THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH OVER DEATH, Or, The Just Man's Memoriall: Compris'd in a Panegyrick and Sermon, at the Funerall of the Religious, most Learned Dr. COMBAR, late Master of Trinity Colledge in Cambridge, and Deane of Carlile

Delivered in Trinity Colledge Chappell, By R.B.B.D. the 29. of March, 1653.

[...]
Spiritus Sanctus non incolit nisi virum fortem.
[...]. Chry.
1 COR. 15.55. O Death where is thy Sting? O Grave where is thy Victory?

LONDON, Printed by J.G. for R. Royston, at the Angel in Ivy-lane, 1654.

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE, JEROME, Earle of PORTLAND, &c.

Right Honorable,

IT is an high prerogative of nature, and priviledge of Grace, when Good is annex'd to Greatness: And it is better to be without this than not to be great in goodnesse. But when both meet in one, they make a glorious, and an happy conjunction, commanding by a secret power both imitation and honour: Men usually honour those that are great, whose natures lead them to imitate the Good.

My honour'd Lord, though I am a stranger to your Person, yet not so to your fame; and though you may justly wonder at my hardy attempt in fronting this Treatise with your noble Name, yet in this forward act I want not a President, even the learned Austine, Lib. 4. c. 14. Quem non no­veram facit, sed amaveram bo­minem ex Do­ctrinae fam [...], &c. who in his Confessions makes an acknowledgement to God of a piece of boldnesse in dedicating a Book to a great Oratour of Rome, by Name Icherius, whose face he had never seene. However, if this be objected as a crime, I cannot but promise to my self your Lordships pardon, especially when your Goodnesse shall reflect upon the Spring of this hasty motion: It was the prevailing importunity of the dearest friends of our late reverend Deane, which forced me to the Presse, and put me upon this bold Dedication, that so they might give to the World a cleare Expresse of their [Page] gratitude to your Lordship, for your high favours to the most renowned Doctour now deceased, who was a Magazen of Learning, and an exact Modell of vertue, a Picture of Pati­ence, and a Patterne of Devotion.

It addes not a little to your Lordships honour, that you had relation to Him as your Tutour, who ever had an high esteeme of your noble Person, thus not unknown to me, who know that men (not rancord with envy) usually love in others what they see in themselves; and therefore He, whom Combar loved and honourd, must needs be rare and excellent.

My Lord, all that I humbly beg is this, that your Honour would grace Him now dead with your Tuition, who living did adorne you with His in our Society; which owes much to your Lordship in promoting Him to be Master of it, who was it's happy Crown and Glory. In that promotion my selfe with many others had a share; and as a Testimony of a thank­full brest, I humbly crave your Honours acceptance of this ensuing Worke, which falls as short of the Deceased's merit, as He outstripp'd the men of this proud Age in knowledge, and sweetnesse of Spirit.

With it your Lordship has a tender of my most hearty De­votions; I shall ever supplicat the Almighty, that when you have finished your Course with the glory of those two Graces, which are oft joynd in the Rev. 2.19. 13.10. Heb. 6.12. Scripture, and like Eros and Anteros in the Fable live and die together, I meane Faith and Patience, you may inherit a blessing in the Land of Pro­mise, the [...]. Chrys. Haven of everlasting rest and happinesse: This is the unfained wish of

Your Honours devoted Servant, R. Boreman.
Jan. 9. 1654.

EPITAPHIƲM Reverendissimi, Doctissimique Dom i. Do ris. Combar, &c. qui devotam Deo animam reddidit 28. Feb. 1653. postquàm annos 78. (plus minus) cum celebritate nominis compleverat.

COs priscae pietatis atque lima,
Sincerae, Solidae, Piae, sed acre
Novae hujus Logodaedalae, Sonorae,
Fucatae, meretriciae Flagellum:
Atlas Religionis Orthodoxae,
Tibicen fidei, Columna veri,
Falsi Malleus, haeresin retundens,
Retundens quoque Schisma Hypocritarum.
Doctrinae jubar, eruditionis
Fundus, Fax Criticae, politiorum
Fons linguarum, idiomatumque nidus,
Cunctas tam benè continens loquelas,
Loquelas veteres & eruditas,
Eos quotquot habet, quot Occidensque;
Nido scilicet (adde quas ad unguem,
Modernas tenuit) cubabat isto
Chaldaeus, Syrus, Aethiops, Arabsque,
Hebraeus, Samarita, Persa, Coptus.
Flumen nectaris, ingenî Scatebra,
Thesauri sed & Ausonî, Pelasgi
Penus, Flos Latialis, Ʋmbra Tullî,
[Page] Athenae merae, & Attici Leporis
Favus, mellis Hymettii alveare,
Torrens eloquii, Medulla Suadae,
Dicendi Veneresque, Gratiaeque,
Sagax arbiter elegantiarum,
Legendi sine fine dipsas atrox,
Librorum helluo, litterarum abyssus:
Aevi surculus aurei renascens,
Morum stella nitens in his tenebris,
Exemplar probitatis, atque gemma
In hoc stercore temporum refulgens,
Candor, Simplicitasque, Comitasque,
Et mista gravitas suavitate,
Frons jucunda, decor verendus oris,
Iecur felle carens, cor absque fuco,
Ingens pectoris integri serenum,
Musarum meliorum amor, voluptas,
Et gentis decus & dolor togatae,
Hoc uno partitèr (facesse livor)
Quo, Combare, jaces, jacent Sepulchro.
J. Duport Gr. Linguae Professor. R.

Joannis Morini Blesensis de reverendis­simo decano, Doctore Combar, Testimonium.

ALius praeterea codex (nempe Sa­maritanus) celebratur, & dicitur esse Archiepiscopi Armachani, & ab eo è Palaestinâ in Hyberniam exportatus, qui Leydensibus Academicis nonnullo tem­pore fuit commodatus. Istum codicem vir clarissimus & Doctissimus Thomas Combarus Anglus, quem honoris & of­ficii reddendi causâ nomino, cum textu Judaico verbum e verbo, imo literam cum literâ maximâ diligentiâ, & inde­fesso labore comparavit, differentias (que) omnes juxta capitum & versuum ordi­nem digestas ad me misit humanissime & officiosissime.

Excerpt. è Morin. Animadvers. in Censuram Exercitationum, p. 419.

Errata in concione corrigenda.

PAge 16. Line 29. redundant linguis. p. 17. l. 21. for but read heat. p. 19. l. 8. r. [...].

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF THE Reverend and Learned Religious, Dr. COMBAR.

WE never read of any that were blamed for drawing too much Water out of the well of Life: The saying of a learned Divine: Dr. F. Neither can we possibly give too much honour to the Lord of glory and King of Saints, though wee should put our inventions upon the Rack, and scrue up our expressions to the highest; There are many wayes, and diverse meanes, whereby God may be glo­rifyed by us, but none more effectuall, and powerfull to the advancement of his glory then by acknowledging with due Prayses, the many eminent vertues which as so many Rivelets, streame into the Soules of the Saints from the everlasting Spring of Divine Grace. They glorifyed God in me, Gal. 1.24. So S. Paul of himselfe, Gal. 1. who though he styled himselfe out of the depth of humility the chiefest of sinners, and the least of Saints, 1 Tim. 1.15. yet in Gods esteem he was as great as the greatest of the latter, and lesse then the least of the former.

[Page 2]Now to the glory of God, which is the aime of my weake endeavours, to the prayse of his eternall goodnesse, which should be the object of yours, I shall by his blessing and divine assistance discharge a duty, which is patterned to us by the practice of Heathens, Jewes and Christians in all ages; It is to present to the view of your Meditations one of the fairest Flowers in the Garden of Gods Church, one of the highest Stars in the lower Firmament; whilest I embalme the memo­ry of the late Reverend, most learned and pious Saint Doctor Combar, (once Deane of Carlile, and Master of Trinity Col­ledge) with a just Encomium and Prayses due to his rare and transcendent perfections; In the doing whereof I shall per­forme a double commendable worke. First, a duty of civility and Christianity to the dead. Secondly, a duty of Piety to the living, whilst we stir up your devotions to an imitation of the vertues which shined in the life of the deceased, [...]. To speake in the language of the Learned Nazianzen, whose tongue (the tongue that sored so high in the praise of Athanasius and St. Basil) would suite well with this great worke better than mine: who when I have said what I can, being not able to speake enough, may incurre that censure of going about or endeavouring to fit a Dwarfs shoe to a Giants foote.

But to hold your expectation no longer in suspence, I shall lay the foundation of this structure in his Birth and Education, and then lay upon it the weight of an holy Life and happy death. This done, refer all to your Godly imitation, and so commend you to God.

