THese words are an answer to the precedent verse, and they are Allegoricall, rate­ly adorn'd, partly metapho­rically, and partly Mero­nymically, and they are brought in, to inform Thomas, and the rest of the Disci­ples more fully in the way of Salvation. We know not (saith Thomas) whither thou goest, and how can we know the way? Our Saviour presently resolv's him in the words of my Text. I am the way, the truth and the Life. Aurea Sententia, A golden Sentence. The wife men of the East opened their treasures, and pre­sented unto him guifts, even Gold, Frankincence, and Myrrh; but he pre­sents [Page 2]unto us guifts more precious, in that they fit the Soul in her divine pro­gress to Heaven, and as the Angels, La­zarus, carry it into Abrahams bosome.) But I will come to the severall branches of the Text. And they are three, Ʋia, veritis, & vita. The way the truth, and the Life.

First, Christ is the way docendo, by way of teaching, because he alone instructs in the way to happiness. The Law is our Schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, Gal. 3.24. and Christ is our Schoolmaster who brings us to Heaven. he is that pillar of a cloud and fire leading us the way to the Heavenly Canaan, Exod. 13.21. St. John saith, No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son which is in the bosome of the Father he hath declared him. John. 1.18. He is the true Mercuries fin­ger, that directs the poor wandring tra­veller the right way to his heavenly Mansion. None but he can fit us for that blessed Academy above, were we shall all) be Fellow-Communers with the Saints and blessed Angels.

Secondly, he is the way promerendo, by [Page 3]way of Meriting. Conerning this nota­ble is that of St. Paul, Rom. 5.16, 17, 18, 19. For if by one mans offence, death reigned, by one much more they which receive abun­dance of grace, and the guift of righteous­ness shall reign in Life by one Jesus Christ, &c. read the Text. He alone is that Sampson, who hath broken the Cords of our Sins from us, by which we were so fast bound, and with that woman in the Gospell, even bowed together. That strong man Satan, by him is overcome, and his armour wherein he trusted, ta­ken from him, and his spoiles divided. Luke. 11.22. The Apostle to the Colossi­ans saith, In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of our Sins, Col. 1.14. and v. 20. (Having made peace through the blood of his Cross) by him to reconcile all things to himself. To omit a cloud of witnesses; St. Peter positively thus, Neither is their Salvation in any other; for there is none other name under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Acts. 4.12. And thus he is the way promerendo, by way of merit.

Thirdly He is the way applicando, by [Page 4]way of application; And that in Seve­rall respects. First by his word; so the Psalmist, Thou wilt shew me the path of Life. Ps. 16.11. And in another Psalme I will instruct thee, and teach thee in the way which you shalt go. I will guide thee with mine eye. Ps. 32 8. Secondly by his Sacra­ments, by which God hath not only sa­ved us according to his mercy, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the holy Ghost, which he shed on us abun­dantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternall Life. Titus 3.5, 6, 7. But also he doth Confirm unto us as by undoubted Seals and assurances, the way of Salvation, righteousness, and eternall Life. So the Apostle speaking of Abraham. And he recieved the s [...]gne of Circumcision, a Seal of the righteousness of faith, which he had being yet uncircumcised; that he might be the Father of all them that believe though they be not circumcised, that righte­ousness might be imputed to them also. Ro. 4.11. Thirdly By holy and fervent prayers, According to that of St. Paul Eph. 2.18. [Page 5] For through him we both have an access by one Spirit unto the Father, &c. chap. 3.12. In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. And to the Romans he saith, For ye have nor received the Spirit of Bondage again to fear: but ye have received the Spirit of ad [...]ption, where­by we cry Abba Father. Rom. 8.15. To this purpose we are commanded in our Pater Noster, to supplicate Almighty God in that sweet Epithete and name of Father. Our Fa­ther, &c. ut vere creda­mus eum no­strum verum parrem, nosque ejus veros fili­os esse: ut eo confidentius plena fiducia adcum acceda­mus, eumque in­voeemus; quem­admodum vi­demus liberos certa fiducia a­liquid aparenti­bus suis potere Luth, in Expli­cat. Catechet. that (as Mart. Luther expounds it) We might believe him to be our true Father, and we his very Sons, and that we should come unto him more confidently, in a full assurance, and might call upon him, even as we see Children with Confidence beg any thing of their Pa­rents. For which cause he is said to be our advocate, 1. Ep. John 2.1. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Fa­ther, [Page 6]Jesus Christ the Righteous, &c. And by St. Paul, our Mediator, 1. Tim. 25. For there is one God and one Mediatour between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

