The Pulpit Of The Reformation, Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4.

by John Welch; John Knox; Hugh Latimer

But then call to mind what I said unto you before hand, that my body shall arise; even so shall you rise from your graves out of Babylon, and be restored to your own country, and city of Jerusalem; this, I doubt not, is the true meaning of the prophet. The charge that he gives to the dwellers in the dust, is to express the power of God's word, whereby he not only gives life, where death apparently had prevailed; but also, by it, he calls things that are not, even as though they were. True it is, that the prophet Isaiah saw not the destruction of Jerusalem, much less could he see the restitution of it with his corporeal eyes; but he leaves this, as it were, in testament with them—that when they were in the extremity of all bondage, they should call to mind what the prophet of God had before spoken.

And lest that his doctrine, and this promise of God made unto them by his mouth, should have been forgotten, as we are ever prone and ready to forget God's promises when we are pressed with any sorrow, God raised up unto them, in the midst of their calamity, his prophet Ezekiel, unto whom, among many other visions, he gave this—The hand of the Lord first led him in a place, which was full of dry and dispersed bones. (Ezek. xxxvii.) The question was demanded of the prophet, If these bones, being wondrous dry, could live? The prophet answered, The knowledge thereof appertained unto God. Charge was given unto him, that he should speak unto the dry bones, and say, “Thus saith the Lord God to these bones, Behold, I will give you breath, and you shall live: I will give unto you sinews, flesh, and skin, and you shall live.” And while the prophet spake as he was commanded, he heard a voice, and he saw every bone join its fellow; he saw them covered with flesh and skin, albeit there was no spirit of life in them. He was commanded again to speak, and to say, “Thus saith the Lord God, Come, O Spirit, from the four quarters, and blow on these that are slain, that they may live.” And as he prophesied, the spirit of life came; they lived, and stood upon their feet. Then the Lord interprets what this vision meant, saying “O son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. [pg 054] Behold, they say, Our bones are dried, our hope is perished, we are plainly cut off. But behold, saith the Lord, I will open your graves, I will bring you forth of them, ye shall live, and come unto the land of Israel, and ye shall know that I am the Lord.”

This vision, I say, given to the prophet, and by the prophet preached to the people, when they thought that God had utterly forgotten them, compelled them more diligently to advert to what the former prophets had spoken. It is no doubt but that they carried with them both the prophecy of Isaiah and Jeremiah, so that the prophet Ezekiel is a commentary to these words of Isaiah, where he saith, “Thy dead, O Lord, shall live, with my body they shall arise.” The prophet brings in this similitude of the dew, to answer unto that part of their fidelity, who can believe no further of God's promises than they are able to apprehend by natural judgment; as if he would say, Think ye this impossible, that God should give life unto you, and bring you to an estate of a commonwealth again, after that ye are dead, and as it were rased from the face of the earth? But why do you not consider what God worketh from year to year in the order of nature? Sometimes you see the face of the earth decked and beautified with herbs, flowers, grass, and fruits; again you see the same utterly taken away by storms, and the vehemence of the winter: what does God to replenish the earth again, and to restore the beauty thereof? He sends down his small and soft dew, the drops whereof, in their descending, are neither great nor visible, and yet thereby are the pores and secret veins of the earth, which before by vehemence of frost and cold were shut up, opened again, and so does the earth produce again the like herbs, flowers, and fruits. Shall you then think, that the dew of God's heavenly grace will not be as effectual in you to whom he hath made his promise, as it is in the herbs and fruits which from year to year bud forth and decay? If you do so, the prophet would say your unbelief is inexcusable; because you neither rightly weigh the power, nor the promise of your God.

The like similitude the apostle Paul uses against such as called the resurrection in doubt, because by natural judgment they could not apprehend that flesh once putrified, and dissolved as it were into other substance, should rise again, and return again to the same substance and nature: “O fool,” saith he, “that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die; and that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare corn, as it falleth, of wheat, or some other, but God giveth it a body as it pleaseth him, even to every seed his own body.” In which words and sentence, the apostle sharply rebukes the gross ignorance of the Corinthians, who began to call in doubt the chief article of our faith, the resurrection of the flesh [pg 055] after it was once dissolved, because that natural judgment, as he said, reclaimed thereto.[11] He reproves, I say, their gross ignorance, because they might have seen and considered some proof and document thereof in the very order of nature; for albeit the wheat, or other corn, cast in the earth, appears to die or putrify, and so to be lost, yet we see that it is not perished, but that it fructifies according to God's will and ordinance.

