OF THE RESVRRECTION OF THE FLESH

The chiefe questions.

1 What the Resurrection is.
2 The Errours concerning the Resurrection.
3 Whence it may appeare that the Resurrection shall certainelie be.
4 For what end the Resurrection shalbe.
5 By whom.
6 How.
7 When.
8 What bodies shall rise.
9 Whether the soule be immortall.

1 WHAT THE RESVRRECTION IS

The Word Resurrection signifieth sometime preseruation. The resurrection of the flesh is a restoring of the substance of our bodies after death, euen of the same matter whereof they now consist, and a reuiuing and quickening of the same bodies with life immortall and incorruptible, by the same immortall soule whereby they now liue, which God will woorke by Christ in the ende of the woorlde, by his diuine vertue and power; which restoring also shalbe of the elect vnto the eternall glorie of God, but of the reprobate vnto eternall paines. That is, 1. There shalbe a restoring of the same bodie, which is, a recollecting & gathering together of the same matter which was scattered and seuered into al the Elementes. 2. An vniting of it with the same soule, and a reuiuing of it 〈◊〉 the same soule, which also it had before. 3. A putting off of al infirmities, & a putting on of immortality

2 The Errours concerning the Resurrection

The Errours helde of the resurrection, are of three sortes. Some haue vtterlie denied it, and haue auouched the souls to die together with the bodies. 2. Some haue granted the immortalitie of the soule, but haue constred the resurrection to bee a resurrection in this life: but the bodies they denied to rise at all, although the soules of the godlie haue fruition, after death, of euerlasting happinesse. 3. Some, as Anabaptistes, deny that the verie selfe same bodies, which we now haue, shal rise again, but they saie that Christ at his second comming will make new bodies.

3 Whence it maie appeare that the Resurrection shall certainlie bee

It maie be verily collected probably out of philosophie that there shal be sometime a resurrection:¹ but no necessarie demonstration can bee yeelded thence, that the Resurrection shall certainly bee. For in philosophy are manie principles, which accord not with the sacred writinges of Gods spirite. Againe, in philosophy, the knowleege which it hath of Gods iustice and trueth is but a maimed reason. But in the holie writ of God the reasons are firme & true. Hence alone therefore is demonstration giuen for the most certaine accomplishment of the Resurrection. And this first by testimonies of scripture: then by reasons drawn out of scripture.