First, for his Birth: We have here a Righteous Branch sprung from a righteous Stock, his Father a Gentleman of an ancient extraction, as appeares by a large Testimony under the hand of Clurentiaulx the King of Armes, Anno 1571. In the 13. yeare of the Renouned Queene Elizabeth; He lived at Shermanbury in Sussex, a Southerne moderate Climate, the nurse of many choyce mild tempers; He was a Councellour at Law, which he managed with that reputation for his justice and equity, that for this, together with his great Hospitality, he [Page 3] was honoured in his generation, Ecclus 44. and was one of the glories of his times. He dispersed abroade and gave to the poore, by which meanes he found in blessings attending him and his, That pau­perum fundus est faecundissimus, that the seede of Almes, sown in the poore mans field, Aug. will be so watered with the dew of Gods Benediction, that it shall spring upward even to Heaven for a reward, and beare fruit downewards, to bring downe a blessing upon ours here on Earth. The Generation of the righte­ous shall be blessed: Psal. 12, 2. Hee was indeed blessed with a numerous issue, whereof this was the 12. All like so many Arrowes in the hand of a Giant, which the good Gentleman their Father shot up to Heaven againe, from whence they came, by devoting and giving them up to God in a vertuous education to be his servants, which they were (as I am informed) in a constant practise of Piety and Justice. [...]. They were all Gods servants; This whom we now commemorate, marked out to be his Chaplaine, to weare the Ephod with Sa­muel. This was the Jabez, 1 Chro. 4.9. more honorable then his Brethren; This the Joseph, the youngest Sonne but one (as Ioseph was) This the [...] the fruitfull bough, Gen. 49.22, 23. The Covenan­ters. even a fruit­full bough by a Well, whose branches runne over the wall: At whom too the Berethites, the Archers shot, to their shame and his griefe, but his bow abode in strength, and his Armes were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. Although he were, as yee have heard, the youngest Son but one by birth, yet he was the eldest in life and knowledge; He surpassed all, survived all, by which meanes he had the blessing of the first-borne, no great nor small inheritance, which fell unto him by descent from his first progenitours.

Thus the rich jewell of his learning being set in Gold, shined with a greater lustre in the eyes of the Worlds minions; who either despise Learning, the prop of Religion, and speak against it (which is the marke of a foole, or a prophane Julian) or looke on a learned man oppressed, and obscured by poverty, as on a Diamond in dung, as a Rose set in a Dunghill, they behold and looke upon his learning with pity and disdaine; Truly said the Lyrick Poet, Pindarus. [...]: This was verified [Page 4] in our most knowing Deane, He was a starre that blazed in bounty to the poore at home, and to the foreiners from abroade, who found his heart an Inne to harbour strangers; He was a starre that flamed, even before and after he was torne out of his Sphere, with a great lustre and glorious brightnesse.

He was borne 1575 on New years day, the day on which our Lord Christ was circumcised. He was as it were sent by God into the World for a New years gift to the Church, his Spouses benefit; His Life was an Epiphany, his Death not without glory, agreeable to the glory of that day on which he was bap­tized. This was on the day of Epiphany; in which the Magi were led to Christ by a starre; The 12. Child of his Father borne and baptized on two Holydayes dedicated by the Church and observed in all ages to the honour of Christ; This juncture of time, This combination of days and actions did prefigure the holinesse of our deceased Saints person.

This glorious Starre of grace and knowledge, who was both a Theopompus and an Ephorus (one whose forward di­ligence needed a bridle, as there was neede sometimes of a Spur to his meeknesse.) He tooke his first rise for learning in a publique Schoole at Horsham in Sussex, where he met with a Master that was rather [...] then [...], no Or­bilius, no Dionysius, no Tyrannus, but an Isocrates, one of a gentle spirit, not like those now a days who make their Scholars to hate the Muses, by presenting them in the shapes of Fiends and Furies, but one who (as it seemes) had (as Shoolmasters should doe) made a Grammar of his boyes natures, and re­duced them to generall rules, and finding this Deodate's dispo­sition to be ingenious and industrious, He therefore applied himselfe to his milde (yet agile) temper with all activity and meeknesse, knowing that a frowne to such a spirit would be as bad as a correction, and a correction as bad as a gibbet. And in all his life under that Master, he had but once a Taste of that bitter Cup which was to him as sharpe as death, so great was his industy attended with a rare and stupendious memory; which Plato calls the Mother of the Muses, Thesaurus elo­quentiae, so it is termed by Rhodigin, Venter animae, so Austine, [Page 5] that which receives, containes and digests all the Soules noti­ons; It hath if good and dextrous, two speciall properties, fa­cilè percipere, & diu retinere, which were in our deceased friend rarely excellent; The conjunction of two such Planets in his youth did presage much good unto him, that he would be eminently (for learning) famous; His learning was so great that as Seneca saith of himselfe, Non ad usum modò suf­ficeret sed ad miraculum procederet. He being able at eight yeares after the first and second reading to repeate a great number of Verses; and to confirme the truth of this we had many an instance in his old age, when he did often, to the ad­miration of his hearers, produce what he had treasured up in his youth, out of Poets, Historians, Oratours and others, so readily with that quicknesse that he plainly convinced Pliny of a mistake in this, when he sayes, speaking of memory, ex omnibus animae partibus est maximè delicata & fragilis in quam primum incurrit Senectus. His memory lasted even till death, when he, that seldome or never forgate himselfe, did devout­ly remember God, as hereafter shall be shewed: By the strength of this rare gift having stored his soule with that knowledge, being furnished with those parts which fitted him for the Ʋniversity; This slip of grace was planted in our So­ciety, made famous by him, as it uses to credit others. He was at the age of foureteen when he came hither, where he was commended by the Wisdome of his friends to the Tuition of a Gentleman then famed for his exemplary life, one Mr. Tich­borne, under whose care and councell this Plant (being wa­tered with Heavens blessings) shot up in a short time to that perfection that he grew as fast and as high in admiration, being furnished before he was Bachellour (besides his knowledge in the Arts and Sciences) with a competent skill in the three Mother Languages, the onely Key to let a soule into the Treasury of the Holy Scriptures: Had you beheld his course in this quadrennium of his studies, you would have seene an exact modell of a juvenis Academicus, not short of that which we finde penned by Campian.

He shunned idlenesse as the common sewer that takes in all temptations, and the poole that holds in all corruption: The [Page 6] Devills pillow, where he lies, and his bed where he conceives and brings forth all kinde of wickednesse. He did as S. Hierome reports of himselfe, he ever found something to do that the Devill might never finde him at leisure for his service: He begun his study with supplication to the God of grace, and ended it with thanksgiving: and what is written in the life of St. Bernard might well be said of him, Ʋt legeret intelligendi, fecit cupiditas, ut intelligeret oratio impetravit, ut inepetraret quid nisi vitae sanctitas promeruit; Sic cupiat, sic oret, sic & vi­vat qui se proficere desiderat. An eager desire of knowledge was a spur to his great industry in reading, and by prayer he attained to an high degree of knowledge and measure of un­derstanding, which adorned with an holy life made him re­nown'd in his generation.

He surely put in practice what he used to repeate to others, [...], Had he spent six houres of the day in dressing and combing, his soule had not beene polished with piety, or decked with the gems of learning; He well un­derstood (as he was of a most heavenly spirit) that what Chrysostome affirmes is most true, Chrys. in Genesin. [...], ever went together being never asunder: when the body is pampered the soule is com­monly starved, when too much care of dressing that is used, the soule is usually left naked; and when the casket is too much re­garded, the jewell is too much neglected, and the adding of too much beauty to the body, breedes deformity in the Soule.

Being now by his great study and constant industry become, scientiae & virtutis domicilium, one in whom much know­ledge inhabited, and vertue it selfe had taken up her lodging; Thus shining in the eye of the Society with a great beginning, which was varnished with the hope of a greater ending, he was made fellow by the famous Dr. Nevel, in an other great worke a benefactour to our Colledge, in this a true founder, by his choyce of so worthy a member, laying (as it were) a sure foundation, on which was built a vast Fabrick of lear­ning, which propagates by example, one Scholler begetting [Page 7] another, as one lights his Candle at the Candle of his Neigh­bour.

He conceived that a Fellowship and ignorance (especially if debauched with loosenesse, either in life or opinions) are asustats, as inconsistent as light and darknesse. That a Fellow of a Colledge should not be like that fellow in Lycophron, A Fellow of a Colledge, what he ought to be. by Name Nauplius, who hung out a false light to the deceived Graecians ruine, who were thereby led to quick-sands and fell upon Rocks, but like a Standard-bearer in an Army, holding forth in the Banner of his person the insignia of a painfull life, joyned with holinesse and sobriety, after which the younger sort may march in an exact conformity to His; who by this meanes proves with safety and honour a Father, though a fel­low, begetting (to use St. Pauls phrase) by his example Sons to learning and Souls to piety. Thus did this great Antesig­nanus in all kinde of knowledge.

This Primipilus in sobriety and temperance, This Signifer in industry and unwearied patience; when he was shut up in his study, he was looked upon being much in the then Scholars thoughts for admiration: Seneca sayes, Et magnum est quod à sapiente viro vel tacente proficias; when hee was silent, hee spake much, his good life was a large Comment upon the word, and a perpetuall Sermon: Oh let me rather so Preach then talke, or rather babble and do nothing: Bona vita est per­petua oratio. Thus he ever taught, even when he was out of the Pulpit, to which he was no stranger, as is evident by his oft visits of Carlile, and Worpesden in Surrey, where he discharg­ed his duty, and satisfyed his conscience so oft, as he could be dispenced with for absence from the Colledge; where I have often heard him teach with that meeknesse and gravity, as that his very looke was able to confute an Heresy. And when he was upon another Text, and amongst many, upon that which I remember, He that soweth sparingly shall reape sparingly, 2 Cor. 9.6. Me thought his silent gesture composed even to a smiling sweetnesse, made another Sermon, and taught us this lesson, Learne of me for I am humble and meeke, &c. Oh how farre dissonant to this sweet soule is their genius, who by their roughnesse in the Pulpit teach the people rudenesse: His life [Page 8] was [...], Nazian. a speaking though silent exhortation, so hee sayes of Eleazar the chiefe a­mong the Macabees, as this brave man in his time among the Fellows; who honoured him for his Learning, but above all loved him for his humility, whereby he overcame himselfe, as in knowledge he excelled others: indeed he was an other Moses, a meek man, and a very Treasury of knowledge, both in the Greeke and Latine Fathers, together with the Schoolemen and Councells, Church History and moderne Writers: Adde to these his incomparable dexterity in the Easterne and Westerne Languages, as Hebrew, Arabick, Coptick, Samaritane, Syriack, Caldee, Persian, Greeke and Latine, in which he was most excellent; likewise the French, Spanish and Italian, which he understood and could speake. This provision he stored himselfe with, partly at home here, and partly abroad in his travells.