Now, if the power of God be so manifest in raising up of the fruits of the earth, unto which no particular promise is made by God, what shall be his power and virtue in raising up our bodies, seeing that thereto he is bound by the solemn promise of Jesus Christ his Eternal Wisdom, and the Verity itself that cannot lie? Yea, seeing that the members must once communicate with the glory of the Head, how shall our bodies, which are flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bones, lie still for ever in corruption, seeing that our Head, Jesus Christ, is now exalted in his glory? Neither yet is this power and good-will of God to be restrained unto the last and general resurrection only, but we ought to consider it in the marvellous preservation of his church, and in the raising up of the same from the very bottom of death, when by tyrants it has been oppressed from age to age.

Now, of the former words of the prophet, we have to gather this comfort; that if at any time we see the face of the church within this realm so defaced, as I think it shall be sooner than we look for—when we shall see, I say, virtue to be despised, vice to be maintained, the verity of God to be impugned, lies and men's inventions holden in authority—and finally, when we see the true religion of our God, and the zealous observers of the same, trodden under the feet of such as in their heart say, that “There is no God,” (Psal. xiv.); let us then call to mind what have been the wondrous works of our God from the beginning—that it is his proper office to bring light out of darkness, order out of confusion, life out of death: and finally, that this is He that calleth things that are not, even as if they were, as before we have heard. And if in the day of our temptation, which in my judgment approaches fast, we are thus armed, if our incredulity cannot utterly be removed, yet shall it so be corrected, that damnable despair oppress us not. But now let us hear how the prophet proceeds:—

“Come, thou my people, enter within thy chamber, shut thy door after thee, hide thyself a very little while, until the indignation pass over.”

Here the prophet brings in God, lovingly, calling upon his people [pg 056] to come to himself, and to rest with him, until such time as the fury and sharp plagues should be executed upon the wicked and disobedient. It may appear at the first sight, that all these words of the prophet, in the person of God, calling the people unto rest, are spoken in vain; for we neither find chambers, nor rest, more prepared for the dearest children of God, so far as man's judgment can discern, than for the rebellious and disobedient; for such as fell not by the edge of the sword, or died not of pestilence, or by hunger, were either carried captives unto Babylon, or else departed afterwards into Egypt, so that none of Abraham's seed had either chamber or quiet place to remain in within the land of Canaan. For the resolution hereof, we must understand, That albeit the chambers whereunto God called his chosen be not visible, yet notwithstanding they are certain, and offer unto God's children a quiet habitation in spirit, howsoever the flesh be travailed and tormented.

The chambers then are God's sure promises, unto which God's people are commanded to resort; yea, within which they are commanded to close themselves in the time of greatest adversity. The manner of speaking is borrowed from that judgment and foresight which God has printed in this our nature; for when men espy great tempests appearing to come, they will not willingly remain uncovered in the fields, but straightway they will draw them to their houses or holds, that they may escape the vehemence of the same; and if they fear any enemy pursues them, they will shut their doors, to the end that the enemy should not suddenly have entry.

After this manner God speaks to his people; as if he should say, The tempest that shall come upon this whole nation shall be so terrible, that nothing but extermination shall appear to come upon the whole body. But thou my people, that hearest my word, believest the same, and tremblest at the threatenings of my prophets, now, when the world does insolently resist—let such, I say, enter within the secret chamber of my promises, let them contain themselves quietly there; yea, let them shut the door upon them, and suffer not infidelity, the mortal enemy of my truth, and of my people that depend thereupon, to have free entry to trouble them, yea, further to murder, in my promise; and so shall they perceive that my indignation shall pass, and that such as depend upon me shall be saved.