Fourthly and lastly, per exemplum, by ex­ample in shewing us the way how to live in mutual love and amity one with ano­ther. For this we have a fair copy to write by, John 13.15. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you, and what is that, even a low de­scention, a rare bird on the earth nigro si­millima Cigno, like unto a black Swan; hear it, If I then your Lord and Master have washed your feet, what said I, washed your feet? O rare humility! ye also ought (and all the reason in the world) to wash one anothers feet. v. 14. Secondly, In shewing us how we should undergoe and suffer af­flictions and persecutions in this life. Herein likewise he hath beaten our way before us. 1. Pet. 2.21. For even hereunto were ye called; because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow his steps. And now I come to application.

If Christ be the only way to happiness, [Page 7]as is clear by the premises; then by con­sequence, all who affect and follow any other way beside, without, and against Christ cannot be saved. Let the Turke dream of an Elizium and fancy what car­nall pleasures he please in another world; he will find one day he built but Castles in the Air, and instead of sports and pastimes, feel the torments of a damned Conscience, then will he curse his Ma­humet, the day wherein he was born, and the womb that bare him. Quantum muta­tus ab illo? How is the man now changed, when he seeth all his hopes frustrate, and for a World of happiness falls into a deep confus'd Tophet, where the breath of the Lord, like a river of Brimstone doth kindle it. Isaiah. 30.33. No man cometh unto the Fa­ther but by me, (saith the Way in my text) and if he gains heaven without Faith on Christ, farewell thou Queen of Scien­ces sacred Divinity, the Holy Scriptures then are but meer Riddles. But O God! thy word is truth, and all men besides are liars; We know and believe. He that be­lieveth on [...]he Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son, shal not see life [Page 8]but the wrath of God abideth on him, John 3.36 And Verissimum est, this is most true, Whosoever denyeth the Son, the same hath not the Father; but he that acknowledgeth the Son, hath the Father also. 1 John 2.23. And again, He that honoreth not the Son honoureth not the Father that hath sent him. John 5.23. Where are our Jews now, and Antitrinitarians, those brethren in evill as ( Jacob, said of Simeon and Levi) If the great Turk cannot be saved, what will be come of them? 3. Mutato nomine, change but only the name, and there is not a pair of sheares between them. Poor Jew, (wert thou as rich as he of Malta) thou canst never obtain true happiness 'till thou believest in that God whom thy Fathers crucified. All thy priviledges and prerogatives which thou so much gloriest in, without faith in him, will prove so many plummets of lead to sink thy floating soul to Hell. Thou saist, thou hast Abraham to thy Father, and thinkst that shall carry it, a meer flourish. What armes canst thou shew of his to prove thy pedegree. Hear what our Lord said to thy Country-men of old; Your Father A­braham [Page 9]rejoyced to see my day, and he saw it, and was glad, John 8.56. The touring Eagle ownes no bird for hers that cannot out-look the Sun. Where is thy faith to make thy words good? The Philosopher stared upon a Star, when he fell into a pit.