For having perfumed the Ʋniversity with the sweet odour of his gifts and graces, and filled all parts at home with the fame of his high perfections, knowing likewise (what was it he did not know?) that one yeare well employed in Travell by one of a mature judgement, affords a greater advancement in point of usefull and solid knowledge then three in any of our Ʋniversities, and that, as running waters are the purest, so they that traverse the World up and downe have the cleerest understandings, being faithfull ey-witnesses of those things, which others receive in trust. He knowing this, asked leave of his Father and of the society his Mother to go (as I may so speake) to nurse, i. e. to travell, to unloade his soule abroade of those rare notions, wherewith he was big at home, and to unite unto himselfe the scattered perfections of other Nations; with this resolution he went guarded by Providence, and garnished with a chast gravity, together with a most sage pru­dence, into the Kingdome of France, where he lived (and truly lived because without sinne) three whole yeares in the house of the Judicious, Learned, Religious late Molyn, a buckler of the Protestant Faith, against Popish superstition; you may guesse at a man by the choyce of his companion. And when every day and houre one is bettered by Communication, [Page 9] judge you in many yeares how much will be added to that mans perfection.

In that space he had many disputes (you must suppose) with the Jesuites, whom he amazed by the strength, and subtilty of his arguments, being indeed in that way of disputing excel­lent, another Chrysippus, in disputando pressus, concisus & sub­actus, &c. And therefore was he imployed at the command of our late famous King, to dispute at St. Andrews in Scotland in publike with the Divines there, who did then much admire Him for his solid quicknesse, who was able to confute them, as they have, since that, themselves by their home-bred divisions and disobedience.

Besides this he was instrumentall to the worke of Grace in converting a Jew, by Name (as I remember) Bardesius; and at length, having wonne glory to his Nation by his vast knowledge and stoutnesse in the defence of our Religion, he came home, returned from this Schole of experience, better and wiser than when he first went forth. He carried over no vices, and brought back his vertues, his Chastity, and Gravity, his Prudence, his Sobriety, leaving behinde him the Countries weeds to be possessed by the owners, that is, Levity and soft­nesse, which never durst make the least approach to his setled and composed brest.

His Travell did not end in the Eyes or Tongue, This is most vaine and fruitlesse, but in the gaine and encrease of Wisdom, which did quit his labour and cost; And being setled againe in the Colledge, He was looked upon as a Jewell fit to hang at a Kings Eare; He was accordingly not long after made the Kings Chaplaine, and judged by his most discerning Prince a worthy Pilot to sit at the Helme, and to steere our Colledge by the compasse of his Wisdome and Justice, which he per­formed with that moderation and lenity, that had a Pytha­gorian lived in those dayes, who had known the famous Doctor Still, he would have maintained a [...], and asserted that the Soule of Dr. Still had animated his quiet brest; And truly that Elogy, which our Records bestow upon that Doctor, most fitly suits with ours, Se ferebat Patrem-familias provi­dum, [...], nec Collegio gravis fuit nec onerosus, &c.

[Page 10]He was a Father to the Colledge as well as a Master, taking care that Factions and Divisions did not goe hand in hand with it's dividends, nor exceede the Rents and Revenues of it: This he effected by suppressing of Parties, and not fomenting discords, which often run out into contrary Opinions, and com­monly end in Schisme and Heresy, the blot of Religion, and the bane of a Society: The very name of Arminius and Socinus was then hatefull to the learned Fellowes.

His favour and choyce in Elections flew at that height, that it could not be reached with an eye-blinding bribe; Yet con­descended so low, that the Lilly of the Valley, the flower of Learning, which grew in poverties Garden, was most watered by his encouragement, which usually fastned on poore, yet eminent Scholars: What else could be expected from him, who loved Bookes better than Money, and preferred not this (as too many doe) before Learning and Piety: If therefore he were to have a statue erected to the honour of his happy memory, one like that framed by a statuary for Julius Caesar should be set up for him, Nazi. who was [...], he should be portraide standing upon a Glole, having a Sword in one Hand and a Booke in the other; Ex utroque Caesar, was his Motto; And thus our late Reverend Master treading upon the World and its Golden proffers with scorne, did manage the Sword of his Authority, to the advancement of Learning, with that milde Justice, that we never heard of an expulsion, but after many gentle admonitions, so that the Statutes were maintained, and Piety with the statutes, the only fence and hedge of a Colledge.

Thus having driven this Royall Chariot for 14. yeares with admiration of all abroad, with love and liking here at home, at last he was throwne out of the Box by a blustring Nor­therne storme, against which innocency could not beare up, as it could not disturbe that calme which was in his meeke brest, the Sanctuary of Piety, and the seate of Patience. In­deed as he was [...], Nazi. so [...]: Humility, Faith and Patience (which were a part of his Grace before and after [Page 11] his Meales) These Graces had taken possession of his Righte­ous Soule, for which he ever prayed, and which are alwayes concomitants. And he so possessed his soule with Patience that when he was snatched from his Domestick Contents, and his meanes taken from him by the hand of violence, through this storme he beheld a higher arme of Providence, and kissed the Rod with meekenesse, herein imitating holy Job, of whom he was an exact Picture, and concerning whom St. Austine sayes thus ( libro 1. de moribus Ecclesiae Catholicae) Amisit ille omnes divitias & factus repente pauperrimus tam incon­cussum animum tenuit & infixum Deo, ut satis de monstra­ret, non illas sibi fuisse magnas, sed se illis, sibi autem Deum.

It was his vigorous active Faith working by love that was the ground of this undaunted Patience; Non murmurat, Qui se filium Dei cogitat (Vincentius.) He that believes himselfe to be in the number of Gods Sonnes, will never murmur nor repine at providence. He believed that Christ had provided for him in Heaven [...], Heb. 10.34. an everlast­ing inheritance, a better and an enduring substance; There­fore he tooke joyfully the spoyling of his Goods, and those things which others court with dazled Eyes, he did not account worth a glance of his; which like the Sunne-flower did not open to every blaze, but onely to the light and heate of Christ, the Sunne of Righteousnesse. Whom he loved, whom he ser­ved, of whom his heart was full, dwelling therein by his spirit, which kept out all things else from comming in; so that there was no roome for hatred, no roome for malice, no roome for desire of revenge, for he was never heard to dart out of his mouth any passionate word (from the time he first suffered) against the persons of his enemies, but onely these, God forgive them, This was the Language of the Sonne of God upon the Crosse; and it is the voyce of Gods Sonnes and Servants. It was ever His; who was often (like holy David and the melting Prophet Jeremy) seene (which hee desired not) to weepe, and being demanded why he did so? He then replied, it was out of griefe, when he considered the miserable sad condition they were in, who in these times even against [Page 12] the Word, and against Conscience runne (as it were) in a gallop to Hell in the broade way of Sacriledge, Wrong, and Violence, whilest they forget God, our Lord Christ that bought them at a deare price; not observing the will of him that died for them, and would reward their service with Eternall joyes as he hath promised, but serving the Devill, who will requite them for their paines with paine and torments, and that everlasting.

When the good Deane considered this woefull madnesse in worldlings, and the miseries which attend their sinfull Soules, he used to weepe, which is an infallible signe of a good man and a sanctified Spirit, to weepe for the sinnes of others: [...], Good men are of a melting, weep­ing temper and disposition.

It would require a larger time than these straites, wherein I am bounded to relate unto you the severall actions of Piety, which passed from him all the time of his lingring sicknesse. He made good by his devoute practises that saying of Saint Austine, Prov. Gall. Non potest malè mori qui vixit benè, hee cannot die ill that liveth well. It is never a bad day that hath a good night; I could tell of his frequent ejaculations to God in prayer, which was for the most in Latine, and sometimes Greek; I could likewise enlarge my discourse in a repetition of his frequent Almes, his often remembring the poore, knowing that Almes accepted upon the Altar of Christs Merits, deli­ver from death, and that God will not turne his face from him that turnes not away his face from the poore in their afflicti­on, &c. In a word, he walked (as a friend) with God, as E­noch, Gen. 5.22.6.9. Noah, and Abraham did. He was much in that great duty of Prayer, he often spake to God in it, and loved to hear God speake to him in his Word; He delighted to reade it himselfe and heare it read, which was constantly and fre­quently done by his deare Consort, who one night above the rest reading to him that passage in the Gospell, concerning Thomas his thrusting his hand into our Savours wounded side, John 20.27. John 20.29. He upon this fell a weeping with that expression in his mouth, which fell from our Saviours to Thomas, Happy are they that believe and see not; He believed though He saw not, and [Page 13] therefore did he weepe; He washed with the teares of Repen­tance those wounds of his Lord, which did bleed upon the Cross for his sinnes, and in a lively faith touched the print of his Nailes, and thrust his Finger into the hole of his side; There­by taking a reall possession of his Crucified Saviour, there­fore presently as he wept he said with Thomas his [...], My God and my Lord; The Nailes and Speares, The bloudy Crown of Thornes which printed his sacred Temples, gored his Lords side, pierced his Hands and Feete, had so imprinted the love of Christ in the Soule of our deare Saint, that he was rea­dy with St. Paul, and other holy Martyrs, to die for the Lord Jesus: on whom his heart was alwayes fixed, by whom it was possessed, in whom it was established, to whom it was most sincere and truly devoted, as appeares by the constancy of his Faith even to the houre of his Death, which is a cleare evi­dence and demonstration that he was a true Divine a man of God, one led by the spirit. You know what S. Paul sayes Rom. 8.14. [...]: And (as Chrysostome notes upon this Text) they onely are said to be ledde by the spirit, who are carried on to their lives end by it in a continued practice of holinesse, and never fall from their holy profession by meanes of any secular Feare, Crosse, or Tribulation. Filium Dei se prodit, qui bonum quod cum laude inchoarit, etiam perfecit, cujus finis exordio respondet. No­var. Bona inceptio sine fine est instar corporis speciosi sine capite, A good beginning without a good end, is like a beautifull specious body without an head. The saying of Henry the Fourth, in an Epistle of his to Otho Bishop of Ramberg.

