A Hundred Sermons on Revelation, Sermons · Sermon 65
¶ The faithfull aſſuredly and ſtreight waye flitte from the corporal death vntounto life euerlaſtyng. The .lxv. Sermon.
ANd I hearde a voice from heauen, ſaiyng vntounto me: wryte, bleſſed are the dead whiche hereafter die in the Lorde. Yea the ſprite ſayeth, that they reſte frō their labours. But theyr workes follow them.
Albeit he hath oftener thā ones ſpokē of the ſtate of ſoules in an other world,Of the certayne ſaluation of ye faithful. and of ye felicitie of the faithfull which are killed for religions ſake: yet was it here chiefly requiſite to treate of the ſame matter. For I ſayed, howe many muſt be killed of the beaſte. Now leeſte they for feare of death ſhould chouſe rather to worſhippe the beaſte, than to be ſlayne: leeſt happly hauyng loſt this life, there were no other life to be loked for in the world to come, moſt dilligently, and moſt certenly he treateth of the ſtate of ſoules, and of the felicitie and bleſſe of ſoules, which as ſone as they die, they atchieue, aſſuredly and ſtreightwaye flitting out of this worlde into life euerlaſting. But they that know theſe thinges, and hauehave conceaued them by a true faith, how thei ſhal vndoubtedly ſlitte frō the corporal death into the bleſſed life, it can not be choſen but that they ſhal more boldely contemne the life preſent.
Moſt certē tables of ſaluation are to vsus exhibited.And this holeſome doctrine is compriſed in three poincts. For firſt he ſheweth the certentie therof: ſecōdly he declareth what it is: laſte he ſetteth forth and lighteth the ſame by circūſtaunces. At the firſt verely he ſemeth to allude to the maner, accuſtomably receyued of al nations, that ſuch thinges as they wuld hauehave thought to be certen, and vndoubted, they would alſo cōmitte to writing to leaue them vntounto poſteritie. But the certentie & veritie or Authoritie of the thing is eſtemed of thauthours, which firſt hauehave diſpatched any matters emonges thēſelues, and after hauehave cauſed the ſame to be put in writyng. At this preſent therfore is God ſhewed to be authour. For S. Iohn ſaieth: and I hearde a voice from heauen. And by and by addeth: ye the ſpirite ſayeth. Therefore there is no doubte, but that the ſonne of God him ſelf hath ſpoken and reuealed theſe things.Our lord Ieſus Chriſt. For him he ſawe at the beginning of this reuelation: after he ſeeth diuerſe kindes of Aungelles, but he ſeeth not Chriſt ſpeaking to him. But he heareth now his voice from Heauen, he heareth the ſpirite ſpeakyng, by whom the lord ſayed, whileſt he was yet cōuerſaunt in earth with his diſciples, that he would treate and ſpeake al thinges in the churche. Let vsus beleue therefore that the wordes which are here recited, by chriſtes doyng, to be a celeſtiall oracle certen and trewe, whereof we ought not to doubte. And S. Iohn thapoſtle & Euangeliſt is cōmaūded to write the ſaiynges of Chriſt from the heauēly ſeate. Which thing he doeth: & ſo at Chriſtes cōmaundement ſendeth them vntounto al poſterie, vntounto vsus alſo & to our ofſpring euen to the worldes ende. But if tables written by the chaūcelours or ſecretaries of kinges and Princes, beyng notable men, deſerue credit: we maye much more iuſtely & rightly beleue this writing, which the ſonne of God inditeth from heauen: & that beloued diſciple of Chriſt, the apoſtle and Euangeliſt S. Iohn writeth. Thou hadſt ones a confidence in the Popes bulles (they maye well be called bulles, ſins thei be more vaine than bulles or blabbers in the water) ſent from the See of Rome, wherein thou as one aſſured didſt put ful truſte to hauehave remiſſion of ſinnes and bleſſed life. And ſhalt thou not nowe be accompted madde and out of thy witte, in caſe thou wilt not beleue this heauenly writyng. That other was indited by the ſpirite of Antichriſt, by the Pope the man of ſinne, and childe of perdition: & written of ſome diſceauer infected with Simony and ſacrilege, which in life and maners was filthines it ſelf. But in Iohn is nothing but cleanes, puretie, & integritie: and the very ſonne of God which preſcribeth theſe things to S. Iohn, is the very veritie and life,This writing is frely geuen. the light of the world & lord of heauen and Earth, of life & death. See than how ſafely thou mayeſt laine to this heauenly writyng, which here is offered & geuen thee frely. Thou nedeſt not to diſburce for the ſame one farthing. The Pope inſtituted in the church biyng & ſelling & deueliſh bargayning about perdōs & other things, which were plaine diſceiptes & illuſions, playne mocheries, and open blaſphemies, & therfore accurſed for euer: as S. Peter alſo pronoūceth in the .8. of the Actes. God him ſelfe diſwadeth al men from ſuch tromperies, and bargaines wicked & vayne, in the .55. chapt. of Eſaye, where he promiſeth agayne, that he wil geue to the godly al plentie of al good thinges.
