A Key Opening Mysterious Texts of Scripture, Collection of sermons 4 · Sermon 35 · Part 2
THE SECOND ROW.
And in the ſecond row thou ſhalt ſet a Carbuncle, a Saphir, and a Diamond.
THat the ſecond Speaker, that ſweet ſinger of Iſrael, whoſe ditty was, Awake, & ſing ye that ſleep in duſt, made (according to my Text) a row, or Canticum graduum, a Pſalme of aſcents or degrees, I cannot but even in a duty of thankfulneſſe acknowledge, for the help of memory I received from it: had not he made a row, that is, digeſted & diſpoſed his matter in excellent order, I ſhould never have bin able to preſent to you the jewels ſet in this row, which are all (as you ſee) moſt orient. Of all red ſtones the Carbuncle, of all blew the Saphir,Plin. nat. hiſt. l. 37. of all ſimply the Diamond hath been ever held in higheſt eſteem: Maximum in rebus humanis pretium adamas habet, non tantum inter gemmas. Comment. in Eſay.Carbunculus (ſaith S. Jerome) videtur mihi ſermo doctrinae, qui fugato errore tenebrarum illuminat corda credentium, hic eſt quem unus de Seraphim tulit farcipe comprehenſum ad Eſayae labra purganda. Whether this ſecond Preacher (in S. Pauls phraſe a Prophet) his tongue were not touched with ſuch a coale, I referre my ſelfe to your hearts and conſciences, Nonne ardebat cor veſtrûm in vobis, cùm exponeret vobis Scripturas? The ſecond jewel was a Saphir, according to the Hebrew derivation from Sepher, a booke, wherein we may reade both the doctrine and graces of the ſecond Speaker: Hic lapis (ut perhibent) educit corpore vinctos, ſaith Vincentius; and was not his doctrine a Jayle-delivery of all deaths priſoners? It is a conſtant tradition among the Rabbins, that the tables of ſtone,Bellar. l. 2. de Verb. Dei. wherein the ten Commandements were written with the finger of God, were of Saphir. For although Pliny affirmeth,Nat. hiſt. l. 37. that the Saphir is a ſtone altogether unfit for ſculpture, yet this can be no juſt exception againſt this tradition, ſith the engraving of the ten Commandements was done by the finger of God above nature. Moreover, it is cleare out of this Text, that the name of one of the Patriarchs was written in the Saphir. Such a Saphir was the ſecond Speaker, having the Lawes of God imprinted in his heart. The third jewell is a Diamond, in Hebrew called Jahalom, becauſe it breaketh all other ſtones; in Greek Adamas, that is, unconquerable, becauſe it can neither be broken by the hammer, nor conſumed in the fire: nay, the fire (ſaith Zenocrates) hath not ſo much power as to ſtain the colour, much leſſe impeach the ſubſtance of this ſtone. Call to mind among the vertues of a Magiſtrate, conſpicuous in this divine Oratour, his unconquerable courage & unſtained integrity, and the compariſon is already made. Pliny reporteth, Adamantem ſideritem alio Adamante perforari: thinke you not, that if a man could have a heart as hard as the Adamant, this Adamant, pointed with ſacred eloquence, could breake it and make it contrite? Laſtly, Pliny addeth, that the Diamond is a ſoveraign remedy againſt poyſon, Et ideò regibus chariſsimus, iiſque paucis cognitus, in high eſteem with Princes: if, as our gracious Soveraigne hath, ſo all Chriſtian Princes had ſuch Diamonds as this; if ſuch Preachers were their eare-rings, they ſhould be free from the danger of all poyſoned and hereticall doctrine.