That consummatū est, It is finished, which Christ uttered dying, might (though not so fully) become him, who finished his course with patience, and kept the Faith with a Martyr-like constan­cy and perseverance, being one that was most constant to his friends, and loving to his enemies, as appeared by his promo­ting the servants and retinue of his Predecessour, who had been uncivill to him, who was civill to all, and well reputed by all; which stirred up Envy if not Malice, in the brests of his Adver­saries.

When he had almost runne his last stage, and neere the end [Page 14] of his Race, He was shot by one of Deaths black Arrowes with a Disease in his Feete (which hindered not his progresse in godlinesse.) That begat another, as it did in Calvin, who had the Gowte, a Feaver and Cholick all at one time; But let us admire our Deare Friends invincible patience, when he was (as it were) upon the Rack of torment, my selfe then with others, demanding, by way of tryall how he did? His constant reply was, very well I thanke God. Indeed, he could not but be very well, who had God for his Father, Christ his Saviour, and the Holy Ghost his Comforter, whose Temple and house, his soule and body was.

He had so resigned up his will to the Will of God, which is the height of perfection, that whatsoever God did, and what­soever He suffered, he alwayes embraced as good. Hee em­braced his crosse and looked upon his troubles as the lot of Gods Children, the Physick of the soule, the Pledge of Divine love, the badge of his Profession, the Tryall of his Faith, the exercise of his Patience, the Testimony of his constancy, the incentive of his Devotion, and the Marke of his conformity with Christ his Head: To whom that hee might by a closer Union be joyned, now that his Soule was drawing towards Heaven, he desired to receive his Viaticum, that Heavenly Foode, which might (as it did) strengthen his Spirit in its long journey to Eternity, That, which is a Sacrament as of thankfull Commemoration, so of Confirmation, for that it con­firmes our Faith that Christ is and will be in all respects to our souls (I had rather say to our persons) what the Bread and Wine is to our Bodies.

Had you beene present and seene with what flaming devo­tion, with what burning Affections and holy Reverence he received that holy Foode, the Seale of his Pardon, That [...] (Ignatius) when in a cold frosty mor­ning being the Lords Day, hee tooke off all his Caps and sat up in his Bed Bare-headed in honour to his dread Sove­raigne, the King of Heaven, his Lord Jesus, exhibited as Cru­cified, in that Sacrament, for our sinnes; Had you but seene this, and heard the Heavenly expressions that fell from [Page 15] his Lips, you would have concluded, that as he was a rare Saint, so a most worthy Receiver, and that they, who contemne this Sacrament, cannot be Saints.

Having thus got faster hold on Christ, and grasping his Sa­viour in the Armes of his Faith and Thankefulnesse, Luke 2.29. Hee ever after sang old Simeons Song, Domine nunc Dimittis, &c. Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace. He longed after his [...]; Hee desired to be released from his Prison (the body is no more to the soule) Hee often wished to be dissol­ved and to be admitted to a neerer familiarity with Christ. And having sent from the Chamber, where he lay sick, many messages to his Wifes aged Parents, wishing them, and another almost as aged in this Towne, to prepare themselves for their Death, which was approaching: having discharged this last great act of Charity, declaring thereby that he was loth to goe to Heaven alone, To be happy without company; Hee suggested this more than once to his beloved Consort, that when shee saw him close his Eyes shee should not be troubled, but conceive that hee was asleepe. Death was no more to him, which was entertained with moving of his Lips, and lifting up of his Hands to Heaven, even when hee could not stirre nor speake.

His Body after many Toiles and Travells in Gods Service, is now asleepe for a time, but his Soule is awake in Heaven, Wearing the Crowne of Perseverance, and Singing with the Heavenly Chorus of Saints and Angells, a Tri­umphant Hymne to the Lambe Christ Jesus, Sitting upon a Golden Throne, who will at the great Day raise up his Body from its long sleepe, by vertue of that Spirit which Raised up Christ from the Dead, and dwelled in a ful [Page 16] measure in the Soul of this our late Reverend, Learned Master, who me thinks does bespeake us on Earth from Heaven, in the words of S. Paul, Eph. 5.1. Be ye followers of me, as I was of the Lord Jesus, in Faith, and Love, in Humility and Patience: Weep not for me, but turn your Tears into practice of my Vertues; Judg. 9.48. As yee have seen me do, so do ye likewise: Thus if we do in a strict and holy conformity, we shall be happy as He is, and partake with him of Glory.

Trin-unî Deo Laus, & Gloria. Amen.

THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH over DEATH.

ROMANS 8.11.

If the Spirit of him, that raised up Jesus from the dead, dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortall Bodies by His Spirit, that dwelleth in you.

IT is a true saying of Athenagoras, Lib. de Resur­rect. that Christian Philosopher, [...], There is no Truth though never so ancient and grounded upon the Word, but hath a lie attending and cleaving fast unto it; which must not be understood of the na­ture of Truth it selfe, that Virgin Daugh­ter of Almighty God, but to the malice of the Devill, and to the madnesse of Heretickes, and others his instruments, that do corrupt and blast it.

[Page 2]It is a Principle all the World over, except among A­theists, that omne verum est à Deo, omne falsum à Diabolo, omnis error ab homine, All Truth is from God, as the prime authour of it, all falsity from the Devill, all errour from man; The last goes alwayes under the vizard of the first ( i.e. errour un­der the mask of Truth) But the Second, i. e. falshood con­fronts Truth to the face, and stands in open defiance of it. So bold and daring are Hereticks, that they have in their auda­cious writings strook at the very Essence, Power, Mercy, Truth, and Justice of God: of this latter sort are they, who deny the Resurrection, 1 Tim. 2.18 they strike at Gods Power, and overthrow his other Attributes, as Wisdome, Truth and Justice. Thus did Hymenaeus and Philetus (Men given up to carnall delights as their Name imports,). The like did the Valentinians, who asserted most falsly that Christ redeemed onely our Soules, and not our Bodies, and so contenting themselves with vaine Phan­tastike Speculations, they slighted all good works, as unpro­fitable and of no use, living in the meane while in all lewd profanesse: Crames A [...]b. And no marvell; Nam qui Resurrectionem carnis non credit, quid ille boni credat aut faciat? He that believes not the Resurrection of the Flesh after Death, what good can be expected to be done by him in this Life? To these we may adde the Manichees, who rejected the Resurrection as fabulous, and maintained that our Soules should be saved without our Bodies. What will not Men dare say, who reject the Scrip­tures? A blushing shame would have stained their Consciences, and a recantation of their errour seiz'd on their Tongues, had they but read and believed that portion of Gods Word, which I have now read unto you, If the spirit, &c. He shall quicken, or restore to Life your mortall and dead Bodies, which now, whilst you live, may truly be said to be dead, because they have the Seale of Death as it were stampt upon them, being by rea­son of sinne, Aug. lib. 1. de peccatorum me­ritis c. 4. mortis necessitati facta obnoxia, ut quasi jam ha­beantur & dicantur mortua, So St. Augustine, where he af­firmes against the Pelagians and Philosophers, that if man had not sinned, he should not have died out of any necessity of nature (as they maintained, and with them Eugubinus upon the second of Genesis.) Against these we must assert with the [Page 3] forenamed learned Father, Corpus mortale non moriturum, si nimirum in Innocentiâ per­sisteret, nunc autem post pecca­tune mortuum, Aug. Ibid. That man before the fall had a mortall body, yet so that he should not have died, if he had per­sisted in innocency, but now being wounded by sin, it is a dead body, and fraile Man a composition of Sinne, Death, and Misery.

The Text doth branch it selfe into these two Generalls,

First, Suppositio. Secondly, Positio, a Supposition and a Position, or positive assertion.

If the Spirit, &c. Here is the Supposition. He shall quicken, &c. This the Position.

In the first Generall I shall unfold or open these foure par­ticulars. First, Quis. Secondly, Cujus. Thirdly, Quare. Fourth­ly, Quid. Who this Spirit is. Whose, Why called Spirit, and what is meant by his dwelling in us. If the Spirit of Him, &c.

In the second Generall observe with me these two parts. First, Quis fructus inhabitantis spiritus. The fruit or benefit of the Spirits dwelling in us. Secondly, quomodo, aut per quem accrescit nobis; How, or by whom it is derived and conveyed unto us, our mortall or dead bodies shall be quickned or raised to life by the power and efficacy of the same Blessed Spirit. He that raised up Christ from the dead, &c.

I shall lead your Meditations through these six stages, and begin; First, with the Quis, who this spirit is. And whilst I un­dertake this and my next laborious task, I shall implore that holy spirit in the words of Divine Nazianzen, Orat. de Spir. San 1. defending the Deity of the Holy Ghost against the Macedonians, [...], &c.