And now let vsus heare, what the writte is,Bleſſed at the dead whiche die in the lord. & what S. Iohn is cōmaunded from heauen to put in writing. It is a ſhorte ſentēce, as alſo in many places, the wiſedome of God cōprehēdeth in fewe wordes the true ſome of bleſſednes: ſo prouiding for our infirmitie, that we nede not to cōplaine that the doctrine were ouer longe, which we with our ſlender vnderſtandyng are not able to attayne to. The Lord therefore pronounceth, them to be bleſſed, whiche die in the Lord, then we muſt ſee what he vnderſtandeth by bleſſednes, and who thei be that die in the lord, bleſſednes is that high felicitie, which chaunceth to the faithfull in an other world, in the which we ſhall ſee God him ſelfe as he is, and hauehave the fruition of him vntounto a ioyefull, and neuer lothſomefulnes. We ſhall liue in the ſame with all the Sainctes for euer, and ſhall hauehave ioynes that can not be expreſſed with tunges of men. Of the whiche ſhall followe more afterwarde. They ſhal reſte from their labours. And more plentifully in the .21. chapt. And they dye in the Lorde, whiche by faith greffed in Chriſte, layne to him alone, depende wholy vponupon him, only regarde him and deſire nothynge els but hym alone. For they are ſayed to liue in Chriſte, in whome Chriſt liueth by faith, they that liue in Chriſt do frame their whole life after the will of Chriſt. And they die in the lord chiefly and before all, whiche for the confeſſion of the lordes faith, ſuffer death, and offer thēſelues to tourmentes. And not they alone, but thoſe alſo, whiche although they die of the ſworde of the perſecutours, yet die, when the Lorde calleth them in the trewe chriſten fayth. For theſe are alſo bleſſed, as the Lord in S. Iohn, verely verely I ſaye vntounto you, yf any man kepe my worde, he ſhall not ſee death for euer. Howebeit they die not in the lorde, which eyther deny god, that they might not be ſlaine: or truſt to their owne merites, & interceſſions of Sainctes, or to other mens workes be they monkes, freres, or maſſemonging prieſtes, and ſo departe out of this life, thinking that thei ſhal be holpen by other mēs workes. To be briefe, the veritie of the lord pronoūceth them al bleſſed and fortunate which departe out of this world in true faith.
Finally the Lord him ſelf adioyneth a notable declaration of this his briefe ſentence. For he ſette forth the circumſtaūce of the time,When and how ſaluation commeth to ye dead. and the maner of the bleſſednes. For it is wonte to be demaunded, what time ſaluatiō and felicitie happeneth to the dead? whether incontinently, or after a time? that is whether our ſoules flitte by and by and immediately after the death of the body to the bleſſed ſeates? or whether they be intercepted for a certen time, ſo that they might be pourged in purgatorie, before thei enter into heauen? or whether they be holden with a ſlepe, and loke for the reſurrectiō of the bodies, to the intent they might than awake, and together with their bodies enter into heauen: vntounto all the which things the celeſtial oracle aunſweryng, forth with, ſayeth he, that is by & by cometh vntounto ſoules that ſame felicitie. In the latin copies this place is poincted thus, bleſſed are th… dead which dye in the lorde. Forthwith nowe ſayeth the ſpirite, that they maye reſte from their labours. In like maner readeth the Spaniſh or Complutēſian copie. But Aretas and the Greke copies, and alſo the exampler of Paris is thus poincted, that foreign ſhould be the ende of the ſentence, as Eraſmus noteth. After followeth, foreign, which is yee, verely, certēly ſayeth the ſpirite. The ſenſe is therfore, that ye faithfull beyng dead ſhal ſtreight wayes & immediately atchieue ſaluation. For foreign (which word S. Iohn vſeth) ſignifieth, from the very inſtaunt, from that houre immediately, incōtinētly. This ſuffereth no ſpace betwixte, but expreſſeth that, which we are wonte to note by the dutch phraſe, beyng admoniſſhed therfore by a diuine oracle, and confirmed by a writte brought from heauen, let vsus al be aſſured that the ſoules of al faithfull do flitte from the bodily death into life euerlaſting. Theſe thinges are confirmed and made playne alſo by other places of Scriptures innumerable: I wil chouſe out only a certen fewe, and thoſe alſo the teſtimonies of our ſauiour, whiche