring him to his Graue, who came to bring both the liuing and the dead vp out of their Graues. How like a Coarse, and nothing but a Coarse fit for a Graue, must he needs looke, when that Face, at which the Angels so often wondred, was scarrifi'de and cau­teriz'd with Thornes? those eyes, from which the Lamps of Heauen, the Sunne that wardeth by day, and the Moone which watcheth by night, might borrow a better cleerenes, suncke into their Caues; those eares, wont to heare nothing but Anthem'd Alleluiahs, deafn'ed with the scornes of insulting Sinners; that mouth, the Torrent from whence flow'd Eloquia Domini, Psal. 19. Eloquia munda, words swee­ter then Honey and the Honey Combe, then stopt with Gall and Vineger: hee that had giuen them Wine, to cheere and make glad the heart of Man; what a Potion did they giue him, to comfort his dying heart? Thus for his sufferings they would be sure to take what impious care they could; and their busie malice was so wholly taken vp with them, that they forgot when they had done to pro­uide him a Graue. Hee that in his life time was worse prouided for then the wilde inhabitants of the Field or Ayre,Mat. 8. (for himselfe complaines, that the Foxes haue holes, and the Birds of the Ayre haue nests, but the Sonne of Man hath not where to lay his head,) liu'd and dy'de in the same case; liu'd without a bed, and dy'de without a Graue: Because the liuing would not, the dead came from their Graues to make him roome; the Earth open'd [Page 29] her obedient armes to entertaine him; the stones of the Temple leapt from their foundations, disdaining the place where the hand of any Architect had laid them,Psal. 118.22. when those prophane builders refus'd Lapidem angularem, him that was euer the head Stone of the corner. He dy'de for the sinnes of strangers, and therefore a stranger, Ioseph of Arimathea, must prouide him a Graue: he beg'd him of Pilate, and had so often laid him in his heart before, that hee now esteemes himselfe happy, if he may lay him in his Graue.

Would you now thinke this Man that could not saue himselfe, (as they blasphem'd) could saue vs? That he that could not procure himselfe a Graue, should bring vs all vp out of our Graues?

How doe they yet deride our hopes in him, who do not yet beleeue in him? Durst he euer challenge Death vpon his owne Dunghill, the Graue, with such daring termes,Hos. 13. Ero mors tua, ô mors, O Death, I will be thy death, O Graue, I will be thy destructi­on? Will the Lord euer say to him, Sit thou on my right hand, vntill I haue made thine enemies thy foot­stoole? Can he euer ascend on high, and take capti­uity captiue, who was taken by two old men, Ioseph and Nicodemus, to bee laid in a new Monument in Iosephs Garden?Ioh. 19. In horto erat Monumentum no­num, A new Sepulcher, wherein neuer man was yet layd; A Stone hewne out of a Rocke, and therefore most fit to lay the Rocke of our saluation in; and in­to [Page 30] a Rocke his Disciples could hardly dig, to get him out: Therefore against that Rocke must they needs dash,Mat. 28. which would haue it said, His Disciples came by night, and stole him away.

Mat. 27.They could say to Pilate, Sir, we haue heard the Deceiuer say, (and how wretchedly did they deceiue themselues by not beleeuing what he said?) His dixit euer was his fiat, Gen. 1. from the first saying, Let there be light; though afterwards when hee had made that light come to shine in the darknesse, [...],Ioh. 1. the darknesse comprehended it not: They had seene him whom they so falsely term'd Decei­uer, oftentimes making his word good without all deceit: The Centurion askt no more at his hands, but [...],Mat. 8.13. Say but the word onely, and my seruant shall be whole: and his seruant was made whole the same houre. He that was himselfe the Word, needes ne­uer doe any thing but say the word, hee said hee would rise againe the third day; and as hee was Filius fortitudinis to the Lord himselfe, the Sonne of his strength, or the strength of his Sonne, hee could finde or make a way to bring himselfe vp out of the Graue. Let their laborious enuie heape hills of Earth vpon his Graue; let their Grand Patron the Deuill himselfe, send Legions from Hell to guard his Sepulcher, as Pilate did a band of armed Souldiers, they could not haue kept him in: His very sleepe, which they thought the sleepe of death, was busie in a triumphant Conquest ouer Hell it selfe; he was then gone to the house of the strong man, which himselfe speakes of in the Go­spell, binding the strong man,Mark. 3. and spoiling him of [Page 31] his goods; he enter'd as Conquerour, bound him as the stronger,B. Bilson. in his tract of Christs des­cent, pag. 15 [...]. spoild him, as the right owner of that estate in vs, which he by theft and violence had once carried away. The drowsie weight of sleepe sate farre more heauie vpon the Souldiers eyes, and bound them faster, then the High Priests Seale, then the Massie Stone; then the walls of the Graue, then Death with all his Cords were able to fetter him.

