of the Grave when God had given him Life again But this comes far short of our Saviour's meaning who in this Expression had a respect to such a Miracle and Sign as should sufficiently prove him to the Jews to be the Messiah But what great matter is it for a Man when he is restored to Life to come out of his Grave What greater Power could this prove to be in him than in any other Man that shall rise at the last day Now that he spoke of quickening his dead Body will appear if we consider the words Destroy this Temple i.e. Take away my life and I by taking it up again will give a convincing proof of a Divine Power in me The Words thus taken are a very proper Answer to the Jews who ask'd a sign of him For no greater sign of his being the Son of God could be given than this That he is the Lord of Life and that when he was dead and buried he would raise himself to Life again This is indeed beyond the reach of Humane Reason and so surely that which he designed for a sign ought to be For what sign would it have been to the Jews if it had been accountable to them But yet it is the same Truth that he has with a great deal of care inculcated upon us I lay down my life that I might take it up again No Man taketh it from me but I lay it down of my self I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again Joh. 10.17 18. And upon the account of this Power he is styled the Resurrection and the Life i.e. That person that has power to give Life to the World In these Texts then it is as plainly ascribed to himself that he raised himself as in others that he was raised by God But the great Dissiculty is How he who was raised by God can be said to have raised himself For can that which is done by another be properly said to he done by a Man's self Or if it was done by himself how could it be done by another Can the Scripture be true both when it saith he was raised i.e. by God and that he did rise i.e. by his own Power Here Reason is at a loss as well as to know by what Power he could raise himself when he was dead Now the Design of the Holy Scriptures is to teach us these things 1. That it was by the Divine Power that he rose And to this purpose it is said That he who was dead and buried was raised again because the raising a dead Body is the Work only of an Omnipotent God 'T is no less Power can give Life to a Man when he is dead than that Infinite Power which at first made him a living Creature It must be the same hand that puts the Machines of our Bodies together again when they are fall'n in pieces as at first framed them Upon which reason the raising Christ from the Dead is ascribed to God because it belongs only to him to give Life who has Life in himself and is the Author of Life and the raising a Dead Body can only be the Act of Omnipotence This is no more than Humane Reason does easily apprehend a great deal of probability in For why should it be thought a thing incredible that God should raise the Dead But the great Difficulty is How he who was Dead could raise himself 2. Therefore this instructs us That he had the Power of an Omnipotent God The Resurrection is in St. Paul's style the working of the exceeding greatness of the Divine Power Eph. 1.19 And since Christ did rise by his own Power what Power could this be less than that exceeding greatness of Power that is in God When therefore he tells us that he rose by his own Power and that he had Power to take up his Life again he would have us to consider him to be more than a Man That however he humbled himself to the Death of the Cross when he was deliver'd for our Offences yet he had that Infinite Spirit and Power that is able to quicken a Dead Body and which would not suffer his Body when laid in the Grave to see Corruption And therefore the Apostle observes that he was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the Resurrection from the dead Rom. 1.4 i.e. Since the raising a dead Body to life again is the Act of Omnipotency his raising himself from the Dead is a proof of his having that Omnipotent Power that can raise a dead Body It was by the Power of God that he rose but this Power was in himself and therefore it was by his own Power that he raised himself So that the Holy Scriptures in these different ways of speaking teach us what to believe concerning him That he was not only a Man subject to the same Infirmities as we are in which respect none but God could restore him to Life again when he was dead but that he was equal to the Father being the Son of God according to that Spirit of Holiness which can quicken a dead Body in which respect he had Power-both to lay down his Life and to take it up again And now since it was by this Power that can raise a dead Body that he rose and this Power was in him 1. Let us consider how little reason we have to stand astonish'd at this thing That Christ when Dead should raise himself to Life again It is indeed but very fit that they who know not who or what manner of person he was should stumble at this Doctrine For nothing can be more difficult than that they who believe he was no other than a mere Man though a very Holy Man should believe that when he was Dead he could raise himself to Life again For to believe this of any Man though never so Holy is to believe that he has Power to do that which none but God can do And yet at the same time to believe that he has not that Power of God by which alone this can be done And no Man can blame them for not believing things that are contradictory to Reason But what Contradiction is it to believe that he who has the Power of God can by vertue of that Power do all that the Power of God can do If it does not exceed the Power of God to raise a dead Body what difficulty can there be in believing That he who had this Power could raise himself 'T is not expected that we should believe that a Man by his own Power much less a dead Man that has lost even the Power of a Man should raise himself because this is above the Power of a Man to do Neither does the Scripture teach us any such thing But that which it teaches us is this That Christ laid down his Life and took it up again by his own Power and yet this
of a Resurrection For the thoughts of a Resurrection can never be sufficient to fortifie our Minds against the Fears of Death if after we are risen again Death will still take its turn to carry us to our Graves For in this case there is nothing after Death to bear up our Minds against so great an Evil. But this is not the Life we shall rise to but a Life that Death shall have no more power over This corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality and then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written Death is swallowed up in victory O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy victory 1 Cor. 15.54 55. And among all the other advantages of that Life we shall then enter upon St. John reckons this That there is no more Death Rev. 21.4 But the great Question is How we can be said to begin to live an Immortal Life then when the Soul that lives in these Bodies is an Immortal Principle now and does not lose its Life by being separated from the Body but does continue to live when the Body is returned to Dust To this I say that though the Soul be Immortal and does not cease to live after it has left the Body yet the Man that consisted of a Body and a Soul does And the Life that the Soul lives is not that Life which a Man by Dying loses For