The testimonies of Scripture,² which confirme the certaintie of the resurrection hereafter to come, are most euident, and those taken both out of the olde and new Testament. Job 19.25. I am sure that my redeemer liueth, and hee shall stand the last on the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this bodie, yet shal I see God in my flesh. Iohn 5.28. The hour shal come, in the which all that are in the graues shall heare his voice: And they shal come forth that haue doone good vnto the resurrection of life, but they that haue doone euil vnto the resurrection of condemnation. Iohn 6 40. I wil raise him vp at the last day. 1. Corint. 15.13. If there bee no resurrection of the deade, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vaine, and your faith is also vaine.³ The reasons which are drawen also out of Scripture, are diuerse. 1. God promiseth eternall life, not to the soule onelie, but also to the bodie of the godly: and contrarie, to the vngodly hee threatneth eternall punishment and paines both of bodie and soule: and these promises and threatninges of God must bee fulfilled: For the certainty of them is vnchaungeable: But they shal not bee fulfilled, if the deade shal not rise. Seeing therefore God dooth most certainelie in his good time accomplish that, which hee promiseth to the godly, and menaceth to the wicked; it followeth of necessitie that the dead must rise againe. 2. The mercie of God is perfect, as which extendeth it selfe to the whole man, and which will haue vs wholy saued: Therefore our bodies also shal rise again. 3. The mercie and loue of God towardes the godly is perpetuall and vnchaungeable▪ so that what hee once will, of his fatherly loue towardes them, perfourme vnto them, the same he euer will. But he wil haue the godly saued both in soule and bodie: therefore they must be both in soule and bodie, euen whole saued: and therefore that they maie bee whole saued, they must needes rise againe 4. The perfect iustice of God requireth, that the same wholie whereby they sinne, should be punished with eternall paines. But they sinne both in their whole bodie and in their soule. Therefore their bodies also must be raised againe, because they ought no lesse in body than in soule to suffer eternal pains. 5. Christ is risen: therefore wee also shall rise. This sequele is most sure. For, first, Christ therefore rose againe, that hee might raise vs. Secondly, Christ is our head, and we his members. Seeing then Christ our head is risen, we also his members doubtles shal rise. For the glorie of the head requireth this, that he haue his members sutable & in like condition with him. Wherefore if the members should continue rotten, the head should not be glorious. Thirdly, The same spirite is in vs, which is in Christ raised: he ioineth and vniteth vs with Christ, and worketh the same in vs, which he doth in Christ, neither is at anie time not like himselfe. But he hath raised Christ: Therefore also hee will raise vs. 6. It is saide that Christ shall haue an euerlasting kingdome, but this he should not haue, if our bodies should alwaies continue in death: for neither would it suffice that our soules are immortall, or eternal without our bodies. For that Christs kingdome may be eternall, he must haue eternall subiects, and those wholy eternall. Therefore our bodies also shall rise, that so wee whole may bee subiect eternally vnto Christ our king. 7. Christ is a perfect Sauiour, because he hath saued and reconciled to god whole man. Therefore our corrupt bodie also shall be raised by Christ, and rise againe. 8. Christ is not of lesse force to saue than Adam to leese. Nay, Christ hath restored vnto vs al that which Adam lost & destroied by sinning, yea and far more and greater things by his merit. Adam had lost from vs among other gifts the eternall life also of our bodies. Therefore Christ hath restored it vnto vs, and consequently, we shall certainely rise againe. 9. God is the God of whole man. This reason Christ also vseth against the Sadduces: Mat. 22.31. Haue yee not read, what is spoken vnto you of God, saying: I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Jsaac, and the god of Jacob? God is not the god of the dead, but of the liuing: And so God is the God of whole man, not of a part onely. For if he were God of a part, that is, of the soule onely, he were not perfectly and fullie our God. 10. He published his lawe vnto man, after the fall: Therefore hee will haue man once keepe it. But that is not done in this life. Therefore it shall be done in the life to come, and therefore men shall rise againe. 11. The wages of sinne is death. Therefore sinne being abolished, death shalbe abolished: and so death being abolished, we shall rise againe vnto euerlasting life. To this end also our bodies were made, that in them as temples the holy Ghost might dwell for euer.

4 For what end the Resurrection shall be

The last end of the Resurrection is gods glorie.⁴ For to this end shall the Resurrection be, that God may manifest, and together fullie and perfectly exercise both his mercy towards the faithful, and his iustice toward the reprobate: and so may declare the vnutterable certainty of his promises. The next and subordinate end to the former, is the saluation and the glorie of the Elect: and of the contrarie,⁵ the damnation and punishment of the reprobate. For the Elect, or Saints of god, shall rise to euerlasting life. Reuel. 3.21. To him will J graunt to sit with me in my throne. Reuel. 7.13. They shall be araied in long white robes. Dan. 12.3. They shall shine as the Sunne. But the wicked shall rise to be drawen to euerlasting paines and torments. Mat. 25.41. Depart from me yee cursed, into euerlasting fire, which is prepared for the Diuel, and his Angels: and a little after; And these shall goe into euerlasting paine, and the righteous into life eternall. Obiection. Christs Resurrection is the cause of our Resurrection: and also the benefite of Christs Resurrection is our Resurrection: But this cause and this benefite belongeth not to vnbeleeuers and Jnfidels. Therefore they shall not rise. Aunswere. This whole reason is graunted, namely, that the wicked shall not rise because of Christs Resurrection; but hence it foloweth not that they shall not rise: because they shal rise in respect of another cause, which is, that they may be punished. There is but one end indeede of our Resurrection in respect of God, which is his glorie: but the manner of comming to this end is diuers.

