LXXX sermons preached at the parish-church of St. Mary Magdalene Milk-street, London whereof nine of them not till now published / by the late eminent and learned divine Anthony Farindon ... ; in two volumes, with a large table to both.

The Thirteenth SERMON. (Book 13)

PHILIPP. III. 10, 11.

That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conforma∣ble unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

THat I may know him, carrieth but an imperfect sense, and sendeth us back to that which goeth before: Where we shall find our blessed Apostle at his holy Arithmetick, at a strict computation, ad digitos & calculos cogentem, casting up his accounts as it were at his fingers ends. He beginneth with Circumcision, ver. 2. proceedeth to the Law, ver. 5. riseth up to the Righteousness which is in the Law, ver. 6. He ta∣keth in his Stock, his Tribe, his Sect, his Zele, his unblameable Course of life. And that his Audite may be exact, ver. 8. he bringeth in 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, all things. These be the Particulars. But what is the Sum? Circumcision, the Law, Zele, Righteousness, All things, a large account; and, which is strange, the sum is Nothing. And will Nothing make a sum? Though it cannot, yet better Nothing then be at loss. But our Accountant here, S. Paul, when he hath reckoned all, sitteth down a loser. For you see his Particulars are many, but his Sum is Nothing; and, which is worse then Nothing, Loss; and lower yet, but Dung, ver. 8. the most unsavoury loss. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Circumcision is concision; and the teachers of it, dogs, ver. 2. that will not onely bark but bite; evil workers, that work to pull down, and build to ruine. His confidence in the flesh he castest away: his privileges disenable him: his zele is madness: the Law, and the righteousness thereby, oh! he is ashamed of it. He will by no means be found in it, ver. 9. His gain is loss; all things, but dung, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, garbage and filth to be thrown to dogs, ver. 8. Obsecro, expone te paululum, saith the Father; Good Apostle, what paradoxes, what riddles are these? Unfold thy self. What? Circumcision, Nothing? Thy self bledst under the knife. The Law, Nothing? Why, it was just, and true, and holy, and good. And Righteous∣ness, the very name is pretious. Expone te paululum. We are in a cloud, and besieged with darkness: we cannot believe S. Paul himself without an exposition. Verily a strange contemplation it is: and we may at first conceive S. Paul now to have been, not in the third heaven, but in a cloud. Every step is in darkness, every word a mystery. But yet fol∣low him to ver. 8. and some day appeareth; the day-spring from on high

hath visited us. And then the Philosopher will tell us, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, That which is most excellent is most desirable. Bring in the knowledge of Christ, and righteousness by faith, and the righteousness which is of the Law is not a wish, nor worth the looking on. In Comparisons it is so. One object may carry that lustre and eminency above another that they will scarce stand together in comparison. What is a Bugle to a Crown? What is a Cottage to a Kingdom? What is Gold to Virtue? What is unrighte∣ousness to the Law? And what is the Law to Christ? My Apostle then concludeth well, Circumcision is nothing, and the Law is nothing, and gain is loss, and all things are but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, dung, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. It is now day with us, and Christ himself appeareth. But every dawn∣ing is not a day: Every apparition is not a full manifestation. A general notion of Christ is not light enough, but leaveth him still as it were in shadows and under the veil. To know him is life; but to know him cruci∣fied, saith S. Paul. As Apelles in every line, so Christ is most clearly seen in the several passages of his glorious dispensation and oeconomy. Christ crucified, Christ risen from the dead, Christ on the wings of the wind in his ascension, is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a great spectacle, worthy our contemplati∣on, an object as full of light as comfort. Who would not go forth to see such a sight? Behold then, Faith ver. 9. draweth and openeth the veil, and presenteth Christ, not onely in his bloud and sufferings, but in his triumph and resurrection, with the keyes of Hell and of Death, with pow∣er and authority! And can we wonder to see S. Paul contemn and spurn at all that he hath, to sell all that he hath, for this Pearl? Should he take up dung, and leave a diamond? Can we think he forgetteth himself when he desireth to be forgetful of those things which he hath cast behind him? Or what posture can we think to behold him in but in that of Extension, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, ver. 13. stretched forth and earnestly reaching at the object? For see, his supply far exceedeth what before he could not want, and the gain answereth and confuteth each particular of his loss. Do the evil workers cry up Circumcision? S. Paul doth so little need it that himself is the supply; For we our selves are the circumcision, ver. 3. That which ma∣keth and constituteth a Christian is the Circumcision of the heart.* 1.1 Do they thunder out the Law? He is as loud for the knowledge of Christ. Do they plead Righteousness? He pleadeth it too, but his plea is stronger, the Righteousness through the faith of Christ: they plead the Law, which worketh wrath, and cannot give life. In a word; He will renounce his stock, his tribe, his sect, the Law, and will be no more a Jew or Pharisee, that he may be a Christian; That he may know him, and the power of his resurrecti∣on, &c.

