MY message on Christmas day was Christ's com­ming into the earth; my Easter tidings are that He came out of the earth. There He wore the cog­nisance, and badge of a servant: Here He [Page 2] did Lord it, like a Soveraigne. There the Divinity was ecclips'd by the interposition of his Flesh, He being pleas'd not only to as­sume our Nature but to yeeld vnto it. Here the beames of his heavenly Majestie shin'd forth so cleerely, that in the same Nature, which was conquer'd He van­quish'd the Conqueror, and put the Graue to flight. There Natus est nobis, here sur­rexit pro nobis. We are concern'd in both, yet our possibility is conditionall, it stands vpon a But, and If: But if the spirit of Him that rais'd vp Iesus from the dead dwell in you. &c.

The words relate the resurrection of Christ in his Body Naturall, and Mysticall. The same spirit is Agent in One, and the Other. The maine Act, Raising. The per­son rais'd, Iesus. The estate from whence, from the dead. The effect, and consequent of Christ's Antecedent Rising, the quick­ning of our mortall Bodies. The condi­tion requir'd to qualifie, and make vs cape­able [Page 3] to rise with Him, the residing, or in­habiting of the same spirit in vs. He that raised up Christ from the dead shall allso quic­ken your mortall bodies by his spirit that dwels in you.

I will begin as the Spirit shall enable me with the Spirit of him that raised up Iesus from the dead.

The Spirit, when it referres to the De­ity, may be taken Essentially, or Personally. The first acception is common to the whole Trinity, for God, saith Saint Iohn, S Ioh. c. 4. v. 24. is a Spirit; simply, and absolutely. The o­ther signifies a distinct Manner of subsist­ing by way of Effluence, or Emanation, and that specifies the Third person, who by a su­perexcellency is term'd a Spirit, because He is as it were spir'd, or breath'd from the Father and the Sonne: And thus is the word here used.

But first we hence observe the Trinity [Page 4] Personall. The Third person is set downe in plaine termes; the Spirit, being his usuall name throughout the whole Scripture. The Father is intended by the periphrasis of him. By Iesus Christ the Sonne, the second person.

Neither is it any disparagement to the sonnes equality with the father that the holy Ghost is implicitely in the text, and ex­pressely in the 10. of S. Mathew stil'd the Spirit of the Father, for in the 4. to the Ga­lathians, and in the 9. verse of this chapter, he is as truly called the Spirit of Christ. In the 14. of S. John 'tis Rogabo patrem, I will entreat the Father to send him. But in the 16. of the same Evangelist hee assumes the authority to himselfe, saying, ego mittam, I will send the Comforter, to shew that with the Father he sent him. Aqu. part. 1. q. 36. art. 4 in corp. & q. 37. art. 1. in corp. We see a ne­cessity it should bee so. Nam cum Spirtus sanctus sit Patris, & Filij amor unitivus, vel nexus communis; for the blessed Spirit being the mutuall love of the Father, and the [Page 5] Sonne; his Emission, or sending forth must be alike from both. Yet because the Father is the fountaine of orderly procession in the persons, all the glory of the action may bee reduc'd to him, in regard 'tis his preroga­tive to be the Originall of life, and glory to the rest.

And here, without more adoe, wee are in sincerity to subscribe to the Deity of the holy Ghost. For seeing his Personall property is in the God-head essentially, 'tis certaine hee agrees in the Vnity of the divine Es­sence, because whatsoever is in God is onely his being. And indeed how can a sinne a­gainst the holy Ghost make the delinquents lyable to an infinite punishment, unlesse it be because it doth prejudice the Jnterest of an Infinite being? He who is the Enditer of the Scripture, and testifies the truth to eve­ry faithfull soule hath beene punctuall herein to take away mistaking. For Ananias his Lying to the holy Ghost in the 5. of the Acts, and the third is explained in the very [Page 6] next verse to be all one as to ly to God. To let us know the mighty worke of Creation ownes him as well as the Father, and the Sonne, 'tis registred in the 33. of Iob, the Spirit of the Lord hath made me, and the breath of the Allmighty gave me life. And if so; then he hath a Reall subsistence, and is not a meere Motion, or quality in God, as the [...]of old, and Socinus of late blaspheme. I will not beate that forlorne heresy any farther, there's enough to cleare the point in his raising up Iesus from the dead, an effect, which none but the supre­mest cause can produce.

