THere are three remarkable Heads of Dscourse in these two Ver­ses: 1. The Necessity of a Resurrection, must. 2. The Na­ture of the Resurrection, in a Prophetical Description, Death is swallowed up in Victory. 3. The Nature of a rais'd Body of a Believer, by these two Properties, Incorruption and Immortality.

I shall begin with the last Head, being most largely insisted on in the latter part of this Chapter, and that in Answer to a Question by way of Objection, v 35. And with what Body do they come? the Apostle answers it by giving a Character of a rais'd Body in seven seve­ral Properties: The first from the place where it will live, v. 40. Coe­lestial; the last from the Pattern to which it will be conform, v. 45, to 50. the Image of the Heavenly; the other five are inherent Quali­ties of the Body, four of them inserted between v. 41, and 45. the [Page 2] other, viz. Immortality, first here mention'd, and is the most usual term to comprehend the whole, being of the same import with Eter­nal Life; with this I shall begin:

1. Immortality is asserted of four very different Subjects, God, Angels, Men in Hell, Heaven, and once before Sin on Earth too. 1. It is attributed to God, or rather our Lord Jesus Christ, 1 Tim. 6.16. Who hath only, Immortality; only by way of absolute necessity, Self original, Independency, Incommunication and Incomparableness: Glorified Saints are so but contingently; it might have been, yea had been otherwise, if his Free-grace had not prevented; they have it by Gift, it is not essential to them, and they every Minute depend upon God, who upholds that Life in Glory as well as Grace: They cannot give it to another, but Christ daily bestows such Alms; hence it dwells after another manner in him, its another thing under that name, ours only is like it. Angels are immortal because Spirits, but the Immortality of Body tho' spiritual, and Spirits are of different kinds, the one by an entire Oneness, the other by a constant Agree­ment and Harmony; the one by internal Indivisibleness, the other by external preservative: Angels are more liable to be annihilated, made nothing, than dissolv'd, but glorifi'd Bodies, capable of descerp­tion into pieces and parts, by suitable Power and Skill; as these two Immortalities excel this, there are other two below it. 1. That Im­mortality in Hell, a Phrase the Scripture knows not; we may say they always are, but not always live, who never live: Heaven is a second Life, but that is a second Death: It is said, there Worms dye not, but not that they dye not; its a Mystery hidden in horrid Darkness, and there let it remain conceal'd, may we but know this Life its enough. 2. That Immortality or Immoriturity of Adam in Paradise; he was capable of Death, but should never have actually met with it, if Sin had not stain'd him firs [...]; no fall but that could have bro­ken Legg or Arm, that he should not have been preserv'd from, that was, he could have not dyed, this he cannot dye, Luk. 20.36. Nei­ther can they dye any more, being the Children of the Resurrection: That was a Life that might have been eternal, this shall be eter­nal, 2 Cor. 5.5. Mortality is swallowed up of Life; or of Immorta­lity, both are one; Hence (1.) 2 Tim. 1.10. Hath brought Life and Immortality to light: Eternal Life and Immortality are the same; hence, (2.) Immortality is comprehensive of all the other, for this Life is our ultimate end, Rom 6 22 Having you fruit unto Holiness, and the End everlasting Life; and the End has all in it: Glory is the Mani­festation of this Life, Col. 3.3. Our Life is hid with God in Christ: [Page 3] 2 Cor. 4.10. Then the Life of Jesus shall be made manifest in our (now) mortal flesh: Spiritual is the remote and incorruptible, the more nigh foundation and reason of it; Power a property of Spirituallity, Hea­ven the place, and Christ the Pattern.

2. Incorruptible is a Twin sister of Immortality, only in this they differ, the one more immediately respects Death, the other Diseases, and so it is a further degree of Happiness; as a Wound is a Fraction of what is continuous, as Physitians Phrase it, so a Disease is a Corrup­tion of what is entire and sound. There is but one Death attends our mortal Life, but many Diseases our corruptible one, and one Dis­ease has a hundred Deaths in it. This one thing would make this Earth a Paradise, Incorruptible; no more vile Botch or Scab, no more painful Stone or Gout, no more dangerous Feavor or tedious Consuption: O blessed Incorruptible! no mam'd, no lam'd, no more wastful Watchfulness or useless Lethargy, Rev. 21.4. No more pain: 22.2. The Leaves of the Trees will serve for healing the Nations: Either the Trees are of vast Virtue, or else small means will serve turn; Physitian, Chyrurgion, and Apothecary, useful and com­fortable Callings in this life, will cease as useless, in that no more cost­ly Druggs, bitter Potions, and loathsome Bolas's; our blessed Jesus who was wounded for our Transgressions, thorough whose stripes we were heal'd, will be all in all, the Balm of his Body will be an universal Antidote; The Lord's for the Body, and the Body for the Lord; and as outward Medicines are a second Disease, so inward Grief, Sorrow and Care, the Native Results of the Souls Sympathy with the Body in her Affliction, will be at an End too, Rev. 7.16, 17. He will wipe away all Tears from your Eyes. But this Incorruptible, tho' a Negative Word, not a Negative Thing, it supposes such a stable state of Health, such an exact Temper of the Elements, that doth contemn the Assistance of Art; all Variety, if any, will only serve to beautifie the Composure, not dissolve the Compound; it implies, that the Immor­tality flows from the Internal Constitution, that there is nothing in it so impair Health, or disorder Harmony, a Motion perpetual without Weariness, a Fasting without Hunger, and Life without decay; and may be this distinguishes the Immortality of Hell and Heaven, the one with, and the other without Incorruptibility; for what is incorruptible is im­passible, and thus these that live in Torments are not, but have their Con­stitution as much fitted for Suffering as the other for Activity. O dread­ful state! Immortal, but not Incorruptible! to have senses quick like Lightning to feel, and durable as an Anvil to last, under repeated strokes, without pause and smarting, without any allay of Ease: It [Page 4] is a Blessing the whole Earth will rejoyce in, Rom. 8.21. The Crea­ture it self also shall be delivered from the Bondage of Corruption into the Glorious Liberty, when the Restitution of all things, Acts 3. is come to pass; and if so, much more the Body of Man; the Curse of Corruption came on these inferior Creatures for the sin of Man; the Rebels House was pull'd down, and his Fields sown with the Salt of a Curse, because belonging to such a Master, who held it in Homage and Fealty to a superior Lord, but kept not Faith, and there­fore fore-faulted his Fee: Much greater Curse did the Body of Man lye under on this Account, it was nigher the sin; with the Hands she pluck'd the Apple, with the Eyes she lusted after it, with the Mouth she eat it, and Stomach did digest it; much more active were they then, the Sun that occasionally rendred it visible, or the other Trees, Grass, and Beasts, that were neither Abettors, Sharers, nor Witnesses of this or any other Crime, only by Gift did belong to him who committed the Crime; but this Body of Man was much more his own Body: No Man ever hated his own flesh; this is the most peculiar of all Possessions and Properties, more than the com­mon Air, Water, Sun; more than House and Goods, limited by pro­perty, and hence more under the Curse. The Flowers retain more Beauty than the Body of Man: Solomon in all his Glory was not like the Lilly or Tulip: The Oak or Eagle excel him in Age, the Elephant in Strength, or Dove in Swiftness, but if this Body was more under the Curse than other Creatures by virtue of nigher Union to the Soul, it shall more glory and rejoyce in that new Marriage, when cloath'd in its Wedding Ornaments, than all these Attendants in their renew'd Subjection.

3. In Glory our Bodies can never become Incorruptible and Im­mortal without being glorious; the more Health, the more Beauty we distinguish between Death, Disease and Deformity, but the Re­medy to any of them can never be compleat without curing all of 'em: Our Bodies, Phil. 3.21. are now vile Bodies, and on that Ac­count in dishonour, 1 Cor. 15:43. Sown in dishonour: Beauty com­mands Esteem and Respect, but there is no Beauty in a sinful state without some Blemish; there is some Ugliness in the fairest Face, some lack and defect accompanying the greatest Comeliness; some complaining of macerated Leanness, or unweildy Fat, a contempti­ble Dwarfishness, or unmasterly Bigness, some Defect in the Propor­tion, or Colour, or Air, the Eye or Nose, Body or Face under some disfigurement, and when Old Age or Diseases come, these ruins of Beauty that appear'd in Health and Youth, whether, the [Page 5] Skin wrinckles, the Colour vanishes, the Breath is nauseous, and the Look is ghastly, which Death consummates with an Intollerableness to the dearest Lover, most faithful Friend, or nearest Relation: Remove them out of my sight, is the common Voice of Nature: All this will be entirely remov'd, for the Beauty of Believers Bodies will be a Glory. Beauty is the sweetness of Colour, enlivn'd with a ra­dient Air, resulting from most brisk and vigorous Spirits, set in an harmonious proportion of Parts, but Glory is the highest Lustre and heroick Degree of Beauty; this kind of Beauty in an infant-degree seems to be the cloathing whereof our first Parents were depriv'd by the Fall, their sin begat their Nakedness, and Nakedness their Shame. For,

1. Cloathing and Raiment are usual Terms for it; the visible Glo­ry of Christ and Angels is call'd their Glistering, White, Shining Raiment, and this Cloathing Paul long'd to put on.