5 By whom the Resurrection shall be

⁶THE Resurrection shall be by Christ: for by the force and vertue of Christ our Sauiour we shall rise. Joh. 6.44. J will raise him vp in the last day. Which speech of Christ is to bee vnderstood of the bodie. For hee doth not raise vp the souls, because they die not. Now Christ, man, shall raise vs, though by the vertue of his Godhead. Joh. 5.28. The houre shall come in the which all that are in the graues shall heare the voice of the Sonne of man. Act. 17.31. God hath appointed a day in the which he will iudge the world in righteousnes by that man whom he hath appointed, whereof he hath giuen assurance vnto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. And hence ariseth vnto vs great consolation and comfort. Because he is true man who shall raise vs, he will not neglect his owne flesh, and members, but wil raise them, euen vs will he raise to eternal life, for which cause he tooke our flesh and redeemed vs. Obiection. But the father is saide to raise vs, yea to raise Christ himselfe: Rom. 8.11. Hee that raised vp Christ from the dead, shall also quicken your mortall bodies, because that his spirite dwelleth in you. Therefore wee shall not bee raised by Christ, nor by the power of Christ. Answere. The Father shall raise vs by his Sonne mediately. But the Sonne shall immediately raise vs with his spirit, as being our only Redeemer. Phil. 3.20. We looke for our Sauiour from heauen, euen the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile bodie, that it may be fashioned like vnto his glorious bodie, according to the working, whereby he is able euen to subdue all thinges vnto himselfe. But the spirite shall immediately raise vs by himselfe.

6 How the Resurrection shall be

⁷1 THE dead shall bee raised with a shoute, and with the voice of the Archangell, & with the trumpet of god: and shal be presented before the high and most iust iudge, Iesus Christ. The resurrection therefore shall bee in glorious manner, and openlie, not fearefullie, nor in secret: and shall bee far other, than that, which was wrought in some men at the resurrection of Christ. For it shall bee done, all beholding it, yea with the exceeding ioy of al the godly, & with the exceeding feare and trembling of the wicked. 2. They who then shall remaine aliue,⁸ shall bee in a moment of time changed, and bee made of mortall, immortall. Read Cap. 15 of the former to the Corinthians, and Cap. 4. of the former to the Thessalonians.

7 When the Resurrection shall be

The Resurrection shall be in the end of the world. In the last day. Joh. 6.40. J will raise him vp at the last day. This question is to bee helde and proposed of vs, that our faith bee not troubled, while wee are forced to expect and tarry: or that we may not imagine to our selues any certain time, when we thinke these things wil happen; and so beginne to doubt, and thinke our selues to be deluded, when those thinges fall not so out nor come to passe at the time appointed by vs. This question maketh for the increase of hope and faith in vs.

8 What bodies shall rise

These selfe same bodies shall rise,⁹ and not others created of christ, as the Anabaptists will haue it. For Iob saith, Jn this flesh shall J see my Lord. And the Apostle saith, Euery man shall receiue in his bodie, according to that hee hath done. If then the bodies which haue sinned, shall receiue accordingly, not other bodies, but the same shall rise. And the very word it selfe of rising enforceth as much; for nothing can rise, but that which is fallen. Wherefore seeing our bodies shall rise, no other bodies shall rise or bee quickened, than those which haue fallen, and are dead; or no other, than those which doe fall and die.¹⁰ Obiection. But saint Paul saith, that flesh and bloud cannot inherite the kingdome of god. Therefore our bodies cannot possesse the kingdome of god, because they are flesh and bloud. Answere. The flesh, oftentimes signifieth some qualitie, or the substaunce, in respect of some certaine qualitie. So flesh, that is, being sinfull and corruptible, shall not possesse the kingdome of God: but our flesh then shall no more be able to sinne, neither shall it bee corruptible. Obiection. 2. Our bodies shall be spirituall. 1. Cor. 15.44. Jt is sowen a naturall bodie, and is raised a spirituall bodie. Therefore our bodies shall not then haue the properties of our flesh. Aunswere.¹¹ They shall bee indeede spirituall, but shall not haue all the properties of a spirite, but some onely, because they shall bee agile and quicke, mightie, and vncorrupt; and indeede are therefore chieflie called spirituall, because they shall be guided by the spirite, neither shall any more the naturall life remaine in them. That this is true, is apparent by these reasons. 1. The Apostle himselfe addeth; This corruptible must put on incorruption. 2. Hee calleth it a spirituall bodie: but a spirite is no bodie. 3. Jf anie bodie after the resurrection should be so spirituall, as not retaining at all anie bodilie properties, then surelie Christs bodie should haue beene so: but now he saith to the Apostles, Luk. 24.39. Handle me, and see, for a spirite hath not flesh and bones, as ye see mee haue. Obiection. 3. How are wee saide to beleeue the resurrection, when as yet wee are saide to hope for the resurrection to come? Answere. We are saide to hope for the resurrection, as it is an effect of Gods counsell: wee are saide to beleeue it, as it is the counsell it selfe and purpose of God.