First, by the [...], the spirit in my Text we must not understand with the Macedonians and Socinians (who joyne issue in their impious Heresies) [...], or (as it is in the Socinian Catechisme) virtutem ceu efficaciam quâ ho­mines fideles sanctificantur & Divinis usibus consecrantur; A bare action, efficacy or power of God in the Hearts of Men sanctifying their natures, and consecrating them to Divine [Page 2] [...] [Page 3] [...] [Page 4] uses, This was the cursed Opinion of Samosatenus, concurring herein with the forenamed Hereticks, but by the spirit you must conceive the third person of the glorious Trinity, who with the Father and the Sonne is the same in the Essence of the [...] 3 Deity, and most powerfull dignity; And therefore the Scholemen conclude that this Holy spirit is the Third Person, Non gradu sed ordine, The third in order not degree, the third, non naturae diversitate, aut Majestatis inaequalitate, sed susist­endi ordine, because He is equall to the Father and the Son, as in Being or Nature, so in Power and Majesty.

Revel 22.1.We reade in the Apocalyps that St. John saw in a Vision a pure River of living Water (or water of life) cleare as Chri­stall, proceeding out of the Throne of God and of the Lambe: that pure River of living water, what is it (sayes Justin Martyr) but the everliving most pure and loving spirit, John 7.30 who is called [...] living Water, John 7. and proceeds after an ineffable manner from God the Father and the Sonne, Aug. who is Agnus et Leo, a Lamb and a Lyon, a gentle Lambe to the Saints, and a feirce Lyon to his Enemies. This forenamed Justin Martyr adds and sayes, As a River is of the same nature with the foun­taine from which it proceeds, so, the Holy Ghost doth so pro­ceed from the Father and the Sonne, that He partakes of the same nature and Essence with them, as is evident, first by all those Divine properties which are ascribed to Him equally with the Father and the Sonne, viz. Gen. 1.2 Psal. 139.7 1 Cor. 2.10 Psal. 33.6 Es. 61.1 1 Cor. 12.4.12 Eternity, Omnipresence, and Omniscience. Secondly, by his Divine workes as Creation, the mission or sending of Christ, The gifts of Tongues and Miracles. There are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit. To another is given the working of Miracles, &c. All these things worketh that one and the selfe same spirit.

2 Part.This [...], The consubstantiality of the Holy Ghost with the other two Persons is confirmed by the next, which is the second particular of my Text, the Cujus, Him. If the spirit of Him, &c. Him, that is, the Father and the Sonne as God, who by the power of the God-head raised himselfe as Man. Hee was quickned by the spirit, 1. Pet. 3.1 [...] that is by the strength or vertue of the God-head. [...] so Theophy­lact.

[Page 5]The Holy Ghost is said to be the spirit of the Father and the Sonne, because he proceeds from both, which is an Article of our Creed. The manner of which procession, if I should goe about to declare out of the Fathers, Schoolemen and other Moderne Writers, I might either speake and not be under­stood, or seeme not to understand what I speake, their termes are so obscure, and the modus of it so difficult; Onely this I shall commend to your better understandings, thus much you must know and believe against the Pneumatomachists, that this Procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Sonne de­notes his Communion with both in the Essence or Substance of the Deity, that he is (as Beza observes from this place) Verus deus, a true Consubstantiall God, who together with the Father and the Sonne (as it is in the Athanasian Creed) is for ever to be worshipped and glorified. As for those Ra­covian Hereticks the Socinians in Poland, and their English followers the Crellianists, who maintaine the contrary, Coriolan. Epit. Concil I heartily wish they may not finde in their Soules and Bodies the weight of that heavy curse in the This coun­cell was held under Pelagius the second 589. Toletan Councell pro­nounced against the Adversaries of the Holy Ghost, it is this; Quicunque spiritum sanctum non credit, aut non crediderit a Patre & Filio procedere, eumque non dixerit co-eternum esse Patri & Filio & Co-essentialem, Anathema sit. i. e. ‘Whosoever doth not, or shall not hereafter believe that the Holy Ghost proceedes from the Father and the Sonne, and shall not say he is Co-eternall and Co-essentiall with the Father and the Sonne, let him be accursed.’

The third Particular proposed, 3. Part. and now briefly to be dis­cussed is, Quare, why this third Person in the Trinity is called spirit? I answer for these three Reasons. First, Ratione Essentiae, by reason of his Essence or being, which is spirituall, incorporeall, and invisible. God is a Spirit. John 4. John 4.2 [...]. Here spirit is taken not personally, but essentially, as it is common to the three Persons in the God-head. God is a Spirit, and the Holy Ghost is perfect God. Secondly, ratione Divinae opera­tionis, He is called spirit in regard of his Divine operation, be­cause He, as as it were, spirat, breatheth, and that immediate­ly, into the hearts of Men good motions tending to God [Page 6] and savouring of Holinesse. Whatsoever Gifts and Graces we have, they are all, as it were by a breath, insensibly and ir­resistibly blown into, and wrought in us by this one blessed spirit of Grace, who divides to every man severally [...] as he pleaseth, Nazi. 1 Cor. 12.11. This [...], as, implieth these foure Particulars [...]. He gives Grace to whom he will, what he will for quantity, when he will for time, and where he will for place. This wind bloweth where it listeth, &c. Joh. 3.8.

Thirdly, Ratione aequalitatis cum Patre & Filio, by reason of his equality with the Father and the Sonne, and this is evi­denced by that sweete promise of our Saviour, I will pray the Father, John 14.16. and hee shall give you another Comforter; upon which Text Greg. Naz. has this learned Glosse, which makes for our present purpose, [...], Againe, [...], &c. This terme, Another, denotes his equality with the Father and the Sonne in Majesty and Power: and because He is God, He therefore with the two other Persons is to be prayed unto, and praised for Mercies and Graces, which flow into our Soules from the everlasting spring of his Divine and inexhaustible ful­nesse.

Luke 11.20To this end too, and for this cause he is call'd the Finger of God, Luke 11. If I by the Finger of God, &c. which is explain­ed, Mat. 10.28. Mat. 10. If I by the spirit of God, on the former Text Beza has this glosse, he is called Gods Finger, Quia est Patris & Filii co-essentialis virtus, per quem exerit Dominus virtutem suam: because he is the Co-essentiall virtue of the Father and Sonne, by which both these shew their power of working grace in the hearts of men.

Exodus 31.28.The two Tables of Stone are said Exod. 31. to have beene written [...] with the Finger of God. [...] a Finger in Hebrew comes from [...] pingere to Paint; Ambr. Hexam c. 8. Pictu [...] es ò homo, & pictus à Domino De [...]o, noli bonam dele­re picturam, &c. Thus by the Holy Ghost by the Ministery of this blessed Spirit does God draw the lines of vertues upon the Soules of his Elect, and layes up­on them the colours of his Grace; whence it is, as St. Ambrose notes, that their Soules are perfect Pictures of the Almighty God, and of their Lord Christ, and both Soules and Bodies [Page 7] Temples of the Holy Ghost; which invites me to treate of the fourth and last Particular of the first Generall, i. e. Quid, what is meant by the Holy Ghosts dwelling in us.

And because the Spirit is all the evidence we have for Hea­ven, and happinesse, 4. Part. and all our hope of blisse depends upon our having of it, I shall first open the point, first in Generall, secondly, in Particular, by explaining the termes, or rather phrase in my Text, the spirits [...] or dwelling in us. Secondly, I shall endeavour to cleare your evidences by ac­quainting your devotions with some speciall Rules or Chara­cters, whereby you may collect to the eternall comfort of your Soules, that you are the Houses or Temples of the Holy Ghost.

First, The Heb. [...] from [...] Habitare, &c. Holy Ghost or Spirit of God dwells in the Soule of a Saint, not locally but virtually, in that it begets, encreases and continues by constant and fresh supplies of Grace his holy Gifts and heavenly Graces in us, of which we reade Gal 5. Jerem. 11.2. And there be three Reasons why the Holy Spirit is said to dwell in us,

  • 1. To denote Dominium, his Lordly Power over us.
    Gal. 5.22, 23
  • 2. To intimate Generalitatem Dominii the Generality of that power.
  • 3. To demonstrate Stabilitatem Domini, the Stability and Constancy of this Heavenly and most Holy Inhabitant,
    Mal. 3.6
    who is the Lord that changes not, &c.

First, of his Dominion, &c. They that are truly Sanctified by an orderly worke of the Spirit, which ever begins with con­viction and humiliation; The Holy Ghost hath the full dispo­sing of their hearts, as a man that is Lord of an House hath liberty to doe with, and in it what he does please. Eph. 1.13.4.33 Now the disposing and governing of the hearts of the faithfull, standeth in these Particulars, which are the Seales of the Spirit within us.

The first is, Opus generans, To beget in the heart a settled and full perswasion of a Mans Reconciliation with God in Christ, Rom. 8.16. The same Spirit beareth witnesse with our Spirit, that we are the Children of God.