This is the dependence of my Text. Apart it affordeth thus much va∣riety. We have here our Apostle's desire levelled on two things; To attain, and To know; To attain to the resurrection of the dead, and To know Christ, and the virtue of his resurrection and passion. The first is the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the prime architectonical end, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as the Philosopher would call it, that which setteth all a working; a Resurrection to glo∣ry. The second comprehendeth those 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, intermediate operations, which lead us to this end. To rise to glory is a glorious end, and it is proposed to all: but none attain to it but by the knowledge of Christ, and by the power of his resurrection, and by the fellowship of his sufferings, and conformity to his death. I know there is a subordination of Ends: but here we cannot suddenly determine which is S. Paul's principal and chief end; his desire is carried with that vehemency, and so fixed on both. He de∣sireth to attain, and he desireth to know; and he would not know but that

he might attain, nor attain without this knowled••••. He would rise with Christ in glory, but he would rise and suffer with him here first in this life. He would be a Saint in heaven, but first a Christian on earth. His desire is eager on both; and it is not easie to discern where the flame is hottest. I told you he was 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, extended and stretched forth: And so he is, like Elijah on the child, on each part and limb of Christ's oeconomy. For though he mention onely his Passion and Resurrection, yet he in∣cludeth the rest. And we must remember to take the great work of our Redemption (though the passages and periods of it be various) for one continued act. S. Paul would be born with Christ, and he would die with Christ, that he might rise with Christ, and that he might reign with Christ. His desire is eager, but not irregular. He would not be with Christ, if he were not first like him; nor have Glory without Grace; nor attain, if he did not know; nor go to heaven without Christ's uncti∣on, which may make him conformable to him. My Division now is easie. Our Apostle desireth to know, and to attain. And as Knowledge hath its Object, so have our Desires theirs, which is their end. And here we have them both: the Object of our Knowledge, delivered first 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, in a generality, UT COGNOSCAM ILLUM. That I may know him, that is, Christ; secondly, dilated and enlarged in two main particulars, 1. Resurrection, 2. his Passion. In the one he beholdeth power, in the other fellowship and communion; which includeth 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a conformity to his death. Christ indeed is risen, but he suffered first; so must we be conformable to his death, if we will feel the power of his resur∣rection. So these three are most considerable, 1. Christ, 2. the power of his resurrection, 3. the fellowship of his sufferings, these are three rich Dia∣monds, and if they be well set, (if we take the words in their true Syn∣taxis, and joyn configuratus to cognoscam, our conformity to his death to our knowledge of his sufferings and resurrection) we shall place them right, even so fix them in the Understanding part that they will reflect or cast a lustre on the Heart, even such a lustre as will light us through the midst of rocks and difficulties unto the end here aimed at, the Resurrecti∣on of the dead. Of these then in their order: Of the Object first; then of the Nature of our Knowledge; which will bring us to the End, though beset with words of fear and difficulty, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, if by any means. We be∣gin, I say, with the Object in general, That I may know him.

We begin with Christ, who is Α, and Ω, the beginning and the ending. From whom we have saith the Father, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to live, and to live well, and to live for ever. If we begin without him, we run into endless mazes of errour and delusion; every on-set is danger, every step an overthrow. And if we end not in him, we end indeed, but it is in misery without an end.* 1.2 To know him is life eternal. Then our Ignorance must needs be fatal, and bring on a death as lasting. For where can we be safe from the Deluge but in the Ark? Where can we rest our feet but upon this Stone? Where can we build but upon this Foundation? For let Philosophie and the Law divide the world into Jew and Gen••ile, and then open those two great Books of God, his Works and his Words, and see, the Philosopher hath so studied the Crea∣ture that he maketh his God one,* 1.3 and turneth his glory, saith the Apostle, into the similitude of corruptible Man, nay, into Birds, and Beasts, ••••d Creep∣ing things. And the Jew's proficiency reached but so far as to know he was the worse for it. On every letter he findeth gall and wormwood and the very bitterness of Death. The Philosopher hath learned no more then this, that he can be but happy here; and the Jew, that without a better guide he must be unhappy for ever. Reason, the best light the Heathen

