Lord Aact 3.19 he who is the resurrection and the life shal not onely remove all deformity of nature but worke a blessde conformity betweene himselfe who is the head 1 Cor. 15.49 and all such as are several members of his blessed body that as they have borne the Image of the earthly so shal they then beare the Image of the heavenly Then sin together with the fruits woeful effects thereof shal wholly cease and howsoever the bodily substance shal remain yet the qualities therof shal be wholly changed So that for sicknesse there shal be health for deformity beauty for basenesse glory for lumpishnesse agility yea for weaknesse such aboundance of strength Zach 12 2 that hee that is feeblest amongst them shall be as David and the house of David as Gods and as the Angell of the Lord before them For as by death our naturall infirmities are fully cured Eph. 4.3 so in the resurrection every way so glorious our former losses shall perfectly be restored whilst we all come unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulnesse of Christ By meanes thereof Isa 65.4 Psal 103.5 6 1 Cor. 13.9 we shall not onely obtaine a freedome from all misery but a fruition of all good Those things that wee doe now weakly beleeve we shall fully imbrace And those glorious things dayly spoken of thee thou rich inheritance of the Saints of God we shall both see and taste For instance then we shall by joyfull experience finde 1. The greatnesse of the Sonne of God his purchase and infinitenesse of his love that he that knew no sinne should be made sinne for us that wee might be made 2 Cor. 5.21 The righteousnesse of God 2 Cor. 5.21 2. What those robes are of Christs righteousnesse and how pretious those Garments are of our Elder Brother which the blessed Apostle so much desired Phil. 3.5 2 Tim. 4.8 1 Pet. 5.4 Phil. 3.5 together with the misery and most unhappy condition of those that want them 2. Tim. 4.8 1. Pet. 5.4 3. What the Crowne of Immortality and Life meaneth and whether it bee worth the blood of so many Martyrs and holy Confessors as have beene spilt from righteous Abel until now for the obtaining of it 4. Lastly what a glorified body is and the dignity and excellency of the same when our bodies shall be light and nimble passing up and downe as upon the wings of the Winde when our dayly foode shall be the love of God and all our drinke drawne out of the River of Celestiall pleasures when our bodies shall be transparent like the purest Christall and our soules shining through the same like so many sparkling Diamonds when God lastly shall bee all in all the vaile remooved and wee for ever with him The which in themselves are things so excellent that whilst I am speaking of them me thinkes I heare my soule thus secretly complaining Heu mihi peregrinor tandin c. Alas that I soiourne in Mesech Psal 120.5 Rev. 22 and dwell so long in the Tents of Kedar Lord Iesus come quickly Secondly if we take the words as some translate them Cadavera mea resurgent My dead Carcasses shall arise then questionlesse in calling them his dead carkasses the blessed spirit assureth them of his speciall care over them untill the day and time of their resurrection commeth so that although they have left the world yet are they not quite lost but when they are not then are they his dead Carkasses A dead Carkasse though of the dearest friend wee see usually few will owne A memorable example amongst many others wee have in William the second the Conquerors successor who being fatally killed and now falne to the earth all his company Nobles and others instantly forsooke him save only a few of the meanest sort who laying his Princely Corpes uppon a homely beere drew it into a house or lodge neare at hand now if this were the portion of so mighty a Prince whom immediatly before so glorious a troop so royally attended what must others then of meaner ranke expect and and looke for but onely with deaths closing up their eyes to have all their friends excluded and no sooner gone but to be as suddainely forgotten For Oblivion and neglect Psal 87.8 are the two handmaids of death and her Kingdome where shee principally tyrannizeth is Terra oblivionis The land of forgetfulnesse when as David therefore would expresse the worlds ingratitude in the highest degree toward him he fetcheth her comparison from her usuall manner in forgetting of the dead Psal 31.12 Psal 31.12 I am forgotten saith he like a dead man out of minde And from this evill fashion grew that ancient and usuall custome of erecting monument over the dead ut mentâ—m moneant ad defuncti memoria that they might retaine and keepe in memory persons formerly departed the consideration whereof as it cannot questionlesse but much trouble the dying heart even of the dearest