And indeed it was needfull for S. Paul to rest, and anchor this wondrous Act upon an omnipotent Agent. For the estate of the dead in the eyes of men, and in the conceit of Christs chiefe followers was lost, and desperate; so that wee should never have believed that death, and the grave would let goe their hold, and part with their prey, were it not that wee have the Apostles [Page 7] word, nay Gods owne deed for it. The disciples that went to Emaus had their soules so appall'd, and their hearts so dead within them, when they saw the onely staffe of their comfort quite burst in pieces, and block'd vp within a Pile of stone, that through weaknesse of faith they were al­most at a Non-plus. We, say they, as it is in the 24. of Saint Luke, did hope, (see, now they doe not) that He should haue redee­med Israel. And Peter himselfe, who be­fore bore record of his Divinity, S. Ioh. cap. 6. when he averr'd thou art that Christ the Sonne of God, now comming to his tombe, and not finding him there, went away wondring with himselfe at what had happen'd, in the 12. verse of Saint Luk's former Chap­ter. So that those words of David in the 30. Ps. may well befitt this blessed Sonne of David. What profitt is there in my blood when J goe downe to the pitte? Shall the dust giue thanks to thee? Or shall it declare thy truth?

Our Saviour foreknew how gladly they would perswade themselves, and o­thers that he was a spirit, or it was a sha­dow, a phansie that deluded his disciples, and therefore to stop the mouth of malice hee frequently appeared to them. Hee did not so familiarly present himselfe to their company as before his death, Aq. 3. part. q. 54. art. 3. & q. 55. art. 6. that they might know his body was Alterius gloriae a glorified body. Yet hee did oft converse with them, to shew his body was ejusdem naturae, the same individuall body. He did eat in their presence, not often to informe them Aberat esuriendi necessitas, he was to hunger, and thirst no more. Yet he did not altogether abstaine from meat, they gave him a piece of a broyled fish, Aqu. sup­plem. 3. part. q. 81. art. 4. Part. 1. q. 51. art. 3. ad 5. and hony combe, and he truly ate before them, to assure them Aderat edendi potestas, that hee rose in his humane body, since it had a na­turall capacity to receive sustenance, though the converting it into nutriment was dis­pens'd with, in regard there was no need of it. Hee would make their eyes and [Page 9] hands his witnesses, behold my hands, and my feet, It is I my selfe; handle, and see, a spirit hath not flesh, and bones, as you see Me have. To Mary Magdalen he said, Noli me tangere, touch me not, to signify Immor­talitatem dederat, hee had cloath'd it with immortality. To his disciples, videte & palpate, S. August. ep. 57. to give security Naturam non ab­stulerat, he had not chang'd the substance, but the quality.

In the one he shewed gloriam resurgentis, Aq. 3. part. q. 55. art. 3. in corp. the rare endowments hee had adorn'd it with upon his rising; in the other hee de­clared Veritatem resurectionis, the evident truth of his Resurrection.

Saint Peter became hereupon so well catechis'd that hee told the Iewes in a full assembly, Him, whom you have slaine, and crucified, this Iesus hath God raised up, Act. 2. Him, whom you have deny'd, be­tray'd, and kill'd, Him, hath God rais'd, Act. 3. Yet this doth not derogate from the [Page 10] glory of Christ that Deus suscitavit, God raised him up, is so much repeated, for though as the Sonne of man [...]. Hee was raised up, 1. Cor. 15. yet as the Sonne of God [...]. He rose againe, and re­viv'd to be Lord both of quick, and dead. Rom. 14.9. As the Father hath life in him­selfe, so hath the Sonne life in himselfe. Joh. 5. Hee had power to Lay downe his owne life, and he had power to take it up againe. Joh. 10. The rage of the Iewes destroyed the Temple; in 3. dayes hee built it up a­gaine; he spake, and performed it in the Temple of his Body.