had, could not shew them the unsteddy fluctuations of the mind, the storms and tempests of the soul, the weakness of nature, and the dimness of her own light, how faint her brightness is, how she is eclipst with her own beams; how Reason may behold indeed a supreme, but not a saving, Power, because she will be Reason. It is true; the light of Reason is a light, and from heaven too: But every light doth not make it day, nor is every star the Sun. And though we are to follow this light which every man brought with him into the world; yet if we look not on that greater Light, the Sun of Righteousness, which hath now spread his beams over the face of the earth, we cannot but fall into the ditch, even into the pit of destruction. The light then of Reason will not guide us so far in the wayes of happiness as to let us know we stand in need of a surer guide; and therefore the Gospel, you know, is called that wisdom which descend∣ed from above. But now, in the next place, for the Jew; Ye will say that the Law was the Law of God, and so made to be a lantern to their feet, and a light to their paths. 'Tis true; it was so. But the Apostle will tell us that by this light too we may miscarry, as being not bright enough to direct us to our end, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,* 1.4 because it giveth a weak and unprofitable light. In the verse before my Text S. Paul seemeth to run away from it, and utterly to renounce the Law, not quoad substantiam, not indeed in regard of the duties therein contained, but quoad officium justificandi, in that it could not justifie, not make him per∣fect, not lead him to his end. It may threaten, accuse, contemn and kill: and so in Scripture it is said to do: And then what guilty person will sue for pardon from a dead letter, which is inexorable? We may say of the Law as S. Paul speaketh of the yearly sacrifice,* 1.5 that is did not make the comers thereto perfect, but left behind it a conscience of sin; not onely ex parte reatus, a conscience that did testifie they sinned, and af∣fright them with the guilt, but ex parte vindictae, a conscience which que∣stioned not onely their sin, but their atonement, and told them plainly that by the Law no man could be justified. And therefore S. Chrysostom, on that place, will tell us, In that the Jews did offer sacrifice, it seemed they had conscience that accused them of sin; but that they sacrificed continually, ar∣gued that they had a conscience too, which accused their sacrifice of imperfection. Wherefore then served the Law? The Apostle answereth well,* 1.6 It was added because of trangressions; not to disannul the Covenant, but as an atten∣dant an additament, as a glass to discover sin. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith Clemens, The Law doth not beget sin, (for that it cannot do) but manifest it. Non est in speculo, quod ostenditur. I may shew you a Death's head in a glass, but there is no such horrid substance there: And the Law, which is most perfect in it self, may represent my wants unto me, and make me flie to some richer Treasury for a supply. Now to draw this home; When both Lights fail, when the Law of Na∣ture is so dim that it cannot bring us to our journey's end, and the Law written is as loud to tell us of our leasings as to direct us in our way, what should we do but look up upon the Sun if righteousness, Christ Jesus, who came to improve and perfect Nature, and who is the end of the Law and the end of our hopes and the end of our faith, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as the Father calleth him, that great Sabbath, in which the Jew and the Gentile may rest; in which the Father resteth as well pleased, and the holy Ghost resteth; in whom the Saints and Martyrs and the whole Church have their eternal rest? For such an high Priest became us, saith the Apostle, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, separate from sinners,* 1.7 separate from the Gen∣tile's blindness, and separate from the Jew's stubbornness and imperfe∣ction, of a transient mortality and a permanent beatitude, a God and a

Man, that he might 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, gather together into one, both Jew and Gentile, Law and Reason, make the Law Natural useful and the Law written useful, that so those fair whispers of Truth which mis-led the Gen∣tile, and that loud accusing Truth which affrighted the J••w, may be in subserviency and attendance on Christ himself, that the light of Nature and the light of the Law, which were but scattered beams from his eternal Brightness, may be collected and united in Christ again, who is Α and Ω, the Beginning and the End, in which Circle and Compass they are at home, brought back again to their Original. And do we not now be∣gin to look upon our Reason as useful indeed, but most insufficient to reach unto the End? Do we not renounce the Law, our selves, all things? Do we not melt in the same flame with our Apostle? Is it not our ambi∣tion to be lost to all the world, that we may be found in Christ? Shall we not cast all things behind us, that we may look forward upon him? What would we not be ignorant of, that we may know him? That we may know him, we will know nothing else. Our understandings here are fixed, and cannot be removed. Nor shall our contemplation let him go, till we have seen him rising from the dead, and known 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the power of his resurrection. Which is the next Object we are to look upon, and our next Part.

That Christ is risen from the dead, is an article of our Faith, fundatissi∣mae fidei, saith the Father, a principle of the Doctrine of Christ, a truth so clear and evident that the malice and envy of the Jew cannot avoid it. For let them be at charge to bribe the watchmen, and let the watchmen sleep so soundly that an earthquake cannot wake them, and then say his Disciples stole him away, this poor shift is so far from shaking, that it con∣firmeth our faith. For, if they were asleep, how could they tell his Disciples stole him away? Or, if they did steal him, what could they take away more then a carcase? He is risen; he is not here: If an Angel had not said it, yet the Earthquake, the Clothes, the Grave it self did speak without an epitaph. Or, if these were silent, yet where such strange impossibilities are brought in to colour and promote it, a Lie doth confute it self, and Malice helpeth to confirm the Truth. For it we have a verdict given up by Cephas and the twelve,* 1.8 we have a cloud of wit∣nesses, even five hundred brethren, and more, who saw him. We have a cloud of bloud too, the testimony of Martyrs, who took their death on it, so certain of this Truth that they sealed to it with their bloud, and because they could not live to publish it, proclaimed it by the loss of life. And can we have better evidence? Yes: we have a surer word, the word of God himself, a surer verdict then of a Jury, a better witness then five hun∣dred, a louder testimony then the bloud of Martyrs. And we have our Faith too, which will make all difficulties easie, and conquereth all. And therefore we cannot complain of distance, or that we are so many ages re∣moved from the time wherein it was done. For now Christ risen is be∣come a more obvious object then before. The diversity of the Mediums have increased and multiplied him. We see him through the bloud of Martyrs, and we see him in his Word, and we see him by the eye of Faith. Christ is risen according to the Scriptures.* 1.9 Offenderunt Judaei in Christum la∣pidem, saith S. Augustine; When the Jews stumbled at him, he presented but the bigness of a stone: but our Infidelity can find no excuse, if we see him not now he appeareth as visible as a mountain.