In the next place I must say something to our Roman Catholicks, who like wa­ter-men look one way and row another; these set too great a price on their works, and where natural beauty fails, there they seek to repair by Art. What with their Saints, and what with their works, Christ the only and true way is forgotten. We confess, the Mother of our Lord was a holy Virgin, a rich and pure Cabinet, wherein was inclosed that most precious Jewel (God-Man,) the true Catholicon, by whose blood all the diseases and mala­dies of our Souls occasioned by sin, were perfectly cured; and she now a glorious Saint in Heaven; yet to make her a Sa­viour is high Sacriledge. O my soul, come not thou into their secret, unto their Assem­bly mine honour be not thou united. Hear, and blush to hear it, Marie is the Media­trix [Page 10]of our Salvation, Maria est Me­diatrix nostrae salvationis, &c. Bernardinus in Mariali. of our Conjunction, Justifica­tion, Reconciliation, Inter­cession, Communication. Mark what result that Den of Thieves, the Council of Trent give of the Saints in general, Sanctos supplici­ter invocare, & ad eorum oratione opem, auxiliúmque confugere, bonum & utile est. Humbly to invocate the Saints, and to fly to their prayers for help and safe­guard is good and profitable. But again, see how they make their works sit cheek by jowl with the merits of Christ. This is all one, to compare a stinking candle burnt to a snuff with the most transcen­dent light, and glorious rayes of the Sun. Behold what a train they have in this particular, and with what rabble this Idol is ushered up. Certainly these fel­lows must have a good purse to maintain so great a retinue. Some by observing the prescription and rule of (as they call them) S. Dominick, Frances, Benedick; and others the Saints, S. Bridget and S. Clare, &c. others by their tedious pere­grinations to this or that Saint, others [Page 11]by their Vigils, Masses, & Rosariorum preculis, by their Rosary of short prayers; others by their abstinency, and fasting, & ciborum delectibus, their choyce dishes; others by a spontaneous whipping them­selves; others by their Alms-deeds (pity so good a pail of milk should be spilt) aliisque commentitiis pietatis operibus, and by other counterfeit works of godliness; they truly (though vainly) think to ob­tain Salvation, and more then ordinary reward in Heaven.

But haec non est via, neque est haec civitas, this is not the way, neither is this the city, as Elisha said to the Syrians, 2 Kings 6.19. This is not the way to Heaven, nei­ther will it ever bring any to that great city, the holy Jerusalem descending out of Heaven from God, Revel. 21.10. I speak not this to discourage a holy walking with God in a mans general or particular Calling, or that I null good works as su­perfluous and unnecessary. No, God for­bid. Without holiness no man shall see the Lord. Not every one that saith Lord, Lord, shall be saved; but he that doth the will of my Father which is in Heaven, Matth. 7.24. [Page 12]For as we are not saved propter opera, for our works, we are saved, and shall be one day judged accordingly, secundum opera, according to our works. See Matth. 25. v. 34. to the end. But I would not have men big with their works, high conceit­ed of them, stand in competition with God, fondly to imagine their works me­ritorious; in so doing they derogate from the free Grace of God, and the death and passion of Christ, who saith in my Text, I am the way, &c. Alio nobis non opus est ostiario, mediatore, vel ministro, saith Chrysost. We need no other door­keeper, or Mediator, or Minister. 16. Hom. in Matth. Our Justiciaries then and con­ceited Pharisees, like Players over act themselves. These indeed have good things in them, but (as we use to say) fools have them in keeping. Should we call them Papists they would spit at it, and yet verily in a sence they are all one in this particular: just like the two El­ders in Susanna they seem to take leave one of another, and presently meet at one door. He that saith, I am the way saith likewise, I am the door of the Sheep. [Page 13]John 10.7. And as no man cometh unto the Father but by him so by him also we have access by faith into the grace wherein we stand and rejoyce in hope of the glory of God. Rom 5.22. What impudence can out face that of the Apostle. For by grace are ye sa­ved through faith, and that not of your selves, it is the gift of God, not of Workes, least any man should boast. Eph. 2.8, 9. And the same Apostle elsewhere saith, speaking of free election; And if by grace then is it no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace, but if it be of works; then it is no more grace, otherwise work is no more work. Rom. 11.6. Let the Church of Rome then tells what tale they please; I hope (beloved) it is no article in our Creed. To pray to Saints, and ascribe merit to our works is the next way to make us devils. I am sure they never had these puddles from the pure fountain of Gods holy word. Pride is one of the seven deadly sins, but of two, spirituall pride is the more dangerous and must expect a fall. That man who is big with the timpany of his own worth will hardly acknowledg Christ to be the way. This is so stiff an [Page 14]Oak that it will break rather then bend; and with Naball it is such a son of Belial that a man cannot speak to it. 1 Sam. 25.17. But to conclude the first particular, Let this serve for admonition to all that truely fear God, without procrastinati­on to address themselves to Christ, who is, and none but he, the true and living way to bliss: to know him and his Father is eternall life. John 17.3. Wherefore as the Apostle sometime said in another sence, so let us all say; whether shall we go, thou hast the words of Eternall life.

And so I come to the second branch in my Text. As Christ is the way, in like manner he is the truth. I am the truth.

