The Husbandmans Companion, Meditation 59
Ʋpon many creatures ſeemingly dead in winter.
59. Med.
WHen I conſidered how diverſe inſects, ſome ſerpents and other animals which in the heat of ſummer are active, quick and lively, but God not having given them wiſdome, nor any inclination to make any proviſion for the future, and yet by the mighty power of God, they are preſerved without meat; for either they die, or ſleep, or ſeem ſo to do, yet in the following ſpring, when the ſun returns in his ſtrength, they recover, and the ſpecies is continued: This made me admire the wonderful providence of the only wiſe God, that theſe creatures ſhould live the one half of the year without food, if at leaſt they do live, or if really dead, (as ſome of them ſeem to be) that they ſhould be reſtored to life again: for the production of the ſilk-worm and ſome others is ſtrange and wonderfull, firſt a ſmall egge, then a worm, then a fly, which ſoon dies, leaving ſome eggs behinde for the next year, which of themſelves produce the ſpecies: this minded me of Gods queſtion to the prophet, and of his anſwer; Saith God, can theſe dry bones, live? and he ſaid, Lord, thou knoweſt: 'Tis not in mans power to preſerve them, nor beyond the power of God; with man it ſeems impoſſible, but with God all things are poſſible, Mat. 9.26. men may want of their will for want of power, nature her ſelf may be interrupted in her courſe, as it was when the fire burnt not up the three worthys, nor the water drown Peter walking upon it: Satan may be croſt, and chained up, that he cannot hurt, but who can hinder the Almighty, there is nothing can over-match an omnipotent arm: This made me think alſo, God can preſerve his childrens lives in deſpight of his enemies: if they take away their meat (ſaith the Martyr) God can take away their hunger; why not as well as he doth the life of other creatures? and he will do it rather then his promiſe ſhall fail: Elijah goes in the ſtrength of one meal forty days, and had God pleaſed, it might have been forty years, for he could have preſerved the Iſraelites forty years in the wilderneſs without food as well as with food, from heaven, and as well as he preſerved their garments from waxing old, Deut. 29.5. I have led you forty years in the wilderneſs, your cloaths are not waxen old upon you, and thy ſhoe is not waxen old upon thy foot; they needed not to care what they ſhould eat, or what they ſhould drink, or wherewithall they ſhould be cloathed; for God made proviſion of all this, they were maintained at Gods proper coſt and charges; methoughts alſo this ceſſation of action in theſe creatures in winter, did much reſemble ſleep, which if God pleaſed might be as long in other animals; and were it not common, would be thought wonderful, and little differing from death it ſelf, and yet experience ſhews us, that which ſeems to deſtroy nature, doth reſtore and refreſh it, or it is like to a ſwoon when the ſymptomes of death are upon a man, yea, in ſome diſtempers the ſymptomes of life for many hours together are ſcarcely diſcerned; but above all, it reſembles our lying in the grave, and our riſing again at the reſurrection, for the body ſleeps in the duſt, till the laſt day (as theſe creatures do in their holes till the winter is paſt, and the ſpring approacheth, and the ſilkworm never receives life till the Mulbery-trees leaves, which is their food;) and then they ſhall be revived by the ſun of righteouſneſs, and life put into them; then theſe dry bones ſhall live: This I know ſome queſtion, and ſome deny, poſſibly becauſe they cannot fathome the depth of this providence; and were they not convinc't by yearly experience of the other, they would deny that alſo, and would think it could not be, that creatures ſhould have their life preſerved the one half of the year (at leaſt) without food, becauſe they know not how it ſhould be; But I think few articles of our faith are more clearly proved in Scripture then this of the reſurrection; but many men I fear are wilfully blinde, their lives and converſations being ſo debaucht, they would believe, at leaſt wiſh they could believe, there were no reſurrection of the body, yea, that the ſoul were mortal as well as the body, and that the death of the one were the deſtruction of the other alſo, but the time is coming, they ſhall finde the contrary to their ſorrow: both ſcripture and reaſon ſpeak plainly, that the ſoul is immortal, and that the body partaking with it in holineſs or ſin, ſhall alſo partake with it in weal or wo; and that there will be a day of retribution, when thoſe that now ſuffer for Chriſt ſhall then reign with him, and thoſe that ſin, ſhall ſuffer for their ſin; the contrary to this cannot ſtand with ſcripture-revelations, the threatnings of the law, the promiſes of the Goſpel, nor with divine juſtice it ſelf; and why ſhould any think it impoſſible for God to gather our duſt together, and raiſe up our dead bodies at the laſt, who do believe that there is a God, and that he hath made not only man but the whole creation of nothing, and that this God is juſt and will make good both his promiſes and threatnings, and nothing is too hard for an omnipotent arm? oh my ſoul, diſtruſt not Gods word, queſtion not his power, he that can make all things of nothing, can of thy ſcattered aſhes raiſe up thy dead body to life, and re-unite it to thy hould, and he that ſaith, he will do it, will certainly perform it; heaven and earth ſhall paſs, but not one tittle of his word ſhall paſs till all be fulfilled; call not in queſtion the power and providence of God, but labour to have a part in the firſt reſurrection, that the ſecond death may have no power; get fitted for death and judgement, get ſin pardoned and ſubdued, which is the ſting of death; get grace implanted, and thy ſoul married unto Chriſt, then needſt thou not fear death, nor the reſurrection: oh my God, ſtrengthen my faith, confirm my hope, and encreaſe my love to thee, and let me long for the time that I may enjoy thee in glory, and lie for ever in the arms of my beloved.