though the Soul be a principal part of us yet it is but one part and the Body is another and it is in the vital Union of these two parts that the Life of Man consists And as it is this Life that Death deprives us of so it is this Life that the Resurrection will restore us And this Life will then begin to be Immortal It is not the Soul that will then begin to be Immortal For Immortality is the privilege of this part of us even while it is now in the Body But the Immortal Life we shall then begin to live is the Life we now live only made Immortal i.e. When the Resurrection has united the Soul and Body together again this Union will never more be broken So that an Immortal Soul shall then live in an Immortal Body for ever And it is in this sense we are to understand the Scriptures when they speak of our putting on Immortality and the Gospels bringing Immortality and Life to light For if we consider the Immortality of the Soul that was a Principle acknowledg'd and believed long before the Gospel was preach'd So that it cannot be the making our Souls Immortal when it tells of our putting on Immortality Now is it the Soul's Immortality that is brought to light by the Gospel for that was known long before But the Immortality and Life that we owe our knowledge of to the Gospel is that indissoluble Union of Body and Soul which will begin at the Resurrection And now from hence we may observe 1. That it is then only we shall begin to live We date our Lives from the time we come into the World and reckon that we have lived through so many Ages of our Infancy our Childhood our Youth our Manhood and Old Age when we arrive to three or fourscore Years This is a Life that we account very long and when so many Years have not drawn it off we reckon it deserves a great deal of respect and reverence And yet all this Life which makes such a noise among us and is of such mighty repute with us is only the Dregs and Relicks of that Life which the Curse that is come upon us has taken from us That liveliness and vivacity that belong'd to innocent Man is sinn'd away and gone And the Spirits that are left us are the very Refuse and Bottom of what we were once stored with And because these serve to feed Life and are not run off sometimes till three or fourscore Years we persuade our selves that we live a great while And yet if we arrive to the utmost length of Life the truest account that can be given of it is this That we have been so many Years a Dying For the first step we take into the World is toward our Graves And though we live to see Thousands fall beside us and Ten thousand at our right hands before it come nigh us yet all that can be said of us is this That we die a more lingring Death than others And besides a Life of fourscore or a hundred Years is so short in comparison of that which is Eternal that it does not in the style of Scripture deserve the name of Life It is styled Vanity and compared to a shadow to instruct us that it has nothing of Reality in it And when it is once spent what is become of all those Years that we are said to live Though Man be so strong that he comes to fourscore Years yet is his strength then but labour and sorrow for it is soon cut off and we flee away Psal 90.10 But when the Resurrection gives us Life again then it is that we shall in the most proper sense be born to live For then we shall receive all that spirit and vigour that we have lost so much Spirit that Eternity shall never waste it And if we account a Life of fourscore Years venerable how much Reverence ought we to have for a Life that has no Death at the end of it Now this is the Life we shall be born to and begin to live when at the Resurrection our Souls take possession of our Bodies again And could we but with steadiness enough apply our Minds to the consideration and meaning of Immortality this Life would appear so much like a Vapour or a suddain Flash that gives us no time to consider whether it be any thing or no as would abate of that respect and value we have for it For 't is sure we can then only be said to begin to live when we begin to feel our selves free from Corruption and the Approaches of Death 2. We shall then begin to live that Life we are appointed to For a mortal and corruptible Life was not that which God design'd and made us for But it is the Curse that Sin has let in upon us the Punishment God has subjected us to for Adam's Transgression By one Man sin enter'd into the World and Death by sin saith the Apostle Rom. 5.12 i.e. The Mortal state we are now in is owing to Adam's Disobedience For had not he disobey'd the Command not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge we had not known what Death meant In his state of Innocency he was a Probationer for Immortality and the Law that threatned him with Death in case of his Disobedience did implicitly at least assure him of Immortality if he did not disobey For it implies that as while he was innocent he was not condemn'd to a Mortal condition so on the other hand he was not
a Spirit is generally with that surprize as frights us into an Apprehension of something unusual And thus it happen'd in this case For the Disciples when first Jesus appear'd to them were so terrified and affrighted supposing they had seen a Spirit that to convince them he was no Spirit he show'd them his Hands and his Feet And it was with much difficulty that he brought them to a belief that it was the very Body that hung upon the Cross that he appear'd to them in And besides it is plain from the whole story that they were not prepared before-hand with a belief that he should rise again for an easie reception of this Doctrine nor did their own Credulity dispose them to it But on the other hand so hard were they to believe that they could not be persuaded that he was risen till by many infallible proofs being seen of them forty days they were assured it was he that was Crucified Nor durst they venture upon publishing what they had seen till by the Descent of the Holy Ghost they were animated with new Courage And it is worth our notice by what steps they were led to the Belief of this Doctrine The first account was from the Women that went early on the first day of the Week to Embalm his Body That when they came to the Sepulchre they found it empty and had seen a Vision of Angels that said he was alive But this wrought so little upon them that they looked upon it as an idle report The next was from Peter and Cleopas to whom he joyned himself as they were Journeying to Emmaus and having instructed them out of the Scriptures that he was to rise again he opened their Eyes and made himself known to them in breaking of Bread But neither this account nor his appearing to them afterwards had any other Effect upon them than to fill them with wonder and put them into a fright till being called upon to handle him and see that he had Flesh and Bones which a Spirit has not they were convinced Now it is surely hard to conceive that they who were so hard to believe and so cautious lest they should be imposed upon that they would not take it upon the credit of others and could not be convinced but by undoubted signs should yet at last be deceived 3. As little Reason is there to believe that it was a Contrivance For how can we believe that they who were so much afraid of being imposed on themselves should agree together to impose upon the World or that they should be the forgers of a story which they could