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51.

fhould not be awaken'd and reviv'd in the morning of the Resurrection.

There is but one thing more I shall stay to mention, farther to fupport this important Article; and 'tis the inftance given by the Apostle of those that shall be alive at 1 Cor. 15. Chrift's fecond coming: he tells us, they shall not all fleep, but they shall all be chang'd. Now this Change must refer to the Qualities of their Bodies, not to the Substance of them: we cannot imagine that by being chang'd, he means that the whole Substance of their Bodies fhould be annihilated, and that they shall have quite new Bodies form'd out of other matter. Moreover let me obferve, that should thofe very Bodies be deftroy'd, and new ones united to thofe Souls, the deftruction of the Body and the breach of the union would be Death; whereas the Apostle afferts, all fhall not die. So that upon the whole I argue thus: That if those Perfons who are found alive at Chrift's fecond coming fhall retain their old Bodies only with new Qualities, then those that are rais'd from the Dead fhall have the fame Bodies which were formerly join'd to their Souls, only with the addition of new Qualities. For what reafon can any man affign, that the Saints who fhall be alive when Christ shall come to judg the World, fhould be caught up into the Air with their old Bodies only ennobled and refin'd, and those that died should have Bodies intirely new, and fuch as were never united to their Souls before, fuch as never were the Inftruments either of finning, or ferving of God?

Now the Apostle does not barely tell us of the Saints being brought with God our Sa

viour at his Appearing and Kingdom, which implies their Refurrection, but he fhews that their Refurrection depends upon the Death and Refurrection of our Bleffed Saviour: for fays he, If we believe that Jefus dy'd and rofe again, even fo them also that fleep in Fefus will God bring with him.

Firft, Upon his death: for thro death Chrift Heb. 2. 14. hath deftroy'd him that had the power of Death, that is the Devil. When men were doom'd to death for the breach of the Law, Christ changed conditions with them, and offer'd up his precious Blood as a Ranfom to God for 1 Pet. 1, 19. them; fo that our Saviour was victorious in dying, and conquer'd as he expir'd on the infamous Tree. He bruis'd the head of the old Serpent, and filenc'd the Anathema's of a broken Law; when in the sharpest Agony, and amidst a thousand torments, he bowed his head and gave up the Ghoft. I confefs that his own Exaltation and Triumphs began with his Resurrection; but if there had not been an infinite fatisfying Merit in his Death, he had been fo faft fetter'd with the bonds of Death, that he could never have burst them: but having offer'd a Sacrifice of a fweetfmelling favour to God, which was of infinite worth and confideration, the Pains of Death were loos'd, for 'twas impoffible he Aas 2. 24. fhould be held by them: naturally impoffible, because of his irrefiftible Power as God; legally impoffible, because he had paid the full Demands of the Law and Juftice.

Secondly, Our Refurrection from the Grave depends on the Refurrection of Chrift. Chrift's Refurrection from the dead proves that ours is not only poffible, but infallibly certain.

And

1 Cor. 15.

12.

And this St. Paul reafons upon in a very convincing manner: Now if Chrift be preach'd that he rofe from the dead, how fay Some among you, that there is no Refurrection of the dead? q. d. How can any deny either the poffibility or certainty of the Refurrection of the Body, fince Chrift has evidenced both by his own Refurrection from the Dead? Chrift has remov'd both the moral and natural impoffibility of our revival after death, the one by his abundant Merit, and the other by his own triumphant Refurrection: for having taken away the guilt of our Sins which is the caufe of Death, Death which is the confequent of Sin fhall be destroy'd and swallow'd up in Joh. 11. 25. victory. And our Lord declares, That be is the Refurrection and the Life; he that believeth in me (fays he) tho he were dead, yet Shall be live: q. d. I am, and fhall be the principal caufe of the Refurrection, my voice fhall break the filence of the Grave, and cause those that sleep in the duft to awake and 1 Cor. 15. live again. He is alfo faid to be the first fruits of them that fleep. And fays the fame Apoftle, For fince by man came Death, by man came alfo the Refurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even fo in Chrift fhall all be made alive.

20, 21, 22.

From all which we may collect, that our Saviour's Refurrection is the Pledg and Affurance Rom. 8. 11. of ours. For if the Spirit of him that raised up Fefus from the dead dwell in you, he that rais'd up Chrift from the dead, fhall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. In a word, Christ rofe from the dead as a publick Perfon, as the Surety and Head of his Church; and becaufe he lives, we fhall live alfo. And being called

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called the firft-born among the dead, he owns all that have dy'd in the Faith as his Brethren, who fhall be restored to Life according to his excellent Pattern; for his Refurrection is not only the Pledg, but the Model of ours. Therefore we are exprefly told, That he shall change Phil. 3.21. our vile Body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious Body, according to the working whereby ha is able even to fubdue all things unto himself. How glorious our Lord is in his exalted human Nature, cannot fully be reprefented by the most graceful turns of Language, and lofty figures of Speech; therefore we must be content with very imperfect Ideas of his Glory, till we have the happiness to fee him as he is. Yet we have enough reveal'd concerning it, to invigo rate our defires, and raise our wonder: His Eyes are reprefented like a flame of fire; his Rev. 1. 15. Voice as the found of many waters; his Feet like to fine brass, as if they burn'd in a furnace; his Countenance as the Sun Shining in its full strength. Now after this bright Pattern fhall the Bodies of the Saints be form'd in the Refurrection. O what proportion of Parts! what agreeableness of Colour! how radiant an Air fhall fit upon their Countenance! for they fhall fhine with Mar. 15.43. a luftre exceeding the brightness of all the Lamps of Heaven. The Apostle also affures us, that tho they are fown natural, they shall be rais'd fpiritual Bodies; i. e. the Matter of 'em fhall be exalted and improv'd to an extraordinary degree of fineness: for Matter is properly enough faid to be spiritual when 'tis much refin'd. And how great a Difference may we observe in material things? for inftance, betwixt the animal Spirits in the Brain, and the groffer Parts of the Body; betwixt a Lump of Clay,

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and

Dan. 12.2,3.

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and the refin'd Matter of the Air; betwixt the Earth, and the Sun that fhines upon it; yet all material Substances: from which we may collect what Chrift can do to exalt and refine our Bodies in the Refurrection. But farther, they may be called Spiritual, in that they will be much better fitted to ferve our Spirits than they are now. Here our Bodies are oftentimes a Clog and Hindrance to us; but in the Resurrection they fhall be like Wings to our Souls, or to use the Phrafe of the Antients, They fhall be as a Celestial Chariot to the Soul; they fhall neither be the Cause of our Ignorance, nor of our Sinning, as they are now; they fhall not hinder, but rather help forward our Devotions. In a word, they fhall never fuffer nor die more, for they fhall be rais'd immortal and incorruptible; the one refpects a Deliverance from Death, the other a freedom from Diseases: fo that Incorruptibility is an addition to the Happiness of immortal Creatures; for if Perfons fhould never die, yet if they were often diseased, their Happiness would be incompleat: but the rais'd Bodies of the Saints fhall never know any more Sorrow, Sickness, or Death; it fhall not be in the power of any Creature to diforder the curious Contexture of the rais'd Bodies. Mortality then will be fwallowed up of Life; This corruptible fhall put on Incorruption, and this mortal Immortality.

Thirdly, The Saints being brought with Christ at his fecond Coming, does not only fuppose their Resurrection, but that with their rais'd Bodies they fhall afcend up into the Air. And fo much the Apostle afferts a little after my Text; For this we fay unto you by the Word of the Lord, that we which are alive, and remain un

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