that shall be revealed Rom. 8. 18. 6. Proportioned to our need 1 Pet. 1. 6. and to our strength 1 Cor. 10. 13. If we will come to glory we must go the same way unto it as Christ did the way of holinesse and the way of sufferings Act. 14. 22. and surely if there be enough in a womans child to recompence the pains of her travel John 16. 21. There will certainly be enough in the glory to come to recompence all our pains either in our obedience or in our afflictions II. We might here note That even Gods own servants in time of trouble calamity are very apt to betake themselves to their own conceptions and contrivances for deliverance they are big oftentimes with their own counsels and in pain tobring forth and execute their own projections in order to the freeing of themselves from trouble Abraham when he was afraid of Pharaoh and Abimelech dissembled his relation unto Sarah David fearing Achish the King of Gath fained himself mad 1 Sam. 21. 11 12 13. when he feared the discovery of his adultery he gave order for the killing of Uriah 2 Sam. 11. 15. one sin is the womb of another When Asa was in danger from Baasha King of Israel he bought his peace with the spoils of the Temple 2 Chron. 16. 1 2. when Jonah was afraid of preaching destruction to Ninive he fled unto Tarshish from the presence and service of the Lord Jonah 1. 3. when Peter was afraid of suffering with Christ he flies to that woful Sanctuary of denying and forswearing him Mat. 26. 69 74. thus the fear of man causeth a snare Prov. 29. 25. This therefore is a necessary duty in time of fear and danger to look up as the Church here after disappointment by other refuges doth with a victorious and triumphant faith unto God and to make him onely our fear and our dread not to trust in fraud and perversenesse or to betake our selves unto a refuge of lies Isa. 30. 12. 28. 15. but to build our confidence upon that sure foundation on the which he that believeth shall not need make hast If we lean not upon our own understanding nor be wise in our own eyes but in all our ways acknowledge him and trust in him and fear him and depart from evil we have this gracious promise that he will direct our paths Prov. 3. 5 7. the more we deny our selves the more is he engaged to help us But when we travel with our own conceptions and will needs be the contrivers of our own deliverance it cannot be wondred if the Lord turn our devices into vanity and make our belly prepare wind and deceit Job 15. 35. as it here followeth We have brought forth wind we have not wrought any deliverance all our endeavours have been vain and succeslesse III. Carnal Counsels and humane contrivances are usually carried on with pain and end in disappointment and do obstruct the progress and execution of Gods promises unto us If we would go on in Gods way and use the means which he hath directed and build our faith and hope upon his promises we have then his Word to secure us his Spirit to strengthen us his Grace to assist us his Power and fidelity to comfort us we have him engaged to work our works for us and his Angels to bear us in our Wayes But when we seek out diverticles and inventions of our own when we will walk in the light of our fire and in the sparks which we have kindled Isa. 50. 11. and be wise in our own conceit Rom. 12. 16. and walk after our own thoughts Isa. 65. 2. no wonder if we be disappointed and made ashamed of our own counsels Hos. 10. 6. when we sow the wind it is not strange if we reap the whirle-winde Hos. 8. 7. And therefore it is our wisdom to cease from our own wisdom as the wise man exhorteth Prov. 23. 4. in as much as the Lord hath pronounced a curse upon those that are prudent in their own sight Isa. 5. 21. whom usually he disappointeth Job 5. 12. We have considered the Churches complaint her anguish her disappointment Now in her Triumph we are first to view her deliverance and then the causes of it In the deliverance is a Gradation both in the misery from which and in the condition unto which they are restored For the former 1. It extends unto dead men whom to quicken exceeds the power of nature But we do not use to give men over and lay them out for dead as soon as their breath fails them some diseases look like death therefore the deliverance goes further unto Cadaver meum my carkasse which the remainders of vital heat have forsaken laid out carried away severed from the living hastning to putrefaction But death makes yet a further progresse this carcasse must be had out of sight lodged in the bowels of the earth and there dissolved into dust his house must know him no more Job 7. 10. and yet even here when death hath carried a man to the end of his journey and landed him in its own dominion so far shall the deliverance extend The Damsel whom Christ raised was mortua though yet in the house amongst the living Mark 5. 