Were the Fogs call'd from the Lakes and Fennes for your sakes, O you, once his people? Was darknesse call'd from the Center of the Earth, to spread it selfe vpon the face of Egypt three dayes?Exod. 10. or rather three prodigious nights? Didst thou, O Sunne,Iosu. 10.12. more then stand still in Gibeon, and thou Moone, in the valley of Aijalon, that you his people should for euer since obtenerate your owne eyes with a darknes more palpable then that of Egypt, and would neither then nor yet see this Sunne of righteousnesse, comming from the Chamber of his Graue, fresh as a Bridegroome, and reioycing as a Gyant to runne his race? Would his Disciples, a poore, disconsolate, wretched, forsaken company, Doues vnder the tallons of Vultures and Ravens, would they venture vpon a guarded Sepulcher? Would they offer violence to an armed Band? In­deed, habet pietas impetum suum: Religious valour will doe much; and it is well they will accuse his Disciples of so good a crime, as to be more watch­full then their Hirelings were. Innocencie is euer most commonly apt for rest: when he tooke along with him three chosen witnesses of his sorrow in the Garden,Mat. 2 [...]. when he felt the soule of affliction in the [Page 32] affliction of his soule, and many a groane was fetcht from the bowels of his humanity, able to awaken a sullen Rocke; they three not then able to watch with him one houre, and now all of them to watch a whole night when he was dead, and steale him a­way? This saying is commonly reported among the Iewes to this day. Mat. 28. Credat Iudaeus Apella, non ego: A sottish,Horat. stupid, vnbeleeuing Iew may credit such a lying vanity. And marke, I beseech you, euen in that one thing, the prouident Iustice of the Al­mighty, to punish them euer since with a generall lightnesse of beliefe, to apprehend any thing but what they should haue faith in; Dreames and Fa­bles are Histories to them; and, which is their iust curse, they haue yet no other Gospell.

Shall so supernaturall an Earthquake bee at his Passion, when he breathed out his Spirit into the hands of his Father? And shall neither Earth nor the Stone vpon his Graue stir, to giue way to him to re-assume that Spirit to himselfe againe? If Earth nor Stones will not moue, Heauen will, and from thence will come an Angell to rowle away the stone.Psal. 93.11. Angels euer haue had a charge of him, and as they did not refuse to attend him when he tooke vp his first lodging vpon Earth in a Manger,Luk. 2. so did they waite vpon him in the last bed that euer he lay in heere,Austin. the Graue. Qui fuit vermiculorum locus, est & Angelorum, Angels scorne not to keepe wormes company in any place where Christ was: for as Princes denominate Courts, so doth he Heauen, euen in the Graue, and the Graue was Heauen whil'st hee was there:Lucan. so Coelo tegitur, qui non habet vrnam. But [Page 33] speake, thou Angell of the Lord, was not he thy An­gell, and abler to helpe thee, then thou wert him? The Angell may still keepe the praise of his duty, but Christ must haue the honour of his Omnipo­tency; All that was done for him, was done by him, nor did the Angell rowle away the stone, to make way for Christ to come out of the Graue, but to pre­pare our hearts for Christ to come into them, vt conseruis ad credendum daret fidem, Chrysost. Ser. 75. non vt ad resur­gendum Domino praestaret auxilium; Not to helpe our Sauiour, but our faith, to which the Angell would euer remaine an happy both Messenger and witnesse; A witnesse ioyn'd to holy Iob, who knew certainly that his Redeemer liued;Iob 19. A witnesse with Dauid, Psal. 16. that his holy One should not see corruption. A witnesse with Esay, Esay. 26. who call'd all that dwelt in the dust, to awake and sing. A witnesse with Ezekiel to this place, That he hath open'd our Graues, and brought vs vp out of our Graues.