servant of Christ who naturally is sociable and desiring the company of man as we see in Ezechias dolefull complaint Isa 38.11 Isa 38.11 I shall see man no more with the inhabitants of the earth So ought the very hearing that all the dead bodies of the Elect are the Sonnes of God his dead carkasses and peculiar charge mightily to cheere up their dejected soules at the last houre and period of their lives If then it happeneth as oft it doth that these or the like Melancholly thoughts uppon the approach of Death enter thy troubled breast and thus thou secretly musest with thy selfe I see mine houre and time is now at hand when I must away and suddainly make my bed in darknesse in the slimey valley whither my friends will not care to come and mine acquaintance tremble to approach where my onely Comrade must bee corruption and the worme my chiefe companion Then remember that being Christs in thy lifetime thou art his when thou art dead then his living Temple and now his dead carkasse Neyther doth his love at all fayle when breath fayleth For however others perhaps will loath thee yet bee sure hee will not leave thee but closing thy dying eyes with his gracious hand will go along with thee unto thy Grave where having sowne thee like precious seed will not forsake thee until hee shall rayse thee in a most glorious manner For even as those infernal spirits are never absent from the Graves and tombes of Reprobates prophaine and wicked persons but there they are tryumphing over them as their spoyle and conquest so is the sonne of God never absent by his Divine presence from the Graves and monuments of all pious and Religious persons perfuming them with the odoriferous savour of his death and passion and so preserving of them that not a bone of them is lost The which being so Psal 34 20. when that time commeth and dye I must egredere anima mea
and songs of Love Then shal we see I doubt not this sweete young Gentleman comming forth with his Laurell on his head Rev. 19.7 and his rich Robe on his backe washed in the Blood of the Lambe singing Alleluiahs unto God and saying with the rest Let us be glad and reioyce and give honour unto him for the Lambe is come and his Wife hath made her selfe ready The consideration whereof ought to bee another maine comfort against that sadnesse which the shadow of death bringeth with it when a darke cloud shall oppresse our hearts when our songes shall be turned into heavy sighes and all our mirth into dolefull complaints then let the Childe of God thus thinke with himselfe well though I cannot now bee merry yet the time is comming when I know I shall now I am sad but then I shall sing my ship being entred the wished Haven and this boysterous tempest wholly over But I hasten to an end intending as briefly as I can to close up all with the reason that the blessed Spirit yeeldeth in the latter end of the verse why the dead carkasses shall not onely arise but in so beautifull also and joyfull a sort the which is no other in word then the opperative and working power and vertue of the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ being the same to the dead that the dewe and sappe in the spring is to the hearbes and grasse of the field All the Winter long experience teacheth us when snow and frost covers the ground the grasse and plants of the earth appeare as dead and withered untill the spring commeth when a pleasant dew armed with the power of the Sunne not only mouldreth and prepareth the earth but soaking downe unto the rootes of the plants causeth them speedily to arise and grow so that within short time after the travailer may with their beauty feede his eye and the Labourer with the Fruite of the same fill his lap or bosome All which the Spirit of God in saying thy Dew is as the Dew of Hearbes and the Earth shall give up her dead intimateth to be the happy condition of all the Elect at the latter day So that how ever their Bones bee drye their Beauty lost and they returned agayne to Earth and Dust yet shall the fruite and benefite of the Resurrection of the Lord Iesus Christ like an heavenly dew or rather like the breath of GOD himselfe soake downe and pierce into the bottome of their Graves causing them to arise and blosome foorth like the Rose of the valley and Lilly of the field the darlings of the Spring all which is by the finger of God Cant. 2.1 And that the Resurrection of the Lord Iesus shall doe all this Rom. 6 Iohn 6.4 1 Cor. 6.14 2. Cor. 5.10 Ephes 6. Col. 6.4 may appeare both by multitude of places of Scripture proving the trueth hereof as also by so many exhortations which wee usually meete withall wherein wee are earnestly put on to fit and prepare our selves for so high a dignity and preferment amongst others 1 