9 Whether the soule be immortal

¹²BEsides that this question belongeth to the Article of the Resurrection; the explication also thereof in it selfe shal not be altogether vnprofitable or fruitlesse. For not now onely doe they beginne to dispute against the immortalitie of the soule, but the Sadduces also denied it, as they likewise that said the Resurrection was past alreadie vnto him that beleeued, neither made anie other resurrection besides that spirituall resurrection of the regenerate: Likewise also some Anabaptists denie the immortalitie of the soule. Moreouer Paul the third, Pope of Rome, when he was breathing out his soule and readie to dy, said, that now at length he should trie & know three things, whereof in his whole time he had much doubted. 1. Whether there were a god. 2. Whether soules were immortall. 3. Whether there were any hel. Wherefore it ought not to seeme straunge, if this question be moued, neither shal it bee altogether vaine and needelesse: both because it serueth for the controuling, and refuting especially of Epicures: and also because it maketh for the better vnderstanding of some places of holy Scripture. But because there haue beene, and euen nowe are, who haue taught, that the soule of man, like as of bruite beastes, is nothing else, but life or the vitall power, arising of the temperature and perfection of the bodie, and therefore dieth and is extinguished together with the bodie, and (as some of them speake, who wil seeme to beleeue the resurrection of the dead) doth sleepe when the bodie dieth, that is, is without motion or sense vntil the raising of the bodie, which indeede is nothing else, than that the soule is mortal, that is, a meere qualitie onlie in the bodie, and when the bodie is dissolued becommeth nothing, because if it were an incorporeal substance, it could not be without sense and motion: against these we are to holde the recordes of Gods woorde and writ, concerning the spiritual and immortal substaunce of mans soul.¹³ That the soule of man is not onely a forme, or perfection, or temperament, or force and power, or an agitation arising out of the temperature of the bodie, but a substaunce incorporeall, liuing, vnderstanding, dwelling in the bodie, and susteining and moouing it: these places following of holy Scripture doe shewe. Psalm. 48. His soule shal be blessed in life. Heb. 12. God is called the Father of spirites. And it is saide of the faithfull: Yee are come to the celestial Jerusalem, and to the companie of innumerable Angels, and to the spirites of iust and perfect men. 1 Cor. 2.11. No man knoweth the thinges of a man, saue the spirite of a man, which is in him. In these and the like places of Scripture, both the soule of man is called a spirite, and the properties of a liuing & vnderstanding substance are attributed vnto it. Wherefore to no purpose doe the aduersaries of this doctrine oppose those places in which the name of the soul is taken for the the life and wil of man: as Matth. cap. 6. The soul is more woorth than meate. Iob. 13.14. J put my soule in my hand. For by the fore-alledged places it is manifest, thnt this is not general, but is vsed by a¹⁴ figure of speech, whereby we cal the effect by the name of his cause.