If as the ſtones placed in the ſecond row agree with the gifts of the Speaker, ſo they ſort as well with the doctrines of his Text, I am ſure you wil all ſay, that this ſecond order of ſtones is not out of order. A moſt remarkable ſtory of the Carbuncle we have, that caſt in the fire among live coals, it ſeemeth to have no grace in it; but quench the other coals with water, & it ſhineth more gloriouſly in the aſhes than ever before: ſo our Saviour in the brunt of his paſſion, while he was heat by the fire-brands of hell, Scribes & Phariſees, Jewes & Romans, ſeemed to be dead, and loſe all his colour & beauty, nay, was indeed dead according to his humane nature (his ſoule being ſevered from his body:) but after the conſummation of his paſſion, and the extinction of the fiery rage of his perſecuters with his bloud, in his reſurrection he ſhewed himſelf a moſt glorious Carbuncle, ſhining in majeſty, & burning in love. After his reſurrection, in the day of his aſcenſion, hee taketh poſſeſſion of his throne in heaven, which,Chap. 1. V. 26. in Ezekiel is ſaid to bee like a Saphir ſtone, & now ſitting at the right hand of God the Father, having conquered ſin, death, & hell, & made all his enemies his footſtoole, he is become the only true orient Diamond in the world: whether you take the name from the Greek ἄδαμασ, ab ά & δαμαω, or the Hebrew םלהי from םלה, being invincible himſelfe, and overcomming all adverſe power, breaking his obſtinate enemies in pieces, like a potters veſſell, with a rod of iron.
The emboſſment of gold, in which theſe gems of divine doctrine were ſet, was his Text taken out of
A Sermon preached by Doctor John King then Dean of Chriſt-Church, and Vicechancellor of the Univerſity of Oxford, afterwards Lord Biſhop of London, upon Eaſter day in Saint Peters Church in Oxford.ESAY 26.19.
Thy dead men ſhall live together, with my body ſhall they riſe: awake and ſing yee that dwell in duſt; for the dew is as the dew of herbes, and the earth ſhall caſt up her dead.
IT would aske the labour of an houre to ſettle this one only member, I finde ſuch a Babel of tongues at odds about ſo few words. Variae lectiones.Whereas we reade terra projiciet, or ejiciet, the earth ſhall caſt up or bring forth, as it doth her herbs and winter priſoners, Junius hath, Dejeciſti in terram, Caſtalio, terram demoliris, the Seventy, Terra cadet, S. Jerome, Dejicies in terram, the Chaldee paraphraſe, Trades in infernum: and for mortuos, in Hebrew*foreign Rephaim, from a word ſignifying to cure, per antiphraſin the Seventy reade foreign, the wicked or ungodly; S. Jerome, Gigantes, ſtout and robuſtious againſt God. But to ſet you in a right and inoffenſive way, I reduce almoſt an infinity of diſtractions to two heads. For all of them either ſpeak of the reſurrection of the dead indefinitely, which they doe that ſay, Terra ejiciet, to wit, poſtquam in terram dejeciſti. For the earth cannot caſt up that it hath not: and, Manium terram demoliris; or of the deſtruction of the wicked, one only ſpecies of the dead, which the Seventy call impios, others Giants, mighty to tranſgreſſe; both ſenſes, as the Northern and Southern rivers running from contrary points meet in the Ocean; ſo theſe from ſundry and diſcrepant conceits run into one common place of the generall reſurrection, ſave that the latter adde a ſtraine to the former of Gods vengeance, and wrath prepared for the wicked.
