A81152:39
Englands plus ultra both of hoped mercies, and of required duties
Englands plus ultra both of hoped mercies, and of required duties : showed in a sermon preached to the honourable Houses of Parliament, the Lord Major, Court of Aldermen, and Common-Council of London, together with the Assembly of Divines, at Christ-Church, April 2, 1646 : being the day of their public thanksgiving to Almighty God for the great success of the Parliaments army in the West, especially in Cornwall, under the conduct of his excellency Sr. Thomas Fairfax / by Joseph Caryl, minister of the Gospel at Magnus near the bridge, London, and a member of the Assembly of Divines.Englands plus ultra both of hoped mercies, and of required duties : shewed in a sermon preached to the honourable Houses of Parliament, the Lord Major, Court of Aldermen, and Common-Councell of London, together with the Assembly of Divines, at Christ-Church, April 2, 1646 : being the day of their publike thanksgiving to Almighty God for the great successe of the Parliaments army in the West, especially in Cornwall, under the conduct of his excellency Sr. Thomas Fairfax / by Joseph Caryl, minister of the Gospel at Magnus neer the bridge, London, and a member of the Assembly of Divines.
London: printed by G.M. for John Rothwell, 1646
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.
There is a double reading of the words.
Some thus, I am not dead, but alive; which translation is contended for, as the best, by a learned Interpreter; and then the sense hath a mixture of joy and thankfulness, that he who could number so many enemies, and so many dangers, should yet pass the pikes untouched and out-live them all, I am not dead, but alive, O wonderful! Blessed be God for this.
Some thus, I am not dead, but alive; which translation is contended for, as the best, by a learned Interpreter; and then the sense hath a mixture of joy and thankfulnes, that he who could number so many enemies, and so many dangers, should yet passe the pikes untoucht and out-live them all, I am not dead, but alive, O wonderfull! Blessed be God for this.
We read, I shall not die, but live. And so the words carry the sense of an high acting faith, or of a faith raised up to a full-grown assurance. Having told the story of his passed sufferings and salvations, he believes above and beyond all possible sufferings.
I shall not die, but live.