Thus was He Primitiae dormientium, the first fruits of them that slept, not because he dyed before all men, or was raised be­fore all others, but in that he was the onely one that raised himselfe from death. They rose iteram morituri, Aq. 3. part. q. 53. art. 3. to dye againe, but Christ is risen, and dyes no more. He rose by the power of his Deity; which was hypostatically united, they were raised by [Page 11] he vertue of his rising, for 'tis true of his resurrection, which is sayed of his blood, prius profuit quàm fuit, S. Bern. it was effectuall before it was actuall. Hence is my Apostle so positive, He which raised up Iesus from the dead shall also quicken your mortall bodies.

A benefit so sure that in the 2. to the Ephesians, and the 6, wee are all ready risen with him, and estated in possession of those heavenly mansions, though yet we be but in expectation, For there must be a corre­spondence betwixt him, which is the Head, and us the Members, and unlesse we imagine the body of Christ like that Vide­ous image, whose Head was gold, Dan. 2. and Feet clay, our glorious Head must needs have glorified members.

It was the Tenet of Entychius some­times Bishop of Constantinople, Aq. 3. part. q. 54. art. 2. & supplem. 3. part. q. 79. art. 1. that our earthly Tabernacles, which must be com­mitted to the dust, were too meane to bee restored, and renewed at the last day, so [Page 12] that hee thought the blessed soules should in stead of them bee invested with other bodies, of a strange, I know not what sub­limated substance. The same Chymena it hatch'd againe by the Socinians now, who would seeme more subtile then all that have beene before them, when indeed their boundles errours demonstrate them more brainsicke then the former. Smalcius in the name of his incredulous Fraternity pronounceth this desperate position, Cor­pora haec, Smiglec. exam. cent. error. quae nunc circumferimus resurrecto­ra non credimus.

Were they not given over to the spirit of contradiction they might read their con­futation in the Etymon of the word. Aq. sup­plem. 3. part. ex Damasc. For what is Resurrectio, nisi iterata, vel secunda ejus, quod cecidit surrectio? But a restitution of the same thing, which once perished, and was gone? And therefore the very flesh turned to corruption, and resolved into ashes must in the same nature, and manner returne to it selfe, else it cannot [Page 13] properly be termed a Resurrection.

Besides, if our particular bodies shall not rise againe, then we our owne parti­cular selues shall never be reviv'd. Nam hic numero dicitur ab vnitate Corporis, aeqùe ac animae. For the individuating, or making a man to be numerically, one and the same, depends as well from the Identity, or one­nesse of the body, as of the soule.

Saint Paul foresaw some cavilling spi­rits would plead for a mutation of bodies when the last trump shall found, and thereupon he fortifies against them with a significant, and powerfull proposition, This corruptible must put on incorruption; This mortall must put on immortality. He i­terates the pronoune, This corruptible; This mortall to perswade the certainty of raising the same, naturall, humane body. He ingeminates the Oportet, This corrup­tible must, This mortall must; to warrant the necessity of the performance: The te­nour [Page 14] of his speech is so earnest that hee seemes to clappe himselfe upon the breast, and to point with his finger at his owne body. This Identicall thing; this Idem nu­mero. not an other instead of this, but this corruptible, which I now carry about me, This mortall, which shall lodge in the bowells of the earth, maugre the jawes, and belly thereof, shall be rescu'd thence, and setled in Eternity; which is a pregnant proofe that by affirming flesh and blood shall not in­herit the king dome of heaven, Greg. Mag. c. 29. expos. moral. in cap. 19. Iob. Non exclusit naturam, sed culpam, hee excluded not the nature, and substance, but the enormous pravity to which 'tis subject in this state of infirmity. Whereupon it immediately followes by way of Comment on what went before, neither shall corruption inhe­rit incorruption. Flesh, and blood tainted with corrupt lusts shall not be admitted, but as refined, and purified, it shall finde a place in heaven.