hardly be convinced was true I shall not here insist upon it That they were under no Temptation to contrive this story upon the account of Advantage For all the Advantage lay on the other side because the Rulers and those in Authority among the Jews were concern'd in point of Honour and Interest to stifle it and would without question have paid sufficiently to have bought them as well as they did the Souldiers from divulging what they had seen The bringing the Blood of the Messiah upon them was a thing they were very jealous of For they knew that they should for ever lose their credit with the People if it should once be believed that they were the Murderers of their so long expected Messiah And when it was the Interest of those in Authority to prevent the spreading of this Doctrine what advantage could possibly tempt to the forging of it What End could a few poor illiterate persons drive at that should be profitable to them in contriving a story so contrary to the humour and interest of their Rulers Had they sought their own Advantage they would never have framed a Lye to that purpose when they might have compass'd this End much better by speaking the Truth And besides they could not but be sensible that a Contrivance of this nature would be sure to expose them to the spight and displeasure of those who had the Power in their hands And is it likely that they who were afraid to own themselves to be his Disciples when the Jews took him to put him to Death would be the Authors of so dangerous a Lye for his sake But there is one thing further that renders it improbable that this should be forged and that is the great Credit that it quickly gain'd in the World For the Jews who Murder'd him were so nearly concern'd to stifle this report though it was true that they would never have suffer'd it to have pass'd if it had been false They who gave Money to the Souldiers to tell a Lye for the saving their Credit would be sure to sift into this report very narrowly and right or wrong to object all they could against the Truth of it So that when after the mighty Opposition it met with it spread and gain'd Belief among that People who had reason to be afraid of receiving it it is an Argument that all the Wit of these great Men could object nothing that could make it appear to be a Contrivance But we have not only Arguments to persuade us that it is improbable the Disciples should contrive this report but such as will satisfie any reasonable Men that they could not For if there had been a Confederacy the Design must have been laid by them in a General Meeting of them all together But so far from this that the Apostles were not the first that so much as thought of his being risen And when they were first told it they neither gave credit to the Report nor were they all present when the first tidings of it was brought to them For the Two that Travell'd to Emmaus had heard nothing of his appearing to Mary when he appear'd to them but only that certain Women who had been at the Sepulchre had declared that they found not his Body and that they had seen a Vision of Angels which said that he was alive Luk. 24.22 23. And how then could this be a Contrivance when they did not all come to the Knowledge of it at the same time and in the same way Those that stay'd at Jerusalem had their Notice of it from the Women that had seen him and those that were upon their Journey were acquainted with it by his appearing to them So that it could not be contrived at Jerusalem because the Two that Travell'd to Emmaus had not their first Notice of it there nor could they contrive it upon the way because they at Jerusalem knew of it before they return'd back Neither could contrive it because it was known to both in two different places before either of them knew that it was known to the other at all and was believed by the one when the other made light of it But further 2. We have good reason to believe that the greatest Enemies of our Lord were convinced of the Truth of this Doctrine For having taken away his Life as an Impostour
him the liberty of atoning for his fault by doing something that shall carry Merit in it does put it into his own Power to escape the Punishment Now God's justifying us is not by declaring that though we have done that which his Law condemns yet we have done that which according to the Terms of his Law must acquit us but by declaring that though he has condemned us for Transgressing a Law that threatned us with Death yet he will not inflict the Punishment upon us in its utmost rigour but of his own Goodness will give us our Lives again And accordingly the Apostle informs us That after the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward Man appeared Not by Works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his Mercy he saved us That being justified by his Grace we should be made Heirs according to the Hope of Eternal life Tit. 3.4 5 7. In which words he informs us that we are not justified as Innocent persons or such as having merited our own Lives cannot be condemn'd without Injustice Not by Works of Righteousness which we have done i.e. Not because we have done nothing worthy of Death or having deserved to die have expiated our faults by some meritorious Works For Justice it self is no dreadfull thing to those that have not deserved to die or that have merited their Lives The former way we all should have been Justified if we had not lost our Innocency for then it would have been by rewarding an innocent and sinless Creature with a legal Recompence the adjudging a Creature who had not merited Death to an Immortal state And the latter was the way that the Jews depended upon who were persuaded that their legal Services were highly meritorious in the sight of God The Vanity of which persuasion St. Paul does frequently expose and lets us know that we are Heirs of Life upon no other account but because the kindness and love of God our Saviour hath appear'd to us and because Mercy and Grace have interposed in our favour and the forfeiture of Eternal life is remitted to us And accordingly the Gospel is not only styled The Gospel and Word of Grace i.e. That Dispensation wherein God does make known his abundant Goodness to us whom his Justice had doom'd to die or that Revelation wherein he acquaints us with his good will to us in remitting the rigour of that Punishment we are condemned to suffer But Eternal life i.e. The life we shall live after the Resurrection has united our Souls to our Bodies again is styled the Gift of God to inform us that all the Hopes we have of living after Death does depend upon the good pleasure of God The Immortality 't is true which was to have been the Reward of Adam's Innocency was the Gift of God too For no Creature can be Immortal but whom God makes so But yet an innocent Man was both capable of Immortality and would have had a legal Right to it as the Reward of his Innocency But God's justifying a Criminal Condemned Race is his removing a legal incapacity for Eternal life before we can be in a condition of receiving it as a Reward for any thing we can do Obj. The Scripture 't is true ascribes our Justification to Faith And if Faith be the Reason or Condition of our Justification how can that be the sole Act of God's Mercy which is not granted us but upon such a Condition Ans To which I reply That our Justification is of two kinds The one is from the Judgment that is come upon us