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THe end of our MEDITATIONS shall bee the meditation of our end, the contemplation of
another life is the Star which guides us from the East to the West, from our Orient to our Occident, and brings us at length to the place where our Saviour is. We know that in every man there is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a naturall queru∣lousnes against death, but this is silenced with the remēbrance of our Resurrection, by which wee learne, that death is better than life, because a passage to a better life. Here wee grow
up to a full vigour, and then wee decrease till we decease: but when we shall ascend above the wheele of time, where nothing but e∣ternity dwelleth, wee shall have such an is∣sue from death, as shal never passe into ano∣ther death; there at first wee come to per∣fect stature, & so con∣tinue for ever, that life shall last as long as the Lord of life him∣selfe.
But why doe I at∣tempt an Eagles flight with the wing of a
wren? why doe I seeke to expresse that which cannot bee expressed? I will not goe beyond my line, for a diapa∣son & rest to our song, for a pawse, a period, an Amen. I will a little descant on that which I find set downe by the Apostle through the sacred Scripture, but principally in that excellent Chapter, which we may call the Spring garden of our Resurrection.
As the Princely Pro∣phet David when hee sweetly warbled on
the glorious Attri∣butes of God, hath for the Amaebaeum & bur∣then to his song, For, his mercy endureth for ever; so that divine & Extaticall Doctor of the Gentils (as if hee had beene the Apostle of the Resurrection) makes this comforta∣ble Doctrine, the matter of most of his Epistles, upon this stocke doth he seeme to plant the whole body of Christiani∣ty.
Christ shall rise first, the observation is, that the sentence of Abso∣lution shall bee pro∣noūced before the sen∣tence of Condemna∣tion, a venite come un∣mee, before an Ite, depart from mee God is loath to let his fu∣ry bee predominant; Then (saith S. Paul) shall wee who live and remaine be caught up with them also in the clouds; the word in the Originall is passive, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, wee shall bee ravished, so our ri∣sing and upgoing shall
not bee by our owne power, but the power of God.
Againe; This cor∣ruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortall, must put on immortallity; not a corruptible or mortall at large, but hoc, this corruptible, this mor∣tall. The blind men which our Saviour cu∣red, received no new made eyes, but only sight to the eyes they had before; The wid∣dowes son, & Lazarus, rose in the same bo∣dies in which they di∣ed.
Hee that was seene in the flesh, shall bee seene of the flesh, yea of this selfesame flesh, videbo mihi: Not the substance or linea∣ments of our bodies shall be changed, but the qualities. When the Apostle saith, hee shall raise up our mor∣tall bodies, hee so cal∣leth them in respect of that which they are now, not in respect of that they shal be then: For in the Resurrecti∣on (as he testifieth that had a prelibation of that glory) they shall
bee raised.
1. Immortall, not subject to any more disease or death, wee shall not stand in need of these ordinary helps of meates and drinks, by which our nature is preserved, Christus tran∣siens ministrabit nobis, and it shall bee our meate and drinke to do our Fathers will.
2. Glorious; The Iust shall shine like the Sunne in the fir∣mament, Et qualis tunc erit splendor animarum, quando solis habebit cla∣ritatem lux corporum?
And to confirme the verity and solidity of this glory, it shall not only be revealed unto us, but (saith the A∣postle) 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, in nobis, in us, Ierusalem as the Kings daughter is all glorious within.
3. Honourable; Every defective mem∣ber shall bee restored to its integrity Iacob shall not hault, Isaac bee blind, nor Leah bleere-eyed, nor Me∣phihosheth be lame; Hoc est credere, Resurrectio∣nem integram credere.
4. Spirituall; I
meane a body so spiri∣tuall, not that it shall loose the dimensions of a body, and pierce through any naturall body, as the light pierceth through the glasse, as the Papists say of the Body of Christ after his Resur∣rection by a penetrati∣on of dimensions; but because without con∣tradiction they shall obey the motions of the Spirit besides the glorified state & con∣dition it then be in.
5. Impassionate; Free from such passi∣ons
as may hurt, and offend, but not from the passion of Ioy, the joy of the soule shall bee the soule of Ioy.
Other particulars I cease to enquire, be∣cause God doth for∣beare to deliver them, and in the silence of the Holy Ghost I will not be curious. I will not winde my selfe in∣to a laborynth, where the happiest wit may lose it selfe. If the Disciple that leaned on our Saviours brest, (his Legatus à latere,
qui esinu Domini biberat mysteria, from out of the bosome of his Ma∣ster dranke deepe of the heavenly wisdom) brake off his Revelati∣on with a Nemo scit, needes must I take up here a 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Quis ad haec idoneus; needs must I leave my Reader with a Theologia negativa, a negative Divinity, or divine ignorance, and tell what is not in hea∣ven.
The plumage of the Cystrian Swanne appeares more white when 'tis oppos'd to
the Ravens blacknesse, and wee may better conjecture at the joies above, if wee consider the miseries on earth.
In this world are a world of troubles; non habet is hic requië, saith the Prophet; Rest and Glory, Glory and rest, are two things that meete not here; the glorious life is not the most quiet, and the quiet life is for the most part inglorious.
Sublunary transitory Are as barres in th'armes of Glory.
Riches and Honor
like Absalons Mule do sometime leave their Master in extremity.
A consideration, which if wel digested, would gather our di∣vided thoughts, and rouze up our soules, quae sursum quaerere, quae sursum sapere, to seeke first the Kingdome of Heaven, and then wee know caetera adijcien∣tur, and indeed when heaven is once named all worldly things are but, &c. not worthy mentioning.
It is observed by those that are skild in
the holy tongue, that in the sacred name Ie∣hovah, are none but lit∣terae-quiescentes, mysti∣cally implying thus much unto us, that God is the God of rest, in whose presence (as the Prophet sings) there is joy, and fulnes of ioy, and fulnesse of it for evermore.
When once we shal be planted in that cae∣lestiall paradice, there shall no apple of con∣tention grow between God and us. It is Na∣zianzens note upon that divine Anthemne
of three parts (which Saint Luke the Evan∣gelist and Psalmist of the new Testament, re∣cords) Pugnas & dissi∣dia nescire Deum & An∣gelos, no broiles, no brables in Heaven.
There shall the soule bee satisfied in all her desires, there shall bee no Actuall or Poten∣tiall evill; no Actuall, because grace being consummate in the Saints excludes al sin; No Potentiall, for they being confirmed in goodnesse cannot sinne. There shall bee
no sorrow, nor teares which are the effects of sorrow, those rivers of our eyes shall bee dried up; There shall be no more death, for Resurrectio eri•• mors mortis; At that Iubile of glory victus vincet, the Conqueror shall bee disarmed, and wee whom death hath o∣vercome, shall over∣come death.
And now having sung deaths Epitaph, & sounded the victo∣ry, I retreit, This 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, shall bee my con∣clusion; were my Inke
nectar, or my pen takē from the wing of an Angell, I could not set forth to the life the joyes of the life immortall.
This casteth me in∣to an extasis, and ma∣keth me imagine some great matter I cannot well expresse, what! Silence shall bee my Eloquence; what I comprehend I will ad∣mire, and what I com∣prehend not I will more admire.
1 Cor. 15.
1 Thes. 4.16.
Apoc. 2.17.
Deus est centrum quietati∣vum.
Psal. 16.11
Luke 2.14.