Now the immortalitie of the soule is prooued by manifest places of holie Scripture. 1. Luk 23.43.¹⁵ Christ hanging on the crosse said to the theefe, this daie shalt thou be with me in Paradise. But he could not be there in bodie: because that was dead and buried. Therefore his soule was gathered with Christs into Paradise, and so consequentlie the soul liueth. 2. Paul saith, Phil. 1.23. I desire to be loosed, and to be with christ: he speaketh of the rest & ioie, which he should enioie with christ. But they, who feele nothing, what can their ioie or happinesse bee? Wherefore they also are refuted in this place, who saie mens souls sleep, & so withall denie the immortality of the soul. 3. Wised. 3.1. The souls of the iust are said to be in the hands of god. 4. Matt. 22.32. God is not the god of the dead, but of the liuing: Therefore the soules liue. 5. Luk. 23.46. Into thy hands I commend my spirit. 6. 2 Corinth. 5.8. When we remoue out of the body, we may goe vnto the Lord. Wherefore the soules sleep not, as some Anabaptistes wil haue thē: but enioie immortall life, and celestiall glorie with the Lorde. 7. In the Reuelation cap. 6.10. The soules of the godly, that were killed, are said to crie with a loude voice vnder the aultar saying, How long Lord, holy, and true, doost not thou iudge and auenge our bloode on them that dwell on the earth? Wherefore the soules liue. 8. Luk. 16.22. Lazarus is said to bee carried into Abrahams bosome: and out of the same place also it is apparent concerning the souls of the wicked. For the rich glutton is also saide of the contrarie to bee caried downe to hell. These testimonies therefore of Scripture teach and confirme most euidently, that not onely in the bodie before death, and after the resurrection of the bodie, but also in the whole space and time comming betweene, the soules are, liue, feele, vnderstand, out of the bodie; though the manner of their operations bee to vs vnknowen. Wherefore also this gift of immortalitie, hath some similitude with God, who alone, as the onely fountaine and author of life, hath immortalitie. 1. Timot. 6.

¹⁶But furdermore, that man should haue lead a blessed life immortallie and for euer not in soule onely, but also in bodie, if hee had not purchased death and mortalitie vnto himselfe by sinne; is first hereby proued, because by sin death entered into the worlde as the wages of sinne, Rom. 5. & 6. Next, because wee being freeed from sinne by christ, are also freed from death. And lastly, because God him-selfe did withdraw from man, being made by sinne subiect vnto death, the signe or sacrament of immortalitie, which was the fruite of the tree of life: Gen. 3. Wherefore their obiections are nought worth, who imagine the soules after death to sleepe or vanish away; For Gen. 1. and 1. Cor. 15. Adam is saide to haue beene made a liuing soule, not simplie, as these will haue it, like as other liuing creatures are termed in the same place liuing soules, but as being made to the image and similitude of God, which hee hath not in common with other creatures.

Gen. 2. When God saieth, Jn the day that thou eatest of the tree of knowledge of good and euill, thou shalt die the death: hee doth not threaten vnto man the destruction or extinguishing of his soule, but eternal death, that is,¹⁷ the horrible feeling and terrour of Gods wrath and iudgement, and to liue forsaken and cast from God, subiect to all miseries and tormentes, an adioint of which death is the separation of the soule and body, which at that time through the mercy of God, that mankind might be saued, was differred. For so was Adam dead while yet hee liued in Paradise according to Gods denouncement, euen assoone as he had eaten of the forbidden fruite. So in eternal death liue all the damned and reprobate, Whose fire shall not bee put out, and their worme not dy. So, Ephes. 2. they are said to be dead through sinne, who liue in sinne without repentaunce. And Ephes. 5. Hee is willed to rise from the dead, who is reclaimed from sinne to God. And Rom. 7 5. Paul saith that he was dead through the knowledge of his sinne, and the wrath of God.

Iob. 11. Act. 7. 1. Cor. 11. 1. Thess. 4. The deade are saide to sleepe: but this is by a¹⁸ figure of speech, translating that which is proper vnto the bodie, to the whole man. For that this belongeth to the bodie, which is to bee recalled from death to life, as it were from sleepe to wake againe, manie places declare, as Job 7. Beholde now, I sleepe in the dust. For not the soule, but the bodie onely sleepeth in the dust and graue.

The Preacher saith, The condition of the children of men,¹⁹ and the condition of beastes, are euen as one condition vnto them. Therefore there is no immortality of the soul. Ans. It is a fallacie concluding that which is in some respect so, to bee simplie so. 1. Men die as beastes, in that men must needes once die, and depart out of this life; because men are not here to continue for euer, nor haue heere a setled place. 2. Men die as beastes, that is in the sense and iudgement of the wicked.

Blessednesse and the kingdome promised to the Godly is saide then first to fall vnto them at the last daie. Mat. 24.25. Mar. 13. Dan. 12. But these places shewe not, that the soules of the godly doe not presentlie, when they depart from their bodies, enioie celestial blessednesse and ioy, but that at the last daie, when their bodies are raised againe, their felicitie and glorie shall bee consummated and made absolute. For so we praie, thy kingdome come, when yet God now also raigneth in vs.