to Condemnation The other is to that Eternal life which in this we are Probationers for The former is by way of mere Grace and Favour not by Works of Righteousness which we have done and is the foundation of that Hope which is the Motive wherewith our Religion persuades us to a Holy Life And this our Saviour styles a passing from Death unto Life or to a Liberty to take care of our Lives again The other is in a legal way by those Works of Righteousness that the Law of Grace we are obliged to live by does require of us The benefit of the former we enjoy in this Life as it puts us into such a Condition that we may labour in hope The other is what we expect when our Lord shall come the second time unto the Everlasting Salvation of his faithfull Servants And this is the meaning of the Apostle when he saith The free gift is come upon all Men unto Justification of life Where by the free gift we are to understand God's mercifull acquitting us from the Judgment that in Adam came upon all Men And this free gift is come upon all Men that by living according to the Gospel we might provide for Eternal life and at the last be justified or declared meet to be partakers of Eternal life according to the Terms of this New Covenant by which we are to work out our Salvation The summ then of this matter is this 1. That upon the account and for the sake of his Son's Death God of his mere Goodness has remitted the Sentence of Death that we as Adam's Posterity are born under And thus we are in a Justified state here in this Life Thus St. Paul tells us We are justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is by Jesus Christ whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his Blood to declare his Righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus Rom. 4.25 26. Where the Apostle makes our Justification to be that Act of his Goodness whereby through the Mediation of his Son he discharges us from the Obligation to suffer Eternal Death that his Justice had laid us under The only difficulty in these words is That the Apostle seems to make Faith the Condition of our Justification saying Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through Faith in his Blood But the meaning is not That God does only pardon those that believe for how then could our Saviour tell us That all that are in their Graves shall hear his voice and that those that have done ill shall come forth as well as those that have done well Which implies that all Men are thus far Pardon'd For none that are condemn'd to die can have their Lives given them again but by vertue of a Pardon But the meaning is That God set forth his Son to render him so propitious to us as to accept of the Righteousness that is by Faith to our Everlasting Justification So that 2. Being thus by the Divine Mercy put into a Justified state God has given us a new Law by which he expects for the time to come we should govern our Lives 3. That the Righteousness which God accepts of and will reward with Eternal life is the Conformity of our Lives to this new Law of Faith that he has given us 4. That at
the last we must undergo a publick Trial when the Justice of our Mediatour will declare those to be Just and Righteous who live according to this Rule So that the Justification that is by Faith does properly relate to the Sentence of our Mediatour whereby at the Day of Judgment he will declare the sincere Observers of his Will to be Righteous And therefore the Apostle saith We are justified freely by his Grace i.e. Have our Lives which we had forfeited in Adam restored us in Christ that he might be Just and the Justifier of him that believes i.e. That his justifying the sincere Christian at the last might be an Act of his Justice Or that when we come to be Judged at the last day Justice may declare the Righteousness of the sincere Christian So that the Justification that is by Faith denotes a freedom from the Danger of that second Death that the Gospel threatens those that disobey it with It is a second discharge from another kind of Punishment than that we are condemn'd to as the Sons of Adam and does suppose us to be in a Justified state from the Judgment that by one Man's offence is come upon all Men Or rather it is God's owning our Righteousness to be according to the Gospel Rule that Righteousness I mean which has the promise of Eternal life Obj. If it be said that according to this account no Man is justified by Faith at all in this life but that all the privilege we can be said to have by believing is that we shall be justified at the Day of Judgment whereas the Scripture speaks of it as a privilege that belongs to our Faith in this life Ans I answer That it no otherwise belongs to it than as it gives a Right to and assures us of it when our Gracious Mediatour shall come to Judge us Faith I mean the believing the Gospel to be the Rule of our Righteousness and living according to it is the fulfilling of that Law of Grace that our Saviour has instituted and accordingly this Law does justifie those that thus fulfill it in this life i.e. It denounces no Judgment against them But who have this Faith that the Law of Christ approves of and promises Eternal life to and who want it will be the work of the future Judgment to discover So long as we live by the Rules of the Gospel this Law of Christian Righteousness does assure us that the Reward it promises does belong to us i.e. that we have a Right to it But whether we shall receive it does not depend upon the present Sentence it gives of our case but upon that which will be pass'd when the time of our Trial is over For the Faith which is said to justifie us may be renounced and the Gospel disobey'd and in this case we cannot be said to be in a Justified state by vertue of the Faith we once had or the Obedience we once paid to the Gospel It justifies the goodness of our Lives for the time past if they have been according to this word of Faith but whether it will justifie us to Eternal life is not to be said till we have finish'd our Course and stood our Trial. So that this is not the Justification which we have by vertue of Christ's Mediation For that is a State we are already put into and is a Blessing that belongs to us in this life whereas this is a State we shall be put into when we are judged again 4. Then Justification is a state of Trial how we will use so great Mercy as God vouchsafes us therein For had there not been a Reversal of the Sentence that doom'd us to die we must have died without Mercy and without Hopes of ever living again Then all our Prayers and Tears and Repentance would have been of no advantage to us for the bettering our Condition and preserving us from Death But Justice would require that we should suffer the Punishment we were condemn'd to Judgment being given upon us there remained nothing but a fearfull looking for of the Execution of it which all the most earnest Sollicitations and Entreaties we could make would not have saved us from For to be in a Condemn'd state is to be Dead in Law And he that is in such a condition has lost his opportunity of preserving himself by obeying the Law that has already condemned him Such was our case when God had given Sentence upon us for then it was too late to think of preventing our dying Eternally and falling under God's Wrath when we were already under it But by acquitting us from this Sentence he had set Life and Immortality before us again and puts us to a