35. The widows son gone a little further into the Region of death coffin'd up laid on the Biere carried out from the House a Carcasse Luke 7. 14. Lazarus in deaths den Inhabitator pulveris as far as death could carry him yet raised up John 11. 38 44. so there is a gradation in the Terminus à quo of this deliverance There is likewise a gradation in the Terminus ad quem the condition unto which they are restored 1. They shall Live and this is a favour though one stay in prison 2. They shall Rise their life shal be to an exaltation the wicked shall live again but it shall be to die again but these dead shall live and rise their life shall be an advancement to them 3. They shall Awake like a man out of sleep refreshed and comforted Psal. 17. 15. 4. They shall sing as victors over the grave never to return thither more So we have here 1. The sad condition of the Church 2. The great mercy and power of God to them in that condition Their sad condition in the former of these two gradations 1. They are dead men in a condition of death their whole life a conflict with mortality And though this be not a calamity peculiar to them for death feedeth equally upon all and though there be a great alleviation in their being Mortui tui The Lords dead men yet in some respects we finde the weight of mortality on the Churches side Wicked men meet many times with an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 live in pleasure and then die in ease spend their days in wealth and jollity in vanity and folly and go suddenly to the grave die onely once and together Job 21. 13. whereas
in the Life of Christ their Head whether we wake or sleep we live together with him 1 Thes. 5. 10. as we are risen with him and sit with him in heaven Col. 3. 1. Eph. 2. 6. 3. They live in the Seed of the Spirit of Holiness whose Temples they are which is in them a pledge and seminal virtue of Resurrection Rom. 8. 11. compared with 1 Cor. 3. 16. 6. 19. In which respect the Apostle compareth the bodies of the faithful unto Seed I Cor. 15. 42. to note that by the Inhabitation and Sanctification of the Spirit there is a vital virtue in the body to spring up and awake again Thus even in the state of death we have vitam Absconditam Col. 3. 3. hidden out of our sight and sense as seed in the Furrow as a jewel in the Cabinet as an Orphans estate in the hand of his Guardian hidden with Christ the first fruits and in God the Author and Fountain of Life Thus vivunt they do live And further vivent they shall live for our life in Christ is not a decaying but a growing and abounding life Joh. 10. 10 therefore it will break forth into the similitude of Christs glorious Body in whom it is hid as the Corn groweth into the likeness of that seed wherein it was originally and virtually contained Joh. 12. 24. Col. 3. 4. Phil. 3. 21. 1 Joh. 3. 2 3. Of natural life we cannot say I live and I shall live for natural life runs into death as Jordan into the dead Sea But of Christian life we may say I live and I shall live it is a life which runs into life though through the way of death as the waters of the Caspian Sea are said through subterraneous passages to have communion with the great Ocean It comes from heaven Christ the Fountain and Center of it and it goes back unto heaven As a piece of earth falls to the whole earth so every piece of heaven will find the way to its whole 2. Resurgent With my dead body they shall arise their life shall be given them for their advancement wicked men shall live again that they may dye again and shall rise ut lapsu graviore ruant that they may be thrown deeper Pharoahs Butler and Baker came both out of prison the one to his office the other to dishonor the one to be advanced the other to be executed So mortui tui and mortui seculi shall both come out of their graves the one from a prison to a Furnace the other from a prison to a Palace In which respect Believers only are called children of the Resurrection Luke 20. 36. It is a Resurrection of life to the one of condemnation to the other Joh. 5. 29. And therefore to distinguish them from the other it is added 3. Expergiscimini They shall awake as a man refreshed with sleep which puts a great difference beâ—ween the deaths and Resurrections of the godly and the wicked 1. The death of the godly is but asleep 1. In regard of the seeds of life abiding in them A man in sleep ceaseth from the acts of sense but the faculties he retaineth still So an holy man though he lose in death the acts of life yet the seed and root he hath not lost he lives to God still 2. In regard of his weariness of the world and fulness of dayes A man wearied with labour lies down willingly to rest Abraham dâ—ed full of dayes he was satiated and desired no more Gen. 25. 