Thes 5.6.8 1. Thessalon 5. where the blessed Apostle willeth us Not to sleepe as others doe but but watch and bee sober putting on the breast plate of Faith 1 Pet. 3.14 and Love and for our Helmet the hope of salvation And the Apostle St. Peter in exhorting us in his 1 Epistle 3.14 so earnestly as hee doth that seeing wee looke for such things to bee diligent that wee may be found of him in peace without spot or blemish Jud. 20.21 The like doth the holy Apostle Saint Iude in the twenteth Chapter and the twenteth first verse of his Epistle in this sort Wherefore my beloved keepe your selves in the love of God looking for the mercy of the Lord Iesus Christ unto eternall Life But if this I have spoken something before with which contenting my selfe I will in a word or two and that very briefly shew unto you the reason of the comparison wherein the vertue of the Resurrection of Christ Iesus is compared unto that dew of Hearbes The which indeede doth most excellently demonstrate and expresse the nature of the same as may appeare by these instances following First the Dew descendeth from above wholly wrought and perfected by those superiour bodies and is as it were the sweat of their brows such surely and undoubtedly is the vertue of the Resurrection of Christ a Divine and caelestiall Dew pleasantly distilling and dropping downe from the sacred top of that caelestiall Hermon at all times but then chiefly and more especially when hee unlooseth and untyeth the sorrows of Death it beeing unpossible for it to hold him Secondly the Dew is of a mollifying and softning nature as I sayd before fitting the plants to spring and the earth to bring foorth such is the Resurrection of our blessed Saviour of so powerfull and working a nature leading things on in so sweete and excellent an order to their several ends that neither the hardnesse and stubbornnes of the earth the drinesse and rottennesse of the trees nor the indisposition of the dead bodies themselves shall hinder but that the earth shall cast up her dead Thirdly the dew of hearbes is not onely full of spirits and of a cheering and quickning nature but likewise sweete and pleasant casting foorth a most odiferous scent and savour witnesse our Gardens in the Spring mornings of such both quickning and perfuming nature will the Resurrection of our Lord Iesus Christ be by meanes whereof the Bodies of the Elect shall not onely bee restored to life againe but the stinch and rotten savours of the Grave being remooved they shal bee so sweetned and perfumed with the odiferous savours of the same that all their Garments shall smell of Myrrhe Alloes and Cassia together with all the choisest spices of the Merchants fitting the Ivory pallace whereinto they are to enter and where they are to rejoyce for evermore Fourthly the Dew is of a most beautifull and faire aspect gracing much the flowers with her christall droppes like so many orient pearles dangling on the severall slippes and sprigs thereof so surely will the vertue of the Resurrection of Christ Iesus bee to all those that are truely his at his second comming which will be to judgement beautifying and adorning them in a more rich and costly manner then all the chaines broaches and ornaments on the earth possibly can do yea past the apprehension of man Sith then Brethren it is so and the sonne of God hath done all this for us making by his owne Resurrection ours likewise every way so certaine and sure and every way so joyfull let us then in time I pray you make sure of the same which beleeve me we may easily do if we get but our part in the first Resurrection For if by the Resurrection of Christ we be once raysed out of the Grave of sinne then let us no way question but by the power of the
comfort Mat. 10.40 that at the last he should not loose the reward of a Prophet Mat. 10.40 Againe what was the reward of them of whom we have such honourable mention a Heb. 11.38 whose names deserve golden letters persons of whom the world was not worthy surely after all their fruites of a lively faith their love their zeale their constant confession of the name of Christ was it not to be tryed with cruell mockings and scourgings to be tortured and horribly tormented to be sawne assunder slaine with the Sword Only here was their comfort that in the end they should obtaine a ioyfull resurrection What lastly was that reward of that good Emperour Hen. 7. after hee had with a deale of care and trouble not onely reformed many disorders and abuses in the Church and publicke state but also had mightily daunted and brought under the haughty courage of the Guelph's faction But at last to be poysoned at the receiving of the blessed Sacrament with an invenomed Host which a traiterous detestable monke of