2. This Glory is a Restitution Acts 3. from the misery by sin, therefore there must have been some Roots of it before.

3. All Beasts, Plants, Trees and Grass, have by Nature a beauti­ful natural Cloathing, Hair, Leaves, Husks, Feathers, Flowers, Blade, Bark, and generally delightsome; how proud is the Peacock of his beautiful cloathing! Solomon in all his Glory, his Crown, Jewels, and most costly Robes, not like a flower of the field, for his were artificial, borrow'd, not his own: We rob the inferior Creatures to cloath Man with; surely this is not the Original sinless Constituti­on, Man had cloathing of his own, better than that of Beasts, but the Curse has sunk him below them in this respect.

4. We have some Remains of it renew'd in Moses, when his Face shone thorough Converse with God on the Mount: Surely Converse in the Paradise was as familiar.

5. These Exhalations and Vapours that flow from the Body of Man so plenteously, and tend to Adornment in other Creatures, in Hair and Feathers, should have been to as good use in man as in other Creatures, if he had not forefaulted, but a state of Glory will far exceed in Beauty. If God had not intended to out do his first Institution, he would never have permitted it to be undone: Why did he let Man deface his Workmanship, but that he might have the Glory of restoring it better. The Beauty of an Eve would de­spise all the help of Paint or Dress; it was like Truth, the more sim­ply the more lovely; the Beauty in fashion, for want of better, is like a falshood set off with Rhetorick and Eloquence. The true way of being beautiful is to become a Child, a Daughter of the Resur­rection, [Page 6] a Member of the Church of God, Eph. 2.26. these Christ will present without Spot or Wrinckle, within and without; though now the Blackness only were not like that of the Smith, but like that of the Aethiopian, Dan. 12.3. They shall be clear as the fir­mament, fair as the Moon, shining as the Sun: Our dust will be chrysta­liz'd as the Glass, and our Tallow turn'd into a pure flame Light, yea, far above the light of a Candle; such strange Changes has Art and Necessity invented in mean Worms, but Phil. 3.21. the work­ing of a mighty, divine Power, when he changes our vile Bodies, will far outdo: We may learn the Effect from the Cause, the glorifi'd Soul will have a great Influence to render it Glorious; a Pleas'd, Con­tented, Joyful Soul, has great Influence now to fill the Eyes with flames, and the Countenance with an amiable serenity, how much more will a Soul dandled with the delights of Heaven, transform'd into an Angel, satisfi'd with Rivers of Pleasures, transfigure this Body into a pure glorious flame? but it is not left to what that Cause alone can do, we are lest to think what the mighty power can do: It's true, that power makes the Fly as well as the Sun; its a power acted by Wisdom, and doth not always so much as it can; but if we consider either the Pattern this Power acted by, or the End it acted for, we cannot but imagine this infinite Power near the Borders of what we can con­cieve possibe to it, for Christs glorious body is the Pattern, Phil. 3.21. 1 Cor. 15.45. We shall bear the Image of the second Adam; We shall be like Angels, Psal. 104.4. and we find all the four Evan­gelists at a loss to set forth the Glory they appear'd in, Mat. 27.3. Mar. 16.5. Luk. 24.4. Joh. 20.12. Act. 1.10. Luk. 20.36. But Christs Glory is above theirs, who shall appear in his Fathers Glory, in his own, and in the Glory of his Angels; and the Nature of the Person necessitates it, and it is his glorious body, Phil. 3.21. that is the Pattern; there is nothing that ever God made that can excel him; here infinite power did its uttermost, it will never outdo this piece of Work, and that's the pattern God acts by in glorifying Believers. But 2ly. if we consider the End this power acts for, is to fit them for a Spouse to Christ, Fellows, a Bride, Psal. 45. Joh. 17. to be ever with him; then will Earth and Heaven eccho to one another, the Marriage of the Lamb is come, and his Bride hath made her self ready: Who would not have their Spouse as beau­tiful as they can, therefore will the power of God work mightily, that she may be without spot, that she may be Christs Glory and Fulness, that it may be seen to greatest Wisdom he did not assume a Body and suffer for nought, Job. 11. If a Grain of Seed fall not [Page 7] into the Ground, it abideth alone: I will, says he, rather dye than be without this Companion: Father, says he, I will that they be where I am, to see my Glory, and to partake of my Glory. As the Wo­man is the Glory of the Man, so is the Church Christs; I shall not adventure to explain or think to exhaust the sense of that Text till then The body is for the Lord, and the Lord for the body; do not let such a body be abus'd, with unlawful lust says St. Paul that is to be made up a Bride for Christs. Men that are not of soeminine Spirits are not so concern'd, either about their own native Comeli­ness or artificial Ornaments, as to render what is by natural Insti­tution their Glory, acceptable in Lustre and Beauty, but our Lord Jesus Christ is a Husband, without compare he was not only wound­ed to render us invulnerable, and tasted of death to render his Bride incorruptible and immortal, but had his Visage marr'd to purchase a Beauty for her; he uncloath'd himself of his coelestial Comliness, that she might appear comely by reason of his Comliness put on her, Ezek. 16. he came in the form of a Servant to court a slave, that she might reign with him; hence he prays, Joh. 17.5. Now, O Father, glorifie thou me with thine own self, with that Glory which I had with thee before the World was; and v. 24. Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me: Take them now into the Family, and let the Fatherly Love thou bearest to me be on them, and let them shine in my Glory; they were thine by choice, and now mine by Marriage-consent; they have then a right of a Daughter in Law that is married with the Fathers Consent; let all the Glory of the Family shine on her, she is the only Spouse in it: To what Extent will power act for such an End, Isa. 60.20. Then the Branch of his planting will be such a Work of his hand, that he may be glo­rifi'd when the Lord becomes her Everlasting Light. It is not a fault in the fine foeminine to desire Beauty, since God intends it, and gave the Appetite, the sin is in its disorderly Exertion.

1. In desiring it before better things.

2. In not using Gods method to attain, it which is to get a beau­tifi'd Soul first; that will render the Body like it, that will make a Beauty lasting and glorious; it is a sovereign Remedy that cannot fail, and a little paint rents and spoils the Face, leaves it worse at last than it found it; the other has a Root, its a living, growing, flou­rishing Beauty, this is but a Vizor, a Whores Mark, and an Hypo­critical Disguise, hiding the Blemishes of the Face, but discovering those of the Mind, Pride and Vanity.

4. In Power: Beauty and Strength seldom meet in our Bodies, in [Page 8] this state, in the Resurrection state they cannot be parted: Power is as necessary a Result from an immortal and incorruptible subject as Glory is, for there is a passive power as well as an active: We are now weak as well as vile, because the meanest Creature, a Worm or a Fly can be an Instrument of Death; our Breath is soon stopt, and the Thread of Life soon cut, but then nothing can kill or hurt. The very Term flesh imports weakness, and spirit power; it is said of the Aegyp: tian Horses, that they are Flesh and not Spirit, i. e. Weak; and 2 Cor. 4 7. this Treasure in Earthen Vessels, that the power may be of God; and 13.4. The two states of Life are divided in a state of Weakness and Power; and this Power is not alone passive, for a passive Power is a Subject of active Power: Rev. 3.12. they are compar'd to a fix'd solid Pillar as well as the most fluid flame: A Flame has passive power, you cannot dissolve it so as to keep it so; by its fluidity it presently recurrs; an Anvil cannot be easily broken by rea­son of its Consistency, but how powerfully doth both these powers fit them for hurting others that preserves themselves from hurt, the Anvil dash in peices, and the flame burn: So this rais'd Body has an active power both for Motion and Action. 1. It is an agile Bo­dy, Angel like, 1 Thes. 4.17. We shall then be capable of flying thorough the Air, that going up to meet the Lord, when he appears in his Aetherial Tribunal seems to be the first Jump and Essay that we shall make of that New Vehicle; then will the Pro­mise be true in the very Letter, Isa. 40.31. They shall mount up with wings as Eagles, they shall run and not be weary, walk and not be faint; Dan. 9.21, 23. Some gather that from Heaven to Earth is a Days Journey for an Angel, but tho' that Text intimates their motion to be voluntary, he flew swiftly, or was caused so to do, they mend their pace or abate it, it doth not afford us measures of their speed, for tho' we know the End of his Journey, we know not the Beginning either as to time or place when, or from whence he took his flight, the very Bounds of the Inheritance, the Earth, the Air, the Aether, the lower Heavens, an Angel standing in the Sun, the third Heavens, the Heaven of Heavens; how vast must be the Circumference of the Estate that contains so many large fields in it. In Heaven all things are congruous, suitable and ha [...]monious, there are no Jars in their musick, the wing of the Possessor is pro­portion'd to the Extent of his Territories; we shall then Praise God (not Pray) for the wings of a Dove, the swiftest fowl to fly away, and be at rest. Tho' this is the travelling Condition that the state rest, yet it is the state of swiftest motion; the difference lies in the [Page 9] course fare, hard bed, troublesome tumult from flesh and blood, Interruptions by Noise and Care; the difference consists in the weari­ness, from weakness, and the delight from power, not in the miles they travel; they will then step from Globe to Globe for a visit, as if the Inhabitants of the fanci'd World in the Moon could visit us, and return again in an hour or a day without Toil, Fatigue, Noise or Hurry, but all this Power is not confin'd to a Freedom of Resistivi­ty and Gravity, but in a Power of Action or Strength: This is evident,