For why should not the flesh, which [Page 15] hath bin Co-worker, and Ioint-martyr with the soule, participate a proportionable guerdon as well as the soule? Ezek cap. 18. v. 25.29. God proclaims in the 18. of Ezekiell that his wayes are equall, how then can it stand with his ju­stice that one body shall victoriously fight his battles, and an other, which never ap­peared in the quarrell bee honoured with the Crowne? If the Materiall halfe of us va­nish in our dissolution, in vaine did Christ take our shape upon him; for if our flesh must bee utterly destroyed, it had beene sufficient onely to assume our spirit? To what end are wee wished at his second comming to lift up our heads in triumph, S. Luk. cap. 21. v. 26. if the whole body shall be consumed to a Nul­lity? The truth is, the Socinian conclusion is consonant to their heartlesse, disconsolate premisses. For well may they believe their bodies shall not be restored, & quickned by Christ, so long as they hold no price was payed for their recovery. For as the Savi­our of the world will never see them pe­rish who dye in the faith of him their Re­deemer, [Page 16] so 'tis justly to be feared he will suf­fer those to be lost, who reject his Redemp­tion. But to us, who give heed to his divine word as to a light shining in darknesse, the old, and new Testament hath said enough to make us undoubtedly expect that every Atome of our dust, and Cinders shall be ga­thered together, and enliven'd by the pro­per soule, and that with these eyes we shall see God, and no other for us, as holy Iob speakes. S. Ioh. cap. 5. v. 28.29. Saint Iohn doth fully expresse this Article; the houre shall come, in which all that are in the grave shall heare his voice, and come forth. The Evangelicall Prophet Esay in his 26. Chapter is most Emphati­call. The dead men shall rise, together with my body shall they rise, that is when I rise, all the dead shall rise: Awake, and sing yee that dwell in the dust, the Earth shall cast out the dead.

But because they advance Reason to stand in Competition with Faith, we will allow it a share, holding it inconvenient to [Page 17] frame a bill of divorce betwixt them, then it cannot bee deny'd that Right na­turall Reason guided by the Spirit of Grace, and light of the Word hath a profitable use to illustrate points of beleife. Aq. part. 1. q. 1. art. 8. ad 2. Nam cum Gratia nontollat naturam sed perficiat, opor­tet vt naturalis ratio fidei subserviat, as the Schooleman well teacheth. The better to foyle these Goliahs with their owne wea­pon, Aq. part. 1. q. 29. art. 1. ad 5. & Cont. Gent. l. 4. c. 79. let vs consider quòd Anima seperata retinet naturam vnibilitatis, that

The Soule in her seperation naturally inclines to be consociated with the body, because shee naturally desires to bee freed from that imperfection she stands in while she is a sever'd part from the whole, and so we shall be compell'd by reason to grant their Revnion, and consequently a Re­surrection, since their permanent, conti­nu'd disvnion being against nature cannot be perpetuall. Besides

If man before he receiv'd his constitu­tion [Page 18] was potentially in the dead Elements, out which he was extracted, and in like manner after his dissolution remaines po­tentially in the same Masse, Iust. Mart. ad qu. & Resp. Graec. if that book be his. why should in­credulous nature shrink at the possibility of raising the dead, since the God of nature can as easily new-cast Man, as he did actually mold him out of a potentiall being in his first Principles?

The Rock out of which we were hewen, the bodies we move, and walk in doe sufficiently perswade that he, which of a little seed, or blood could fashion a li­ving man in the Wombe, and so produce him into the world, knowes how out of dry, and rotten bones to cloath him with the same shape, which he himselfe at first bestow'd vpon him. His ability to worke the Cure is illustrious in his former acti­ons, for did he not establish this ample world, and all things in it with a word, one­ly with a Fiat? And is his Arme so shorten'd since that he cannot recollect our [Page 19] dispersed matter lying couchant in the earth, the sea, or whatsoever substance else?