the order of St. Dominicke gave unto him the which Fact of this bloody Monster as it ought of every Loyall heart to bee abhorred and detested so ought the Patience and assured confidence of this most Christian Emperour to be highly Magnified and to the Heavens extolled who as the story saith finding the poyson immediately uppon the receite thereof working in his bowels and thereupon death approaching commanded instantly the Villaine to bee brought before him and thus without all passion spake unto him Tu calicem vitae invertisti mihi in mortem quare o Domine fuge celeriter nam si inimici c. O fayth hee thou hast turned to me the cup of Life into the cup of Death Wherefore flye for if our Friends lay hold on you you are sure to dye a most miserable death and repent you Ego enim moriar secundum voluntatem Domini tu vas ira fuisti c. It is the will of God that I should die this kinde of death but thou hast beene the Vessel of his wrath unto me c. By all which examples omitting thousands it appeareth plainely that the principall reward is reserved till afterward and hitherto serve these and the like comfortable promises Rev. 2.10 Be faithfull unto Death and I will give thee a Crowne of Life And againe To him that overcommeth will I grant to fit with mee in my throne even as I overcame and sit with my Father in his throne And Chap. 22.12 Behold I come shortly and my Reward is with me Rom. 2.6 And Who will render to every man according to his workes The trueth of all which apprehended by a lively Faith maketh the blessed Apostle Paul to cry out with that plerophory and full assurance that he doth 2 Tim. 4.7 2 Tim. 4.7.8 8 Certamen illud praeclarū decertavi cursum consūmavi fidem servavi Hactenus c. I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith Hence forth there is laid up for me a Crowne of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous Iudge shall give mee at that day And not to mee onely but to them that love his appearance And to that end our blessed and gratious father dayly giveth to all those that are his chosen sonnes and servants not onely the eye and hand of faith whereby they both see and also apprehend the pretious promises of blisse and happinesse made to them but withall he giveth them the sure Anchor of hope by which it being fastned upon that mighty rocke the Lord Jesus Christ they stay themselves with an assured expectation of the fulfilling and fruition of them either heere or in heaven in this life or that to come And for the further clearing the truth of this I shal not offend I trust if I shew unto you how neare the Heathens come to us in this poynt by relating unto you a story which I have formerly read in one of their writers who though a Heathen Plutarch cōsolat ad Apolonium yet of honourable esteeme to this day amongst us The story then in a word is this Upon a time saith hee a complaint was sent from the Ilands of the Blessed to the judges of the Superiour Courts about certaine persons sent thither who formerly had lived impiously humbly intreating that this abuse thus offered to them might speedily be redressed whereupon these unpertiall judges taking the businesse into their serious considerations found not only the complaint to be true but withall the reason and cause thereof which was that judgment and sentence was passed upon men heere below in their life time Whereupon it oft fell out that many persons cloathed with honourable carkasses riches nobility and other like dignities and advancements brought many witnesses with them who solemnely swore in their behalfe that they deserved to bee sent into the Ilands of the Blessed when the trueth was they deserved the contrary to avoide which inconveniency it was decreed by an eternal doome that for time to come no judgement should bee passed untill after death and that by Spirits only who alone doe see and plainely perceive the spirits and naked soules of such upon whom their Sentence and Uerdict was to passe That so of what estate and condition soever they were they might receive according unto their workes By all which it plainely appeareth how farre the Divine eye of this naturall man led him surely unto the true finding out of a Divine and heavenly truth which is that neither definitive sentence is to bee passed upon any heere below nor that any whatsoever shall receive his full reward of that hee hath done whether it bee good or bad till after this Life And so much in way of answer to the Objection And now a word or two of his Life and Death Neither must it be imagined that intreating of the same I intend any large Discourse of him as of one going to his grave in a full age Iob. 5.26 as a ricke of corne comming in due season into the Barne and the glasse of his life