1. From the Strength of Angels, Psal. 103. whose Property is to excel in strength, and 2 Kings 19.35. One Angel steps out and kills an Army of 185000 Men in one Night. Or,

2. Divine Promises, Isa. 60.22. a small one shall become a strong Nation, Rev. 2.26. he that overcomes, shall have power over the Nations to rule them with a Rod of Iron, and break them in pieces as the Vessels of a Potter. And,

3. From the nature of the Case; for if the being be rational, and cannot be kill'd, nor wounded or hurt, what can it not destroy? but whether there be limits to this Power beside an holy Will to employ it well, I know not; for instance, if they could kick a Globe out of its place, and disorder the universe. But to conclude, as Women from the former may learn how to be truly Beautiful, Men may from this learn how to be truly strong, swift, mighty, powerful, and to count all Weakness until this be attain'd.

5. Spiritual; this is the foundation of all the rest: Why powerful? because not flesh, but Spirit; why glorious? not from an External Varnish or Gilt, but because of an inward transfiguration into a spi­ritual Temper, which is a Root on which that flower of Glory grows and lives; why immortal? not because of its firmness as a Pillar, Rev. 2. Which no External Violence can divide, or its Li­quidity, as the purest Air or Aether, that immdediately closes again and returns to its place, but spiritual, tho' it may be in something like the former for Nive; it is spiritual only, not a Spirit that fills no place, for then Heaven would be empty when full of Angels and Men. The Relation of pure spirit to place I do not find satisfactori­ly solv'd by Philosophers, but this Body is not to be pure Spirit, but spiritual.

1. Because more like it; that is, more one, not having different Qua­lities and repugnant Elements in it, which I conceive all matter may be.

2. Fitted and Adopted to serve a Spirit. And,

3. Inclin'd to spiritual Objects, as our Souls are called carnal, Rom. [Page 10] 8. from Carnal Inclinations; by the Constitution of this Body in which the Soul lodges, the Soul must either act or nor act in a suit­ableness to its Tools: I cannot write clean with my blotting ill made pen, but the Eartheness of the Soul thorough its Corruption makes it contented with its dwelling place, which it could not be after a freedom in a glorified state, and so great proficiency in that coelestial Society; and therefore to compleat its Happiness it receives a Body fit for it, spiritual; that will not be a Clogging Luggage or Incumbering Burthen, but of a fine tenuous Substance, all Wing, Aether and Flame, that will keep pace with its most ardent Wishes, the Soul may ride it 10000000 Leagues a Day; as the Cherubins are the Carriage of the Divine Presence, he flies on the Wings of the Wind, this Body will be an Image of it to the Soul; for in a state of perfection there must be a perfect Harmony, all things a­greeable, there will be nothing in the Bodies Constitution to rebate its Vigor or slaken its Motion, there will be no expence or wasting of Spirits, and therefore no need of Recruits, no Hunger or Thirst, Rev. 7.15. no Sleep or Drowsieness: Moses and Elias were ear­nests of this spiritual Constitution, when they fasted 40 days and nights. This body will be more under the Empire of the Soul, we need not eat, but may have a power to eat, as Christ after the Re­surrection, and some Angels in their appearaces to Men, they could condense or refine, contract or extend their Vehicles at pleasure, as the Fowls their Wings: It will be a spiritual Body, that these two things at least are signifi'd by it, 1. Holiness. 2. Subtilness; the one denotes its Inclination to things spiritual; the more spirit an Object is, the more it will be belov'd; the other signifies its fitness to obey and serve the Soul.

6. Heavenly, Coelestial, this is deriv'd from the place of their abode; a Body that will dwell in Heaven, a Denezon and Citizen of the New Jerusalem, by adoption naturaliz'd in that Countrey: The Goodness of the Country, and the Priviledges of the Natives does in­hance this Blessedness much; there never came no Curse upon this Land, the fallen Angels were expell'd the Territories, and remain Exiles; the Curse had fallen on some place or other in it, if they had liv'd in it, but being remov'd there was no Ground for it: Besides, the Scripture sets it forth as that which the Land of Canaan loaden with all its peculiar Blessings was but a Type or Shadow of: Tho' a Bunch of Grapes was a Mans Burthen, it was but a barren soil to this, where the Trees bear twelve manner of Fruit, and yeild their Fruit every month; the Air is most incomparable, for the In­habitants [Page 11] never shall say they are sick, and the Rivers are Waters of Life; the Countrey is populous and the Conversation sweet, not one misplaced Word or mistaken Thought, no Theif, Robber or Adulterer, a perpetual Friendship, an Uninterrupted Love is the Bond of their Society; its nigh the Court, all the Inhabitants are al­ways in the Kings presence, and he is King of Kings and Lord of Lords; it is a Rich Country, it is litterally true what was Hyper­bolically said of Jerusalem in Solomons days, the silver was like the dirt in the streets, for the whole City is Gold; Gold is too base ma­terials for their Buildings, Rev. 21. Gold clear as Chystal; Gold is like the stones rough in the Quarry, the bricks unbak'd in the clay, its Gold Chrystaliz'd, which no Chymist can do here; the leaf Gold is not Diaphanous, but here the vast pigs of Gold are transparent, but Gold however refin'd is not all, here are Jewels big enough for foundations of a City that is to last for ever, and plenty enough to to build Cites of 1500 miles in Compass with: O Heaven! Hea­ven! how happy are thy Inhabitants! O Heavenly Body! how blessed art thou! when these are but Childrens Rattles, Babies Play­things to take with our Childish Fancy, but they shall as much sa­tisfie our manly Wisdom then in maturity, as these things now would our Childish Fancy, if we could attain them: But however happy this Countrey is, and whatever multitude of Mansions and Ci­ties there be in it, it seems to be a Priviledge of Freedom in the Natives, that we confin'd dwellers in Houses of Clay have not, to be illocal; Fish have the Water, Fowls the Air, Beasts the Earth, and its probable Man all before sin, yet he was confin'd to this Globe, now I do not find Heavenly Bodies confin'd to any Globe, they can live in all Airs, and all Elements, take a Walk or a Flight to this Globe of Earth, and then step to another; it is not reasonable to think the Heavens are all of a Kind and Species, but that it has dif­ferent Globes or distinguish'd Spheres. The Promises tells us not in what Spheres we shall dwell, tho' Christ drops a Word about va­riety, many Mansions, but tells them all things are theirs, for they are Coheirs with himself; and it is likewise probable they can trans­form themselves in a suitableness to the Globe they arrive at, as we see the Angels do with us: The Angels that appeared to Lot ren­dred themselves palpable, and they often render themselves visible, and conversable in Eating and Drinking, but usually are where not seen, as Elisha's Guard, 2 Kings 6.17. The Reason of this Heavenly Temper is from the following Property.