Christ then is risen from the dead. And we have but touched upon it, to give you one word of the day in the Day it self. But that our Easter may be a feast indeed, and our rejoycing not in vain, let us, as the Apo∣stle speaketh, go on to perfection, and make a further search, to find the

reason of our joy in the power of his resurrection. And what is the power of his resurrection? The Apostle telleth us, it was a mighty power.* 1.10 In∣deed it rent the rocks, and shook the earth, and opened the graves, and forced up the dead bodies of the Saints. We may adde; It made the Law give place, and the Shadows vanish; it abolished the Ceremonies, broke down the Altars, levelled the Temple with the ground. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, great wonders, all. Magnitudo virtutis ostenditur in effectu; The greatness of power is most legible in the effects it worketh. And here the volume is so great that the world cannot contain it. Come see, saith the An∣gel, the place where the Lord lay. A Lord he was, though in his grave. And by the same power he raised both himself and us. By the same power he shook the earth, and will shake the heaven also,* 1.11 disannulled the Law, and established the Gospel; broke down one alter, and set up another; abolished Death, and brought Life and Immortality to light,* 1.12 shall raise our vile bodies, and shall raise our vile souls. Shall raise them? He hath done it already. Conresuscitavit, saith the Apostle,* 1.13 we are raised together with him both in soul and body, and all by the power of his resur∣rection. For

1. Christ's Resurrection is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 at least, an exemplary cause, of our spiritual rising from the death of sin. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith Nazianzene; Christ is risen from the dead, that we may follow after him, we who are 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, planted together, in the likeness of his death,* 1.14 dead to our lusts, as he was to the functions and operations of life; and planted with him in the likeness of his resurrection, rising and exalting our selves, and triumphing over Sin and Death; so grafted in him that we may spring and grow green, and blossom and bring forth fruit, both a∣like, and by the same power.

Now as Christ's Resurrection is a patern of our soul's resurrection, so is it of our bodie's also. For we are not of Hymenaeus and Philetus mind, to think the resurrection past already, and make it but an Allegory. No: Christ hath cast the model of our bodie's Resurrection also. Plato's Idea and common Form, by which he thought all other things had their ex∣sistence; was but a dream. This is a real patern. The Angel descend∣ed at his, and shall at ours. He is risen in our nature. Isaac's figurative Resurrection, Joseph's Pit, and Prison, Jonah's Whale, Daniel's Den, were but types and bare resemblances: This is a patern with power. He hath shewed it us already, and at his second coming he will give us power to take it out. For as an artificer hath not lost his art when he hath finished one piece, no more did Christ his power when he raised him∣self. No: it worketh still even to the end of the world. Perfectissi∣mum est exemplar minùs perfecti: That which he wrought upon himself was most exact and perfect, a fit patern for that he means to work on us; which will be like to his indeed, but not so glorious. Not that Christ is so like us that he cannot work but by a patern, nor raise us out of our graves unless he look back into his own. Our imaginations are not so gross. But Christ hath drawn forth his Resurrection as exemplary ex parte resuscitandorum, for us, to shew how we should rise, and that upon our graves shall be written too the epitaph of Resurrection, They are risen; they are not here.

Thus is Christ the exemplary cause of our resurrection. But this in∣deed demonstrateth not a power; nor will a patern raise me. I may have the copy of the Universe, but I cannot make another world. I may be∣hold the picture of Christ rising from the dead, and not be able to draw a line after it. Christ is risen; I read it in Scripture, and believe it too: but this will no more raise me up, then it will make me valiant to read of

Scipio or of Julius Caesar. I confess, Objects have a moving and attractive force, but no such forcible causality. The Heavens are a fair sight, but they will not make a blind man see. And shall a bare patern then make a dead man rise again? It is true; If it were onely a patern, and no more, it could not; or if he who gave us the patern, who was the patern, had not given us an instrument to work by, even Faith, the instrumental cause of our spiritual Resurrection. And now it doth raise us up as the object of our Faith, merely by being looked upon, as the brasen serpent did heal those who were bitten in the wilderness.