Senſe twofold.Thus having ſet the letters of my Text together, & accorded the words, it remaineth that their ſcope and intent be freed from queſtion. There is not one of the learned Scribes, old or new, Jew or Chriſtian, whoſe ſpirit and pen hath not fallen upon one of theſe two ſenſes (viz.) that the Prophet either ſpeaketh of the reſurrection of the dead at the laſt day, or of the reſtitution and enlargement of the people from their preſent ſtraights: in which (ſay they) calamity is a kind of death, captivity as the grave, Gods people as the ſeed in the ground, Gods grace and favour as the comfortable dew, to revive and reſtore them to their wonted being. Of theſe two companies ſome goe after the literall grammaticall ſenſe, lending not ſo much as the caſt of their eye toward the allegory, as Strigelius, Clarius, Brentius: Others on the other ſide of the banke ſtanding for the ſhadowed reſurrection, are not ſo peremptory; but ſi quis aliter ſentire mavult, per me liber hoc faciat: and Calvin himſelf in his commentary layes out as it were a lot, as well for the true as the typicall reſurrection: Falluntur Chriſtiani, qui ad extremum judicium reſtringunt, Prophetatotum Chriſti regnum ab initio ad finem uſque complectitur. Aquinas equally joyneth them both; Hìc eſt propoſitio reſurrectionis, vel corporalis in die noviſſimo, vel à miſeriâ captivitatis. To conclude then, as in the 37. chapter of Ezekiel the reſurrection of the dead is brought in as an argument by God himſelfe, to aſcertaine the people of their delivery from thraldome; an argument à majore ad minus: Can he raiſe and revive the dead? and can he not much more reſtore the diſtreſſed? yet I will be bold to ſay, that the proper reſurrection of the dead, without the vaile of a metaphor in the hardeſt conſtruction that can be made of the words, is either the ſcope of the Prophet, or his proofe, his intent or his argument, his maine and principal concluſion, or his ſtrongeſt principle to demonſtrate his concluſion. And Mr. Gualter giveth a good reaſon why all other comforts are ſealed up with this doctrine and promiſe of the univerſall reſurrection, Quòd nulla alia ſit certa & ſolida conſolatio, becauſe all other calmes are temporary, fluxe and mutable, from which there are recidivations and relapſes into ſubſequent ſtormes. By this time I am ſecure, that no miſt of an allegory can ſo trouble or dimme your eyes, but that you clearly behold in the true glaſſe of my Text a faire and undoubted image of the reſurrection of the dead; which being the proper ſubject of this feaſt, I hope I have ſufficiently warranted the choice of my theame, and ſo I proceed to the explication.
Thy dead ſhall live, with my body ſhall they riſe, awake and ſing, Analyſis Textus, partium ordo & diviſio.&c. Yee ſee how many members there are in the body of my Text; yet in reſolution and in iſſue they are all but one: It is a totum ſimilare. As the whole water of the ſea is but water, and yet every drop of the ſea is water too; ſo the whole bulke and ſhocke of my Text is the reſurrection, and yet every part and parcell thereof is the reſurrection alſo: for marke the words, Vivent, reſurgent, evigilabunt, cantabunt, germinabunt, projicientur. mortui, cadaver, pulvis, habitatores pulveris, herbae, inferi ſeu manes. What is this in the whole compoſition, what in every limb & joynt apari, but the ecchoing and reſounding from one to the other the doctrine of the reſurrection?
To omit (beſides all theſe which have their tabernacle in the ſun, and are evident and apert profeſsions thereof) many ſecret & minerall arguments couched in the bowels and boſome of my Text, which ſhall be extracted in their due time. Bees are not ſo like Bees, but that there are individuall differences between them; neither are the members of my Text ſo like, but that they may bee diſtinguiſhed. Thus then by way of objection and anſwer you may perceive their diſtinction and order, as alſo the maine ſcope to which they tend.
Doth any object, Nihil eſt poſt mortem, death is an utter extinction? It is anſwered, not ſo: for thy dead ſhall live. Doth he goe on and ſay, they may live in their ſpirits, which never dye; but what for their bodies? It is anſwered, With my body ſhall they riſe. Riſe, doe you ſay? but by what authority? what ſhall be the inſtrument and meanes thereof? The ſhrill ſound of the laſt Trump awaking them out of their ſleep, and the voice of God, Awake yee that dwell in duſt. Awake they may and riſe, but to no leſſe wretchedneſſe and miſery than before: Anſwer, They ſhall awake and ſing; it ſhall be a triumphant and joyfull reſurrection. Yea, but ſhew us any ſigne thereof, and we will beleeve it: Anſwer, Thy dew is the dew of herbs; nature hath printed this truth in every garden thou walkeſt in. Laſtly, if they ſay the earth hath devoured our bodies, how ſhall we then ariſe? It is anſwered, Terra projiciet, the earth ſhall bee driven to diſgorge and caſt them up againe.
