would have abolished the mysteries of our religion; but they have outlived all them, and shall outlive all the world, eternally beyond all generations. And therefore doth St. Ambrose apply well, and usefully to our death, and resurrection, to our departing, and rising, these words, Come my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors after thee; hide thyself for a very little while, until the indignation pass over thee; that is, go quietly to your graves, attend your resurrection, till God have executed his purpose upon the wicked of this world; murmur not to admit the dissolution of body and soul, upon your deathbeds, nor the resolution and putrefaction of the body alone in your graves, till God be pleased to repair all, in a full consummation, and reuniting of body and soul, in a blessed resurrection. Ite et surgite, depart so, as you may desire to rise; depart with an in manus tuas, and with a veni Domini Jesu; with a willing surrendering of your souls, and a cheerful meeting of the Lord Jesus. For else, all hope of profit, and permanent rest is lost: for, as St. Hierome interprets these very words; here we are taught that there is no rest, in this life Sed quasi à mortuis resurgentes; ad sublime tendere, et ambulare post Dominum Jesum; we depart, when we depart from sin, and we rise, when we raise ourselves to a conformity with Christ: and not only after his example, but after his person, that is, to hasten thither, whither he is gone to prepare us a room. For this rest in the text, though it may be understood of the land of promise; and of the church, and of the ark, and of the Sabbath, (for, if we had time to pursue them, we might make good use of all these acceptations) yet we accept Chrysostom's acceptation best, Requies est ipse Christus, our rest is Christ himself. Not only that rest that is in Christ, (peace of conscience in him) but that rest, that Christ is in; eternal rest in his kingdom, There remaineth a rest to the people of God3; besides that inchoation of rest, which the godly have here, there remains a fuller rest. Jesus is entered into his rest, says the apostle there; his rest was not here, in this world; and, let us study to enter into that rest, says he; for no other can accomplish our peace. It is righteousness with God, to recompense tribulation 38 Heb. iv. 9, 37 Isaiah xxvi. 20. to them, that trouble you, and, to you, which are troubled, rest"; but when? in this world? no: when the Lord Jesus shall show himself from heaven, with his mighty angels; then comes your rest; for, for the grave, the body lies still, but it is not a rest, because it is not sensible of that lying still; in heaven the body shall rest, rest in the sense of that glory. This rest then is not here, not only not here, as this here was taken in the first interpretation, here in the earth; but not here in the second interpretation, not in repentance itself; for all the rest of this life, even the spiritual rest, is rather a truce, than a peace, rather a cessation, than an end of the war. For when these words, (I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians, every one shall fight against his brother, and every one against his neighbour, city against city, and kingdom against kingdom*°) may be interpreted, and are so interpreted of the time of the gospel of Christ Jesus, when Christ himself says, Nolite putare quod venerim mittere pacem in terrâ“, Never think that I came to settle peace, or rest in this world; nay, when Christ says, None of them that were bidden shall come to his supper, and that may be verified of any congregation, none of us that are called now, shall come to that rest, a man may be at a security in an opinion of rest, and be far from it; a man may be nearer rest in a troubled conscience, than in a secure. Here we have often resurrections, that is, purposes to depart from sin but they are such resurrections, as were at the time of Christ's resurrection: when (as the strongest opinion is) Resurrexerunt iterum morituri, many of the dead rose, but they died again; we rise from our sins here, but here we fall again; Monumenta aperta sunt; (it is St. Hierome's note,) the graves were opened, presently upon Christ's death; but yet the bodies did not arise, till Christ's resurrection: the godly have an opening of their graves, they see some light, some of their weight, some of their earth is taken from them, but a resurrection to enter into the city, to follow the Lamb, to come into an established security, that they have not, till they be united to Christ in heaven. Here 39 2 Thes. i. 6. 41 Matt. x. 34. 40 Isaiah xix. 2. 42 Luke xiv. 24. we are still subject to relapses, and to looking back; Memento uxoris Lot, Ipsa in loco manet, transeuntes monet", she is fixed to a place, that she might settle those, that are not fixed; Ut quid in statuam salis conversa, si non homines, ut sapiant, condiat? to teach us the danger of looking back, till we be fixed, she is fixed. When the prophet Elijah was at the door of desperation, an angel touched him, and said, Up, and eat**; and there was bread, and water provided, and he did eat; but he slept again; and we have some of those excitations, and we come, and eat, and drink, even the body and blood of Christ, but we sleep again, we do not perfect the work. Our rest here then, is never without a fear of losing it: this is our best state, To fear lest at any time, by forsaking the promise of entering into his rest, we should seem to be deprived. The apostle disputes not, (neither do I) whether