Besides this, we may boldly say there is a proper efficiency in Christ's Resurrection, an influence and virtue flowing from it upon us; a dew, as the Prophet calleth it, a dew on our souls, and a dew on our bodies, a dew which will recover a withered soul, and make a dead body grow a∣gain. Our Apostle plainly saith Rom. 4.25. By it we are justified, and by it we are raised. For if there went forth virtue from his very garment, why may not a power proceed also from his Resurrection; I know Christ is all in all, not bound nor confined to any instrument. If he had not risen, yet, as God, he might have raised us. But when he dieth and ri∣seth again for our sakes, when he useth this to this end, we may well call it an efficient cause, because he made it so. But did not Christ finish all upon the cross? Nor do I attribute all to his Resurrection, but a power to perform something after the Consummatum est, when all was done, a power to apply his merits, and make his satisfaction sure pay; as the stamp and character doth not better a piece of gold, but make it current. I told you before, the whole work of our Redemption, though the passages be various, is in esteem but one continued act: Nor in laying out the causes of our salvation must we sever and divide the Passion from the Resurre∣ction: And yet we never read that either the Resurrection did satisfie, or the Passion raise us; and we may be bold to say, without any de∣rogation to Christ's Death and Passion, that we are raised again by the power of his Resurrection.

And now, Come, see in Christ's Resurrection thy own. Nostra natura in Christi hypostasi revixit, saith the Father: Our nature was united in Christ's Person, and in him revived. As he took of us To die once, so we take from him To rise again, and live for ever. Son of man, can these bones live?* 1.15 it was said to the Prophet in the valley of bones, Can these dry bones, this dust scattered before the wind, this flesh burnt to ashes, or devoured by fishes, or digested by Cannibals, after so many alterations and disper∣sions and assimilations, live? Yes: He will prophesie upon these bones, and call them from the four winds, and the breath of Christ's Resurrection shall revive them. And this is not a bold presumption, as the Heathen termed it. For though my flesh be eaten by a Cannibal, and that Canni∣bal by a beast, and that beast by fishes, and those fishes by men, and those men by fishes again, though I have all these dispersions and transmigrations of my flesh, yet am I still 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, in the storehouses of a power∣ful Lord: and he will recollect and restore me to my own substance again, & de Caio Caius reducetur, as Tertullian speaketh, the same Caius that di∣ed shall be raised up. Think, saith he, what thou wert before thou wert; and then thou canst not doubt but that he that made thee by his word of No∣thing, can gather thy sacttered parts again by the power of his resurrection. But if power be most seen in the performance of the greatest difficulties, see yet a more uncouth and horrid spectacle, more irrecoverable then rottenness, more sensless then a carcase: Behold a dead Soul in a living body, which is dead, and yet dieth every moment; behold a man who,

if he were not mortal, would be dead and dying to all eternity. You will say the man liveth, and eateth, and talketh, and is in health. I, but his Soul is dead, by which he liveth; and then what life is that which Death it self doth actuate? For see a Man, the statue of himself, who being destitute of Grace hath lost his Reason, or maketh no other use of it but to mislead him. Aures assunt, sed migravit auditor; His Ears are o∣pen, but his hearing is gone. Eyes he hath, but seeth no more then a dead corpse with the eyes open. His Tongue is nailed to the roof of his mouth, and he keepeth silence, but onely from good. No action, no moti∣on, no affection. His Understanding is the house of darkness and oblivi∣on; his Will, a wandering shadow; his Affections, distracted and blown before the wind, scattered like so many straws on a wrought sea, from billow to billow, from vanity to vanity, from one excess to another. Son of man, can these bones live? Can these broken sinews of the soul come together again? Can such a disordered clock, where every wheel is bro∣ken, be set again? Can this dead soul, this almost a Devil, be made a Saint, and walk before God in the land of the living? We stand amazed, and must answer with the Prophet, O Lord God, thou knowest. This know∣ledge is too wonderful for us, that we cannot attain to it: But, Lord God, thou knowest that this dissolved, p••••rified, carcase-Soul may see the light again; that Mary Magdalene may rise from sin as well as her brother Lazarus from the grave; that my Understanding which is now an Egypt, a land of darkness, may be a Goshen, full of light; that my Will may leave her erratick motion from good to evil, and from evil to worse, and settle and fix on the Truth it self, and be guided by one rule; that my Affections may dwell at home; that that lively image of Truth, which the Father of lies defaced, may be renewed again, ut interpolator se opus Christi doleret perdidisse, as S. Hierom; that as the envy of the Devil was great in our destruction, so he shall rage more and more, find hell more hell then it is, to see us now built up fairer in our restauration. Thus thus they are Christ's, as they have crucified the lusts and affections, so are they risen with Christ. And indeed we cannot well tell how to distinguish Christ's Re∣surrection and ours; they are so linked together. He is risen, and we are risen, and we rose both together. His Easter-day and ours are but one and the same Feast. We were not a royal priesthood, nor did reign till now: but then when Christ was risen, as Tertullian speaketh, we had our inauguration. For if we view the passages of a Christian's life, there is a 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 that joyneth and linketh Christ and us together, and maketh us one with Christ. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, conformed to him, in my Text. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,* 1.16 If ye be risen together with him. And 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,* 1.17 We are buried together with him in baptism. The threefold immersion into the water, which was in use in the first times, shewed them in the grave three dayes with Christ, and their Emersion brought them up again as risen. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, saith the Apostle, Ye are buried with him.* 1.18 And in these waters they promised to leave their filth and corruption. It is sufficient they did lie there; the remainder of their life must be a Resurrection.