[Page 8]This Plerophory, or full perswasion arises from a reflective act of Faith comparing what it findes in the Word, which is the Testimony of the Spirit, with that which it finds and feeles in our Soules or Spirits, For this [...] th [...] Spi [...]t is said by St. Paul, [...]. Gal. 5.22, &c. Idict. Contem­plat. c. 24. and thence drawing this joyfull conclu­sion, that we are the Sonnes of God. Now the spirit testifies and assures us in the Word, that they are the elected and a­dopted Sons of God, who are sanctified. 2 Thess. 2.13. Who hath chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit. And he that findes in himselfe the Pledges of Gods Eternall favour, the Fruits of the spirit recorded, Gal. 5. The principall or prime whereof by way of manifestation is Love, that vestis pretiosa animae, ex pretiosis filis, i. e. Dei beneficis homini colla­tis contexta; Love to God and Love to Man, or Love of God for himselfe, and Love of Man for God, the former expressed by Ʋniversality of 1 John 2.5 Obedience to his Commands, the latter by our mercy and goodnesse stretch'd even to our Enemies, He that finds his Soule decked with this precious Garment, beau­tified with this heavenly Jewell, on which is engraven the ex­presse Image of God (who is 1 John 4.7 Love, the God of Love essen­tially and causally) He may inferre from this gracious worke of the Quis justus nisi qui dilectus à Deo Deum [...]c­camat, quod in nobis spiritus De [...] efficit, &c. Berv. Ep. 107 Spirit, that he is reconciled to God, that God is his Friend, his Sinnes (which God hates, and which makes him an enemy) being pardoned, whence his person is justified; and God is more delighted with him, because he beholds him in his Sonne Christ Jesus, as cloathed with his Righteousnesse, than displeased with his sinnes, and daily infirmities. There is more good in Christ for a godly man, than there is evill in sinne against him; and God would not have left this Jebusite in the Land, I meane sinne in the Soule of a righteous man, if not­withstanding that he could not have loved him. Chamier, 1 John 4.19 God loaths the sinne whilest he loves the person. Et qui certus est Chari­tatis Dei, erga se idem certus est salutis suae. We love him be­cause he loved us first. Our love to God is but a reflex beame darted into our Soules from that Eternall Sonne of Love, which burnes hot without wasting or the least Dimi­nution.

The second worke of the Spirit as Lord in us, is opus suppri­mens, to suppresse all bad motions to sinne, arising either from [Page 9] the corruption of our natures, from the World without, or the Devill about us, and withall to stirre up good affections and motions to Piety, and godlinesse; amongst which inward mo­tions the most principall are these. First, an utter dislike of sinne as sinne, for that our good God is thereby displeased and offended. Secondly, an hungring and thirsting after Grace, an eager desire above all things in the World to be at unity with God in Christ, and to be reconciled unto him when we have provoked him by any hainous sin, &c.

The third worke of the Holy Ghost in us is opus vivificans, [...], &c. In Symb. Orien­tal. Eccles. apud Epiph. ad finem Anchorati. a quickning or enlivening worke. It is the Spirit that quick­neth, Iohn 6.63. As in the first Creation God Created Light before there was life in the Creature to bring forth and mul­tiply, Gen. 1.3.14.20.24. So in our Regeneration, which is a new Creation, Psal. 51.10. there is ever a Principle of Light in­fused into the Soule before we can have life, or be quickned in the exercise or doing of good. That spirituall light is a clear and full perswasion of Gods love to us in Christ, that He is our Father, and we his Children, that Christ is our Saviour, &c. Such a strong Faith is the Adamant that nothing will breake, the Palme that sinks not under the most weighty bur­den; The Oyle that ever swimmes above the Water, be this poured in never so great quantity upon it: It is such a power­full Chimist, that turnes Death into Life, Sorrow into joy, makes riches of Poverty, nay all things of nothing, 2 Cor. 6.10. as having nothing, yet possessing all things. Lastly, it turnes cold feares into warme hopes, sighs and groans into triumphant and joy­full songs, trembling into leaping and clapping of hands; witnesse Paul and Silas in the stocks; witnesse too, Acts 16.25. that re­nownd for undanted constancy Dr. Taylor of Hadley, who, when he came within two miles of the place where he was executed, fetched a leape or two, and withall said; Now lack I but two stiles, and I am even at my Fathers House (he meant Heaven) witnesse likewise that famous Hawkes in the booke of Martyrs, who being desired to give a signe whether the Fire was tolerable to be borne, promised it to his friends, and, after all expectation was past, he lift up his hands halfe burned, and being on a light Fire with great rejoycing [Page 10] strook them three times together. Whence all this? from what spring were derived all these streames of strength and comfort, but from a lively Faith in Christ, the fruit and effect of Gods Spirit, and the cause of a lively Hope of happinesse, which Hope is the [...]. Cyril. Root and Seminary of good workes, and the Mother of Patience. In a word, it is this wonder-work­ing Faith that quickens and revives us, first in Adversity, Secondly, in Death. Thirdly, in Duty.

First, in Adversitie.

Let whole troopes of trouble, let Sicknesse or Poverty, &c. seize upon, or lay seige to a righteous Soule armed with a strong affiance in the Lord Jesus; it defies this Host, this tor­menting Regiment of Sinne and Satan, it sees Cant. 2.9. Christ behind this Mud-wall, and beholds a Saviour under this Fides larvam detrabit Christo. Aug. Vizard, it discernes a mercifull hand through this black Cloud, the hand of a wise God, and indulgent Father, the Heart of a tenderly loving elder Brother, who, knowing the mold whereof we be made, doth exactly measure out every crosse unto us, and will not loade us above the strength of our weake natures; whose Foundation is frailty, our composition dust and ashes. There­fore a faithfull Soule having an Eye to this gentle Hand, he solaces himselfe with this perswasion, from that Principle his Faith extracts this infallible conclusion, that this trouble or crosse is not the Axe of perdition, but the pruning Knife of cor­rection that God hath given a more strict charge to the army of afflictions, 2 Sam 18.5. than Davids was to Ioab and his followers, Doe the young man no harme, doe mine anointed no hurt, &c. Nay he is assured not onely of the Negative, but also of the Af­firmative, that is, not onely of this, that his crosse or afflicti­on shall not hurt him, [...]quin. but also doe him much good; Hee knowes that affliction is Gods Physick, Medicina animae, and so it is, sanativa mali praeteriti, praeservativa à malo, conser­vativa in bono, it is administred to us by our heavenly Physi­tian, to cure us of our sinnes past, by driving us to repentance, to prevent sinnes to come, by begetting in us humility and a carefull watchfulnesse over our wayes; And lastly to preserve and keepe us in well-doing, whilst God denies a man health and riches, which He knowes would be to him the f [...]mes of sinne [Page 11] and wickednesse: upon these considerations a faithfull Soule rejoyces in the crosse, and triumphs in his afflictions, which he entertaines with joy, and embraces with thankfulnesse, know­ing, that comfort is laid up and hid for him, though for the present it be hid from him, (light is sown for the Righteous) and that as the crosse came from Heaven, Psal. 97.11. so it will carry us thither, upon the back (or rather merits) of our crucified Lord Iesus.

Secondly, as in Adversity, so in Death it selfe Faith hath a quickning vertue, to support us in our encounter with that Giant, with that great Goliah, who defies all the Host of In­fidells, holds them in bondage all the dayes of their lives, and makes their whole life no better than a living Death; Onely Faith encounters with this Giant, and grapples with him as a vanquished underling; insulting over him, as much as he doth over the sonnes of unbelief; She sets her foot upon the neck of this King of feares, and so, as a Conquerour, sets up a Flag of defiance to all petty dangers and feares, which are onely dread­full, because they march towards and tend to Death, the last, the end, and summe of all feared evills. Let Death dresse it selfe like the cruellest and most bloudy fury, come with all her Racks, Fires, Strappadoes, wild beasts, all her exquisite tor­tures invented by the wit of the most savage Tyrants, Faith will set a Woman, a child to make sport with it, to dare and tire it, and its executioners.

A faithfull man dying lookes up to Iesus (as Alexander look'd his Physitian in the face, Heb. 12.2. Curt. when he dranke off his potion wherein he was told there was poyson) and being assured that Christ drunk out of Deaths bitter Cup an eternall health to all Mankinde, suck'd the Gall and Venome out of it, and made it an wholesome potion of immortality, upon this assurance he looks into the Grave without feare, and upon Death with­out horrour, embraces it with joy as old Egredere anima mea, &c. so said He dying. Hieron. in vita ejus. Hilarion and the Martyrs did, as being the end of sinne and misery, and the beginning of everlasting felicity. This pious thought had St. Cyprian of it, who, when he was condemned to die by Va­lerian, did lift up his hands and eyes to Heaven, and cheerfully replied at the hearing of his fatall sentence; ‘ Benedictus Deus, [Page 12] &c. God Almighty be blessed for this Gaole-delivery, for that he is pleased to deliver mee from the fetters of my Body.’

A man that is in debt feares the face of a Serjeant or Baliffe, nay every one that weares a Sword is a terrour or death unto him; Thus it is with the wicked, their debts being not paid, the black bills of the Lawes endictments against them being not cancelled, they feare death. 'Tis otherwise with the Godly, whose sinnes are pardoned, and they reconciled to God, they entertaine. Death with the greatest welcome and delight that can be imagined, as a messenger from their hea­venly Father to invite them to a Palace from a Prison, Chrys. in Colos. to a Court of Glory, from a Dungeon of sorrow, to be solaced and feasted amongst the Saints and Angels with heavenly delica­cies, the chiefe dish of which glorious banquet is the Vision of Almighty God, to behold the soule-ravishing aspect of our Lord Iesus now glorified.

Death is the Eccl. 41.1. O Death how bitter, &c. Rich mans feare, the good mans wish, whose sinnes are washed away in the bloud of the Lamb Christ Iesus, whose person is therefore reconciled to God, who upon this ground has a good Conscience, a Conscience that is quiete bona, that is not troubled nor staind with unrepented sinnes. He that trembles at the approach of Death, we may say to that man in the words of St. Austine, O homo perdidisti fidem; O man thou hast lost thy Faith, which in the last place, as in Adversity and Death, so it has a quickning power to enliven us in Duty.