There are degrees and aſcents in my Text: 1. Vivent may be in ſoule; but 2. Reſurgent muſt be in body. 3. Evigilabunt may be to ſorrow; but 4. Cantabunt muſt be to joy. 5. Ros herbarum is but a light from nature; but 6. Terra projiciet is an act of irriſiſtible compulſory power. The firſt is the fundamentall propoſition, and ſheweth the entity, what is and ſhall be, Vivent mortui. The ſecond is expoſition, and ſheweth the manner, Reſurgent. The third is confirmation, and ſheweth the efficiency, Evigilabunt. The fourth is congratulation, and ſheweth the quality, Cantabunt. The fifth is illuſtration, and ſheweth the probability, Ros herbarum. The ſixth and laſt is concluſion, and ſheweth the neceſsity, Terra projiciet. There is a time of gathering, and a time of ſcattering. Theſe ſixe, either members or remarkable points and joynts of my Text, hitherto ſevered, ſith the Prophet hath conſtrued together, I will reduce to three combinations, and ſo handle them. The
1. Vivent and reſurgent.
2. Evigilate and cantate.
3. Ros tuus and terra projiciet.
The firſt combination or conjugation is Vivent and Reſurgent. There is a difference between them; the former is partiall & incompleat, Abraham, Iſaac, and Jacob were alive (as is proved by our Saviours argument: Deus non eſt Deus mortuorum, ſed viventium) when their bodies were not living; the latter is totall and abſolute, and addeth the life of the body to the life of the ſoule. foreign is of that whereof before there was foreign they ſhal live therfore & riſe, but who? Mortui, the dead; the dead is the common genus & ſagena, that comprehends all ſorts good and bad: Moritur pariter doctus & indoctus, in hoc tertio we all agree. In the firſt and archetypall world, when one man was as nine men, had nine mens ages, yet the end & period of all their acts is, Et mortuus eſt: and whatſoever the chronicles of the Kings of Judah and Iſrael omit beſides, they omit not this, Et dormivit cum patribus. Death is that Syncope or Eliſion, that cutteth not out letters or leaves, but lives; and which not Grammar, but nature ſhall cauſe us to underſtand: —Mors ultima linea rerum, our whole life being but linea circumducta rediens ad idem punctum, à pulvere ad pulverem, the aſſured period and full point after all other points, pawſes, ſections and interſections, changes and viciſsitudes of this mortall life: after all our eatings and drinkings the ſymbolum or ſhot that muſt be paid, the centre, to which our corruptible body, which preſſeth downe the ſoule, doth by its weight and proneneſſe forcibly tend.