8. the Apostle had enough of the world when he desired to depart and to be with Christ Phil. 1. 23. whereas a wicked man how old soever is not said to die full of years or satisfied with life He may be loaded but not replenished he knows not whither he is going and therefore he would fain stay in the world still But it may be said Have not wicked men brought death upon themselves as Achitophel Saul Judas and godly men been sometimes unwilling to die as Hezekiah Isai. 38. 1 2. True both yet neither the one out of the love of death nor the other out of love of the world wicked men are impatient of present anguish and inconsiderate touching future terrours and therefore rush upon the one to avoid the other But godly men are weary of the body of sin and believe the favour of God and glory of Christs presence and that makes them desire to depart and to be with him Nor did Hezekiah decline death out of a servile fear being able to plead unto God his uprightness but out oâ— a desire to live to compleat the Reformation of the Church which he had begun and that he might have a Successor to derive the Line of the Royal Seed unto So then death to the godly is but a sleep in regard of the rest it giveth them Rev. 14. 13. from sins fâ—om sorrows from labours from enemies from temptations from fear from evils to come and therefore Job calls the grave his bed Job 17. 13. and so the Prophet They shall lye down in their beds Isa. 57. 2. 2. This awaking makes a great difference between the Resurrection of the godly and the wicked the one riseth refreshed as sleep repaireth the decays of Nature so that a man riseth vigorous and recruited therefore the time of the Resurrection is called the time of refreshing and of restitution of all things Acts 3. 19 21. The other riseth affrighted as a man awakened with a Thunder-clap or whose house is in a flame about him the one awakes to his work the other to his Judgement it is morning and everlasting day to the one it is horrour and darkness to the other and therefore it is added 4. Cantate when they awake they shall sing as David when he awaked calls on his Lute and Harp to awake with him Psal. 57. 8. In their graves at Bobylon they hung their Harps on the Willows no musick then Psal. 137. 3. but they go out of their graves as Israel out of the Red Sea with Victory and Triumph over Death and Hell and so shall sing the Song of Moses and the Lamb. Dust and Ashes in the Scripture phrase are ceremonies of mourning Job 2. 12. Mic. 1. 10. but here they who inhabit the dust are called upon to put off their prison garments and to shake themselves from their dust Isai. 52. 1 2. to awake unto singing and triumph when they awake they are satisfied Psalm 17. 15. Thus we see the deliverance of the Church is fully as large as their distress From all which we learn 1. The true cause why Death and the calamities leading thereunto do still remain after Christs Victory over them to wit 1 To exercise our Faith and Hope in Gods Promises for the righteous hath hope in his death Prov. 14. 32. 2 to conform us unto Christ as well in the way to life as in the end 1 Pet. 4. 13. 3 To wean us from the love of the
holy men have complain'd of dying daily 1 Cor. 15. 31. of being in deaths often 2 Cor. 11. 23. of being compassed about with death Psal. 18. 4. The wicked have no bands in their death Psal. 73. 4. they are at an agreement with it have as it were hired it not to disquiet them Isa. 28. 15. they put it far from them Amos 6. 3. whereas good men have their souls often drawing nigh to the grave Psal. 88. 3. Dead then here they are 1. Quoad mortis praeludia all the fore-runners and harbingers of death common to them with all others sorrows sicknesses distresses and infirmities of all sorts 2. Quoad vitae exitum they end their days in the same manner as other men the wise man as the fool Eccles. 2. 16. Psalm 49. 10. thus in common good men and bad But godly men 3. Are dead quoad affectus Their affections and meditations are upon death Wicked men feed and fat their lusts fetch out all the sweetness that sin hath in it Whereas holy men mortifie their earthly members crucifie the flesh with affections and lusts are ever dying to sin and the world Rom. 6. 11. 4. They are dead quoad seculum crucified to the world Gal. 6. 14. and therefore hated by it John 15. 19. nothing to be looked for from it but persecution and tribulation John 16. 33. as men have done to the green tree so they will to the dry Luk. 23. 31. suffering belongs to the essence and calling of Christians 1 Pet. 2. 21. they are hereunto appointed 1 Thes. 3. 3. They are in his sense properly Mortui tui the Lords dead men for worldlings are not sufferers by calling and profession as true Christians are They are not in trouble as other men Psalme 73. 