When there is great Faith in the Heart there will be much prayer in the mouth, Charity in the Hand, sedulity in the Feet to move with alacrity in those paths which tend to God, and bend toward Heaven. Faith like the Spring in a Watch sets all the Wheeles or Members of the Body on worke, Heb. 11.26. Psal. 71.20.80.18.119.25.37.88.107.149.154.159.143.11. Faith re­flecting upon the Promises, and having with Moses respect unto the great recompence of the reward of everlasting Life. Doubt­lesse David prayed to God for the enlargement or encrease of Faith, when he desired so often (as we finde in the Psalmes) to be quickned. This livelinesse in duty, when we serve God with cheerfulnesse breaking through all oppositions to the [Page 13] contrary, as it is the effect of a strong vigorous active Faith, so it is a thing most pleasing to God, Rom. 12.8. Shew mercy (i. e. give Almes) with cheerefulnesse. God loveth a cheerefull giver, 2 Cor. 9.7.

As for those weake Christians, Is, 42.3. those bruised Reeds and smoak­ing flax; who by meanes of their bodily distempers, or weaknesse of Faith, finde in themselves some indispositions, and deadnesse unto, or about spirituall duties, when their Altar seemes to have no fire, when they pray, but not with wonted fervency, when they heare but not with an attentive alacrity; Let them not measure their interest or share in Christ by sense or feeling, let them not be discouraged, though they want inward comfort, which is oftentimes denied to many a deare Saint, it being a dish reserved for many a one till he comes to partake of the Heavenly Banquet: Advise to those tha want com­fort in duties. and let me advise such, although they have no comfort nor delight in duties as they are performed by them with some imperfection and dri­nesse, yet let them rejoyce in this, that they have so much grace as to doe the Wi l of God, even with some reluctancy of theirs; then they discharge their duty for the substance or matter of it, though they faile in some circumstance or man­ner of doing. And let them know too, that that duty is most acceptable to God, Vid. Fr. de Sales Bp of Geneva his Introduct. to an holy life. l. 4. c. 14. Is. 50.10. Is. 8.17. which is performed meerly out of Obedi­ence to his command, when our vigorous wills carry us to it, and we take little delight in the performance of it, because then we seeke not to please or content our selves so much as God. And who is He that walketh in darknesse and hath no light? let him trust in the Name of the Lord, and stay upon his God, who sometimes hideth his Face from his Children; who are of the Familie or off-spring of faithfull Abraham: This King of Spirits, and Lord of Soules hath a Throne of Grace set up in his Childrens heart, he rules and raignes in them by his blessed and holy Spirit, whose Dominium and the parts of it you have heard; Now followes the second particular, which is Dominii generalitas, the Generality of the Spirits Lord­ing power in us, of which with much brevity and con­cisenesse.

The Soule of Man may be fitly resembled to Noahs Arke, Gen. 6.16. [Page 14] in which there were, Gen. 6.16. First, Second and Third stories, Gen. 6. So in the soule there be upper and lower roomes, the superiour, and inferiour faculties, and in all these the Holy Ghost, by a generall command and rule, keepes his abode and resi­dence.

First, it dwells or resides in the understanding, which is the Soul's [...], the upper loft, by clearing the darke and dimme eye of it, by begetting in it a saving knowledge, whereby we come to know the things of God, 1 Cor. 2.12. those things which are revealed to us in his Word concerning our future end, which is our soules salvation, and the meanes to attaine unto it, which, is by faith in Christs satisfaction, made to his Fathers Justice by his obedience to the Law for us, &c.

Secondly, the Holy Ghost resides in the two other upper roomes, the will and memory; The former of which is inhabit­ed by this Spirit of Grace, when it is so subjected to the Di­vine Will, so drown'd (as I may so say) in that great Ocean, that a man can say with a contented Spirit, as our Saviour did, Non mea voluntas, Mat. 26.39. Venit dolor meus, veniet requies me; venit tribu­latio mea, veniet purgatio mea. Aug in Ps. 61. Lord, not my will but thy will be done. Of this temper was he in Vincentius, who used to say that Deus nihil faciebat nisi quod ipse volebat, quia ipse volebat quod Deus faciebat, that God did nothing but what he willed, for he willed nothing but what God did, The will of the Lord be done.

Thirdly, in the memory, which is sanctified by the Holy Ghost, when it hath an aptnesse to retaine good things, when it is not like to the Saccus faecinaceus, the Drugstars Bagge, which lets out the pure liquour, and keeps in the Druggs, but like the sive or fanne that lets out the chaffe, and reserves the Corne, such was the memory of the blessed Virgin, Luke 2.19. where it is said of her that shee laid up in her heart ( [...], kept close) the things that were related to her from the Angels by the Shepheards concerning her Sonne, and our Lord Jesus. Whose memories are sanctified, they will retaine more of a Sermon than a Song, more of a Chapter read, than a tale or story heard, &c.

Fourthly, there be lower roomes in the Soule, they are the Affections and Appetites, The Holy Ghost beares rule in these [Page 15] two, when the Soule is truly sanctified, when we love and desire nothing but God and goodnesse, when we hate and shun nothing more than sinne and ungodlinesse, and whatsoever is opposite to Grace: when we take delight in the service of God, and company of good men, as David did, and greive for nothing more than sinne, Psal. 16.3. for that thereby God is displeased and dishonoured; when our Hope is set upon God, so that we can say with that holy Prophet, Psal. 39. Psal 39.8. Truly my hope is even in thee: when we despaire of nothing but our own worth or me­rit, as availing nought to our salvation: when we feare no­thing but Gods displeasure, or the losse of his love and favour; when we are as bold as Lyons, being engaged in Gods Cause, and when wee are angry most with our selves for offending our good God, and with others, because they anger and pro­voke him, whom they likewise dishonour by sinne; when our affections are thus sanctified, thus set upon good objects, thus in tune, thus tempered, thus qualified, they may be said to be the receptacles of Gods holy Spirit. And so may the appetite be, when our desires in meate and drinke are so ordered, as holy Austines were, Confes. l. 10. c. 31. Hoc me docuisti, ut quemadmo­dum medicamen­ta, sic alimenia sumpturus acce­dam, &c 3. Part. who (as he confesses of himselfe) ever used his meat as Physick: when too the desires of apparell or riches are so tempered and regulated, that these three vertues, Sobriety, Contentation and Chastity, shine in our actions and in the whole course of our lives, we may inferre upon these and the former grounds, that we are possessed by the Spirit of Grace, that He dwells in us, which in the Third place denotes Stabilitatem Domini, His continuance or constant abode in us. For the gifts and calling of God are without Repentance, Rom. 11 29. If once truly sanctified thou shalt be surely saved, whom I love, I love unto the end. The Saints are said, 1 Pet. 1.5. John 13.1. To be kept by the Power of God through faith unto salvation. It is the strength and power of grace, fetched from Heaven by Faith in Christ, that keepes a man from falling away, and makes him hold out his race with perseverance; which is not op­posed to our falling into sinne through weaknesse and infir­mity, but to our lying downe, and continuing in sinne, as likewise to ones falling away by a totall and finall Apo­stacy.

[Page 16] Defecit Petro confessio in ore sed non fides in corde. Aug. Dan. 4.15.In all the declinings and failings of the faithfull there is still left in their Soules a root of Grace; Although the Devill cut off the boughes, and lop off the branches by some strong temptation, yet so long as the root ( like the stumpe in Nebu­chadnezzars, Vision) is fast bound with Iron, i. e. preserved by Gods Power, it will budde and sprout out againe, when, after the Winter of temptation, the Soule is refresh'd with the Spring of Consolation. It is a good rule of the Schooles, Fides quoad actum secundum amittatur, nunquam 'tamen amit­titur quoad habitum & actum primum, quo apprehendit Chri­stum. And this rule puts me in minde of my promise in my premised method, which was, after the generall explanation of the termes or phrase in my Text, to prescribe unto you some speciall rules, whereby you may collect or conclude that you are inhabited by the Spirit.

1 Cor. 3, 16.1 Cor. 3. Know yee not that yee are the Temples of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? It is a thing then that may be known, and I shall rest for this discovery in the judge­ment of St. Augustine, If any one (sayes he) desires to be as­sured that his soule is the habitation of the Holy Spirit; Let him seriously consider, Aug. de Tempore. Quâ humilitate repugnat superbiae. First, whether humility (which is a vile or meane esteeme of ones selfe) has driven all kind of pride (which is an inordi­nate desire of excellency) out of his heart. Secondly, let him examine and make a speciall inquiry into himselfe, whether benevolence or a well-wishing affection has suppressed in his breast all envy and malice: Quâ benevolentiâ obluctetur In­vidiae. Thirdly, let him consider and inquire, quam non capi­atur adulantium linguis, quamque bonis delectetur alienis lin­guis, An pro malo non cupiat malum reddere, malitque mul­tas oblivisci injurias, quàm imaginem & similitudinem Condi­toris sui amittere, qui pluit super justos & injustos, &c. i. e. whether he be not delighted and taken with the airy and empty sounds of flattering tongues. Fourthly, whether he delights in the welfare of his brethren, so that anothers prospe­rity is a feast to his thoughts. Fifthly, whether he hath not a revengefull spirit, and had rather forget many injuries, than by revenging himselfe on his enemies lose the Image of (or [Page 17] make himselfe unlike to) his Heavenly Father, Mat. 5.44, 45. who sendeth Raine upon the just and unjust, who hath likewise said in his word, Vengeance is mine, &c. Sixthly, Ipsam demum Charitatem omnium virtutum matrem inquirat; Let him by a strict scrutiny, and narrow search, enquire into his breast, and see whether that be the seat of Charity, the mother of all Vertues, and if he finds there the love of God and his Neighbour, so rooted and settled, that he could be willing to die, and is ready to do any thing for God, and stands in this frame and posture of mind toward man, that he doth to others what he would have done to himself, be­ing of a mercifull disposition, and bountifull Spirit, Quisquis est hujusmodi, Deum & Rectorem & Habitatorem esse non dubi­tet, whosoever he be that is of this heavenly temper, he may as­sure his Soule that it is the mansion, or habitacle of God his Maker. Orat. 44. I might adde to these three other markes out of Na­zianzen, in one of his orations, where he ascribes three speciall operations to the spirit of grace, 1. [...], 2. [...]. 3. [...]. A purifying, An enflaming, An elevating work or operation.