But it may be said, If this be the power of the Resurrection, why is it not so extended as to be effectual in all? We answer, so it is, as far as is con∣venient for that power to work, and the subject is capable. Tota humani∣tas Christi influit in omnes homines; Christ's Humanity hath an influence and operation upon all mankind. He took it all, and will raise it all. Our Apostle is plain and positive; As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive again. All; even the wicked too; But they barely by his power as a Judge; The godly, by a kind of fellowship with their elder Brother: Both, by the virtue of his Resurrection. And thus it worketh

upon a Body with that power which is requisite to raise a body that is now putrefied and incinerated and almost annihilated: And it worketh upon a Soul with such a power as is fitted to a soul, which hath an under∣standing and a will, though biassed and perverted and carried from their proper operations for which they were made. It is the great errour of the world, and the mother and nurse of all the rest, that that maketh men worse then the beasts that perish, that they think their souls are to be raised up here in this life in the same manner as their bodies shall be at the last day, and that their first resurrection may be wrought as their second shall be, in a moment and in the twinkling of an eye. We would be ga∣thered into heaven as we are unto our fathers, by a kind of order or course of Nature, or by that word and power which created us. We would have the heavens bow themselves, and take us in, and make our passage unto bliss through the same wide way which leadeth unto Death. We would out of our graves, and leave no grave-cloths, nothing of our mortality or corruption behind us. And yet I do not read of any precept to bind us, or counsel to persuade us, to contribute any thing to, or put a hand to forward, the resurrection of our bodies. Nor can there be any: For it will be done whether we will or no. But to awake from that pleasant sleep we take in sin, to cast off the works of d••rkness, to be renewed and rai∣sed in the inward man, we have line upon line, precept upon precept. We have promises that if we gain a part in this first resurrection, we shall be blessed. And though Christ work in us both the will and the deed, yet a ne∣cessity and law lieth upon us, and woe be unto us if we work not out our salva∣tion with fear and trembling. It is a lazy and wilful ignorance, so to mag∣nifie Christ's power as to leave him none at all, no power over our wills to regulate them, or over our affections to compose and subdue them, but the very same which raised him out of his grave. And this maketh us rot and stink in ours. This hope destroyeth all hope. For what hope of recovering or raising him who will be sick upon this presumption, that his Physician is able and willing to cure him whether he will or no? For may he not thus raise up Devils as well as Men? And what great difference between them and an obstinate sinner, who hath 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a reprobate mind, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as Theophylact expresseth it, a mind of marble, which will receive no impression, neither from the beauty of God's promises nor from the terrour of his threatnings; which reverberateth and beateth back every precept, and that Hammer of God which beateth upon it; which neither the glory of Heaven nor the fire of Hell can melt: What great difference is there, I say, between them? In them there is the same detestation of Divine justice, the same perversness of will, the same blas∣phemous thoughts in the heart. All the difference is, that these are not in termino, as the damned Spirits are, and so not under an impossibility of being raised. But Death maketh them the very same. For every ob∣stinate offender that dieth without repentance carrieth a Devil along with him into the next world, that is, a stubborn and uncorrected will, which did ever detest, and now will curse, the righteous will of God. Beloved, if we have no part in that first Resurrection, it is not from any desect of power in Christ's. For as he raiseth up every man in his own order, so doth he after his own manner of working. He calleth and groneth at our graves, as he did at Lazarus's For can we think that he who made such hast out of his own, can be well pleased to see us rotting in ours? It is a good rule Tertullian giveth, That it is neither honour to Christ nor wisdom for our selves, to give him so much power as to think there is nothing in our selves, and, because he can bear all the burthen, not to touch it with one of our fingers. For this is to defeat his Will of its end, and his Power

of its operation, and as much as in us lieth to bury the Resurrection it self. To conclude this; Behold, the Lord shall descend with a shout, and with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead bodies shall arise. And this is the Resurrection of the body. And behold, he descendeth with a shout, with his own voice, with the trump of God which is his Gospel; he descendeth and knocketh, and is willing to enter the heart of Man, though it be but a sepulchre of rotten bones. And they that hear his voice do come forth, and walk in newness of life. And this is the first Resurrection. But it is too plain, every man doth not hear Christ's voice: and the power of his Resurrection is still the same. For here some∣thing is required at our hands; something we are to do our selves. And though all supply be from him, and we have nothing which we have not received, yet he is pleased to take it as our contribution. In this he doth not love to be alone. For what is an Object without an Act? What is the beauty of the firmament, if there were no eye to discover it? There∣fore if we will have Christ anoint us, or his Resurrection powerfully to raise us, we must, with S. Paul, learn to forget all other things, and stretch our selves towards him, and earnestly study to know him, and the power of his Resurrection; Which is next to be considered; That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection.