Mortui. Conſider once for all the ſubject of this clauſe, and all the propoſition, & how it climbeth; firſt mortui: ſecondly, cadaver: thirdly, pulvis: fourthly, habitatores pulveris: fifthly, inferi and manes; free Denizons among the dead, ſuch as might ſay to corruption, thou art our father; and to wormes & duſt, yee are our brothers and ſiſters. Yet theſe dead carkaſſes, carrion, duſt, inveterate duſt, netherlanders, ſhall live and riſe: Non obſtat potentiae Dei diuturna putredo, walke but a pace or two backward, yee ſhall find a negative to this affirmative, the dead ſhall not live. Is there yea and nay in the Holy Ghoſt? Yea, and both true. For elucidation whereof take the rule of Brentius in his Nominibus, meum & tuum …ita eſt tota vis concionis: Thy dead ſhall riſe, that is, the Lords dead, either mortui propter Dominum, as Martyrs; or in Domino, as all beleevers; or quorum tota vita martyrium, whether they live or dye they are the Lords: Interfecti mei in ſome readings, in the genuine cadaver meum, the dead being, or which are my body, and then by collection, as Junius well obſerveth, cadavera mea quoque, all the bodies of my Saints, which are as it were mine, becauſe they belong to my myſticall body. Now then when it was ſaid Mortui non reſurgent, Mortui was put ſimply, and without addition, as Hyperius ſaith: but in theſe propoſitions mortui vivent, cadaver reſurget, you have a ſpecificall difference, not omnes mortui, but tui, that is, Gods: cadaver, non omne, ſed meum, that is, Chriſts: oppoſite whereunto are mortui Satanae, & cadaver Antichriſti. Hence commeth that ſeeming antilogie, or contradictio linguarum, ſtrife of tongues, Reſurgent, non reſurgent, they ſhall, they ſhall not riſe. But ſhall not all live, and riſe againe? Doubtleſſe they ſhall, the righteous in a right and reall acception: their life is a life indeed, vitall, immortall, Angelicall, nouriſhed at the tree and fountaine of life, animated and perpetuated from the Lord of life, and they riſe as the morning Sunne fairer and fairer, to a glorious, joyfull, incorruptible, and celeſtiall reſurrection. Non ſic impii, non ſic, they live, or rather dye a death, and that the ſecond, and that ſecond a thouſand fold; or rather they live a life, a terme without terme, of beeing and not being, corrupting and not ceaſing, burning and not conſuming: Ignis eorum non interit, they ſhall never be able to extinguiſh their fire, nor their fire them; abſumit ut ſervet, ſervat ut cruciet, the Salamanders of hell fire are kept in torment and vexation for evermore: and they riſe, ut lapſu graviore ruant; as Jezebel was mounted to the window to be caſt downe to the dogs: as Herod to his throne, for a more wofull and ſpectable ruine: as Lucifer, or rather Tenebrifer (as Bernard calleth him) to the ſide of the mountaine, for a more aſtoniſhable confuſion. Our Saviour knits up both in two words: Some ſhall riſe to the reſurrection of life, there is the true vivent & reſurgent; ſome to the reſurrection of condemnation, there is the oppoſite.
The ſecond combination is Evigilate & cantate: yee ſhall obſerve in this and divers other paſſages in this Prophet divers interlocutions, proſopopeia's, and changing of perſons. Firſt, here the Prophet ſpeaketh to God, or God to Chriſt, Thy dead ſhall live: Secondly, Chriſt to his Father, With my body ſhall they riſe: Thirdly, here is Gods apoſtrophe to the dead, Awake and ſing: Fourthly, the anſwer of the dead to God, Ros tuus, that is, quem tu irroraſti; or Gods apoſtrophe to his Church, Ros tuus, id eſt, qui ſuper te cadet, O Eccleſia mea: Laſt of all, as it were the chorus and conſent of all, Terra projiciet.
Awake and ſing are Gods alarum to the dead; habitatores pulveris, the houſhold and meniall to duſt. Now what voice, but the voice of God ſhall I ſay, like a Trumpet, or the roaring of a Lion, or the ſound of many waters, or a clap or crack of thunder (all come too ſhort) were able to enforme and actuate duſt and rubble to audience? Loquor ad Dominum might they ſay with Abraham, cùm ſim pulvis & cinis? Howſoever pulvis & cinis in ſyntheſi may doe it, I am ſure pulvis & cinis in analyſi cannot. Wee attempt not to rowze up thoſe that are in a dead ſleep without loud cries, but is any man ſo mad as to ſpend his voice, though a ſtentorian, and rend his throat against deafe rockes? Behold, God doth more than this by that powerfull inſtrument of his glorious Word, that gladius delphicus, that is more than Moſes rod, wherewith hee wrought wonders: more than Jacobs ſtaffe, wherewith hee proſpered: more than Judah's ſcepter, wherewith hee governed: more than Joſeph's cup, wherewith hee divined: I ſay, by that powerfull inſtrument, by which hee ſaid Fiant to heaven and earth, and they were created; Effata to deafe eares, and they were opened: Tace to the raging of the ſea, and it was ſtilled: Obmuteſce to the crying Divell, & he was ſilenced: Exi foras to the dead carkaſſes, & they came forth; by that doth he ſay to theſe dead and moultred in the earth, Awake and ſing.