First he is the truth Complendo, by way of accomplishment, for in him as by a lively voice and promise, whatsoever was spoken and typified concerning the Messiah by the mouth of all the holy prophets, since the world began, are fulfilled. Acts. 3.21. see. v. 24. and. Acts. 10.43. In like manner, the whole Hierarchie of the Leviticall priesthood is accomplished in him the Antetipe: which the Epistle to the Hebrews throughout plainly sheweth. [Page 15]Thus the Apostle speaking of the Law, saith, that it was but a shadow of things to come, Hebr. 10.1.

Secondly he is the truth Promittendo, by way of promise. So Joh. 17.17. Sanctifie them through thy truth, thy word is truth. And David thus speaks Ps. 119.43. And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth. And Ps. 33.4. For the word of the Lord is right. Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. Luke. 21.33. St. Peter having spoken of the frailty and vanity of man and flesh; positively concludes, that the word of the Lord en­dureth for ever. 1 Pet. 1.25.

Thirdly he is the truth Operando, by operation; because by the holy Ghost through the word of truth, he shall guide us into all truth. Jo. 16.13. And Chapt. 8.31.32. If ye continue in my word then are ye my disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free; And v. 36. I the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

This may first serve to inform us, that Christ is the true Messiah, that undoubted Seed of the woman who should break, the [Page 61]Serpents head Gen. 3.8. That seed of A­braham in whom all the nations of the earth were to be blessed. Gen. 12.3. He, who was to save his people from their Sins. Matth. 1.21. he in whom all the promises of God are yea and amen. 2. Cor. 1.20. Let us then who are Christians acknowledge him alone to be our Saviour; although the Jews wickedly blasphe­me, Parati sunt adlegendam, cae­ci vero ad intel­ligendum, duri ad credendum. Aug. Serm. 35. de Temp. and fondly phancie themselves of a Messiah to come. Of whom the Fa­ther truly speaks; they are ready to read, but blind to understand, and hard to believe.

Secondly, if Christ is the truth, it fol­loweth, whatsoever is propounded to us, against, without, or besides Christ to embrace and follow; is a meer lye. St. Paul calls it the Spirit of errour. 1. Tim. 4.1. Our Saviour himself saith There shall arise false Christs and false prophets. Math. 24.24. That is to say: false Doctors and Teachers, as Tertuil. expounds the Text. Qui pseudoprotae sunt, nisi falsi praedicatores? Qui Pseudo-apastoli, nisi adulteri Evange­lizatores? [Page 17]Qui Antechristi, nisi Christi re­belles? de prescript. haeret cap 4. Who are false prophets, but false preachers? Who are false Apostles, but adulterate Gospel­lers? Who are Antechrists, but rebels of Christ? These come in sheeps cloathing, Matth. 7.15. Having a shew of Godliness. 2 Tim. 3.5. a shew of wisdome. Coloss. 2.23. Who by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the Simple. Rom. 16.18. Yea they shall show great signs and wonders, that (if it were possible) they shall deceive the very elect, Matth. 24.24. And indeed whom have they not deceived? If ever that saying was true, it is now; Where God hath his church there the devill hath his chappel. We have almost as many Conven­ticles as Churches, and a multitude resort unto them. Let but one sheep run astray and the whole flock will soon follow. Et affabilisser­mo & blandum haereticorum e­loquium sunt sagena et laquens quibus pisces capiunt & vo­lucres. In cap. 9. Eccl. St. Hierom thus discribs the heretiques. Their affable speeches, fair tongue are a gin and snare wherewith they catch the poor birds and fishes. But of these the people of God are [Page 18]admonished to take heed, Beware of false prophets, saith our Saviour himself, Matth. 7.15. And in another place, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadduces, chapt. 16.6. and that 24.25. and 26. vers. read the words. And the disciple follows his Master. Beloved, believe not every Spirit; but try the Spirits whether they are of God: and he giveth the reason; because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 1 Epistle of John. 4. chapt. v. 1. Thus should every Christian do, if they would not be se­duced. Should a Goldsmith hand over head take all moneys without trying; I believe he would receive much adultera­ted coine. To prevent which, he brings all to the touchstone. If Solomon had not been wise, he could never known the true Mother, for the harlots were both a [...] their pro and con, Heresis Aocta est mentiri non tantum lingua, sed & vita; si fidem imerro­ges whil bri­sttanius si con­versactonem nihil irreprehensibilius. Bernd. and in one tale. 1. Kin. 3.23. &c. Wherefore, the best way to find out the false play of these juglers, is to bring them to the touchstone of [Page 19]Gods word For all is not gold that gli­sters. The property of Heresie is to lye, not in tongue onely, but in Life. If thou questions his faith, not better Christi­an; if his Conversation, none more ir­reprehensible; saith Benard. And Ireneus of false prophets, goes on thus; They speak to us the same things, Similia nobis­cum loquuntur, dissimilta vero sentiunt lib. 1. epist. 59. but think the contra­ry. And truly had we not re­course to the sacred springs of holy Writ; the whole world would go after them. You know who said it, My sheep hear my voice, and again; The sheep follow him, for they know his voice; And a stranger will they not follow but will flee from him. For they know not the voice of strangers, John. 10.4.5. It was a voice from heaven which said, hear him Matthew. 5.16. And he that came from Heaven, the Son of man who is in Heaven, said of those hypocrites, Mittite eos, Let them alone they be blind leaders of the blind, &c. Matth. 15. [...]4.