is the light of the worlde, and the worde of life. In the .3. chapter. of S. Iohn he ſayeth expreſſely, that the faythfull are ſo deliuered frō death by his croſſe, as in times paſte by the ſight of the braſen Serpent the Iſraelites were deliuered from the deadly ſting of venemouſe poiſon. And playne it is, that they were deliuered incontinently and moſt fully. In the .5. of Iohn the ſame ſayeth, he hath paſſed from death to life. Let this place be waied dilligently, and it ſhal appere the ſame alone to ſatiſfie in this matter. In the .6. of Iohn he ſayeth openly, and I will reyſe him in the laſte daye. But he reyſeth not the bodies only at the laſte iudgemente, but in eueryevery mans laſte daye, that is in the death of eueryevery one, he preſerueth the ſoules, that they ſhould not periſh, or be tormented, &c. We hauehave in the goſpel examples moſte clere: to witte of Lazarus the beggar, which was by and by after his death caried vp of thaungelles into the boſome of Abraham: and of the thiefe, whiche hearde of the lord, this daye ſhalt thou be with me in Paradiſe: and of Stephen ſaiyng, Lord Ieſus receyue my ſpirite: but eſpecially of our Sauiour, ſaiyng on the croſſe, father into thy handes I commende my ſpirite, &c.
By theſe are quite ouerthrowen, what thinges ſo euer the monkiſſhe and Antichriſtiane doctrine hath buylded of purgatory, of trētalles, and of the miſerable ſtate of ſoules in an other world. Whereof they made a moſte ſhamefull gayne. They are alſo confuted which beleue, that ſoules be mortall, moreouer that ſoules ſlepe in another world. Where they cā not ſo muche as here in this infirmitie ſlepe. Therefore you wil ſaie it is madnes to thinke, that ſoules ſlepe beyng quitte of the burthen of the body.
But cōcernyng the maner of the bleſſednes of Sainctes, they reſte from their labours.Bleſſednes reſte frō al labours. Saluation therfore, is a moſte ioyeful tranquillitie. Awaye go at ones diſeaſes, ſickeneſſes, griefes, affections, ſorrowe, famine, thirſte, colde, briefly all thinges that vexe or trouble men. Reſt and tranquillitie, ioye and bleſſe come in place. And ſins the dead reſte from theyr labours, who can beleue that they be vexed with tormentes? but leeſte any man ſhould neuer ſo little doubte herof, he annereth a confirmation, foreign, yee, or certenly, verely ſayeth the ſpirite, the dead ſhal be quiet from al their griefes. Let no mā therfore doubte.
Theyr workes follow them.And he addeth an other thing, that the workes of ſainctes followe thē: that is to ſaie, after that the ſainctes be departed hence, than are they rewarded in another world, if they hauehave done any thing wel, if they hauehave ſuffered harde thinges. For there is a rewarde prepared for vertues. The which the ſainctes do hope for and receyue without boaſting of their owne deſerte, and not in contēpte of the merite of Chriſt. For they acknoweledge, that God in his ſainctes crowneth his owne giftes. And this is ſpoken of the rewarde of workes for the conſolatiō of them, which ſuffer many things in this world. So ſayed the lord in the Goſpell: your rewarde is plentifull in heauen. And the Apoſtle affirmeth eueryevery where, that rewardes are prepared for them, that are crucified here with Chriſt. And here let vsus marke dilligently, that theſe thinges are ſpoken alſo of the ſpirite of Chriſte vnderunder the religion of an othe. For the worlde diſpiſeth religiouſe perſones, & ſuche as ſuffer for religiō, and obiecteth, that they loſe their labour and coſte. Cōtrarywiſe the ſpirite by an othe auoucheth, that rewarde is prepared for vertue.
Followe them.Lette vsus marke alſo this, that is ſayed, theyr workes and not other mens, alſo, followe them, and are not by others ſent after them. Let no man therefore diſceaue him ſelfe, let no man thinke, that after his death there ſhould be ſente to him into purgatory by ſoule prieſtes a fardell of other mens merites. Thoſe are not good workes, which ar done by prieſtes & freres beſides and againſt Gods worde, but prouocations of Gods wrath. And be they not in the goſpel ſhut out of the kingdome of God, which runne to others, to bye them oyle. The Scripture in an other place. Lette vsus doe good, whileſt we hauehave time, the time wil come that no man can worke. Let vsus watch therfore, and of faith do good workes in dede.