Awake: but with what eyes to behold the light of heaven? when the windowes of their bodies have bin long ſince ſhut downe, their chryſtall glaſſes of nature broken, their ſeers ſunke into the holes of their head, clay dwelleth in their tabernacles, and rottenneſſe in their circles, and the ſcorne of the Idoll in Baruch is fallen upon them, They cannot wipe the duſt from their eyes.
And ſing. How ſhall they ſing in a ſtrange land? what be their inſtruments to ſing to? where is their living harpe, and well tuned cymball? is it hung upon the willowes of Babylon, or rather tyed to the roofe of their mouth? where are their ſongs of praiſe and thankſgiving, which they ſang in the land of the living?
—Olim ego longas
Cantando memini ſolitum conſumere noctes;
Nunc oblita mihi tot carmina.
We are now laid in the land of forgetfulneſſe, we have taken up and made our beds in the darke, our mouth is filled with gravell, and the ſlime of the pit ſticketh in our throats: all this notwithſtanding, they that are in their tombes & graves ſhall heare the voice of the Son of man, & earth, earth, earth in Jeremy winnowed and boulted by death into the ſmalleſt duſt, ſhall be effigiated and ſhaped anew into living men; Et ex his vermiculis & pulvere, ſaith Saint Bernard, inſtaurabuntur muri coeliſtis Jeruſalem.
Before I end this ſecond combination, I remember that I noted unto you two things: firſt, the efficiency in the exuſcitation, Awake; where forget not in the meane while to reſerve for a latter meditation, that death by the phraſe of my Text is a ſleep: ſecondly, the quality; for ſith they are willed to ſing, that imports a joyfull reſurrection: Muſica in luctu importuna, and it muſt be a moſt joyfull reſurrection, when ſuch as ſhall partake thereof not only foreign (ſo the Seventy) but foreign (Aquilas) and foreign (Symmachus) and foreign (Theodotian.) Agreeable hereunto is that of our Saviour, Lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh. And here once more to the wicked we ſend libellum repudii: Non eſt vobis pars, ne que ſors, yee may not conſort with us in our bleſſed harmony, the voices of Aſhdod and Canaan cannot tune together: to you belongeth, plangent tribus terrae, & tribulabitur ibi fortis, your ſinging ſhall be turned to ſighing, your Tabrets & Shaumes into everlaſting beatings and hammerings on the anviles of your breaſt, your ſhowting into howling and yelling, your clapping of hands into gnaſhing of teeth, your praiſing into blaſpheming & curſing, & all your rejoycing ſhall be as the mourning of Hadradrimmon in the valley of Megiddo; yea much more than of Hadradrimmon, becauſe in the valley of Hinnon, is the lake and fornace of endleſſe diſconſolation. This Prophet ſhall conclude, Behold my ſervants ſhall rejoyce, and ye ſhall be aſhamed: my ſervants ſhall ſing for joy of heart, and ye ſhall cry for ſorrow, and howle for vexation of mind.