Of that which is saide, 1. Corint. 15. If in this life onelie wee haue hope, we are of all men most miserable, they thus reason. He that is blessed and happie before the resurrection, is not without the resurrection most miserable: But we without the resurrection should be of al men most miserable: Therefore we are not before the resurrection blessed and happie. But the Maior wee aunswere. Hee is not miserable without the resurrection, who cannot onely before it but without it also bee blessed: But wee are in such wise blessed before it, that notwithstanding without it following and ensuing wee cannot enioie that former blessednesse: because God hath ioyned with so vnseparable a knot the beginning and proceeding and finishing or perfection of the Electes blessednesse, that none can haue the beginning, who must not come to the ende & consummation thereof. Wherefore either we must rise again, or wee must want also that celestiall blessednesse before the resurrection. Rom. 8.11. Jf the spirit of him that raised vp Jesus from the dead, dwell in you: he that raised vp Christ from the dead, shal also quicken your mortal bodies.

Heb. 11.39. These all through faith are deade, and receiued not the promise. Therefore they receiued not their countrie. We aunswere first; Although they dying had not found their countrie: yet would it not follow of these woordes, that they are not at al, or haue no sense after death. For he that is not, or hath no sense, seeketh not his countrie. Secondly, The author of that Epistle doth not speak of the life after death, which is lead in the celestial countrie, 2. Cor. 5. but of this life, in which the faithful walking their pilgrimage sought for the celestiall countrie, not finding their countrie on earth.

Psalm. 78.39. They are flesh, a winde that passeth awaie and commeth not againe: By these and the like speeches the breuitie of mans life, and the frailtie and perishing of all humane affaires without God, is described and bewailed. For as here they are compared to a wind eftsoones vanishing awaie, so Psalm. 103. they are compared to dust, grasse, and flowers of the field. Likewise, Job. 14. Hee shooteth forth as a flower, and is cut downe, and vanisheth as a shadowe. Isaie. 40.6. All flesh is grasse. But if they vrge the verie woorde in these speeches, it will followe that not onely after death there is nothing remaining, but that there is not any resurrection, when hee saith, a wind that passeth and commeth not againe: as also flowers and shadowes, whereunto man is compared, doe so perish, that they are not recouered.

Psalm. 88.5. I am counted as the slain lying in the graue, whom thou remembrest no more. In these wordes the Prophet doth not signifie, either himselfe or the dead to bee exempted from Gods prouidence: but he complaineth that he is forsaken of God, euen as the deade seeme to men not to bee cared for of him: and therefore he speaketh not according to the sense of faith, but of his owne opinion, and weaknes, & miserie, who iudgeth those to be forsaken and neglected of God, whose deliuerie for a while he dooth differre. But what faith in the meane season suggesteth and telleth the godly euen when they wrestle with temptation, he sheweth Psalm. 11.2. when hee saith: The iust shall bee in euerlasting memorie.

Psal. 146.4. His spirit departeth, and he returneth to his earth: thē his thoughts perish. Here he saith not the spirit or soul of men perisheth, or vanisheth, or dieth, or is bereaued of sense, but that it departeth, to wit, from the bodie wherein it dwelleth: and that, not the spirit, but the man returneth to his earth, that is, as concerning his bodie, which was made of earth, as is written Gen. 3 and Eccles. 12. And lastly he saith that his thoughtes perish, which is not, that the soule is after this life bereaued of reason, iudgement, and sense of the mercy or wrath of God, but that his purposes and counsels are made frustrate, which man in this life had setled with him-selfe to bring to passe: in which sense it is said, Psalm. 112.10. The desire of the wicked shal perish.