7. V. 49. We shall also bear the Image of the Heavenly: Heavenly [Page 12] by Regeneration; we have a Heavenly Father, a second Adam, in whose Image we are to be moulded, and after whose Pattern we are to be drawn; the Apostle comprehended all the other in 3 v. 42, 43, 44. but fills 5 v. 45, 46, 47, 48, 49. with the Account of this, for it con­tains the foundation of the Resurrection in it, and the clearest Picture of it; he had before prov'd the Existence of the Resurrection from the Resurrection of Christ, now shows the nature of a rais'd Body from his, this Pattern being most accurately describ'd in the Gospel, gives a most clear view of a Saints Body after the Resurrection, Mat. 17.1. Mar. 9.1. Luk. 9.28. John 1.17. 2 Pet. 1.17. Rev. 1. The Apostle Paul had a Vision of it also at last of all seen of me, as of one born out of due season, but tho' inferior to the others, in that he excels, in Preaching of the Paralel, Phil. 3.21. That our vile Bodies shall be transform'd like unto his glorious Body: And more at large in this Text and Context; if he comes short in the Doctrine, he makes it up in the Use. But to proceed, I shall give a View of the Glory of this Pattern by some Observations on these Texts compar'd together.

1. From the time; we may learn it was a Specimen of his King­dom in its glorious state, Mat. 16. Christ had been taking an Account of his Disciples Faith, and giving an Account of his Kingdom, and the Sufferings he must undergo in order to its foundation; at the last Pe­ter is offended, to remove it he promises a Tast of that Kingdom, that they may be convinc'd such a King must suffer voluntarily, and not of Necessity. And,

2. That the Glory of that Kingdom needed an Antecedent Death which he fulfilled within 6 days exclusive of the day of Prediction and Fulfilment, otherwise 8 days, as Luke has it; some Fathers think it a Figure of 6000 years before the Kingdom of Christ, commence from the first Promise, so we want 300 years of the Resurrection. 2ly. the Place is Mount Tabor, the very Vertex of Galilee, above 4 miles high, a Type of the Kingdom of Christ, it shall be exalted above the Earth, and on this Account 2 Pet. its called the Holy Mount.

3. The Witnesses, Peter, James and John, for Confirmation of the Truth, 2 Pet. 2. To fortifie their Faith against what Doubts the next Vision might occasion. 3. To recal Peter from his Lapse, and strength­ens James for his primordial Suffering, and prepare John for the fu­ture Visions of his Kingdom, all of them record this Vision, they could never forget it, it made such an Imperession upon them.

4. The prepar'd Posture of Mind: Christ expected and waited for this inchoatile Glory, Heb. 5.7. As he pray'd, and pray'd with strong Cries and Tears; thus we are to meet his approaching Kingdom, but now approaches the Golry it self.

[Page 13]1. It is said he was transfigur'd, which implies a real Change; no Paint or external Appearance, but an inward mutation of the Con­stitution.

2. His Countenance shin'd as the Sun, not as if only equal to it, but be­cause there is nothing in the World superior in glory to which they could compare it. Hence John adds, his Countenance as the Sun shining in his strength, and his Breath as a two edged Sword; and from the Lowness of our vital flame our Breath issues only as smoak from the Chim­ny, but the Leviathans, breath is like the Chimney in fire, Job. 41. By his Neesings a Light doth shine: Out of his Mouth go burning Lamps, and sparks of Fire leap out; and much more Flamy is the Blood of Christ, since not properly blood but flame, and the Character of his Feet as well as well Face, Rev. 1.15. As the best burnished Brass burning in a Furnace; being then more accustom'd to such Visions, mark'd him more narowly.

3. It shin'd thorough the Garments; such was the Glory of his Body that his Cloaths could not hide or cover it, it made them appear white as if bleach'd by a Fuller, yea, if Calendar'd or Glaz'd too; but further, Glistering white as the frosty Snow, and yet further Beaming and Raying as Light: How great must the Glory of the Body be, that did Chrystalize his Raiment!

4. But Peter, 2 Ep. 1.16. and Joh. 1.14. gives yet an higher Account of this Glory, as of that which is proper and peculiar to the only begotten of God, so that all the Glory of the Angels was inferior to it, being the Prerogative of this Person, a Glory due to the Nature, so nearly united to the Deity as to become one Person, hence far Excelling Moses and Elias, though they appear in glory too: And from them we are brought to a third Topic, to set forth this Glory by; they had former­ly been both in the Mount with God, the Mountain Sinai, after which Moses face always shin'd, but Mount Tabors Glory and the Glory of this High Priest of our Profession far out-shines him now when descended from the Mansions of Glory. The Jews thought Jesus was Elias, but now though its true in the Letter that Elias is come, yet the Disciples may learn that was an Undervaluing Christ, to call him Elias. The Jews, as Chryst, says, call'd Christ an Antinomian, a bad Name never deserved, but now the Disciples may learn that Christ and Moses, Law and Gospel, agree well; it is stuff that some Fathers say, viz. They came to receive the Message of the Gospel, to preach it to some in the other state, but we have the best Company that ever the World was blessed with; Heaven and Earth, the Triumphant and Militant Church met the Old Testament Church and the New, the [Page 14] Head and the Members and their Conference is about the Death of Christ: Indeed there was more at the Conference than did appear, for there is the Voice of the Father out of the Cloud, but the great­er wonder is, how they knew any from others, viz. Moses and Eli­as; but it is hence evident that we shall know one another, Friends, Relations, yea, them we never knew below, if in this Confusion and Hurry they by the divine Spirit knew Moses and Elias, shall we doubt that ever Moses and Elias knew one another. Further, the Glory of this Appearance is visible, the impression it had on the Disciples, they are wonderfully satisfi'd with it, though nigh kill'd by it, for this sleep seems to be by the powerfulness of the Im­pression, their spirits were exhausted and stupifi'd, as in Isa. 1.6. and Abraham, Gen. 15. yet they thought it was good to be there, tho' no Sleep, no Drink, no Meat, yet good to be there, tho' far from all Friends, Relations, and former Society, yet good to be there; they would build Tabernacles to live in the open Air, in the top of a Mountain four miles high, tho' their Bodies so disordered by it, good to be there still. How satisfying must it be? when our Bo­dies are prepar'd for it, Death could not allay this Affection or af­ter their Judgment in this point, Death in the Cup could not im­bitter the Pleasure of the Draught. This glorious appearance of Christ, whose Livery we shall wear in Heaven, the Prophets under the Old Testament often saw, Ezek. 1.27. Its called the apperance of the Glory of the Lord, like as the Bow in the Cloud in the day of rain, like Amber, like Fire upwards and downwards, the likeness of a man in this ineffable glorious appearance was, that the Prophets often saw and was the Glory of the Temple, their emblemiz'd Messiah, and the Jewish Kabbala does characterize it in these ten Words, or Sephiroth as they call them, like the ten Categoris, that contain the Objects of all Sciences, so these ten Words the Object of all divine Knowledge; but this Key the Priests reserv'd for themselves, as Christ complains, Mat. 23 13. Mal. 2 7. And some thinks the Promise, Jer. 31.34. of all being taught of the Lord, is the Promise of taking away this par­tition-wall between Priest and People, for all should know Jesus Christ; but my Business is to show how far this Category tends to set forth the Glory of Christ.

1. Then suppose his glorious Image, and above the Crown of the Head this Word, Seter, a Crown, with this Epither, Aen Soph, infi­nite, no end, this is a Character of Christs Kingly Office, Rev. 6.2. there was given unto him a Crown at the first preaching of the [Page 15] Gospel; Rev. 19.12. at the latter end of it many Crowns and Dia­dems or Mitres, Zach. 3.5. a Mitre on his Head, and v. 13. a Priest on his Throne, and 6.11. Crowns, in the plural, are put upon him, Luk. 1.33. no End of his Kingdom, Rev. 19.12. a Name wrote on the Crown, which none but himself knows; as in the Book Jetzira there are ten Sephiroth beside the ineffable, viz. Aen Soph, so in this Beam of Glory we have multitudes of Kingdoms, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Kings and Priests too, the Mitre is on his Head also, the Endlesness of his Dominion and the Infiniteness of his Kingly Power being founded on the divine Nature.

2. On the Temples are these two, Cochma and Bina, Wisdom and Understanding; you may find the individual Words Isa. 11. the Spirit of Wisdom and Ʋnderstanding shall rest in him; and Colos. 2.3. All the Treasures of Wisdom are hid in him; and Eph. 1.8. in all Wis­dom and Knowledge; Rev. 1.14. This is the import of these Eyes, that were as a flame of Fire, by them we discern and discriminate things, and attain the Knowledge of them.

3. On the Arms are Gedola and Gebora, Geatness and Strength, or Greatness in its two Branches of Goodness and Severity, Mercy and Ju­stice, the one dispens'd to the Sheep at the right hand, and the other to the Goats on the left, Mat. 25.34. both these Attributes are ascrib'd to Christ, Psal. 145.3, 4. the one to a measure without End, and the other beyond Reckoning; and again Eph. 1.20. and Rev. 4. with many more.