In the next place; If Christ be the truth; then by consequent, his word is truth; and we ought to subscribe to it without dispute. Ipse dixit was sufficient [Page 20]a Scholar of Pythagoras; If their Master once said it, it carried as much weight with it, as delivered from an Oracle. Me thinks the word of God should be of more credit with us. If that once speakes, we should presently lay our hands upon our mounths, and by silence express our con­sent. I am with you unto the end of the world, that is, by his Spirit, Grace, word, &c. Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. John 3.5. There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one, 1 John 5.7. and verse the 20. St. John speaking of our Saviour saith, This is the true God and Eternal life. And according to St. Paul, God blessed for e­ver. Rom. 9.5. These and whatsover we find recorded in the word, we must believe, without Cavelling; seem they never so contrary to naturall reason. This condemns the foul Heresie of the Photinians, who deny the Divinity and Godhead of Christ; upon this account onely, because their blind reasons can­not comprehend it; as if our faith were [Page 21]pinn'd upon reasons sleeve. I have read of one who was in his dumps and deep contemplation, to define fully what God was; and this he would do forsooth by Phylosophy and reason. In this his brown study, by the sea-side, he seeth a Child go often to the sea, and bringing from thence water in a shell, and then to put it in a little hole which was hard by. The Philosopher asked the Child, why he did so; The Child replyed, because I will bring all the Sea, and put it into this hole. That is impossible, said the other again; So it is as impossible (saith the Child a­gain) for thee by reason to define what God is. Worthy is that of Cassianus; Doest thou ask me a reason of the Word. I do not tell thee; God hath said it, his word is all the reason. The person of him alone that speakes it is sufficient for my belief. What need I enquire how that is true that God hath spoken, when I must not doubt, because it is true, be­cause God hath spoken it. If this course were taken, it would not only prevent blasphemy and mistakes of Scripture, but be a great obstruction to sin and wicked­ness. [Page 22]Did our Anapabtist but steer this way, they would not cavill so much at the Baptisme of Infants. What though their baptisme be not positive or demon­strative; yet it is deductive, deduced from Scripture, as plain as a mans nose on his face. Will they play the thieves, and rob a poor Child of the Sacrament, upon this fond cavill, What good doth it doe them? And they have no faith, which is more then they can prove for they have Sacamentall faith, and the Seed of faith. And further they urge that Children are not capable of teach­ing, and so ought not to be baptized; As if that text had relation to the adul­ted Men and Women of ripe years; and not to Children. They make themselves simple Logitians, for they understand not a distinction. If they ask what good it doth them; Aqua corpus absoluitur Spi­ritu animae de­licta mundan­tur. Saint Am­brose will tell them; The body is cleansed by the E­lement, Water; the spots & sins of the Soul by the Spi­rit: I will end this with that of Crysost. (meaning Tertullians [Page 23]works) Da mihi Magistrum, da mihi Ma­gistrum, Give me my Master, give me my Master. So say I, and so let us all say of the word of God; da nobis Magistrum, &c. Give us our Master, give us our Master. Thus Christ is the truth.

Thirdly, as he is the way, and the truth so he is the life; and that in three respects, Creando & Conservando; Regenerando & Sanctificando, Resuscitando & Glorifican­do. By Creating and Conserving us, By Re­generating and Sanctifying us, By Raising again and Glorifying us.