The third combination is, Ros tuus & terra projiciet, which giveth a double proofe of the former doctrine: the one as it were of courſe, nature and common ſenſe teacheth; the other of force, the creature muſt and ſhall accompliſh it. Terra projiciet, that is, ſaith Rabbie David, Thou (O God) ſhalt command it. The learned in their Commentaries diſtinguiſh theſe proofes by a diſcrepancy of words, Elicere proper to the dew, and projicere fatall to the earth: the dew gently allureth, and calleth forth the herbes; ſo doth the Word & Spirit of God ſweetly and eaſily bring up (may I ſay) theſe embryo's of death. But ſay that the earth withhold them, oppoſing her lockes and barres, and pleading perhaps the preſcription of hundreds or thouſands of yeeres, there is then place for projiciet, foreign, angry and impatient though ſhe be, reddet, non ſua, ſhe muſt caſt them up, as the ſtomach a ſurfeit, and a woman an abortive fruit. See how God hath furniſhed us with all ſorts of arguments: if Liber foederis will not ſerve, wee may reade in the booke of nature, or rather Bibliotheca librorum, deſcribed with a text hand, in faire and capitall letters, the reſurrection of the dead. Interroga jumenta, ſaith Job: Interroga olera, ſaith my Prophet: Conſidera Lilia agri, ſaith our Saviour: looke into the fields, or ſit ſtill in your gardens, every one under his owne vine, and behold the growth of the plants and flowers, how after the cold of Winter, when the deadneſſe of the yeere had blotted and blurred as it were the face of the earth, and the print of nature ſeemeth to bee quite razed out; yet (as Eſay ſpeaketh of the Oake and Elme) there is a ſubſtance in them, and by the comfort of the vernall ſun-ſhine, and fatneſſe of the clouds dropping on them, they garniſh and cover the earth againe, as with the carpets of Egypt, and clothe it as with a Joſephs coate, with all the variety of colours nature can invent. Nature is full of ſuch demonſtrations; I could bring you a band of creatures to ſtrengthen this point. The bird of Arabia that riſeth out of her owne aſhes, the inſecta animalia that ſpend the Winter ſeaſon in a ſhadow of death, the ſeed that lyeth and dyeth in the earth, our ſleepings and awakings, nights and dayes, winters and ſummers, autumnes and ſprings; but I leave them all, and cleave to the reſemblance in my Text, Thy dew is as the dew of herbes; but when this dew and ſoft diſtillation is too weake to worke this effect, God hath a torrent and floud to doe it: Terra ejiciet, & contermina terrae, the ſea that is married to the earth & lyeth in her armes & boſome. He ſhall ſay to the ſea, Give; and to the earth, Reſtore, and all creatures in them, and in all the world beſides that have devoured and ſwallowed the fleſh of his choſen, when that day commeth, ſhall find that they have eaten morſels like aſpes, and dranke a draught of deadly poyſon, too ſtrong and hard of digeſtion for their over weak ſtomachs. I end with the words of this Prophet, chapt. 66. Quis audivit unquam tale? quis vidit huic ſimile? nunquid parturiet terra in die unâ? & tota gens parietur ſimul? at this day it ſhall be ſo.
Saphirus aureis punctis collucet, the beſt kind of Saphir, The recapitulation with addition of appendant arguments.ſaith the Naturaliſt, hath ſomething like points of gold in it: Such were theſe we now handled; give mee leave to uſe the Speakers phraſe, though not in his ſenſe, ſpare mee to recapitulate, or rather from recapitulation: for what have I done elſe all this while?