4. The next Sephira is Tephora, the Glory Vitringa and the Au­thor of the Kabbala Denudata disagree about its place, the former on the Girdle, the latter over the Body; they may thus be united, the High Priests Girdle was double, one above the Breast-plate in which the Ephod did hang, and another below with which his Garments were begirt, Isa. 11.10. Righteousness the Girdle of his Loyns, and Faith­fulness the Girdle of his Reins, compared with Rev. 1.13. Girt a­bout the Paps with a Golden Girdle; that is, the Glory of the Son of man, our High-Priest: A Girdle was that the Ancients much glori­ed in, and on what they laid out much Expences, both as to mat­ter and form, making them of Silver, Gold, of Phrygian Work, studding them with Jewels, as Herodian saith, processit fibulis et bal­tio multo auro, & preciosis lapidibus, Variegatis, ornatus: Among the Romans there was a Law to prevent Expensiveness of this kind, but not only Custom has made the Girdle the greatest Ornament, but Scripture also accounts it a Glory, Jer. 13.11. For as a Girdle cleav­eth to the Loyns of a man, so have I caused to cleave to me the whole house of Israel, — that they may be unto me for a Name, and a Praise, [Page 16] and a Glory: It is Tephora, the same Word in the Sephara; and as it is a Glory, so 'tis a Royal Glory: I will cloath him, to wit, Eliakim, with thy Coat, and strengthen him with thy Girdle, and deliver thy Government into his hand: The Coat and Girdle are the two Ensigns of Government; so Job 12.18. He that looseth the Bands of Kings and girdeth their Loyns with a Girdle: The Sence is, he makes and unmakes Kings, as the Chaldee Paraphrase has it, he dissolves their Government; but no Girdle, how Royal soever it was, was comparable to that of the High Priest: Wherein the Ephod, Ʋrim and Thummim were plac'd, by which Responses in all the intricate affairs of Government were given; but this High-Priest in all his Glory was but a Type of this Priest upon his Throne, whom in a suitableness to this we have de­scrib'd in the Psal. 45.3. Gird thy Sword upon thy thigh, with thy Glory and thy Majesty, — thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things, — the Scepter of thy Kingdom is a right Scepter: The Sword us'd to hang at the right hand, Ʋna cum Scuto Ensis pendit ad dextrum femur; hence, from the rigut hand terrible things did come. The 7th. Sephara is Nedra and Hod, Victory and Majesty; the very Words, with most of them that are already spoke of, we find applied to him who was Lord of the Temple, Chron. 29.11. Thine O Lord is the Greatness and the Power, the Sephara on the Arms; and the Glory the Sephara on the Girdle; the Victory, and the Ma­jesty the Sephara on the Thigh; thine is the Kingdom, O Lord, the Sephara under the Foot: The Lord Jesus Christ is Lord of this Temple, Mal. 2.1. The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his Temple, Mat. 21.13. My House shall be called a house of Prayer; but farther, Rev. 19.16. He has on his Vesture and on his Thigh, (the place of this Sephara) a Name writ, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords: It was a Custom of Old to have Names on their Vestures in Hieroglyphick Letters, or otherwise; and the Thigh to be the place of them, which is also the place of the Sword, and consequently the Instrument or Foundation of Power, Victory and Dominion, as in Psal. 45. King of Kings is the greatest Victor or Conqueror, for no King will yield to be under another, without Conquest in Act or in Power; and as the longest Sword makes the greatest King a Victor, so Victory, Conquest founds a Title, and makes them Lord of Lords, or cloaths with rays of Majesty. Our Lord Jesus is King by Con­quest, as well as well as Birth, Donation and Purchase; for by strong hand he redeems his People out of Satan's Power; and may be this Sephara is doubled on both Thighs, because the Victory is two­fold, Spiritual and External; the one Victory or Triumph we read [Page 17] of Rev. 6.2. Heb. 4. the other Rev. 19.14. The 8th. Sephara in order, the 9th. in words, is Jesod the foundation, to wit, of the last Sephara, the Kingdom: The Cabbalists call it the Covenant of the Lord, the Covenant of Circumcision, the Strength, the Member of the Covenant, Zach. 6.12. Behold the man whose name is the branch, he shall bring forth from under himself, (says the Original) and build the Temple of the Lord: Christ is both Father and Husband to his Church, his Children and Spouse are one, and his Kingdom, thus we find it explain'd by the Cabbalist Jesira. ‘The Serpent with whom ye contend is he, who destroyed the first Man and all fol­lowing Generations, — there was a Daughter who was upon a Tower which did fly in the Air, — there was every day in Hea­ven Proclamation made that he who conquer'd the Serpent should enjoy this Bride, this Daughter of the King, many attempted and none were found able, — and he looked this way and that way, as it is, Exod. 2.12. and when he saw there was no man among them who could kill the Serpent, he said how long will it be e're he come, of whom it is said he slew the Aegyptian, viz. Shiloth Moses, therefore the Scripture says, Gen. 49.10. how long will it be e're Shiloth comes, for to him it belongs to kill the Serpent, and unto him shall the gathering of the People be.’ I leave it to the Mythologists to consider whether or not the Ancient Fables, as the great Wars for Queens and Beautiful Persons, be not derived from this, and all founded on the first promise of Christs conquering the Serpent, and enjoying his redeem'd People as his Spouse. The Scrip­ture represents the case much alike, for Rev. 12.15. The Devil is called the Serpent, and the Church a Woman or Wife, and in Rev. 20.2. Christ conquers this Dragon, this old Serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and Rom. 5.12. As by one man, or by a Hebraism the first man, sin entred into the World, and death by sin, so that death by sin hath passed upon all men. In Psal. 45. We find both the King and his Bride and this Daughter of the King all glorious within: We find further in this Cabalistical Text, as it were an Interim between the Destructi­on of Mankind and the Coming of this Saviour, in which interim this Bride has a strong Tower, which can be nothing else but the Name of God, which is a strong Tower to the righteous, Prov. 18.11. before the Incarnation of this Messias, it either represents the time be­fore the Promise, or before the Incarnation, or before the Consummati­on of the Resurrection; to the last we may referr to Rev. 12. where this Woman is describ'd, and her flight into the Wilderness with the Eagles wings that were given unto her, and at last her Redemp­tion; [Page 18] to the first we may refer to Isa. 53.10. If he will make his Soul a sacrifice for Guilt, he shall see his seed; hence in John he com­pares himself to a Grain of Wheat, signifying his willingness to dye; that he might not be alone, but enjoy his promis'd Fellows and Com­panions, who are frequently call'd his Bride and his Wife, Ephes. 5.25, &c. And it is also frequently reveal'd to us in Scripture, that none else were able to conquer the Serpent in Order to her Redemp­tion but he, Rev. 5.2. I saw an Angel strong and mighty, proclaim­ing with a great voice who is able to open the Book, &c.

The last Sephira is Shekcina or Malcuth, Habitation and Kingdom, the one denoting the Person absolutely, the other relatively.

As to the first, the Jews by Shekcina understand that wherein God dwells after a peculiar manner according to his Promise, Exod. 25.8. I will dwell in the midst of them, Lev. 26.11. I will put my Taber­nacle in the midst of them: This was in some measure fulfill'd in his appearing in the Cloud and fiery Pillar in the Wilderness, but that was only an Earnest of another kind of Habitation among them, John 1.14. The Word was made flesh, and dwelt tabernacl'd or shekci­ [...]ted among us, and 1 Tim. 3. God manifested in the flesh, and when he comes again in Glory, Rev. 21.3. It is said behold the Tabernacle of God is with men, and all the glorious Symbols under the Law were but shadows of this; the Ark, Col. 2.9. In him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, v. 3. in whom are hid all the sacred Mysteries and Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge. It is observable that among the Jews the Shekcina was called also Ruah Hakkodesh, the Holy Spi­rit, I conjecture that the one signifies the divine Nature, the other the humane, but both the same Person, for among the five things wanting in the second Temple, some reckons the one, some the other.

Malcuth signifies the relative state wherein this Person comes to dwell among Men as their King, to erect a Kingdom of Grace and Glory, Life and Liberty, among the Sons of Men, hence his Kingdom commences with his Birth, he is born a King; John the Baptists Ministry was, Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, Mat. 12.28. The Kingdom of God is come unto you, Luk. 17.10. Rev. 12.19. and 19.6.