First he is said to be the Life, not so much in relation to his essence; in which respect he is life eternall, 1 John. 5.20. but in relation to us, in that he hath cre­ared us, and kept us ever since by the hand of providence. So David, Psalm. 100.3. Know ye that the Lord he is God, it is he that hath made us and not we our selves, we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. And the Apostle, In him we live, move, and have our being. Acts 17.28.

Secondly, he is life, and that especially by Regenerating and by Conserving us; [Page 24]because, by the Sacraments and words, he workes, and (as I may so speak) begets in us a Spirituall life. According to that of S. John, Jesus answered, verily, verily I say unto thee, except a man be born of wa­ter and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdome of God, and so forward, John 35. And in the 6. chap. and 33. v. &c. For the Bread of God is he which cometh down from Heaven, &c. And John 10.10. I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. St. Paul hath this expression to the Gala­thians, I am Crucified with Christ, never­theless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God; who loved me, and gave himself for me. Gal. 2.20. And in his Epistle to the Ro­mans he saith, How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Je­sus Christ, were baptized into his death. Rom. 6.2. and v. 4. Therefore we are bu­ried with him by baptisme into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the Glory of the Father, even so we also [Page 25]should walk in newness of life. Read Rom. 8.12, 13.

Thirdly and Lastly, Christ is the life, Resuscitando & Glorificando, by raising us again, and by glorifying us. This is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day. John 6.40. And a­gain, I am the Resurrection and the Life, he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live? And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never dye. John. 11.25.26. St. Paul saith, whom he justifyed, them he also glorifyed. Rom. 8.30. And which is more; Who shall change our vile bodie, that it may be fashio­ned like unto his glorious body, &c. Phili­pians. 3.21.

The fruit which we may gather from hence is this; If Christ be the life, we should seek it in and through him only, without whom we shall never obtain it. And we should not so much mind this present life, which we have in common with beasts, reprobates; and as Eurip. saith Non vita, sed calamitas est, It is not [Page 26]a life in comparison, but a calamity, and differs nothing from death; if we believe the Phylosopher: a life that is as brittle as Glass, frail and Momentany. Ʋt hora sic vita. It is a life, which passeth away as an hour upon the Diall, insensibly. But mind we that spirituall life of rege­neration and sanctification, which is the life properly; and by which we live to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. A life wherein sin doth not reign in our mortall body, that we should obey it in the lusts there­of, neither yield we our members as instru­ments of unrighteousness to sin. Rom. 6.12, 13. When the Emperour Nero had fi­nished his house, which he called Domum Aureum, the golden house, he said, now I begin to live like a man. But this is most true; we never begin to live like Christi­an men, till we live the life of Regenerati­on and Sanctification. And now if Christ be our life. death will be to us advan­tage. As St. Paul hath it. When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye al­so appear with him in glory. Coloss. 3.4. And that true and eternall life which we here possess by faith and hope; We shall [Page 27]at length have the full fruition of it in Heaven. That of the Apostle is worthy of all acceptation; For whether we live, we live unto the Lord, and whether we dy, we dy unto the Lord; whether we live therefore of dy we are the Lords. Rom. 14.8. Who is he then that will not from his heart breath forth and say. O my Lord Jesus Christ, thou art truly the way, because no man cometh unto the Father nisi per te, but by thee; thou art the truth, because no man knoweth the Father nisi per te, but by the Thou art the life, because no man liveth, nisi per te, but by thee, Be thou to me the way by which I may come to thee and the Father; Be thou to me the truth by which I may know thee and the Father; be thou to me the life by which I may here live in thee by faith in believing, and there in heaven by fruition. Let this ever sound fresh in our ears. Ambularevis? ego sum via; fallinonvis? ego sum veritas: Mo­rino [...] vis? Ego sum vita Hoc dicit salvator tuus, non est quo eas nisi ad me, non est quo cas nisi per me. Aug. Tract. 22 Johannum. Wilt thou walk? I am the way, Wilt thou not be deceived: I am the truth; Wouldst thou not dye? I am the life. This thy Saviour saith, thou hast not where to go, un­less [Page 28]unto me, nor how to go but by me. Secondly, if Christ be the life, then it follows there is a resu­rection of the body at the last day. From this flower may the Bee suck honey, the Spider poyson.