The verdit of sense will passe on our side; for who sees not minus est reparare quod erat, quam fecisse quod non erat? It is a worke of much lesser power to restore that, which sometimes was, then to Cre­ate that, which never had bin. Why dost thou wonder saith Tertullian that God should revive thee being dead? He that at first made thee of a Clod of Earth, can refine thee out of a Clod of Earth. Qui non eras, factus [...]es; Qui non eris fies. Thou, Tertull. Apologet. advers. Gent. which wert not, art now made, and againe, when thou shalt not be, thou shalt be made. Yeeld me the meanes by which thou wert made, and then enquire after the meanes by which thou shalt be rais'd.

The continuall course of nature in the digestion of the food brings a forcible Re­monstrance that the Resurrection is not in­credible. Out of the Earth comes the [Page 20] bread we eate, that bread after it passeth through severall concoctions is alter'd and chang'd into blood, then convey'd through­out the parts of the body, and at last at­taines to be even of the very substance, and nature with the body. Now tell me what strange difference is there betwixt this, and the quickning of our mortall bodies. In this, that, which was Earth, and sprung out of the Earth, becomes flesh in substance, which before it was not; in the Numeri­call resurrection, that, which was flesh, and after turn'd into Earth becomes flesh againe in the same nature, which before it was. If that were not dayly, and ordinary, this new & extraordinary, the difficulty would appeare no greater in the One, then in the Other. I could drawe arguments from the whole booke of Nature, for every leafe therein is a Commentary vpon this doctrine.

We may behold a tall lofty tree to arise out of a little seed. If you demande, saith Gregory the Great, vhi latet fortitudo ligni, [Page 21] asperitas corticis? viriditas foliorum? Greg. Mag. c. 28. in c. 19. Iob. whence was deriv'd the solidity of the wood? the superficiall roughnesse of the barke? the flourishing greennesse of the leaues? expe­rience testifies it proceeded from the spreading vertue, which lay treasur'd vp in the seed. what marvaile then if He that from a small seed dayly extracts the wood, fruit, and leaues in the trunke, and branches of a tree, doth likewise reduce bones, veynes, and haire out of the least remainder of our dust? And having grafted them in­to the former stock of the same flesh, com­mands againe breath, and warmeth into that flesh, blood into those veines, strength in­to those bones, and beautifies those heires with a fresher hew. Tertullian thought good to demonstrate the resurrection from the Phoenix, springing vp new-liv'd out of her owne ashes; from the flyes lying dead all the Winter, and reviving with the heate of the Sunne in the Summer; from the dayes expiring at night, and rising next morne attir'd with light; from the Earths [Page 22] decay in the Winter, and its budding, and blossoming in the Spring, & so concludes omnia pereundo servantur, omnia interitu re­formantur, all things are preserv'd by pe­rishing, and perfected by dying. Whence it inevitably followes that Man, the Lord and master of the vniverse, for whose sake the Creatures partake their thriving vicis­situdes cannot dye for ever; since 'tis not probable he should be exceeded in perfecti­on by such inferiors which were made to serue him, but his death must needs be bet­ter then his former life, because out of it he shall not meerely be restor'd to what he lost, but be possess'd of much more then ever before he had title to. He shall not onely be reviu'd, but rise vp, and flourish too: for so much lies open in the verbe [...]shall quicken; He which rais'd Christ from the dead shall also quicken, which is the benefit that redounds to vs, vpon the raising of our mortall bodies.

