A Child of God triumphing over Death. [ 1400]
IT hath been an ancient Proverb,* 1.1 when a Man had done some great matter, he was said to have pluck'd a Lyon by the beard; but when a Lyon is dead, even to little Children it hath been an easie matter. As boyes, when they see a Bear, a Lyon, or a Woolf dead in the streets, they will pull off their hair, insult over them, and deal with them as they please; They will trample upon their bodies, and do that unto them being dead, which they durst not in the least mea∣sure venture upon whilest they were alive. Such a thing is Death, a furious beast, a ramping Lyon, a devouring Woolf, the helluo generis humani, eater up of Mankind, yet Christ hath laid him at his length, hath been the death of Death, so that Gods Children triumph over him,* 1.2 such as those refined ones in the oare of the Church, those Martyrs of the Primitive times, who cheerfully offered themselves to the Fire, and to the sword, and to all the violence of this hungry beast; and have played upon him, scorned and derided him by the Faith that they had in the life of Christ,* 1.3 who hath subdued him to himself.