Now in the first place, may the people of God, with the Eunuch depart home rejoycing, with much harmony in their Souls. Cura thymo pleno, their thighs are now laden with sweetness. O the rare contentment of a child of God in the pri­vation and want of all external comforts! With Jacob he may well & truly say, few and evill have the dayes of my life been: As for this world he doth but breath in it, that is all. Yet prithy erect thy self, banish thy sad thoughts; no vio­lence is perpetuall; a storm lasts not al­wayes: The poor Ship that's long tossed too and fro with a tempest gaines the wished Port at last. The Ark that was hurried on the flood, hath a Dove with an Olive branch in her mouth to imitate the falling of the waters. Haec non dura­bunt aetatem, as that learned Bishop Jew­ell [Page 29]said of the Marian persecution. These things will not last an age. Chear up sweat heart; Gods rod is but a love kiss, and our afflictions are but tokens of his indulgency. Look back to former Ages, and the Church is often in a cloud her throws like a woman in Travell, have been thick and painfull; Sicut un­da sequitur undam, and have followed as one wave upon the neck of another. Yet mark the result of all; her end is peace at the last; Wait then with patience, and thou shalt see the salvati­on of God; who ever trusted in him and was confounded? Behold a most ample compensation: For thy light af­flictions, thou shalt have an exceeding, an eternall weight of glory in another World, Forget not the Text; I am the life, &c. A day therefore will come when thy sorrows will have an end, and breath out their last. Hear, and glut thine ear with this musick. Ye are they which have continued with me in my tem­ptations, and I appoint unto you a king­dome, as my Father hath appointed un­to me; that ye my eat and drink at my [Page 30]table in my Kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Luke 22.28. &c. When this Sun once Sets and the great World on fire; they every man shall receive according to his works, and a full satisfaction made of all injuries and wrongs, which the poor Saints have groaned under in this Life by wicked and ungodly men.