new Trial whether we will grow wise by so great a danger as we have escaped and take warning by the Judgment that came upon us in Adam to save our selves for the future from the Wrath to come It is a very great mistake if we believe our being in a Justified state does certainly assure to us an Immortal life and is a Reason why we may be confident that we shall not be condemned in the Judgment to come There would be no reason of another day of Judgment if Justification did import thus much Neither is St. Paul to be understood in this sense when he saith Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect It is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth Rom. 8.33 34. For his design was to encourage the Christians of his time to a stedfastness in the Faith notwithstanding the Rage and Violence of their Persecutours For though they were condemned and put to Death for the sake of Christ yet the Sentence of their Enemies signified nothing to and could do them no great hurt because it took away a life that God would restore them with advantage It is God that justifies and since he has so far remitted his own Sentence that you shall rise again who is he that condemneth or presumes to take away your life He delivers you over to a Death that will not hold you long because God has justified you Justification then assures us that we shall rise again though Divine Justice has condemn'd us to die But it does not assure us that we shall certainly live for ever when we are risen because that depends upon the Improvement we make of the Mercy God has shown us For unless we be so qualified as the Gospel requires we should we must be condemned and die another Death The state that Adam was created in was a state of Trial. For though he was Innocent and consequently free from all the vexation and perplexity that Guilt occasions yet he was neither so perfect nor so happy as God designed he should make himself The Innocence in which he was created does not imply that he was made as perfect and as excellent a Creature as if was possible for him to be I mean that his Soul was so stored
if Christ had no Power in Heaven but that of a Favourite and therefore that the Honour we are to give him is not that Religious Worship wherewith we Honour the God of all Power And it must be granted that if he has not the Power of a God that Power which can raise the Dead and give Eternal life he is not to be Honoured as we Honour God i.e. We must not give him that Worship and Reverence as belongs only to him who has Infinite Power and Majesty But then on the other hand it is plain too that if he has Power to do those things for us which none but God can do and to bestow those Blessings which none but God can bestow it must be acknowledged that the Honour that belongs to God does likewise belong to him For then we must Honour him as a Person that is endued with Infinite Power the most Glorious Majesty and the most Excellent Soveraignty i.e. As that Person whom God has constituted in his place and stead to manage the Affairs of his Everlasting Kingdom and to dispense the Blessings that none but God can give And if we must Honour him as a Person that has the Glory and Majesty and Power of God we must Honour him with the same Honour as we Honour the Father And of this nature is the Honour which the Scriptures require us to give him For they speak much more Magnificently of that Power he is Exalted to than they do who allow him only a Power of Intercession for us For they speak of him as a Person that is invested with Power to give all that he has interceded for And that this Power was conferr'd on him when he first presented himself before his Father as our Intercessour after his Resurrection i.e. When he enter'd into the Holy of Holies with the Blood of Atonement Then he interceded for us when he first appear'd in the Presence of God for us and having by his powerfull Intercession procured that we should reap the fruits of Labour and Conquest he was honour'd with the Power of bestowing what he interceded for So that it is a trifling Question to ask what need there is that he should intercede for that which he has a Power to give For his Intercession is to be consider'd as antecedent to his Investiture into his Eminent Dignity and Authority For having prevail'd with his Father through the Merits of his Blood when he enter'd the Holy of Holies as our High-Priest to grant us Life and Immortality upon the Terms of that Law that he had given us for our greater security the Power of giving Life and Immortality is committed to him by his Father So that now we are to look upon him as the Lord of Life i.e. that Person who has Power to reward our Services with Eternal life And therefore St. Paul styles him the blessed and only Potentate the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords who only has Immortality to whom belongs Honour and Power everlasting 1 Tim. 6.15 16. Intimating him both to have the great Power of God the Power of giving Everlasting life which only the Power of God can do and a right to the Honour which belongs to the Power and Majesty of God And in this respect he is styled the Brightness of his Father's Glory the express Image of his Person and is said to uphold all things by the word of his Power To be made so much better than the Angels as he has by Inheritance obtain'd a more excellent name than they Heb. 1.3 4. All which does relate to the great Place and eminent Authority that he holds in Heaven And because of the Greatness of his Majesty all the Angels of God are required to worship him v. 6. God has highly exalted him and given him a name that is above every name That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in Heaven and things in Earth and things under the Earth Phil. 2.9 10. That he should be Honour'd by every Creature with Religious Worship as the great Soveraign of the World The same Honour that Natural Religion teaches us to give to God Christianity obliges us to give to Christ For where-ever the same Power and Authority is there the same Honour and Reverence is due He is 't is true advanced to this great Dignity and as he teaches us has received this Power of the Father But we are not to imagine upon that account that a lower Degree of Honour is due to him than that which we give to the Father For it is the Divine Power and Soveraignty that is in his Hand and if our highest Veneration and Reverence be due to the Divine Power and Soveraignty they must be due to him that has them And besides if he has the Divine Power in his Hands it argues him to be that God that is capable of it For to suppose him to be a Creature and yet to have a Divine Power is to suppose a Creature that has an Infinite Capacity And what does that mean less than that a Creature is capable of being made a God If then he has a Divine Power as the Power to forgive Sins to raise the Dead and to give Eternal life certainly is he must have Infinite Abilities to render him capable of such a Power For Infinite Power and Authority is too big for any Being of a Finite Capacity to manage And if he has that Infinite Ability that is requisite to make him capable of managing Infinite Power he must have those superlative Excellencies as render him a proper Object of Religious Worship For as his own Personal Capacity qualifies him above any Created Being for the Exercise of a Divine Power so it is that upon which his Right to Divine Honour is grounded This is that Honour that he himself lays a claim to when he tells us That the Father judgeth no Man but hath committed all Judgment to the Son That all Men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father Joh. 5.22 23. And that we may not believe that it is barely upon the account of the Power that is given to him that he makes this claim he tells us how well qualified he is to discharge the Trust that is reposed in him by having Life in himself As the Father raiseth up the dead and quickneth them so the Son quickneth whom he will v. 21. i.e. He is qualified in himself for the Exercise of such a Power For the Father has not only entrusted him with the Exercise of this Power but has given him to have life in himself v. 26. And therefore he that does not Honour the Son i.e. does not give him that Honour that is due to the Divine Power and Essential Life of the Father does not Honour the Father i.e. He does not Honour that Power and Life upon the account of which the Father is to be Honour'd by the Creatures he has made and governs 4. Since he