They gather also other sayings, which take away all praising and worshipping of God from the dead. As Psal. 88.10. Wilt thou shew a miracle vnto the dead? Or shall the dead rise and praise thee? But in such speeches death and hell, or the graue, haue two significations. They who are spiritually dead, whether before or after the death of the bodie, that is, they who are depriued of gods grace, & forsaken and reiected of god, and are in hell, that is, in the place & torments of the damned, or else in this life despairing and destitute of comfort, shall not praise god at all, neither in this life, nor in the life to come. But they who are dead, not spiritually, but corporally onely, albeit they shall not praise god in this life while their bodies are in hell, that is, in the graue, yet in soul they shal not cease to acknowledge and praise god in the other life, vntill when receiuing their bodies againe, they shall magnifie him in both, in the celestial eternity. But in the meane season, because god will also be agnised and magnified of men in this life, therefore both the whole Church, and euerie one of the faithfull, not only pray that they may not fall into that forsaking, & into that sense of gods wrath, wherewith the wicked are oppressed; but also desire that they may bee in this mortall life preserued and defended, vntill the end thereof by god appointed be expired. For the Saints doe not simply stand in feare of the bodily death and graue; but that they may not be forsaken of god, neither fall into desperation and destruction, or their enimies insult against god, when they are ouerthrowen; this with daily and ardent praiers and petitions they beg and craue continually.

Nowe that which the aduersaries ad farther out of the Psal. 146.2. I will praise the Lord during my life: as long as J haue anie beeing, I will sing vnto my God; this maketh nothing with thē: For he restraineth not the praising of God to the time of his mortal life, but only he saith that he wil spēd all that time in Gods praises, which notwithstanding in manie other places he extendeth to continue al eternity; as Psal. 34. I wil praise the Lord continually. But oftentimes this particle, vntill, or, as long as, signifieth a continuance of the time going before some euent, without any excluding of the time following: as 1. Cor. 15.25. He must raign vntil he hath put al his enemies vnder his feete.

Iob. 10.20. Let him cease and leaue off from mee, that I maie take a little comfort, before I goe and shal not returne. Hee denieth in these wordes that he shall returne into this mortall life, and to conuerse among men in this woorlde; but hee denieth not that hee in the meane season hath his beeing and doth liue, vntil againe he see God in his flesh, euen the same Iob, who thē was afflicted: As himself saith, ca. 19.26. Iob 3.11. Why died I not, when I came out of the womb? Here also Iob dooth not denie, the soules after death to bee, liue, feele and vnderstand, but only he saith, the miseries of this present life are not felt: If they vrge, that neither the euils of the life to come are felt; because then Job shoulde wish for a bad chaunge: we aunswere, that Iob wisheth not for the death of the wicked, but of the godly. But if they ad furder, That Job dooth make Kings and Princes also which gather gold vnto them, smal and great, that is, al men, good and bad, partakers of this rest: our aunswere is out of the processe and course of his whole speech, that Iob dooth not teach here, what is the state of men after this life, but onely desireth to bee rid of his present miserie, and therefore through humane infirmity and impatiency, doth compare the sense and feeling of his present miseries with the death and state of the dead, whatsoeuer it be; as they who are grieuously tormented with present distresses and calamities prefer any thing whatsoeuer before that which they suffer. So also chapter 7. hee speaketh as one despairing of deliuerie in this life. Remember that my life is but a wind, and that mine eie shal not returne to see pleasure. For so hee expoundeth himselfe, when he addeth: He shal returne no more to his house, neither shall his place knowe him anie more. So likewise cap. 17. My breath is corrupt, and the graue is readie for me. They are woords of one despairing of life and saluation, god being wrath and angry. But chapter 34.14. when it is said; If he set his hart vpon man, and gather vnto him selfe his spirit, and his breath, Al flesh shal perish together: it is not saide that the soule dooth sleepe, or perish, but that by the departure thereof the body dieth and is dissolued.

Further they adde: Jf presently after death the godlie were blessed, then iniurie was doone vnto them, who were called againe into this mortall life. But to this we aunswere, That neither god can be iniurious to any man, whereas he is in no mans debt: neither can any thing happen better or more acceptable vnto the godly, than to serue for the manifesting of gods glory, either by life or by death. As Phil. 1. it is said: As alwaies, so now Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it bee by life, or by death, &c.

Last of all, if they say, that the soule hath neither sense, nor action, but by bodilie instruments, and therefore being naked and destitute of these, is destitute also of sense, motion, and operation: To graunt vnto them this Antecedent, of the soule being in the bodie: yet notwithstanding of the soule freed from the bodie, both learned Philosophers confesse the contrarie, & the word of god testifieth the contrarie: as 1. Cor. 13.9. We know in part, & we prophecie in part: but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shalbe abolished.