We cannot take in all, and therefore will conclude with this. That I may know him. Why, who knoweth him not? They that blaspheme him, know him; they that betray him, know him; they know him, that perse∣cute and crucifie him in his members every day; they that make use of his name, not to cast out Devils, but to be so, the accusers and destroyers of their brethren, who make use of the name of a Saviour to pluck up and root out even those that know him and his resurrection. And if to know him be all, then with Hymenaeus and Philetus we may say the resurrection is past already, all graves are open, and not onely many Saints, but even De∣vils themselves, are risen. But we must remember that in Scripture works of knowledge imply the Affections, and Knowledge is commonly linked and joyned with its end. If a man say he knoweth him,* 1.19 and keepeth not his commandments, he is a liar. He that shall say he knoweth Christ, that he receiveth and embraceth his doctrine, that he loveth him, and is his disciple, and yet keepeth not his commandments, which is the onely argu∣ment of Love, the best approbation of his Doctrine, and the true badge and mark of a Disciple, is a liar: and he that saith he knoweth the power of his resurrection, and is not risen from the dead, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. For how can he at once embrace his doctrine, and reject it? love Christ, and yet despise him? be a disciple, and betray him? And what a soloecism is the power of the Resurrection in his mouth who loveth his grave, and will not be raised up? It is not speculative but practick knowledge that the Apostle here studieth. For that knowledge which endeth in it self is worse then Ignorance; because Ignorance may some∣what mitigate and lessen our neglect, but Knowledge, profest Knowledge, doth enlarge the bill and hand writing which is against us, and draweth it out in more bloudy and killing characters then before. This Knowledge is not here meant. For,

1. This speculative Knowledge is a naked assent, and no more, and hath nothing in it of the Will. For the Understanding is not an arbitrary but a necessary faculty, and cannot but apprehend things in that shape and form they represent themselves in. And therefore towards our Resurre∣ction there is required something of the Seraphim and something of the Cherubim, Heat as well as Light, and Love as well as Knowledge. For Love is active, and will remove every stone and difficulty, when specula∣tive

Knowledge and idle Faith may leave us in our graves, onely looking upwards, but bound hand and foot. Love will make a battery and for∣cible entrance into heaven, whilest Speculation standeth without and looketh upon it as in a map. For Speculation is but a look, a cast of the eye of the Understanding, and no more, and doth but place us, as God did Moses on mount Nebo, to see that spiritual Canaan which we shall ne∣ver enjoy. And then what comfort is it to know what Justification is, and want the hand of a lively Faith to lay ••old on Christ? what Sancti∣fication is, and yet to stand it out, and resist the blessed Spirit? to read, and believe it too, that a good conscience is a continual feast, and not to taste of one of her dainties? to dispute of Paradise, and have no title to it? to know Christ, and not savour of his oyntment? and the power of his resurrection, and be more unremoveable then a rock, more unrecove∣rable then they who have been dead long ago, and are in a manner to be restored out of Nothing? And what a fruitless Knowledge is that which can speak largely of God's Grace, and resist it? of Perseverance, and fall more then seven times a day? This is not true Knowledge, but a bare assent, and so far from being injoyned in Scripture, that in respect of it Ignorance may seem the safer choice; and, rather then thus onely to know, we may say with the Apostle, Let them that be ignorant, be ignorant still. For

2. This bare naked Knowledge doth work in us at the most but a weak purpose of mind, a faint velleity, a forced and unvoluntary approbati∣on. For who can see such a sight, and not in some degree be taken? Who can see the glory of his Resurrection, and not be moved? Who can look upon the Temple, and not ask, What buildings are these? Who can see the way to life, and not approve it? Christ is the way, and Christ is risen, that we might rise from sin: We know it, and confess it: But if this would raise us up, what a multitude of Sectaries, what a herd of Epicures, what an assembly of Pharisees, what a congregation of fools (I had almost said, what a Legion of Devils) were already risen with him? We know Christ; we talk of nothing more; In our misery we implore his help; In his name we lie down, and in his name we rise up; In his name we cast out Devils; When affliction beateh upon us, he charmeth the storm; when our conscience chideth us, he maketh our peace; In adversity, in distress, in the tempest of a torn and distracted soul, he is all in all; We talk of him; we feed on him in the Sacrament; we many times leave our call∣ings but to hear of him: But yet all these may be rather profers then mo∣tions, rather pleasing thoughts then painful strugglings with our selves, rather a looking upwards then a rising, cogitationes similes conatibus ex∣pergisci volentium, as S. Augustine speaketh of himself in his Confessions, thoughts like unto the endeavours of men half-asleep, who would and would not be awaked, who seem to move and stir, and lightly lift up the head, and then fall down fast asleep, fall back again into their graves and into the place of silence. Nay,