To conclude this first part, the Glory of a rais'd Body, and in par­ticular the Glory of that Body of our Lord, which is the great Exem­plar and Pattern of Believers Glory, hath these four Properties of i [...]:

1. It is a native Genuine Glory; other Kings for solemnizing a Co­ronation [Page 19] beggs, buys, borrows from, or robs all the Creatures, to render their Majesty illustrious, they send to Golconda for Jewels, diggs in the Mines for Gold and Silver, robs the Beasts of their very Skins for Furrs, the Fowls of the Air their Feathers, gathers the Offals of the Worms for Silk, let every Creature have its own native Orna­ment restor'd and all their Glory evanishes, the Lilly of the Field has more Native Glory than a Solomon in all his Glory, but this Kings Glory results from the Temperature of his Body, Constitution of his Soul, and In-dwelling of the Godhead.

2. It is a suitable, becoming Glory, a Gold Ring becomes not a Swines snout, not a Triumphant Arch a base Coward, nor a royal Crown a simple Pate, nor costly Raiment a clownish Carkass, but this Head is capable of the greatest Mysteries in divine Government, all the Treasures of Wisdom are hid in it; this Hand is fit to sway a Scepter over the Universe, there is nothing too hard for him, he is the Power as well as Wisdom of God; he is Lord of Glory, why may not he wear his own? the Kings on Earth, Angels in Heaven, and Devils in Hell are under him, what can be too great for him? he is Heir of all things, what Expence can be too sumptuous for him? he is the only begotten of the Father, on whom can Glory be better bestow'd? he has the Fulness of the Godhead in him, there is a necessity of Fulness of Glory about him.

3. It is an useful, profitable Glory; a gaudy Dress made up of use­less Toys is little worth, all natural Glory is useful, the Suns glory gives a Resurrection to the dead Earth, all things smile and rejoyce un­der the warmth of his returning Beams, the fields grow green, the dead Seed of Corn turns fertile, the very Dunghills are transform'd into glistering Insects, the Stars wants not their Influence; but the glo­ry of the Sun of Righteousness is of much greater Influence, when he appears in the Clouds there will be no need of another Sun, the day of Judgment has no night, their will be no darkness for any to hide in, he appears for the restauration of all things; they have been under a Bondage of Corruption, and in a night of Confusion ever since the Fall, but his presence as a new Sun puts an end to that night and Death that has been upon the Creatures, yea, for any thing I know raises to Life our dead Bodies, as the natural Sun doth the Infects; this ve­ry Sun makes a new Heaven and a new Earth, and new Inhabitants too; nay, mends the Sun to make it have the Light of seven days; this Sun is the Father of Lights and begets glorious Bodies full of Light, and the Saints shall be the first fruits of it, Jam. 1. and as it begets them, it preserves them for ever from being extinguish'd, this will make [Page 20] his presence necessary as well as pleasant, this seems to be the Import of being and dwelling in his Light, and of his Bodies being in place of Meat, Drink, and all things to our Bodies, the Lord is for the Body.

4. It is a Glory exceeding great, his Eyes like a flame of Fire, his Voice as the sound of many Waters, his feet as brass burning in a Furnace, his Breath like Lightning; the Spouse cannot find similies for his Lovelines, nor the Apostles for his Greatness; Pauls thoughts fails him, it has not entred into the heart of man; and Peters words the far more exceeding and excellent Glory; and Johns Eyes fail him, the one to think, the other to speak, and the 3d. to behold this Glo­ry; the Eagle eyed Angels stand at a distance and admire it, all the Prophets were struck dead with the Rays of it, in an Emblem like the Sun in a Glass, Grammar want Words, Rhetorick Figures, and Eloquence Speech to express the Glory of Christ, the Art of Praise will be exhausted sooner than the Object fail of affording fresh Beams, for the fountain is infinite, and if this be the Glory of his Body, what must be the Glory of his Soul? who can tell how much Blessedness is contain'd in that word, we shall be like him, we shall bear the Image of the second Adam. Our vile Bodies shall be made like unto his glori­ous Body and our vile Soul like to his glorious Soul: O my Soul, if this be but possible forsake all the World for the hopes of it, one dream of it is better than the Enjoyment of all this World.

I come now to the second general Head, viz. the Nature of the Resurrection, which we may understand.

1. From the Similies and Expressions the Holy Ghost describes it by, viz. a Victory over Deeth, Isa. 27.7, 8. in the Mountain of the Church; the Lord will take off that Lethale Hankerchief, by which the Face of the dead and paenally dying are covered, nay, the Vail of Death it self from off the Face; he will remove all Coverings and will conquer Death, it is the last Enemy that Christ will destroy v. 18. Thy dead men shall rise, says Isaiah, my dead shall arise answers the Lord or explaining the Causes of it. 1. The meritorious, viz. Christs Body. 2. Divine Command. 3. An Impregnation of the Command with a powerful Blessing like dew to the Herbs. The Earth should concur too by yielding up the dust of the Dead like a teeming Womb, this dew of Heaven says Abarbenel, will impreg­nate the Earth, for the new Birth of Mankind from their former Dust, Job 19.25, 26. In his flesh and with these Eyes he certainly knew that he should see his Redeemer stand on the Earth, Ezek. 37. the dry bones are gathered, they are cloathed with Skin, Flesh and [Page 21] Sinews and then Life breath'd in them, suppose this a political or spi­ritual Deliverance, the Metaphor must be borrow'd from something real, and what can be pitched on except the Resurrection, Dan. 12.2. and Hos. 6.2. &c.

2. We may know its nature from the signification of the Word without Controversie, the Holy Ghost did choose proper and signi­ficant Words in common use, now the Word [...] signifies a stand­ing up again of that which is fallen, a new standing up, a restitution into its former or better state of that which is fallen, and hurt or dissolv'd by the fall; it supposes the subject was once up on its feet before; that may rise which always lay, but it cannot rerise or rise again except it was once up before, there is no Second or Iteration until there be a first, thus the Greek Fathers that knew best their own Language in troops upon this Subject might be quoted.

3. We may know the Remedy by the Disease, the Restauration by the privation, as we know what Sight is by Blindness, so what the Resurrection is by Death, Death says Plato is a Dissolution of the Bo­dy from the Soul, and as Plato calls it a [...], Paul calls it an [...], 2 Tim. 4.6. a reducing of the whole man into his essential parts, and else­where [...], of the Earthy Tabernacle, then the Resurrection must be a reuniting of them. Death is a sleep, the Resurrection must be an a­wakening of the same Person: Death is a sowing of our Bodies, the Re­surrection must be their growth; from all which we may conclude that there is a sameness and oneness in the subject Body, we lay down with that we take up. The resurrection of the body is not the change of the body, as the Socinians say, the laying down of an Earthly Vehicle, and being immediately cloath'd with an Heavenly one, an House from above. This Body is called Heavenly, when it has not only a fight but a fitness for dwelling there, and it is from above because of its tem­perature and constant abode. The Apostle says four times in the Con­text and Text, This mortal shall put on immortality, and this corrupti­ble; so it is one subject under these vastly different forms; and the ma­ny Examples confirm it that are recorded in Scripture. Lazarus's bo­dy was the same he put off, and Tabitha's, and Jairus his, Christ's bo­dy was the same. The Argument from Justice for the truth of the Re­surrection would fail if this were true, that we for ever lost the body we sinn'd in, and suffer'd in another, that we for ever lost the body we suffer'd in, and were glorifi'd in another. The general Resurre­ction would be a blessing of no value, for we rise again as soon as we dye, viz. Change Vehicles, Bodies or Carriages: How shall we re­ceive [...], these things the body has a property in, 2 Cor. [Page 22] 5.10? or what Dead shall the Sea deliver up, Rev. 10.12. if our bodies rise not? how shall there be a redemption of the body, Rom. 8.33. if no resurrection?

I come therefore to the third and last propos'd Head, viz. the Truth of it: Shall ever the humane dust resolv'd into its mother Earth be ga­thered out of the common durt, and separated from the common Mould? shall ever these broken bones be heal'd, and cloath'd with skin and flesh? shall the Dead live? the School of Athens and mother of Philosophy thought the question ridiculous, What more hopeless than Death? and our Experience tells us, all the Power of Nature could never turn our crazy Carkasses, mortal, corruptible, earthy, in­to this glorious frame, much less when dead; nay, who can Cure the blind, the deaf? but much greater is the question, Who can Cure the Dead? but that Philosophy denys Theology affirms, what Reason re­jects Faith embraces. It is so, God has promised it, and has Power to do it. I shall reduce the Assertion into these four ranks of certainty; Possible, Probable, Certain, Necessary.

