The Holy Limbeck(1), Commentary 48
News from the Grave.
They have taken away the Lord out of the Sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him,
John 20.2.
TAken him away! did the high Prieſts bribed Soldiers tell her ſo? what incredible News is this? none but a Sadduce will believe it: Thou art miſtaken, Mary, the Lord was never there; there's no circumſcription by a Sepulchre of him that fills Heaven and Earth; though a Manger cradled the Babe, no Grave can comprehend the Lord; was this Sepulchre larger then Solomons Temple? or will he whom the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain, 1 Kings 8.27. be confined by a few clods of earth? Indeed, the Angel bad the two Maries, See the place where the Lord lay, Matth. 28.6. but the Lord himſelf told the Thief, To day ſhalt thou be with me in Paradice, Luke 23.43. Thus the body of the Lord was in the Grave, but not the Lord of the Body.
If the Reſurrection be ſuch a myſtery of Faith to ſuch as were Co-temporaries with the Firſt-fruits thereof, Acts 23.26. no wonder now 'tis ſuch a miracle of Grace to practice the Faith thereof: If the caſe of non-Reſurrection doth undiſtinguiſh the reaſonable ſoul from Bruits, no marvel the Sadduces of this Age are ſuch beaſts to deny it; yet if Chriſts own Diſciples in this high point of Faith, could ſcarce believe their eyes, 'tis more then an O Altitudo of Mercy, if the news at Jeruſalem paſs for currant at the other end of the world: 'Tis an unſavory Quaere, to ask with what body Lots wife ſhall ariſe; and but a ſhallow Hypotheſis, whether Aarons Rebels, or Aarons two Sons, ſhall riſe firſt: He that ſurfets himſelf to death with the luſcious Mummia of another mans Corps, ſhall doubtleſs bring out of the Grave as much as he carried in, yet the other riſe never the leaner: Though he ſurfeted with the others Epigaſtrium, or happily dyed with a piece of his belly in his mouth, yet do not think that he ſhall riſe with two Diaphragmes, or the other be anſwerable as a Murtherer for the body he deſtroyed, after he was dead: The verieſt Cannibal in all Tartary ſhall riſe but with one body, though a thouſand be incorporated with him; and if ever there come any Feminine Mummia out of Egypt to the Drugſters ſhambles, thou mayeſt eat it without the leaſt danger of riſing an Hermophrodite: That ſuch Parables are incredible with the higheſt meer Naturaliſts, is no news to the weakeſt Chriſtian, who hath more grace then to doubt what he hath no reaſon to believe: If there be ſuch a Sadduce in England, as to deny the Reſurrection, he muſt needs be beholding to a Pythagorian Metempſycoſis, to beſpatter one Hereſie with the dirt of another; for, admiting that ridiculous old Fable of the Souls progreſs from one body to another by Traduction, from ſuch abſurd premiſes might poſſibly follow, the concluſion of the worlds non-concluſion to the perpetuation thereof, to prevent a Reſurrection: It is not without all controverſie, whether the Chriſtian demi-Jews of late, or the Jewiſh demi-Chriſtians of old, are deepeſt buried in the Ignorance of a Reſurrection; they took our Savior to be John the Baptiſt, or Elias, or one of the Prophets, as if one of their ſouls were paſſed by a kinde of Tranſmigration into our Saviors body; theſe take. Paul, or Apollo, or Cephas to be our Savior, as if his very Perſonality were paſſed by a Myſtical Union into one of their Souls: Thus the naked Ignorance of any Fundamental Truth, ever ends in Hereſie; which Hereſie perſiſted in, ever concludes in blaſphemy: It was Mary's complaint here upon a miſtake, That they had taken away the Lord out of the Sepulchre, and ſhe knew not where they had laid him: Me-thinks I hear Mary's eccho at this hither end of the world (may it be but the like miſtake) reſounded by many of us that pretend to look ſo much after him; viz. That they have taken away the Lord out of the Sanctuary, and we know not where they have laid him.
FINIS.
Imprimatur
1o Martii, 1649. Joſeph Caryl.
End of the text · John Godolphin, The Holy Limbeck(1) (1650)