we can be deprived or not; but he assures us, that we may fall back so far, as that to the church, and to our own consciences we may seem to be deprived; and that is argument enough, that here is no rest. To end all, though there be no rest in all this world, no not in our sanctification here, yet this being a consolation, there must be rest somewhere; and it is, In superna civitate, unde amicus non exit, qua inimicus non intrat", In that city, in that Jerusalem, where there shall never enter any man whom we do not love, nor any go from us whom we do love. Which though we have not yet, yet we shall have: for upon those words, (because I live, ye shall live also") St. Augustine says, that because his resurrection was to follow so soon, Christ takes the present word, because I do live. But because their life was not to be had here, he says, Vivetis, you shall live, in heaven; not civitis; for here we do not live. So, as in Adam we all die, eren so in Christ shall all be made alive, says the apostle: all our deaths are here, present now; now we die; our quickening is reserved for heaven, that is future. And therefore let us attend that rest, as patiently as we do the things of this world, and not doubt of it therefore, because we see it not yet: even in this world we consider invisible things, more than visible; Vidimus 46 13 Augustine. 4 Augustine. 441 Kings xix. 5. 45 Hebr. iv. 1. 48 1 Cor. xv. 22 pelagus, non autem mercedem", The merchant sees the tempestuous sea, when he does not see the commodities, which he goes for: Videmus terram, non autem messem, The husbandman sees the earth, and his labour, when he sees no harvest; and for these hopes, that there will be a gain to the merchant, and a harvest to the labourer, Naturæ fidimus, we rely upon creatures; for our resurrection, fidejussorem habemus coronatum; not nature, not sea, nor land, is our surety, but our surety is one, who is already crowned, with that resurrection. Num in hominibus terra degenerat, quæ omnia regenerat, says St. Ambrose, will the earth, that gives a new life to all creatures, fail in us, and hold us in an everlasting winter, without a spring, and a resurrection? Certainly no; but if we be content so to depart into the womb of the earth, our grave, as that we know that, to be but the entry into glory, as we depart contentedly, so we shall arise gloriously to that place, where our eternal rest shall be, though here there be not our rest; for he that shoots an arrow at a mark, yet means to put that arrow into his quiver again; and God that glorifies himself, in laying down our bodies in the grave, means also to glorify them, in reassuming them to himself, at the last day. SERMON XCII. PREACHED AT LINCOLN'S INN, PREPARING THEM TO BUILD THEIR CHAPEL. GENESIS XXviii. 16, 17. Then Jacob awoke out of his sleep, and said, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware. And he was afraid, and said, How fearful is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. In these verses Jacob is a surveyor; he considers a fit place for the house of God; and in the very next verse, he is a builder, he erects Bethel, the house of God itself. All was but a drowsi 49 Chrysostom, ness, but a sleep, till he came to this consideration; as soon as he awoke, he took knowledge of a fit place; as soon as he found the place, he went about the work. But to that we shall not come yet. But this text, being a preparation for the building of a house to God, though such a house as Jacob built then, require no contribution, yet because such churches, as we build now, do, we shall first say a little of that great virtue of charity; and then somewhat of that virtue, as it is exercised by advancing the house of God, and his outward worship; and thirdly we shall consider Jacob's steps, and proceedings, in this action of his. This virtue then, charity, is it, that conducts us in this life, and accompanies us in the next. In heaven, where we shall know God, there may be no use of faith; in heaven, where we shall see God, there may be no use of hope; but in heaven, where God the Father, and the Son, love one another in the Holy Ghost, the bond of charity shall everlastingly unite us together. But charitas in patria, and charitas in via, differ in this, that there we shall love one another because we shall not need one another, for we shall all be full; here the exercise of our charity is, because we do stand in need of one another. Dives et pauper duo sunt sibi contraria; sed iterum duo sunt sibi necessaria1; Rich, and poor are contrary to one another, but yet both necessary to one another; they are both necessary to one another; but the poor man is the more necessary; because though one man might be rich, though no man were poor, yet he could have no exercise of his charity, he could send none of his riches to heaven, to help him there, except there were some poor here. He that is too fat, would fain divest some of that, though he could give that to no other man, that lacked it; and shall not he that is wantonly pampered, nay, who is heavily laden, and incumbered with temporal abundances, be content to discharge himself of some of that, wherewith he is over-freighted, upon those poor souls, whom God hath not made poor for any siu of theirs, or of their fathers, but only to present rich men exercise of their charity, and occasions of testifying their love to Christ; who having given himself, to convey salvation upon thee, if that conveyance may be sealed to thee, by giving a little of thine Augustine, |