In the next place this may serve for horrour and amazement to all such, who with Davids fool have said in their hearts there is no God. The Sadduces and Epicures of our days who by their lives deny the resurrection of the body. Some have likened a Courtier without pre­ferment, to a Blackamoor, qui in ortu so­lis positus, habet colorem noctis, who though living upon the Sun rising, hath notwith­standing the Colour of the night. So an Atheist amongst us may fitly be compared to this Ethiopian; He liveth where the Sun riseth, even where the Gospell casts forth its glorious beams; and yet he acts the works of darkness and of the night. It is observ'd by Josephus, that the Sad­duces were most approved and favoured [Page 31]by great men; And it is very probable; because they that wallow in wealth, for the most part are so glued to this world, that they could wished there were no o­ther; and truly in their account there is not. Nemo tam car­xaliter vivit, quam qui negat resurrectionem. That of Tertull. is undenyable No man liveth so loosely and Carnally, as he that denyeth the resurrection of the body. And one may give a shrewd guess, that they who live in all kinds of pleasures and voluptuousness, & luxuriant in ver­mium operibus, and Pride it in silks with­out all fear of God, reverence to his house, love to his ordinances, and Charity to the poor: are Epecuri de grege porci; the hogs of Epicurus, and acknow­ledge no life but the present. You shall allways have them Sing this Song. Ede, bibe, Lude, &c. Eat, drink, and be merry, after death theres no pleasure; I believe it; and will one day find by wofull experi­ence, if they repent not before they go hence, and be no more seen. It were happy for worldly men if there were no resurrection, they should come then to [Page 32]no accompts. And on the contrary, the Saints were most unhappy; For if in this Life onely we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserble, saith the Apostle. 1 Cor. 15.19. But Christ is the Life, Resusci­tando, &c. by raising thee again, (as I said before) God is just, and he will one day reward every man according to his works; and this must be in another world. Thou must not think to live heer a Devill, and a Saint hereafter; have the full fruition of happiness in this world, be clad in purple and fine linnen, and fare deliciously quotidie, every day; & at length be carried by Angels into A­brahams bosome; Somnias vigilans, Thou dreamest waking, once to think it. You know what was said to the rich glutton being in hell torments, Mememto fili; Son remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus his Evil things; but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. Luke 16.25. Mark how Empatheticall the pronoune (Thy) is there. This life is called his life; not in regard he lived in it, for so it is every mans; but because he so lived in it, as if [Page 33]there had been no other Life besides. Se­culum non agnoscit nisi presens; A Car­nall man acknowledgeth no World but the present; or at least, will acknow­ledge no other, till he drops into it un­awares. Hence it is, that he hath nei­ther thought of death or of the resur­rection. Not unlike unto the Emperour Vespatian, who seing at one time two o­minous presages of his end, to wit a bla­zing Comet and a gaping Sepulchre; puts them both from himself, and said; the Sepulchre gaped for the Empress Julia, and the Star did portend only the death of the Persian King, who then wore long hair. Cuspind. Lust. The Psalmist, saith, Thou wilt not leave my Soul in grave, nor suffer thy holy one to see corruption, speaking of of Christ Ps. 16.10. My Soul in grave, there's the immortality of the Soul, nor suffer thy holy one to see Corpuption, there's the Resurection of the body. That of Jo­nas, who lay three dayes buried in the belly of a Whale, is Sacramentum mag­num, not only a true History, but a preg­nant mystery of the Resurrection. Cor terrae fit venter ceti. The heart of the earth to [Page 34]us will be as the belly of the Whale was to Jonas; It shall not ever retain us. Death is the convoy or passing boat either to a better or sadder port. In the time of na­ture, God took away away Enoch, in the time of the law Elias, in the time of Grace our Saviour, himself: by all these examples, it is cleer; that we shall rise again. The Scripture makes mention of four keyes, which God hath reserved to himself. The first is Clavis pluviae, the key of rain. as Deut. 28.12. The Lord will open to thee his good treasure. The se­cond is Clavis Cibationis, the key of Vi­ctualls. Ps. 145.16. Thou openest thy hand, and fillest every thing with thy plenteousness. The third is Clavis Sterilitatis, the key of Sterility or barrenness. Gen. 30.22. Where it is said God remembred Rachel, and opened her womb. The last is Clavis Sepulchrorum, the key of the grave. Ezek. 37.12. When I shall open your Sepulchres. But to omit Gods omnipotency, which is the basis and fundametall arch, on which is founded our Christian Religion; I will reduce all to two heads, his mercy, and his justice; Which two are the Master [Page 35]attributes which set all the rest on work It is thus said by God, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob; Now God is not God of the Dead but of the Living. Matth. 22.32. He is not a God of those that are not, who are without existance, but of those that have a being, so that he will raise their bodies at the last day. Otherwise, he shall di­midium tantunimodo hominum restituere; he were God to one part of Abraham, &c. But his mercy is over all his works. Ps. 145.9 and extends both to Soul and Body; and in the mercy of the most high they shall not miscarry. Ps. 21.7. Secondly, as his Mercy, so his Justice requires a gene­rall Resurection, when both the godly and the wicked shall come forth: their graves the one, rapi in occursum, to meet the Lord in the Clouds, and the other verti retrorsum, to be turned down to Hell, with all those that forget God. There must be a Judgment of Retribution in a­nother World which cannot be with­out the Resurrection of the body. The ungodly are sometimes plagued in this life, to assure us there if a God; yet but [Page 36]sometimes to assure us there is a day of judgment; wherein the accounts of all men and women must be audited and cast up, In that day will God make up his jew­ells. Mal. 3.17. And put a difference between an Israelite and an Egyptian. Then will the Wheat be put into the gra­nary of Heaven, and the tares burnt in the fire. Surgite mortui, Arise ye dead, was St. Hieroms Earwig, and oftimes beat an alarum on his very heart strings. Methinks that of the Apostle should make us tremble; We shall stand before the judgment seat of Christ. O sinner! Let the day of death and the day of doom be the two Pole-stars to fix alwayes thine eyes upon. I could wish (saith one) that men every where would discourse of hell, nam ghehennam meminesse, in ghehen­nam non permitter incidere. For the Re­membrance of hell would by (Divine as­sistance) keep us from falling into it. I hope by this time (if thou beest not an Atheist) thou art convinced of this truth, that as Christ is the way and the truth so also he is the life; by whose omnipotent power we shall all one day rise from our [Page 37]graves, to answer for what we have done in this life whether good or bad. I will now conclude. The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the Heavens shall pass away with a great noyse, and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat, the Earth also, and the workes that are therein shall be burnt up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolv'd, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness. 2 Pet. 3.10, 11.

Gloria Deo in excelsis. Amen.