Oecumenius observes the Apostle sayes [Page 23] not [...], but [...], to put a diffe­rence betwixt raising the Iust, & vnjust. All shall have [...], their rising againe to life, but all shall not be quickn'd. [...]is of a larger extent then [...], it is not to life alone, but [...], to life, and glory. Such as despise God, and good­nesse shall wake out of the dust, but to per­petuall shame, and confusion. They shall rise in the list, and bed-roll of obdurate, im­penitent sinners, to endlesse torments. They shall not be quickn'd in the Ranke of Saints to liue with Christ in the sight of God. It were well with these Wretches if the Sea, and the Graue might still retaine them; for 'tis to be wish'd rather to knowe nothing after death, then to be rais'd to heare that fearefull sentence, Goe yee cursed into ever­lasting fire. Iob. 19. Better still to say to the wormes, you are my brethren, and sisters, and to corruption, thou art my mother, then having broke off alliance with them, to be in a farre worse family of damned Spirits, and tormented Ghosts. 'Tis remarkeably [Page 24] set downe in the 27. of S. Mathew that when Christ rose, S. Mat. 27.52. many dead bodies of the Saints arose. Not one wicked man did rise when Christ rose, to premonish vs that none shall feele the benefit of his quickning Spirit but such who are incorporated into Him by a liuely faith.

Life, sense, and motion, the vnion of the body, and soule, with the vnseperable facul­ties of them both, are the endowments of nature, and though they suffer dissolution, Christ doth restore these to all with whom He did Communicate in nature. Im­mortall peace, & glory are the gifts of God; Christ hath appropriated these onely to those, who persevere in saving grace. He is Judge of all, and shall raise all; He is head of his owne body, and shall quicken his owne members. As Judge, He shall draw all to his tribunall seate, and in flaming fire shall render vengeance to them that have not knowne God, 2. Thes. 1. nor obey'd the Gospell. As head, He knowes his owne [Page 25] members; and the cloud shall catch them vp, 1. Thess. 4. and they shall liue for ever with the Lord in permanent felicity. Though their bo­dies in this transitory state be mortall, vile bodies which must be destroy'd, yet I can­not set out the glory of them, when they shall be quickn'd in the generall resurrecti­on. 'Tis sowne a naturall body, saith S. Paul, 'tis rais'd a spirituall body. Not as if it should be without the parts, and dimensi­ons which our bodies now have, but in re­gard of the condition it shall then rest in.

When our bodies rise glorify'd, they will be enrich'd with such a spirituall qua­lity that like spirits they shall be sustain'd by the power of God without the helpe of all naturall meanes. Some thinke they are call'd spirituall bodies in respect of their operation, their strength, and agility being so great, vt licet adsit motio, absit fatigatio, Aq. 3. part. q. 54. art. 2. that in the pure heaven aboue the cloudes they will move vpward, and downeward, or what way they please, without defatiga­tion, [Page 26] whereas now we cannot so much as walke forword, or performe any act with­out wearinesse. I conceive that exposition, which the Master of the Schooles addes in the 3. Q. 54. ar. 1. part of his Summes, to be most sa­tisfying. The bodies, saith he, which shall be quickn'd, are term'd spirituall, because in that state of glory the body shall be wholy subject to the spirits direction without re­luctation, or strugling of the flesh. There shall be no complaint that the law of the members rebell against the law of the mind, but the spirit shall be all in all, leading, and guiding our bodies in all holy duties. O­thers to magnifie their future eminency al­lott them a subtle, penetrating power; whereby they become able to pierce through any solid obstacle with as much facility as we passe through the water, or ayre.

We will let slippe these subtleties, being desirous to be thankfull, and not curious. 'Tis enough we are assur'd our fraile bo­dies [Page 27] shall be conformable to Christ's glo­rious body. Phil. 3.21. They shall shine as the bright­nesse of the Firmament, Dan. 12. and be as the starres for ever. Yea our Saviour in the 13. of S. Mathew enlargeth their dignity farther, say­ing they shall shine as the Sunne in the kingdome of their Father.