Vteri noua forma, saith a Father, for the Tombe to become a womb to take in a dead man, and bring him forth aliue; for the Graue to swallow vp, not a dead Corps, but Death it selfe; neuer did any thing deserue the lasting Characters which Iob meant to write with the Pen of a Diamond like this; neuer did Spring bring forth such a flowre as the flowre of Iesse before;Esay 11. But if he be but a flowre, he may fade againe as flowres doe, and so our flesh will last as long as his: for the Psalmist tels vs, that as for Man, he flourisheth as the flower of the field;Psal. 103. But the wind passeth ouer it, and it is gone, the place thereof shall know it no more; so man hath euer remain'd since [Page 34] Adams fall,Gen. 2: he was first made a Gardner, till that Gardner prou'd the worst weed in the Garden: and so as a weed was pluck't vp and throne away; but the second Adam the Iewes esteem'd indeed a weed, but contrary to expectation he sprung vp a Gardner: Marke 16. for Mary tooke him for the Gardner, and by the power of that Gardner, Minut. Fael. in Oct. Expectandum etiam nobis corporis ver est. These Bodies of ours shal at that general Spring­time of the Resurrection grow vp againe a fresh in the Eden of Eternity.

Tertul. de Re­sur. carnis, cap. 4.This flesh of ours, post totum ignobilitatis Elogium, this ignoble flesh subiect to an Army of Diseases, to Corruption, Death, Wormes, Rottennesse, and Dis­solution, with all the deprauing Adiuncts, that Sad­duce, Heathen, or Athiest can disgrace it with, yet because it is the diligent Attendant of the Soule here, by whose Organs she discourses, contemplates, and conueyes her thoughts as high as the Seat of God; this flesh, in which Saint Paul carried Stigma­ta Christi, Ad Gal. 6. the markes of his Sauiour, shall with its owne eyes one day see that Sauiour. For, shall dark­nesse follow light, and light darknesse? shall Au­tumne succeed Spring, and Spring Autumne? shall the Moone put off and renew her selfe by a monthly change? shall trees vncloath them­selues of their leafie garments? and duely at their time re-inuest themselues with those greene Orna­ments? shall Sunnes each night set, and each mor­ning rise? and must man take vp a lethargicke rest in a night long as eternity?Tertul. de Re­sur. carnis, cap. 12 No: Operibus praescrip­sit Deus antequam literis; his workes are our books, in which we may reade the plaine and vnderstood [Page 35] Stories of our being brought vp out of our Graues.

It is now, and euer was, since that first Easter, a con­tinu'd Feast of ioy, solemniz'd with celestiall Iubiles by the Angels in Heauen, because he brought him­selfe vp out of the Graue;Cyp. Sed in hoc multiplicata sunt gaudia, saith a Father: This extends the degrees of their accidentall ioy to the height, that we, for whom he became so humble on earth, shall by him be made so high in heauen: That these bodies shall againe be made the glorified Tabernacles to their soules, from which that Diuine part shall neuer a­gaine be frighted with diseases, neuer loaded with discontents, neuer rackt by pashions, neuer tortur'd by affections, neuer vext by griefes, nor expell'd by rebellious frailty; but euery Christian shall bee in a heauen of peace, and the peace of heauen in euery Christian, that is brought vp out of his Graue.

O God,A meditation of the last day. when at that vnknowne day, thou shalt goe forth about this vniuersall businesse, to bring vs All vp out of our Graues, and meanest to clothe this mortall with immortality, Psal. 68. how will the earth shake, and the heauens drop at thy presence? How will Kings of Armies flye apace? and how wilt thou scatter Kings; when the chariots of the Lord shall be twen­ty thousand, euen thousands of Angels? In what fur­row then will the Purchaser hide his couetous head? In what dunghill will the Adulterer shrow'd his vncleane and rotten body? Into what Ditch then will the Drunkard reele? or in what Parch­ment will the Lawyer write his Euidences? or with what waxe will he seale them, when the Heauens shall be contracted like Parchment, and the Hils shall [Page 36] melt away like Waxe; and no Mountaine left to giue the Infidel so much hope of mercy, as to call vpon the Mountaines to couer him?

Then wilt thou command the Sea, not onely to stay her proud waues, but to make one depth still call vpon another, till they bring vp from the low­est bottome, all that haue shipwrack't in her waters, or dash't against her Rockes.

And vpon earth euery Angle, Nooke, and Chasme, euery place, though more desert then the ransackt Temple of Ierusalem now is, shall be en­quir'd into, and not be able to keepe any gar­ment of flesh that euer was worne by any whom Christ dyed for. If dissected limbes lie torne assun­der, in places as distant as one end of the Pole is from the other, yet will he soader them together, and make them in euery seuerall indiuiduum, a per­fect, entire, numericall body againe.