Mee thinkes the ſixe parts of this Text are like the ſix cities of refuge,Deut. 19. to which thoſe that had ſlain, ſhall I ſay? nay, rather thoſe that are ſlain may flye, to ſave ſhall I ſay? nay, but to recover and reſtore their lives: and they are all like the wheeles in Ezekiels viſion, Rota in rotâ: or as the celestiall Spheres one in the other, all moving alike to the ſame purpoſe: all ſtriving for an Article of faith, one of the twelve flowers in the garland of our Creed, one of the twelve ſtones in the foundation of the holy City. I remember in the inheritance of Judah, among the reſt there fell to their ſhare ſex civitates, & villae earum. Is there any ſuch a deſart ſo barren, ſo hopeleſſe, ſo waſte, as death and the grave, deſertion of life and beeing, when milke forſaketh the breaſts, marrow the bones, bloud the veines, ſpirit the arteries, and the ſoule the body? yet when you are brought to this deſart of deſarts, you ſhall find ſex civitates, & villas earum, ſix maine and eminent proofes of the reſurrection, with as many leſſe, like ſuburbs, granges, and appertinent villages. For firſt, Mortui vivent is a maine argument, grounded upon the Word and Promiſe, like civitas; but mortui tui is civitas & villa, a maine with an appendant argument drawne from the propriety that God hath in us. Secondly, Cadaver reſurget is civitas, but cadaver meum is civitas & villa, a maine argument, with an appendant drawn from the ſociety between the head & the members: he that raiſed Chriſt ſhall quicken us. Thirdly, Awake & ſing are civitates, main arguments drawn from the command & power of God, who ſaith, Returne ye ſons of Adam, and they return; but that the nature of the phraſe ſhould import a ſleep, & no death, no privation of ſpeech, but foreign pythagoricam, for a while, till God looſen the ſtrings of the tongue, and put breath into the organ againe, theſe are civitates & villae earum. Yet further, by Montanus his collection, pulvis & habitatores pulveris are villae, appendant arguments, the one from the matter of our creation, when we are at the worſt we are but duſt, from which our creation was, and why may not from thence our recreation be? the other from the terme of our abode, habitatio; which (ſaith he) is not of thoſe that take up their manſion or long home, but of ſojourners and factours, who continue for a while in forraine countries till they have diſpatched their affaires. Adde laſtly to all theſe the map of the whole earth, in every leafe of graſſe deſcribing the truth of this doctrine:
—inſcripti nomine vitae
naſcuntur flores—
with thoſe inſufferable paſsions, pangs, and angariations, which the common mother to us all is put unto, till ſhee be rid of us, as the Whale of Jonas.
A word of application, and it ſhall be the explication, which ſome very learned Expoſitors give upon cadaver meum. Wee have hitherto taken it to be the word of Chriſt to his Father; they ſay rather it is the word of the Prophet to his brethren, as if in effect hee had ſaid, I preach to you no other doctrine than that I beleeve my ſelfe: I teach that the dead ſhall live, and I am aſſured that with my body ſhall they riſe. In which ſenſe it is a parallel to that Magna Charta, that great and memorable record which Job tranſmitteth to all poſterity, I know my Redeemer liveth, and I my ſelfe ſhall ſee him with theſe eyes, and no other; concionantur profani homines, the faſhion of theſe worldly men is to prate of the life of the righteous, as Balaam of their death, like men in a trance, without ſenſe or affection after it. The food of the ſoule is unto them as Barzillai his bodily food was unto him, they eate it without any appetite or relliſh: (Hath thy ſervant any taſte in that he eateth, ſaith he to David?) and the comforts of the Goſpel to them as muſicke to him: (Can I heare the voice of ſinging men or women?) They behold Canaan from the Mount, and the goodneſſe of God afarre off: my meaning is, they can talke of cadavera aliorum, but minde not, or at least hope not for cadaver meum: Odi ſapientem qui ſibi non ſapit; qui ſibi nequam, cui bonus? Nequam, ſaith Saint Bernard, is as much as nequaquam: all that this man knoweth or doth is as much as nothing, ſith it availeth not himſelfe; his caſe is like that of Tantalus, foreign, as Plato ſaith, who hath apples at his lips, and water at his chinne, and yet pines for want. O unhappy man, goe to the prodigall childe, he came to his father with foreign, and to that childe of the world, who came to our Saviour, Magiſter, dic fratri ut dividat mecum haereditatem, that is, ſuffer not a goodly inheritance of a joyfull reſurrection to be taken away by the violent, but thruſt thou in for thy part among them, and when they ſhall ſay, corpora noſtra, our bodies ſhall riſe, ſay thou with a fiduciall faith, cadaver meum, ſo ſhall my body riſe: and let every one that heareth mee this day ſay with the Prophet, Remember mee, O Lord, with the favour of thy people, and viſit mee with thy ſalvation, that I may ſee the felicity of thy choſen, and rejoyce in the joy of thy people, and glory with thine inheritance.