with For he who is appointed to Judge us is the Man Christ Jesus He is a Man that is sensible of all the Infirmities that we labour under and does carry in his Bowels the Affections and tender Compassions of a Man toward us In that he has suffer'd being tempted he is able or very inclinable to succour them that are tempted Heb. 2.18 For what severe or terrible thing can we fear from a Man like our selves What unkind or hard Sentence have we reason to dread from him who is our Brother Will not he who took part of Flesh and Blood be very tender to the Infirmities of his own Nature Though it be a terrible thing to appear before a Just and Righteous God because the Justice of a God is very frightfull yet it can be no very frightfull thing to appear before a God made Man because we are well acquainted with the Tendernesses that are in the Nature of a Man Or if this Consideration be not enough to reconcile our Thoughts to a Judgment to come because we too often see that the Passions of Men make them violent and injurious cruel and oppressive toward each other Yet he is a Man not subject to the like Passions as we are nor tainted with those Vices as corrupt our Nature and render it a difficult thing oftentimes to converse with those of our own kind But he is a Man famed for Meekness and Humility for Love and Charity for Mercy and Compassion So that he is qualified with all those soft and tender Vertues that we our selves would desire should be in him that is to Judge us And since we must be Judged we would wish for such a Judge as he is But this is not all for the most comfortable Consideration of all is this That the Power to Judge us that is committed to him is a Power to justifie and acquit us from Death He has merited a Power to give Life to the World and therefore when he appears the second time it will be to the Salvation of all that wait for him by raising them from the Dead and giving them Eternal life So that his Judging the World will be an executing of that Power of giving Life that he has received It will be with the Pardon that he has mediated in his hand and for the delivering us who now are appointed to die from any more fear of Death for the future He will 't is true when he appears be cloathed with that Majesty that will be terrible to his Enemies and as a Righteous Judge give a very dreadfull Sentence upon all the workers of Iniquity But yet though he will condemn to a second Death those that he finds not worthy of Life and as well concern himself for the Interests and Reputation of his Father's Justice as our Everlasting Welfare Yet it is plain that the giving so severe a Sentence is besides his purpose and as well contrary to the Office as the Inclinations of a Redeemer because he will raise even those to Life again whom he thus condemns His raising them to Life again will demonstrate even to those that must die again that it is for the dispensing of Mercy and the acting like a Saviour that he does then appear That the primary End of his appearing is for the restoring Lise to Mortal Creatures For why else will he raise them to Life whom he will afterwards condemn to another Death but to let the World see that he designs Life for all if Mercy it self can but save them The true and proper find then of his sitting in Judgment will be the displaying the Mercy of a Redeemer the distributing the price of his Blood and the communicating the Everlasting Grace of the Gospel He came to save that which was lost and to be sure he will not cast away any that he came to save nor easily condemn when his business was to destroy Death He will Judge us who will raise us to Life again And to be sure he who then gives us our Lives will not easily and without very great Reason take them away again And now how terrible soever it is to us to think of undergoing a Trial of our Actions before a just Judge Yet is it not enough to ease our Thoughts to think that this Judgment will be terrible to none but such as have no Reason to hope in his Mercy but that all whom Mercy can save the Bowels of a Mediatour will deliver from Condemnation What more favourable Judge can we expect than such a one as has purchased us and has purchased Eternal life for us Such a one as comes with Power to justifie and save all whom Mercy can deliver and who lets us see his Inclination to give us Life by freeing us from a Sentence of Condemnation when he raises us out of our Graves The Conclusion HAving consider'd the Nature and Certainty of the Resurrection all that I shall observe from the whole is the Necessity that is upon us to live like those that do believe we shall rise again I mean that we do nothing now that will lose us our Lives again when they are restored to us at the Resurrection To live in this World as if we should never live more after Death has taken us out of it is very excusable in those who know not that they shall rise again because they take care of all the Life they know of But for a Christian who believes he must live again to do this is an extremity of Folly and Madness for it is to be thoughtfull only for an inconsiderable part of our Lives And surely it is not to act wisely for our selves not to take care of all the Life we are to live It is in the Opinion of all Men a very great imprudence not to take care of our Lives And therefore that Labour and Toil those vexatious Cares and Solicitudes wherewith Men wear out their Bodies and vex their Minds are justified upon this account that they are for the maintaining of Life And they are lookt upon as Men of little understanding who live without any kind of fore-cast or thoughtfulness for Life Now what Men do and make a great Mark of their Prudence in doing for the support and preservation of this life is much more needfull to be done for the preserving the Life we shall rise to because that is the Life that it principally concerns us to look after When Men neglect the Duties of Religion the general Answer wherewith they satisfie themselves and wherewith they expect that all Men should be satisfied is that they have not leisure The business of this World takes up their time and if they have hardly time sometimes to Eat and Sleep they cannot think but the Cumber and the Urgency of their Affairs will as well excuse them from their Religious Services as it obliges them to a neglect of their Bodies But when Men talk at this rate one would think they were