being fully runne but I must measure my selfe by that short life of his a minute a shaddow yea the dreame of a shaddow quite vanished and gone before one can scarce tell twenty For if the holy Prophet David living the age of threescore yeares and ten compareth his life unto a shaddow Psal 108.28 Psalme one hundred and eight verse twenty eight I am gone like a shaddow sayth he that declineth and am tossed up and downe like a Grashopper Then surely the Life of this young Gentleman scarce attayning to one of the three cannot bee so much as a shaddow but must needs be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the meere dreame of a shaddow of no long continuance According to which my purpose is to abreviate and shorten my Discourse without multiplying many words or telling you wonders and strange miracles
speake unto him sitting upon his glorious Tribunall Thou Almighty King and supreame iudge of the whole World Loe here I am and the children that thou hast given unto me Isa 8.18 The which doubtlesse will be a sight so full of joy that my tongue is not able to expresse the same my desire onely is that into that or the like assembly my selfe may one day come Secondly as the estate of the faithfull labourer wil then be happy so on the other side Ezek. 11.16 17 the condition of him that is an unfaithfull labourer will questionlesse prove most miserable How carefull the Elders were in former times over the soules of such as were committed to their charge may appeare by one example which may serve in stead of many of St. Iohn Clemens Alexādrinus Sozomenus the blessed Evangelist standing upon record in Ecclesiasticall stories which I will as briefly as I can relate unto you St. Iohn saith the story after the death of the Tyrant meaning as I take it Domitian returning out of the I le of Pathmos and comming to the City of Ephesus where having ordayned Elders and dispatched much other busines cōcerning the Chrcuh he commeth at length to a certaine City not farre of whose name saith the Author many at this day doe well remember where amongst divers others there assembled he espyed a certaine young man mighty in body and of a beautifull and manly countenance whom after he had earnestly beheld the blessed Apostle turning himselfe to the Bishop of the place after this manner spake unto him I doe heere saith hee in the presence of Christ and his Church commit this man unto thee to be trained up and instructed with thy greatest diligence And so immediately after the Apostle returned againe to Ephesus The Bishop receiving the young man thus committed to his charge tooke him home with him and through his extraordinary care so wrought upon him that within a short time hee was thought fit not onely to bee Baptized but to have a certaine cure in the Lords behalfe committed to him But after this the young man having obtained his former liberty fel into company againe of certaine of his olde ompanions Idle and dissolute persons that first drew him to their riotous feasts and banquets and after that to the perpetrating and committing of far greater mischiefes and wickednesse So that now he is not onely an asociate of those wretches his companions in the committing of many Murthers Robberies and other horrible out-rages but by reason of the excellency of his wit manlinesse of heart and stoutnesse of courage he is made their head and Captaine In the meane time Saint Iohn comming againe into those parts and meeting by the way with the Bishop before specified required of him the pledge which said hee in the presence of Christ and his Congregation I left in thy hands to keepe The Bishop somewhat amazed supposing hee had some money committed to his custody which he had not as yet received knew not what answer he should make unto him The which Saint Iohn perceiving The young man saith he and soule of our brother committed to your custody is the pledge that I require The Bishop understanding his meaning with teares running downe his cheekes thus replyed He is dead saith he dead unto God being now become a most wicked person a companion of theeves and villaines and haunting these mountaines and desarts hard by At the hearing whereof the blessed Apostle rending his Garments with great lamentation said unto him I have left a good keeper of my brothers soule And thereupon desiring instantly a horse and a guide rod directly to the place where this damned crue haunted where being presently taken by some of that company hee earnestly requested of them to bee brought unto their Captaine who comming to him armed as he was at the first beganne to look fiercely on him but immediately comming to the knowledge who hee was as a man wholy confounded began to flye and run from him But the old man followed