A01956:851
The happiness of the church, or, A description of those spiritual prerogatives wherewith Christ…The happines of the church, or, A description of those spirituall prerogatiues vvherewith Christ…
The happiness of the church, or, A description of those spiritual prerogatives wherewith Christ hath endowed her considered in some contemplations upon part of the 12. chapter of the Hebrews : together with certain other meditations and discourses upon other portions of Holy Scriptures, the titles whereof immediately precede the book : being the sum of diverse sermons preached in S. Gregory's London / by Thomas Adams ...The happines of the church, or, A description of those spirituall prerogatiues vvherewith Christ hath endowed her considered in some contemplations vpon part of the 12. chapter of the Hebrewes : together with certain other meditations and discourses vpon other portions of Holy Scriptures, the titles wherof immediately precede the booke : being the summe of diuerse sermons preached in S. Gregories London / by Thomas Adams ...
London: printed by G.P. for John Grismand, 1619London: printed by G.P. for Iohn Grismand, 1619
THE BAD LEAVEN: OR, THE CONTAGION OF SIN.THE BAD LEAVEN: OR, THE CONTAGION OF SINNE.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
2. The next is the Leaven of the Sadducees: hear their doctrine, Math. 22. They say there is no resurrection. Act. 123. The Sadducees say there is no resurrection, neither Angel, nor spirit. I would we had no matches for them, but we have too many; that either deny futurum aliquid post mortem, that any further thing is to be done or suffered, or enjoyed after death: or else affirm faeliciter fore universis, that every man shall be happy. They have studied reasons against the Resurrection. The flesh turns into rottenness, rottenness to dust, &c. But St. Aug. cuts them off with reason: Qui potuis formare novum, non poterit reperare mortuū? He that could make man of nothing, surely can revive him of a small thing. Facilius est restituere, quàm constituere: It is far easier to repair then to prepare. They tell us, sIt is better to a living dog, then a dead Lion: which is true among beasts, like themselves: but among men a dead beast is better than a living Atheist. Like dogs they bark at heaven, but they cannot bite it: it is out of their circumference. Though they build up reasons and treasons like Babel; yet they prove but Confusion. They would pull God out of his Throne, if it were possible: but he is safe enough out of the reach of their malice, else it had gone ill with him before this. Their song is; tLet us eat and drink, (they think of no reckoning ⟨p. 363⟩to pay) for to morrow we dye. They promise to morrow, yet kill themselves to day. This is their song, but the Holy Ghost adds the burden: uAfter death cometh the Judgement. It is appointed unto men once to dye; to all men once, to Atheists twice, for there is a second death. Their first death makes way to their last Judgement. They are in some respect worse then the Devil; he knows and acknowledgeth a Deity; these say, There is no God.