promising we shall come out of our Graves and live again after Death makes a Trial of us whether we can believe as Abraham did against Hope This is it that makes our Believing necessary and it is for this Reason that the Gospel does lay so much stress upon our believing in the Son who is the Person that has received Power to give us our Lives again For hereby God proves us whether we dare trust the concerns of our Life in the hands of his Son and are persuaded that he who undertook to restore Life and Immortality to us can raise us up at the last day In this Promise does mainly consist the Grace of the Gospel for it at once gives us a view of all that Mercy we have by Jesus Christ For it is an evident proof that he who will raise us up again has procured us a Pardon of those Offences which have brought Death into the World and that the God who has sentenced us to Death is fully satisfied with the Atonement that is made For it is not possible we should rise so long as that Wrath that kills us does lie upon us or the Offences for which we die are unremitted In Discoursing then of this Doctrine which is so considerable an Article of our Faith and makes Christianity so acceptable to Mortal Creatures I shall 1. Consider what we are to understand by it 2. What Assurance we have that we shall rise again A DISCOURSE OF THE Resurrection c. PART I. The Import of the Resurrection consider'd THE Doctrine of the Resurrection is so plainly deliver'd in the Sacred Writings of the New Testament that there are no sort of Christians but in some sense or other do assert a Resurrection or however would not be believ'd to deny a Doctrine that is so plainly deliver'd But yet there have been and still are such as do not believe such a Resurrection as the Gospel speaks of St. Paul tells us of Hymenoeus and Philetus that they erred concerning this Truth saying That the Resurrection was already past 2 Tim. 2.18 And there are still such as with them believe no other Resurrection but that which consists in the Renovation of the Soul which St. Paul speaks of Rom. 6.4 5. when he styles our walking in newness of life a being planted together in the likeness of his Resurrection But now they who understand nothing more by the Resurrection but our Baptismal Renovation or such a Change of our Conversation from a sinfull to a Holy way of living which the Apostle makes our imitating Christ's Resurrection to consist in do not believe the Resurrection of the Body which is the Resurrection that we are taught to expect And because the Scriptures speak of the Resurrection of the Body others by the Resurrection of the Body understand no more but our living again in a Body after Death not the same Body that dies but a heavenly Body But neither does this Notion of a Resurrection answer to the account that the Scriptures give us of it And therefore since there are such mistaken Notions of a Resurrection among Men it is necessary we should consider the true Nature and Import os it And 1. It implies that we shall return from a state of Death and live again or that the Soul which is separated from the Body by Death shall return from its state of Separation to live in a Body again 2. That we shall live in these very Bodies that are mortal and die 3. That we shall begin then to enter upon an Immortal life CHAP. I. 1. IT implies That we shall return from a state of Death and live again Or that the Soul which is separated from the Body by Death shall return from its state of Separation to live in a Body again When we die these Earthly Tabernacles fall down and go to the Dust and our Souls which dwelt in them take their flight and go to the place of unbodied Spirits This separation of Soul and Body is an effect of the Divine displeasure upon us It is to deprive us of that Particle of his Breath or Spirit by which when he made Man he became a living Soul Gen. 2.7 And accordingly when he resolved upon the Destruction of the Old World he threatned them That his Spirit should not always abide in those Men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 6.3 i.e. Should not always lodge or inhabit in the Bodies of those Men as in a sheath as it is in the Original My Spirit i.e. The Breath or Soul that I breathed into Man when I made him But I will surely punish them with Death by taking from them the Spirit which they abuse by making it a Servant to the Flesh And now if this be a true account of the Nature of Death it is plain that in the Notion of it it does not imply either a Destruction or that sleep of the Soul which some Men dream of For all that this denunciation teaches us is That God when we die does withdraw the Soul out of the Body And this he may do though he assign it another place to live in after he has taken it out of the Body Now this we may much rather conclude from this Threat than that it is put into a state of Insensibility by Death For it being a Threat to deprive Man of the Blessing he had given him when he made him the most Natural sense must be this I will punish these Men by taking away their Souls from them and making them live a Vagabond life out of the Body which I designed at first to be their proper habitation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It shall not abide or dwell in the Body but it shall still abide or live though out of the Body And this notion of Death the Scripture does in other places take notice of As in that mournfull Saying of Jacob Gen. 37.35 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I shall go to Hades to my Son mourning i.e. To the place where his Soul was gone for he believed that his Body was devoured by wild Beasts And the hopes of dying the same Death could not be the thing that he comforted himself withall So likewise that Expression of the Psalmist is to be understood Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell nor suffer thine Holy One to see corruption Psal 16.10 i.e. Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hades the place where separate Souls live out of their Bodies nor my Body in the Grave And accordingly our blessed Lord told the converted Thief That that day he should be with him in Paradise which cannot be so understood as if he should that day go with him into Heaven because our Lord did not ascend to his Father till forty days after his Resurrection And therefore the Creed does not only teach us that he died and what manner of Death he died but that he was buried i.e. His Body was disposed of as the Dead Bodies of all other Men are and