him as fast as he might forgetting his age and crying My Sonne why dost thou flye from thy Father an armed man from one without weapon a young man from an old man Have pitty on mee my sonne and feare not for there is yet hope of salvation I will make an answere for thee unto Christ I will dye for thee if neede be as Christ hath dyed I will give my life for thee Beleeve mee Christ hath sent mee The yong man as one amazed first stood still and then casting downe his weapons trembling and bitterly weeeping imbraced the old man being baptized afresh againe through aboundance of teares running downe his manly cheekes whom after the Apostle had upon his knees fervently prayed for he brought back unto the Congregation to which after some time of humiliation and dayly fastings he was happily at length restored The story is too long for me to comment upon let him that hath an eare harken what venerable antiquity speaketh I come now to the second thing to be considered in my Text namely the manner of their resurrection the which is described by the blessed Spirit as we heard to be 1. Very Beautifull 2. Exceeding joyfull And first beautifull in these words With my body shall they arise The which standing as they doe in the originall carrie with them a doubtfull construction which maketh Interpreters somwhat to vary in their translations For that which some translate With my dead body shall they arise others turne My dead bodies or my dead body shall arise The matter is not great in in which sence the words bee taken since they are so neere a kinne and carry with them severall conclusions full of Divine truth and sweete consolation First then if we take the word as the ordinary translation hath them and read them thus With my dead body shall they arise Then must we take the Son of God in the same comforting of his Church together with the severall members thereof with an assured hope of a most glorious resurrection So that however the brutish and ungodly as hee fell Num. 24.21 1 Cor. 10. so hee shall arise and having his bones full of the sinnes of his youth which Iob 20.11 Iob. 20.11 lay downe with him in the dust shall come forth under the Tyranicall command of the second death the resurrection of condemnation yet the servant of God Dan. 12.2 the true sonne of the resurrection Iohn the fift Iohn 5.2 verse the second However his body was sowne in weaknesse yet shall it rise againe in power and putting off the rotten ragges and patched mantle of corruption 1 Cor 15.47 shal be richly cloathed and apparelled with the pure and pretious garments of salvation Isa 61.7 In affirming therefore that those dead bodies shall arise with his glorious body he intimateth thus much That when that day of refreshing shal come from the presence of the
egredere go forth my soule go forth feare not so are up to that blessed society that is above Heb. 12 22.23.24 that cōpany of angels spirits of iust perfect men to Iesus mediator and to the bloud of sprinkling that speaketh better things then the bloud of Abel As for my dead carkase I deliver it wholly over into the hands of my blessed Saviour Tim. 1.12 being well assured that he is of powerable to keep that which is thus committed to him Secondly as the resurrection of the elect as I have shewed you will be very beautifull so againe will it be very joyfull as may appeare by the words following wherein they are willed To awake and sing The which words may be understood either First as a rethoricall passage wherein the blessed Spirit turneth his speech to the dead bodies willing them to Awake and sing Or secondly in way of Prophesie wherein he fore-telleth as an addition to their future happinesse that they shall Awake and sing If then we take the words in the first sense then have we no other then an application or use that the spirit of God maketh of that comfortable Doctrine formerly declared concerning the resurrection of the dead in speaking to them as persons living and willing them to Awake and sing many the like passages we meete withall in the booke of God where we finde the Holy Ghost speaking to things unreasonable as though they were reasonable sencelesse as having understanding Isa 1.21 Deut. 30 Isa 41.1 Hos 4.3 Jer. 2.12 dead as living sometimes calling them forth to bee Judges sometimes to bee witnesses somtimes to rejoyce somtimes to mourne somtimes to looke boldly somtimes to blush and be ashamed All which together with the reason why the blessed Spirit cloatheth his discourses in such Retoricall and rich attire I doe willingly omit fearing lest through teadiousnesse I might bee troublesome And yet before I wholly leave this poynt and come unto the second I thinke it not amisse to touch one necessarie dutie which the methode