3. This Speculation, this naked approbation, is but a dream. Visus adesse mihi. Christ may seem to rouze us when he moveth us not at all. And as in dreams we seem to perform, we do every thing, and we do nothing; Nunc fora, nunc lites; we plead, we wrastle, we fight, we tri∣umph, we sail, we flie; and all is but a dream: So, when we have seen the Gospel as in a map, when we have made a phansiful peregrination through all the riches and glories and delights it affordeth; when we have seen our Saviour in the cratch, led him into the High priest's hall, followed him to mount Calvary, seen him on his cross, brought him back again with triumph from his grave, we may think indeed we are risen

with him: But when Conscience shall begin to be enlightned, and dart her piercing raies upon us, and plainly tell us that we have not fasted with him, that we have not watched with him, that we have not gone about with him doing good, that we have been so far from crucifying our flesh for his sake, that we have crucified him again to fulfil the lusts thereof; that the World, and not Christ, hath been the form that moved us in the whole course of our life; that our rising hath been nothing else but de∣ceptio visûs an apparition, a phantasm, a jugling, and Pharasaical vaunt∣ing of our selves; behold, then it will appear that all was but a dream; that we have seen Christ rising from the dead, and acknowledged the power of his resurrection, but are no more risen our selves then our pictures; that we have but dreamed of life, and are still under the power of Dark∣ness and in the valley and shadow of Death.

For conclusion then; What saith the Scripture? Awake thou that sleep∣est, and stand up from the dead. For this is to know and feel the power of Christ's resurrection. Let us not please our selves with visions and dreams, with the flattery of our own imaginations. Let us not think that, if we have magnified the power of the Resurrection, we are therefore already ri∣sen. For we can never demonstrate this power, till we actually rise. Let Knowledge beget Practice, and Practice encrease our Knowledge. Let us know Christ, that is, obey him. Let us know the power of his resurrecti∣on, that is, rise from the death of Sin to walk in righteousness. For this is with open face to behold the glory of Christ and his Resurrection. This pra∣ctick and affective Knowledge maketh us one with Christ,* 1.20 giveth us a fel¦lowship of his sufferings, conformeth and fashioneth us to his death, mortifieth our earthly members, destroyeth the whole body of sin, maketh us die with Christ, and live unto Christ, unto him who died for us, and is risen again. By this we are made 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, limmers, nay the very pictures, of the Passion and Resurrection; that we may be dead to sin, and alive to righteousness; that we may deal with our Sin as ••••e Jews did with Christ, hate and persecute it, lay wait for it, send forth a band of souldiers, all the strength we have, to apprehend and take it, drag it to the bar, accuse and condemn it, revile, and spit in its face; that there may be vinegar in our tears, and gall in our Repentance; that we may nail Sin to the cross, and put it out of ease, that it live but a dying life, not able to move our members, more then he can his who is nailed to a tree, that it faint and lan∣guish by degrees, and at last give up the ghost; and then that we may rise again, that the good Spirit may descend from heaven, and remove the many stones (the many vicious habits and customs) that lie heavy up∣on us, that we may leave our graves and our grave-cloths behind us, all pretenses and palliations, all ties and bonds of sin, and whatsoever hath any sent or savour of corruption. To conclude; This is truly to know Christ, and the power of his resurrection. And this Knowledge will melt us, this liquefaction will transform us, and this transformation unite us to Christ, and this union will be our exultation, and this exultation an everlasting jubilee. In a word; This will quit us of all uncertainties, lead us through all difficulties; and by these means we shall attain to, not 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a bare, but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, a full resurrection; which no death, no evil shall follow; a Resurrection to eternity of life, of bliss and glory.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Rom. 2.29.
• * 1.2

  John 17.3.
• * 1.3

  Rom. 1 23.
• * 1.4

  Heb. 7.18.
• * 1.5

  Heb. 10.1.
• * 1.6

  Gal. 3.19.
• * 1.7

  Heb. 7.26.
• * 1.8

  1 Cor. 15.5.
• * 1.9

  1 Cor. 15.
• * 1.10

  Eph. 1.19.
• * 1.11

  Heb. 13.
• * 1.12

  2 Tim. 1.10.
• * 1.13

  Eph. 2.6.
• * 1.14

  Rom. 6.5.
• * 1.15

  Ezek. 37.3.
• * 1.16

  Col. 3.1.
• * 1.17

  Rom. 6.4.
• * 1.18

  Col. 2.12.
• * 1.19

  1 John 2.4.
• * 1.20

  Col 3.5. Rom 6.6. Col. 3 3. 2 Cor. 5.15.