Thus God reserves our best dish last, Iob. 42. he blesseth our later end, as he did Iob's, more then our beginning. The wombe of the grave shall give backe our bodies in greater perfection then we receiv'd them from our Mothers Belly. The olde ragged Coate of our flesh shall be scour'd from all naturall infirmities, and as a recompence for mouldring in the earth it shall be overclad with a vestment of immortall glory. But who are these that may live, and die in ex­pectation of such a blisse? They are such, in whom the spirit of Christ keepes a stand­ing house to dwell in, which is the period of my Text, and the condition requir'd to qualifie vs for rising with Christ, the resi­ding, [Page 28] or inhabiting of the Spirit in vs. He that rais'd Christ from the dead, shall also quicken your mortall bodies by his spirit that dwells in you.

Paraeus herein well notes that this me­taphor [...]placeth the spirit of God in vs, non tanquam Hospitem, not as a stranger, without respect, but as an inhabitant, whose tenure should hold so long as life holds. Now where such a Master of a house dwells, in ea imperat, there he rules, and go­vernes, and lookes to be obey'd. So that if we hope to rise in a glorify'd estate, we must not be contented with a flash of the spirit, which is no sooner receiv'd then lost, as it was with Saul, but we are to labour that the spirit may have a state of perpetu­ity in the whole man. For if our frequent recidivations, or relapses into sinfull courses doe so grieue his Holynesse that he quite forsakes our houses of Clay before their dis­solution, it will be in vaine to expect that after death He should repaire them a new, [Page 29] and provide for us houses without hands, and eternall in heaven. It is a measured truth, Our bodies cannot be glorified at the comming of Christ, except our soules bee first sanctified by the Spirit of Christ in­habiting in us. Ephes. 4.30. I grant 'tis the gracious of­fice of the holy Ghost to seale us to the day of Redemption, but if men shall slight, and have no regard of the seale, delighting to raze out his holy impressions, whereby their soules become instar rasae tabulae, like a bare, empty table-booke, wherein no cha­racters of piety are sensible, & visible, how can they make account that his Eye of Pro­vidence should watch their bodies when they lye in the dust, and bring them out to happinesse? 1. Cor. 3.16. It is his goodnesse to consecrate our bodies as Temples for Himself to dwell in, but if we debase, and demolish these his Temples by sitting upon the Lees, and persisting in lewd impurities, he will aban­don these his dwellings, and destroy us for destroying them. For if our Saviour was so angry with them, which polluted the [Page 30] materiall temple that he made a whip, S. Ioh. 2.15. and scourg'd them thence, much more will the fury of his indignation burne against such, who cease not to prostitute his spirituall Temples to all filthinesse and uncleanesse.

It is too true that the best of men, while they live here, are troubl'd, and vex'd with the burthen of their corruptions, Rom. 8.23. not onely the creatures saith S. Paul, but all wee, which have receiv'd the first fruits of the Spirit, we, which are Apostles, and Teachers of the Church, doe sigh, and groane, in regard the tang, and relish of the flesh is still sending up noysome vapours to chill, and damp the devotion of the soule. Yet 'tis as true that if the holy Ghost keepe his dwelling in a mans heart, such a one will finde his will reclaim'd, and reform'd, his minde resolv'd constantly to walke with God, so farre as humane frailty will permit.

If I were to preach to a Congregation, Act. 19. v. 2. which like some in the Acts did not know [Page 31] there was a holy Ghost, I could spinne, and draw out my discourse to a vast extent, by describing the Notes, and Markes of the Spirits inhabiting in us, by laying down the meanes how to retaine his comfortable dwelling with us, but here, where knowledge wants not the roote of Iudgement, my en­deavour is to speak Multùm, non Multa; ra­rather much in a Litle, then exceeding Much, and yet very litle.

Now blessed be the God, and Father of our Lord Iesus Christ, 1. S. Pet. 11. v. 3.4. which according to his abundant mercy hath begotteen us a­gaine to a lively hope by the Resurrection of Iesus Christ from the dead to an inheri­tance incorruptible, undefil'd, that fadeth not away, but is reserv'd in heaven, to which we beseech him to bring us out of this Vale of misery in his due time. AMEN.