1. It is possible the Dead may rise, and not only Mortal but Mors be swallowed up of Life, and who thinks otherwise Mat. 22.29. are ignorant, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God: There is no repugnancy in the matter, he knows all the secret Recesses of Na­ture; he that numbers the Stars, counts the Sands, and takes care of the Excremental Hairs of our Head, takes Notice of the more necessa­ry dust of our bodies, Psal. 34.21. His Wisdom can trace the Attoms thorough all variety of generations and corruptions, and as judge will retrieve the essential parcels of one body lodged as a stranger or for­reigner in another: His Power can recollect and reduce into their origi­nal Mass, reorganise, reunite to the Soul, and then refine into a coelestial glory: the greatest objection against this is from the Cannibals, Men-eat­ers, and let us suppose the worst, that one has liv'd on Mens flesh all his days, if every one get their own he will have no flesh, bones, nor bo­dy: I answer, In these considerations; 1. No Countrey can subsist where it's common Food, it must be for Necessity or Dainties. 2. Not one hundredth part of what we eat does incorporate, but by evacuation sensible or insensible forsakes us. There is a whole change of our bo­dies once in seven Years, except the stamina vitae, that are laid before we eat meat. 4. That our body is divided into what is essential to it, what not, and it is reasonable to think these essentials are always eva­porated. Divine Providence makes these barbarous robbers refund these unnatural spoils, barbarously ravished from their Neighbours; these Proposals remove all difficulty in this case.

[Page 23]2. As Divine Power makes it possible, Art and Nature renders it probable. 1. Art; suppose a Book for a Man, the Paper the Body, and the Mysterious Doctrine the Soul, this Book grows old and dusty, and at last by Death torn asunder; one sheet is made a bag for seeds, another in package is sent to the Indies, a third is by some wise Per­son, who has observ'd its Worth, coppied out in a New Posterity, the Fame of the Book spreads, a Book-binder gathers all the Leaves, binds them up orderly, glews it, cuts the Margin, gilds it, suppose some Leaves lost, but a leaf of Manuscript or New Impression put in, what difference is there between the New Book and the New Body? not so much as is between divine Art and humane. Let us view the Chymical Art, and we find it turning the same matter into all Forms, viz. Quick-silver into running Mercury, Vapor, Water, Powder, Salt, yea, a ma [...]eable Mettal. Let us view the Medicinal Art, and give a Goat a little Rubarb, let the Nurse drink the Milk, and the Child suck the Nurse, and the purging Particles will continue in their Native Force and Power tho­rough all these Changes: Surely God did appoint to every particle he created its proper place, and all the steps it should move in. Let us come to Nature, and there is a Resurrection every morning, and more sensible every Spring, on the whole Face of the Universe: Go to particulars, and there is all kind of Seeds, the Corn dies, its buri'd, it revives; among the Fowls, the Pelican, Psal. 102.7. the Eagle, Psal. 103.5. and the Swallow; among the Insects, the Silk-worm and Caterpiller are most visible. Images of the Resurrection of Man.

3. Let us assert the Verity, the Certainty of it, and we have divine Testimony that cannot fail, asserting it both by way of History and Prophecy: It has been and shall be, it has been once by Elijah at Sarep­ta, 1 Kings 17.21. the Shunamite by Elisha, 2 Kings 4.34. by Jesus Christ, the Widow of Elaims Son, the Daughter of Jairus and Laza­rus; Tabitha by Peter, and Eutichus by Paul, and our Lord Jesus Christ by himself, and many more with him and by him. It shall be, the most powerful and faithful God has promis'd it, Dan. 12.3. Hos. 13.15. Gen. 3.15. the Jews Creed Acts 23.6. contain'd this Ar­ticle.

4. It is not only certainly true, but necessarily so, the denial of the Resurrection would make us of necessity to deny the Fundamentals of the Christian Religion, Gods infinite Goodness, Justice and Truth, the Offices of a Mediator, and his Relation thereby to us, the Respect that the Holy Ghost has to his Habitation, Original Sin, the Covenant of Grace, and Restauration of all things; together with the necessity of Mortification of our Bodies, and the due Hope and Comfort of Believ­ers. [Page 24] I have only Time and Place to point at the connexions, and none to obviate the Cartesian Objection, viz. Bodies are not capable of Pain or Pleasure, they are no Subjects of Reward and Punishment: It's con­trary to common Observation and Scripture Expression, Gen. 1.21.7.14, 21. Deut. 32.11. Job 39.30. They hunger, thirst, and appetise, which cannot be without some intrinsecal Principle; some of them are simple, some are cunning; the Ox knoweth his Owner, the Asse his Ma­sters Crib; and the merciful man is merciful to his Beast; there would be then no difference between a wooden Horse and a living Horse, but the accidental disposition of its parts. But passing that Objection, as built upon more subtil than sure Principles, if God should never raise nor reward the Body, that had suffered so much for his Truth, it would be a great limitation to his Goodness, and Believers should of all Men be most miserable: And the same is true as to divine Justice; if our Bo­dies rise not, Christ cannot be the first fruits from the dead, nor the first born of the dead; for where there is no Harvest, there are no first fruits, and where no second no first. Christ would not be a second Adam of Life, as the first was of Death; without this Christ's Kingly Office would be much limited, if Satan's Headship were not trampled upon, which could not be, except Death was destroy'd. The Virtue and Me­rit of Christs Priestly Office would not be of an infinite Value, if Believ­ers should never sing, O Death, where is thy Sting! O Grave, where is thy Victory! The Reasoning of the Scripture from the Spirits being in us to our Resurrection, would fail of a necessary consequence without this, Rom. 8.11. If the Spirt of him that raised up Jesus dwell in you, he shall also quicken your mortal Bodies: And Christs Argument, Mat. 22. would become a Sophism, whose Form is after this manner, they live whose God is their God by Covenant; but by Covenant God is Abraham's, Isaac's and Jacob's God: And, (2.) They who live by Covenant, must live in Body as well as Soul, for God entred into Covenant with the whole Man, Body and Soul, and his Promise was, they should live; therefore though the Body dye for a time, as the Soul may be deserted for a time, it shall rise again and live. (3.) If Abraham, Isaac and Ja­cob shall rise again by virtue of this Covenant, all those that are in Co­venant must rise also, for the Tenour of the Covenant is the same to all. In the 8th. to the Romans, we find a glorious Resurrection promis'd to the whole Creation, from the Death brought upon it by Mans sin, and there is greater Reason that the Body of Man should partake of Liber­ty with the Soul, then that these Creatures whose Union is not so strict, nor Relation so nigh.