Not the Beakes of Eagles, nor the throates of Ra­uens, not the Entrailes of the most deuouring Mon­sters of the Forrest, not the Iawes of Tigers, nor the teeth of Crocodiles, Serpents or Hiena's (for to these, and worse then these, doth sometimes this cocker'd flesh of ours become a prey,) not resoluti­on to the first indeterminate matter; not the dissolu­tion, if that could be, to nothing, can keep, can hide these bodies of ours, from him that first made them out of nothing. But whether they crumble into A­tomes of dust, or be distill'd into water, or with ashed from a Funerall Pile fill an vrne, or be attenua [...] to Ayre, euery one of these, Rauens, Eagles [...] ­sters, Beasts, Tigers, Sea, Fire, Earth, Ayre [...] [Page 37] their priuate closets to be vnlock't, and restore euery integrating part, Arterie, Sinew, Muscle, Veine, Ioynt, Limbe: Nay, those parts which Philosophy esteemes but Excrements, Diuinity will then make Ornaments; and therefore God hath a care that a haire of mans head shall not fall to ground without his prouidence. Thus much Rubbish He will haue to worke vpon at the Resurrection, who at the Crea­tion did all ex nihilo of nothing; and that was the greater taske. What change soeuer these bodies suf­fer, subducuntur nobis, Minut. Fael. in Oct. sed Deo Elementorum custodi reseruantur: in no Element can they be lost, which are committed to his keeping, who keepes the Ele­ments themselues.

But all these Graues which I haue yet nam'd, are but like Peters chaines,Act. 12. which fell easily from his hands; there is a Graue yet more deepe, more loath­some, that is,Matth. 22.13. [...], vtter darkenesse, darkenesse of body, darknesse of soule; not Egypt in all its darknesse, like to the darkenesse of that Graue. There is [...],Luk. 16.26. an vnpassable Gulfe betwixt life and death, for euer fix't, no Musicke, but where their Instruments are gnashing teeth, and their Hymnes howling: All the sensible faculties of the soule, ta­ken vp with no thought, but neuer-ending sense of neuer-ending misery. No mention of ioy, but Poe­na damni, the vnrecouerable losse of ioy, when they shall see others enioy the abundance of that Ioy which they shall neuer haue. When all other Graues shall haue their Graue, and the last Moyty of sand be runne out of the glasse of Time it selfe, in this Graue shall they lie, that are gone to it as dead to any thing [Page 38] but torment which shall neuer die to them, nor they to it. No Gregory, no Falconella, no Masse, no Tren­tals, No Beads, no Penance, no Pope, no Iesuite, no Deuill, (for those whom their owne pride hath ioyn'd together, let no man put asunder,) I say, none of these could euer redeeme from that Graue of mor­tall immortality.

Yet out of that Graue in one true and most Or­thodoxe sense are we brought, not by getting out, if we euer had been actually in, but because that wee know he is the Lord, whose mercifull preuention hath bar'd vp the euerlasting doores of that Graue to vs that are out: and to that purpose hee sent the Angell in the Reuelation from Heauen, hauing the Key of the bottomelesse Pit, Apoc. 20. and a great chaine in his hand, and he tooke the Dragon that old Serpent which is the Deuil, and bound him a thousand yeeres, shut him vp, and seal'd vpon him, that he should deceiue the Nations no more.

If a Messenger, one of our fellow seruants, (for so the Angell cals himselfe in the foregoing Chapter) could doe this,Apoc. 19. bind the Graue-maker, & shut him vp in his owne Graue, how may we that are his people, know that the Lord himselfe hath all the power of Hell chayn'd at his will: all the Gates thereof shut, to all but those that will needes enter by the Po­sternes of Heathenish Infidelity, or Romish super­stition? the Keyes of euery Gate else are kept, sa­uing those of our Sauiours wounds; the infectious sting of Death being pluckt out of the mouth of the Serpent the Graue and Hell it selfe.

And by this you know (I hope) all you his people, [Page 39] that he is the Lord: Now he hath opened your Graues, and brought you vp out of your Graues.

God for his part hath, you see, made euery word of the Text good: let him not in such a generall Haruest of Heauen and Earth, haue occasion to say to any of you, as the Master of the Vineyard said to the Labourers,Matth. 20.6. Why stand yee heere all the day idle? why doe not your selues doe your parts too, and set your hands to bring your selues vp out of your Graues?