They whose soules are purified from fleshly lusts and worldly desires; They who are zealous in Gods cause, 1 Pet. 1.22. 1 John 3.3. Tit. 2.4. and zealous of good works; They whose soules are not only like unto fire, but heat of zeal which enflames them, and love to God, but like fire too in that they are ever soaring and mounting upwards upon the wings of Prayer and Meditation, upon the wing of contempt of things here below, The Spirit of God, Psal. 143.5, 6. Psal. 119.48. Col. 3 2. that descended upon the Apostles in the likenesse of fire, dwells in such Souls, and at the great day, the great God that rais'd up Jesus from the dead, will raise up their bodies by virtue of that powerfull [...], the Holy Spirit of grace.

This is the position, a comfortable Thesis, the second generall part of my Text, [...], he shall quicken, &c. i. e. Resuscita­bit ad vitam immortalem & beatam exemplo Christi capitis & primogeniti mortuorum. Estius. ad. Generall part. He shall raise them to life and glo­ry, that with Christ their head and Saviour in Heaven they may be for ever happy. This is the fructus inhabitantis Spiritus, the blessed fruit or effect of the spirits dwelling in us, which is the first particular of the last generall part of my Text, which is also seconded with another, and that is, per quem accrescit nobis fru­ctus, by whom this happinesse of being rais'd to life eternall is derived unto us: This is effected by the H. Spirit, by the spirit [Page 18] immediatly, whose instrumentall action is used by the Father and Son, who likewise co-operate and concur, though mediatè in this great and glorious worke of the Resurrection, as is evident by the Text, John 5.28. and the 5. of St. Iohn, where our Saviour speaking of himselfe, sayes, The houre is comming in the which all that are in the Graves shall heare his voyce, &c.

To wave all other doubts and doctrines concerning the Re­surrection, wherein I might enlarge my meditations, I shall close all with some few short Uses by way of Application.

Use. 1 First, this Text, methinks, speakes to every man as Dalilah did once to Sampson, Iud. 16.9. Ʋp, for the Philistines are upon thee, &c. Thou hast a mortall body, death is at the doore; O therefore thou mud-wall of frailty be not proud whilst the Sun-shine of pro­sperity reflects upon thee; one blast of death by a sicknesse, his harbenger, may blow thee into thy first dust, and tumble thee with thy unrepented sins into hell: one glimpse whereof (in the judgement of Bellarmine) were enough to make a man from a dissolute one turn Monk, or (which, I say, is better) a strict Chri­stian. Think of your houses of clay, your [...], your mortall bodies, and you cannot, you will not be proud or cove­tous.

Use. 2 Luke 2, 10.Againe, methinkes this Text sounds in my delighted eare that joyfull message of the Angel to the Shepheards, Fear not death, O mortalls, for I bring you good tidings of great joy, although your bodies be crumbled into dust, yet [...], He that raisd up Christ from the dead shall quicken, and restore them unto life. Therefore grieve not much for a friend deceased that lived in the feare of God, and died in the armes of his mercy, as Moses, and this our deceas'd friend, a second Moses, did. Grieve not for him who is passed from a Sea of troubles to an Haven of ever­lasting rest; 1, Cor. 6 17. But rejoyce in this that God is your Father and Christ your Saviour, that you are made one with Him by his Spirit; and that by meanes of this happy union, you have a com­munion in his merit, in all the benefits of his Death and Passion, whereby you are made partakers of Grace here, and shall be of Glory hereafter.

Use. 3 Againe, when we read mortall, this should minde us of our fraile condition, that we carry corruption in our bosomes, and death in our bodies, as well as in our names. [...] methim, in the Iewes language, signifies men both living & dead. O therefore [Page 19] seeing death watches for us, let us watch and waite for death, as holy Job did. All the dayes of my appointed time will I waite, Job 14.14. till my change come.

Wait

  • Jugiter orando.
  • Poenitendo.
  • Benefaciendo.

By being frequent in prayer. Pray continually. 1 Thess. 5 17. By repenting dai­ly of your sins; it is Repentance that turnes death into life, and drives out his venome, which is sin, makes it a drone, that it cannot hurt. Thirdly, waite for it by being much in duty, and in the works of Charity; Then mayst thou say with greater security then that heathen Phylosopher did, Epictetus. [...], let death surprise me so speaking and so doing, &c.

Fourthly, if mortall then so because of sin which stings our bo­dies Use. 4 unto death: O then expell and hate this bosom enemy; let our hatred be implacable without reconciliation, constant without in­termission, and generall without permission of our selves to live in any the least unrepented sin. Non nisi cor­pus condignum habero potest caput Christum, Aug. Mat. 9.11. How can a dead body accord with a living head? Thou deceivest thy self, O man; who being a rotten nominall Christian, yet pretendest to be in Christ, who is a sound Physitian, who came to heale sin, not to harbour sinners. We read that he went in to sinners, conversed with Publicans, but sinners shall not go in to Him, never be admitted into his glorious Presence, I meane such sinners that delight in uncleannesse, and are unwash'd from their habituall & actuall pollutions. Oh therefore wash ye, make you clean. Is. 1.16. for why will ye die, & venture upon damnation?

The Motto which was in Julian's crest may well be fitted and ap­plied to every sinfull man. It was an Eagle, shot through with a dart, feather'd with a quill taken out of his own wing. Thus an im­penitent sinner suffers that to nest in his bosome, which is his deadliest enemy, will prove his murtherer, and bring him to eternall perdition, &c.

Fifthly, when we consider our bodies mortality; This should Use. 5 teach us patience, because deaths cup is inevitable, and by God ap­pointed for all men to tast of. Heb. 9. statutum est, &c. Heb. 9.27. It is a statute Law that is unalterable, and cannot be repealed. Let us then do that willingly, which must once be done by us of necessity. Death is but the pulling down of a ruinous rotten Cottage, and erecting instead of it a glorious Palace. Who will repine at this change, but he that loves his fetters? which speakes him guilty of folly and madnesse. O then feare not Death in your selves, nor lament this happy change in others.

[...]
[...]

[Page 20]They betray their faith & forfeit their Christianity, who for their friends departed grieve immoderatly. 1 Thess. 4.13. Sorrow not as those do that have no hope, &c. It is observed that the Aegyptians mourned for Jacob threescore and ten days, Gen. 50.3.10. Ioseph but seven, Gen. 50. Thus where, and in whom; there is more of faith in the promi­ses, there is lesse of griefe for the losse of our dearest and nearest alliances.

Use. 6 Lastly, the [...], He shall quicken, &c. in my Text, puts us in minde of a substantiall maine duty, which will quite abolish and take away the feare of death from us; It is that which is one of the ends of our redemption, Luke 1.71. it is to live holily; holinesse in this life takes hold on happiness. This is holiness with its consummatum est; Ho­liness compleated, as holiness is happiness in the bud, or initiated. Without holiness no man shall see the Lord. It is a piece or part of the new man, Eph. 4.24. Holiness to the Lord was the superscription of the high Priests Mitre. Exod. 39.30. It implies a freedom from carnality, and all earthly mindedness, together with a giving up our selves wholy to Gods service. It is that which S. Paul earnestly prayes to God to infuse into the Thessalonians, 1 Thess. 3.13. It is the beginning and pledg of eternall life. 1 Pet. 1.15, 16. Be ye therefore holy as the Lord of life our God is holy. To conclude, he that lives well will not be unwilling or afraid to die. Aug. Nihil est in morte quod metuamus, si nihil timendū in vitâ committimus. Aristippus told the saylours, who wondred why he was not, as well as they, afraid in a storm; That the odds was much between him and them, You (said he) feare the torments of a wicked life after your dissolution, but I expect the rewards of a good one. The vertues of a well-lead life do much facilitate and sweeten death, Eph. 1.13. 4.30. having the Seale of the Spirit (which I pray God to bestow where it is wanting, and increase where it is) having this Seal of Grace in us, we may be sure of our everlasting inheritance in the Heavens. Aug. Selil. c. 35 Ʋbi erit quicquid voles, & non erit quicquid noles: Ʋbi erit vita vitalis dulcis & amabilis: ubi non erit hostis impug­nans, nec ulla illecebra, sed summa & secura tranquilitas, & tran­quilla jucunditas: Jucunda faelicitas & faelix aeternitas: aeterna beati­tudo, & beata Trinitas & Trinitatis unitas, & unitatis Deitas, & Deitatis beata visio, quae est gaudium Domini.

Into which joy of our Lord may we all enter through the Me­rits of our Saviour and Lord Christ Iesus. To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be ascribed all Adoration, Honour, Power and Praise, &c.

Amen.

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