So much for the Doctrinal Part of this Discourse: I shall now [Page 25] conclude with some Application; and I shall begin with that of Com­fort and Consolation; for 'tis a Doctrine full of Comfort: In the 4th. of Thessal. after the Apostle had made a long discourse about Death, and about Resurrection, he concludes it with Consolation; wherefore comfort one another with these Words; and for that End he began it: I would not have you to be ignorant, Brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that you sorrow not as others who have no hope: He in­forms them, that the Death of Believers was not so terrible as was vul­garly apprehended; for not only the Soul went to Christ, but the Body did sleep in Jesus: Christ had made their Bed in the dust, and after a due time of Rest would take them up again. And in this Epistle the Apostle concludes, not only with Comfort but Joy, and a Triumphant Joy, impregnate with Thankfulness and Motives of Endeavours to ob­tain this Blessing: O Death, where is thy Sting! O Grave, where is thy Victory. — Thanks be to God who giveth us the Victory. — Be al­ways abounding in the Work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your Labour is not in vain: We need not question the Nature of this Shout, O Death! as Moses and Aaron did the Shout of the People, when they came down from the Mount: For the Articulateness of the Language, the strains of Rhetorick, the height of the Affection, the Pungentness of the Question, do all shew it's the Shout of Triumph and Victory; it's a shout of Joy and Praise, it's a shout of Comfort and Consolation, and it's not a fond Affecton without cause, nor a Consolation commencing upon a Trivial Bottom, as our Passions too often do: For the Resur­rection is a Victory over a most dreadful Enemy, an Enemy that fright­ed a believing Abraham into a Lye, thro' Unbelief; an Enemy that made a David fly, who had the Courage to encounter a Goliah, an Ene­my that made a Holy Hezekiah chatter as a Crane, an Enemy that the King of Kings and Lord of Lords look'd upon as a most bitter Cup, and pray'd if possible it might pass from him. Is't allowable that a cur'd Cripple should leap for Joy? that the long sick should sing upon re­new'd Health? is't allowable that Bells ring, and Trumpets sound for Victories over them who would subdue or enslave our Kingdom? and shall we not justly rejoyce for a Victory over this Enemy, that has se­parated us from all our Relations, when both they and we were so loth to part? yea, that has separated between our Souls and Bodies, that has detain'd our Bodies Prisoners, and not satisfied with the cutting of the Thread of Life, but has most cruelly triumpht over our dead carkasses, quartered them in ten thousand pieces, thrown our dust into the Air, fed Serpents and Worms with our Flesh, given our Blood to the Dogs to drink, and grind our Bones to Powder; Death is an Evil Pregnant [Page 26] with Curses, it may be called Legion, all Evil is in't, for Death is all that God threatned, the Curse of the Law, the Sinfulness of Sin, Satan and Hell, all these Evils are conquered when Death is conquered, by a Resurrection; and as the Terribleness of this Enemy conquered by the Resurrection affords us Comfort, so doth the compleatness of the Victo­ry, for Death's entirely swallowed in Victory, Mortality and Corrup­tibility, these two Champions of Death, will never appear in the field any more, no Diseases, nor no more Dangers will ever either warn Men of, or fright Man with Death: Again, (3.) The kind of the Life that begins with the Resurrection adds to the sweetness of this Cup of Conso­lation, the Resurrection is not a bare restoring to Life such an one as we now enjoy, but it contains in it a change of this Life into a better; for some are Sons of the Resurrection by a great and wonderful Change, without tasting of Death: And O blessed's this change, mortal into immortal, cor­ruptible into incorruptible, earthy into heavenly, weak into powerful, carnal into spiritual, the life of the first Adams likeness into that of the se­cond, Our vile bodies made like unto his glorious body. Death will pierce the Soul no more, nor Diseases pain it; we are by this not only freed from Destruction, but the Destroyer himself is destroyed, and sin the Foundation of his Kingdom overturned: We shall then learn for what end Death 1 Cor. 3. ult. is put into the Inventure of our our Blessings, for it is become a profitable Servant, a Charon's Boat to convey us into Paradice, an end to our Travails in the Mesech and Kedar's of this World: Death's a change of Life, not a Loss to them that live by Faith, and therefore tho' Death has no good in it self, yet because of this Good that follows it, Phil. 1.23. The Apostle Paul preferrs it to Life, and it is the desire and choice of all that know best what that Life is that commences on the Resurrection, Luk. 2.29. Now let thy Servant depart; nay, a blind Balaam would have been glad to have died the Death of the righteous, he lik'd their immortal Life tho' not their mortal; and if we had but a Grain of Faith to count the Company and compare the Con­dition, Possession, Employ, Temper of Mind and Body, it would be the constant Sentiment of our Mind, O for this Life of the second Adam, this glorious, spiritual, powerful Life! I am willing to drink this Poi­son of Death mixt in this portion of Life, I am willing to enter Hea­ven by these Gates of Hell, I am willing to dye that I may rise again!

2. Is there to be a Resurrecton, and that Resurrection of such a Life from the dead? it may be of Use to allay our Fears, and remove these terrible apprehensions of Death we usually have; its a most un­easie Temper of Mind to be under a continual Quarrel with necessity, It's appointed for all men once to dye, and its the Natural Temper of [Page 27] Man to abhor Death, and this creates in us a continual War with Di­vine Providence, our Wills fighting against Gods Will; he wills we should dye, and his Will must be done, and will be done; and our Will is not to dye, so we all dye as Malefactors under divine Go­vernment, we dye by the Hand of Justice against our Inclination, and all this Life is but a Prison in Order to it. On the other hand its im­possible ever we should be willing to love our greatest Enemy, and to embrace that that is most injurious, but what we cannot love for it self, we may submit to for the sake of another thing; we may let Blood, and take a bitter Potion willingly for Healths sake, so let us fix the Eye of our Thoughts on the kind of Life that's beyond this Death, and may render us submissive to this Death, this was the Ho­ly Art the Apostle Paul used, 2 Cor. 5.8. Laying in the Ballance the Good and Evil of both sides, the future Life with a foregoing Death, and this present Life with a constant sinning Immortality, he concludes, We are confident and willing rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord: And indeed to desire to dye without this reason; for it speaks but a temper of Mind fill'd with Cowardise and Un­belief, a Mind that dares not adventure upon the Evils of Time, and a Mind that expects neither Evil nor Good to come, or like a Fool chooses he knows not what, for what he knows; let us often contem­plate the blessedness of a Resurrection Life, that the complacency in the good may arm us with Courage against the bad; we think right in the matter when we look on the Resurrection as a most desirable good, and look on Death as an Enemy we can certainly conquer.

3. It serves for Tryal, its a sign of a true Faith, yea, a strong Faith, when the assur'd Hope of a Resurrection makes us welcome Death; the weak Believer would be willing to dye if assured of this Resurrection, the secure Sinner is sure of Heaven, but hates to dye, the strong Believer submits to dye and rejoyces in Hope; and therefore secondly, often thinks of it, is exercis'd in comparing the two Lives together.

4. It instructs us about the greatness of coelestial Glory, for if the body share of so much Glory, what will the Soul enjoy? if the body be so glorious without, how sacred must the Soul be within? if we con­sider the Place, the Company, the Fulness and Lastingness of the Bles­sings, the Nighness to the Throne of Glory, great must be the Glory of that state, the body is for any thing we know the least glorious thing in Heaven, what then must be the greatest?

5. It instructs us of the great difference between Believers and Un­believers; they differ in their choice, the one chooses Life present, [Page 28] the other Life to come, and they differ in their Lot, the one is best in this Life, and the other is worst.

6ly. and lastly, It serves for Exhortation. 1. To Thankfulness to the bountiful donor of such a body, to the rich Purchaser of such a glorious state, to the glorious General who shed his Blood for such a Tri­umphant Victory; by his Righteousness the Death of Guilt, by his Spi­rit the Death of sin, by his Resurrection he made a compleat Con­quest of all Evil. 2dly. It exhorts to Patience, with respect to the Death of believing Friends, for they will live again, and its proba­bable now that a Journey to the East Indies of our Friends for bet­tering their own condition and ours may be as long as to the Resur­rection; will we not willingly part with Relations, that they may return ten or twenty years hence, rich, great, holy, glorious: As we are bound to believe a Rusurrection, we are bound to believe its nigh; its now 1600 years since we were under the latter time of the World; and the Apostle says it was nigher then, when they believ'd 20 years cut of a considerable part of remaining time to the Resurrection. Most Divines think we are under the sixth Trumpet, and then there is but one more to sound before the Trumpet sounds that summons to Judgment; the Angel swore that after that there should be no more time, but the time of the seventh Trumpet, and this is one reason why it is pro­claimed from Heaven, Blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord from henceforth. Lastly, It may and should have influence to perswade us to Holiness; if there be not a Resurrection of the Soul from a Spiritual Death to an heavenly Temper, we can expect no Resurrection of the Body; the Soul is the Princple of Happiness or Misery. Our Lot of Misery and Happiness begins there, God will not refine, purifie and glorifie a Carkass, when the Soul within is full of Wounds, Bruises, and putrifying Sores; he is no Author of Hypocrisie to make whited Walls without, white rotten Sepulchres within; the Sons of the Resurrection are first Children by Regeneration, as ever we would share of this Glory let us do justice, love righteousness, walk humbly with our God, let us attempt a Converse with Heaven, a Fellowship with the Father and the Son by Faith, that we may be fit for that uninterrupted Communnion with them by Vision. Hea­ven is a state of Perfection, and supposes a partial beginning, let us lay our Souls fair and frequently before the Son of Righteousness, that when our Bodies drops thoro' rottenness in the Grave, our Souls may drop as full ripe fruit in the Masters Garner, let us frequently dwell in the Temple of God all the days of our Life, and so grow in [Page 29] that state, that we may be fit for that place that is all Temple; will infinite Wisdom remove us to an higher Form before we have practis'd the Exercises of this? Godliness is great Gain, since it ends in such Glory; however difficult it is, let us seal our Indentures and become Apprentices; the Skill and Power of our Teacher is infinite, and it is bound and engaged in Covenant, nay, if we find Willingness we may be sure of Success. And to conclude with the Subject, let us beware of defiling our Bodies, let our Tongue be pure from Flat­tery and Falshood, from Cursing and Blasphemy, from Obscenity and Vanity, and our Hands clean from every thing that may defile: Let us keep all Vessels and Instruments of Grace undefil'd, and the whole Temple of the Holy Ghost free from Prophaness, let no fil­thiness of Flesh and Spirit prevent or defer such a blessing as the Re­surrection, let these thoughts frequently dwell in our Minds, which long before his last Sickness dwelt in my Friends which occasion'd this: When this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in Victory: O Death, where is thy Sting, &c.