5. Job 21. 7 13. II. From Mortui tui it proceeds to Cadaver meum and such they are not onely by dissolution after death but by condition before it used like a dead carcasse exposed to contempt and dishonour as the refuse and off-scouring of men Lam. 31. 45. 1 Cor. 4. 13. troden under foot Isa. 63. 18. had in derision Jer. 20. 8. filled with contempt Psal. 123. 3. made as the ground and as the street for proud men to go over Isa. 51. 23. thus the righteous is an abomination to the wicked they loath him as a man would do a dead carcasse Prov. 29. 27. III. From dishonour they proceed to a kinde of despaire They are Habitatores pulveris they dwell in the dust they are not onely dust by constitution Gen. 3. 19. and by dissolution making the Grave their House and their bed in darknesse Job 17. 13. but further by estimation they judge so of themselves abhorring themselves and putting their mouths in the dust Job 42. 6. Lam. 3. 29. they are valued so by others Isa. 10. 6. as the mire of the streets This is the sad condition of the Church sometimes in this world under persecution and captivity so they were in Babylon as dead bones in a grave Ezek. 37. 11 12. By all which we learn what to look for in the world when we give our names to God The usage not onely of strangers and enemies but even of dead carcasses to be buried in contempt and dishonour The way to life lies through the countrey of death as the way to Canaan through a sea and a wilderness no scorns no graves must deter us from a godly life if ever we hope for a blessed resurrection Neither may we think it strange when we meet with troubles in the world which are but the preludes and prefaces unto death nor when one evil is over may we sing a requiem to our souls as if all were passed but look for vicissitudes and successions of sorrow for clouds after rain till we are landed in the Countrey of death And since our tenure in this world is so obnoxious both to encumbrance and uncertainty we should die to the world while we are in it as those who are very shortly to be translated from it and having no abiding station here be careful to look after that City which hath foundations and so to acquaint our selves before hand with death by meditation on it and preparation for it that it may not come as a messenger of wrath but as an Harbinger of glory that in our death we may be Mortui tui The Lords dead men and prisoners of Hope the Spirit of Christ in us being the earnest and seed of a Resurrection unto life We have considered the sad condition of the Church expressed by our Prophet in that Emphatical Climax Dead men a Carcasse Inhabiters of the dust Let us next take a view of the mercy of God in her deliverance a deliverance not onely commensurate to her troubles but victorious over them dead indeed but she shall live a carcasse but she shall arise asleep but she shall awake in the dust but she shall sing So there is mercy fully answerable to the misery no temptation without an issue no calamity without an escape 1. Vivent Mortui or as others read it Vivant True both They do live They shall live They have life in death and that life shall work them out of death 1. They do live in death Wicked men are dead while they live 1 Tim. 5. 6. dead in Law under the sentence of the curse as Adam was legally dead by guilt and obnoxiousness the same day that he did eat the forbidden fruit Dead in conscience under the pain of that sentence and under the bondage of deserved and denounced wrath Heb. 2. 15. Heb. 10. 27. dead in sin under the power of Lust Eph 2. 1. Psal. 14. 3. their throats Sepulchres full of rotten words Rom. 3. 13. their hearts Sepulchres full of unclean affections Matth. 23. 27 28. their lives Sepulchres full of dead works Heb. 6. 1. But mortui tui the Lords dead men live even in the Kingdome and Country of Death 1. They live in praeludiis mortis in all the forerunners of death in the greatest calamities they bear up their hearts in the favour of God which is better then life Psal. 63. 3. 2 Cor. 6. 9. In these things all these things we are Conquerours more then Conquerours Rom. 8. 37. 2. They live in Regno mortis in the Kingdome and Country of death when death hath possession of them they live still you are dead and your life is hid Col. 3. 3. The death of a Christian is not the taking away of life but the laying up of life as a Parent takes the Childs money and keeps it for him He that believeth shall live though he die John 11. 25. As Abel being dead yet speaketh Heb. 11. 4. Yea their very bodies though dead to them do live to God for he is the God of the living Mat. 22. 32. therefore the Jews call their burying places Domus Viventium 1. They live in the Promise and Power of God Mat. 22. 29. 2. They live