But the early charitie, the vnconsum'd Bounty of this Citty, preuents an Exhortation: you bring and keepe from the Graue many a weake aged Chri­stian, who haue no other props but you and their staues; their owne limbes sooner forsaking them, then your bounty. Infants brought into the world, and left there as in a wildernesse, hang vpon your paps, and are fed from your Tables: You deliuer the poore that cry, and haue none to helpe them: In your Hospitall lyes many a wounded Christian; and in euery wound is plac't a tongue, to speake and cry to God himselfe for mercy, continu'd mer­cy and honour to this Citie. Your Bethlem shewes, how he that was borne at Bethlem, is borne anew in your hearts, and you againe regenerate and borne in him; for whose sake if a Cup of cold water giuen shall neuer goe vnrewarded, then surely, Copiosa erit Merces vestra in Coelis, Matth. 5. great will your reward be in Heauen, when you are brought vp out of your Graues.

Thus farre doe the armes of the Poore lift you their Benefactors and Patrons from your Graues: Thus farre are these Liuories which attend you, [Page 40] Angels, and Messengers to report your Resurrecti­on: Thus high you may stand vpon your owne Foundations, those foundations which you haue rais'd for them, who are wet with the showres of the Mountaines, and might haue embraced the Rockes for want of a shelter.Iob 24. I dare make the Ora­tors challenge,Plin. Paneg. ad Traian. Eat nunc sui vetustas ostentatrix, & illa innumeris vulgata monumentis, iactet Exempla: Let Superstition and Idolatry, whose hereticall do­ctrine of meritorious works raise walls for Hornets to inhabit, out of blind deuotion: let them open their eyes, and see what Houses of Charity the true and cleere knowledge that he is the Lord, hath built in this Kingdome, which shall euer remaine honou­rable Monuments, in the memory of all that liue, and attend their Founders, as glorious Trophees, when their easie dust shall giue way to them, that they may come vp out of their Graues. How will e­uery garment that Charity hath put vpon the backe of the Infant, distressed Widdow, Orphan, and fa­therlesse, bee one day requited, when your soules shall be arrayed like the two Angels at the Sepul­cher of Christ,Ioh. 20. in white? O keepe your selues still in albis, in those white colours, that they may bee knowne to bee [...],Matth. 22. Wedding Garments, at the Marriage of the Kings Sonne. Let not purple Ambition, bloody Cruelty, durtie Auarice, euer staine such pure vestures; Nor aboue all, one spot that will appeare fouler then all, prophane Sacri­lege, which keepes backe the Tenth from Him who who gaue you all.Arist. Ethic. lib. 4. cap. 2. [...], That which God hath euer appropriated to himselfe, can [Page 41] no way belong to Man. Let no false suggestions whisper into your eares, that when-euer we fall vp­on this Argument, we are our owne Aduocates, and pleade our owne Cases; but remember that you are to beare part in that great solemnitie, in that last and euerlasting Easter: Let not Gods Prophets bee able to say to you there, as Samuel said to Saul, 1 Sam. 15. when hee thought himselfe free from any breach of GODS charge, What meaneth then the bleating of the Sheepe in mine eares, and the lowing of the Ox­en which I heare? How will the bleating of such Sheepe, and the lowing of such Oxen, (I meane) the prophane keeping backe of the portion of GODS Priests, and the honourable maintenance of his Temple, though it be husht and silent in your Chests and Bags, yet how will it one day make such a con­fus'd noise in your owne consciences, that it will hinder your attentions from the harmony euen of Heauen it selfe?

Quod festo honoratur, Leo moribus celebretur. Neuer againe looke downe vpon these Graues, from which you are brought vp; set your affections on things aboue; and let vs with that deuotion celebrate the Feast of Easter heere, where it is annuall; that wee may partake of it there, where it wil be eternal. The ioyes whereof,1 Cor. 15. since the Apostle tels vs, they cannot descend into the heart of man,Austin. Illuc cor hominis ascendat, let the heart of man ascend vp to them, where he is that hath thus farre opened our Graues, that we are sharers in the first Resurrection of Grace; and will one day bring vs so quite vp out of our [Page 42] Graues, that we shall haue our parts in the last Re­surrection of Glory: Which God of his infinite mercy grant, for his deare Sonnes sake, Iesus Christ: To whom, together with the Father and the blessed Spirit, be all honour, praise, glory and domi­nion for euer. Amen.