that the holy Ghost here observeth affoordeth to us in making as I said so excellent an use of those comfortable doctrines formerly delivered For whereas in the words preceding he assureth the bodies of Saints Inhabiting in the dust that they shall not onely a rise but in a most glorious manner and that till then they are under the wings and protection of a most gratious keeper so in these words he turneh himselfe unto them and maketh this blessed use of all willing them To awake and sing The which necessary duty as it rightly concerneth the ministers of the word in delivering divine truth as if time would serve me I might easily prove so likewise doth it the soule of every Christian man or woman whensoever they heare promises or threatnings published or delivered The which that they may the better doe a necessary thing it is for feare of making false constructions to harken what the Conscience that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or treasure of the soule speaketh For beeing the concluding part of the understanding it will easily tell a man how his case standeth either by accusing or excusing absolving or condemning For instance thou art a wicked and ungodly liver and thou hearest these or the like dreadfull judgements threatned thundred out against Adulterers Swearers impious and ungodly livers That a flying booke of Curses shall enter into the houses of such persons Zach. 5.3.4 Iob. 15.12 15. Iob. 20.7 and overthrow them quite That their strength shall bee famine and that Brimstone shall bee scattered upon their Habitations That they shall perish like their owne Dunge And that they that have knowne them before shall say where are they Now art thou desirous to know whether this bee the portion of thy cup or no then harken to thy conscience and marke well her words for questionlesse upon the hearing of the same shee will thus conclude Zach. 10.3 Math. 7.6 But thou art such a one debauched person and one of this rout and brutish crue a stinking Goat a filthy Swine a snarling Dog and therefore Phil. 3.2 all those heavy judgements and woefull plagues are due to thee as thy lot and portion One the other side thou art one upon whose heart the Word of God hath wrought effectually so that now thou wholly seekest after things above Thine Eye thy Tongue thy Hand thy Pilgrimes Weedes namely Mortification and a new Life doe plainly shew it Many promises thou daily meetest withall like delitious Waters dropping out of the Bucket of Iacob Col. 3.12 5.1 Rom. 6.4 Cor. 4.10 the which thou art exceeding desirous to know whether they bee thine or no A thing that thou maist easily doe if thou wilt but listen what thy conscience speaketh which upon the hearing of the same will assuredly after this sort both assume and reply But thou my deare friend my yoake-fellow and companion art one of this blessed company as not onely my selfe but my whole life and conversation doe plainely witnesse therefore these promises doe belong to thee Secondly if wee take the words in the future tense in way of prediction and prophesies as well wee may for that in the Hebrewe language the Imparative mood and future tense are set and placed the one usually for the other then have we a souveraigne preservative against the feare and sadnesse of death in that the spirit of God assureth these inhabitants of the dust that they shall Awake and sing The which that we may the better see we are to consider First who the persons are whom he termeth Inhabitants of the dust Secondly their happy estate and condition at the latter day in that they shal Awake and sing And first the persons that are termed here the Inhabitant of the dust we are to understand no other then those formerly mentioned under the name of his dead variety of expression setting forth the selfe same persons as may appeare not onely by the word Yee as putting a speciall difference betweene them and others but also for that though that all good bad shal awake and rise yet all not awake sing Isa 65.13 but the greatest company shall Isa 65 13 Cry for sorrow of heart and howle for vexation of minde Qu. But why are they called the Inhabitants of the dust why doth not the blessed Spirit give them a more noble denomination not rather Gods Iewels Pros 13.14 Isa 35.10 Gods Redeemed Hos 13.14 Gods chosen Esay 35.10 or as formerly hee did his dead carkasses but inhabitants of the dust I answer First generally to declare and manifest the mutability of all humane flesh and that there is nothing in man or in the sonne of Man whether Riches Honour Beauty strength or wit yea pure Religion farre more precious then them all that can hold him whom death will have or latch the arrow that death shooteth This is that David affirmeth Psal 89.48 when