serve to cure us of that fondness we have for this life to make us somewhat more indifferent towards it than usually we are It is indeed so considerable a Blessing to us that we can enjoy nothing without it And upon this account it is so dear a thing and so desirable to us that when Age and Infirmities have drawn of our Spirits and made it a burthen to us we generally feel so much sweet in it that we can hardly be persuaded to part with it with any content It is for the sake of this that we rise up early and sit up late and employ the strength of the Body and the vigour of the Mind to find out Provisions to sustain and Remedies to prolong it There are a great many Considerations which if duly thought of would go a great way toward the abating that over-passionate Love we have of it for it is mortal and that is such a disparagement to it as ought to make us somewhat ashamed of doating upon that which we cannot keep And while we have it it is not to be maintain'd but with an abundance of cost and care a great deal of labour and toil both of Body and Mind So that though Life be so valuable a thing that we cannot but love and esteem it yet it is not this life surely that is so desirable Nor would a Wise man set a value upon Life if he was sure he should have no other life but this For who can be in love with Corruption and Misery or limit his Affections to Vexation and Sorrow Who can be fond of a life that is always so chargeable and very often so tiresome a thing to us as this is This indeed might be a consideration to incline us to think well of Death though it does drive our Souls out of our Bodies because the Corruption and Filth of such a Habitation is enough to nauseate and make them glad to be rid of them For what comfort can a Soul take in a House that is ever and anon ready to fall about its Ears and which daily toils and drudges it to find out some means to prop and repair it What pleasure can it be to a Spirit to live in so nasty a dwelling that in every room and corner from the highest to the lowest presents it with nothing but stench and silthiness But if the miseries and follies with which this life is embitter'd be not enough to wean us from it if the Soul be not willing to leave the Body though it is a dwelling that affords it little pleasure because it was not created to live alone yet when we know that after Death has sent it abroad to live we well know not how nor where we shall receive it again at the Resurrection Methinks this is a very satisfactory Reason why we should the less value this present life For the Resurrection does fully answer our desires of life and will for ever put an end to that Regret our Souls have to live out of a Body and therefore it assures us of such a life as is far more worth our having than this is Was this all the life that we have reason to look for perhaps there might be some reason in that why we should love this life with all its troubles and why our Souls should be unwilling to leave our Bodies as unpleasant a dwelling as they have in them because a bad one is better than none at all But when Death which puts an end to this life will it self have an End and our Souls shall not be left in Hell for ever as the Psalmist speaks of our separate condition we ought in reason to have some kind thoughts for that life we shall rise to when Death and Hell are destroy'd Did we know no more of it but this That we shall live again there is this reason why we ought not to be only fond of this life because this is not the only life we have to live But when the life we shall live is Immortal and full of Glory and our Souls shall never more be forced out of our Bodies when we have once received them again if we be found fit to live we who hope to rise to such a life have little reason to doat upon a life of sorrow and vexation and which Death will at last deprive us of We I say have little reason to be fond of this which must end even upon this account because we carry a fondness in us toward life For this inclination ought much rather to be towards a life that is altogether free from all that does discontent this 4. We may hence observe the Folly of Atheism For it teaches Men to deride and make a mock at the very Blessing which of all persons the Atheist either is or ought to be most fond of and for the making the most of which he pretends to believe as he does He believes that it is for the good of life for a Man to be at liberty to follow the swing of his own inclinations and that nothing is a greater enemy to it than Religion which as he discourses does extremely sour and embitter it by those ill-natur'd restraints that it lays upon us And now is there any Man that ought to be so much afraid of Death as this Man who is unwilling that Life should be sour'd with any thing that is unpleasant Is there any thing that he ought to dread more than that which will not only put an end to all his Enjoyments but deprive him of that great Blessing which he is for improving to the utmost and labours with all his Art and Skill to sweeten it with all that is gratefull and pleasant as he pretends It is indeed upon this reason that he persuades himself there is nothing to be look'd for after Death He loves this World so well that he is not willing to believe there is another to be expected after he is taken out of this unless he should live in the other as he does in this Let us eat and drink says he for to morrow we shall die i.e. Let us make much of Life while we have it for we shall not enjoy it long And the dead know not any thing neither is there any device or knowledge or wisdom in the Grave whither thou goest This is the substance of this Man's belief and reasoning But yet I say he of all Men should not believe and reason thus because he speaks against himself and argues against his own Principles For at the same time that he speaks against Religion for being an Enemy to Life he himself speaks very meanly and contemptibly of it The same reason that makes him an Enemy to Religion ought to make him the greatest Enemy to Death and to raise in his Mind the greatest abhorrency of it because according to his Opinion it will for ever take away all that sense in the pleasing of which he places all his happiness He
who would not have Life rendered unpleasant by any thing ought above all things to startle and tremble at the thoughts of Death as the greatest Enemy to Life All that are persuaded there is another Life after this are taught by this belief to have a very indifferent regard to this life because they know that the loss of this life is not the loss of all the life they hope for But now the Atheist is so much wedded to this life that he places all his Happiness in the delights of it and cares not to think of any other And therefore the thoughts of dying must certainly be very troublesome to him because he is persuaded he shall for ever lose that which he would not have embitter'd and that all his joys and pleasures all that he accounts good for him are thereby for ever gone And now what a wofull condition is this Man in who lives under such a persuasion as this He shows he is no Enemy to Life when he tells the World That all that he aims at is the making Life as pleasant and easie as 't is possible to be And yet that which he so much loves he rallies upon and pleases himself with the thoughts of losing it for ever Now if it be so gratefull to him to think he shall die never to live more why is he so tender at all of Life why does he seek out ways to make it pleasant why does he not live in a continual neglect and contempt of it if it be so ridiculous a thing to live as he would persuade the World it is when he derides the Religious Man's hopes of living again though he dies But if Life be worth all the care and pampering that he bestows upon it he of all Men ought not to make it his scorn He pretends to be a very great friend to Life while he undertakes to teach the World the best way of living And yet at the same time that he professes so much kindness and friendship for Life his Principles make him a perfect Enemy to it He believes that there is no more Life after this but that when once Death has closed his Eyes he shall never wake more and this Thought he so much pleases himself with that he laughs at all that do not believe as he does And yet he tells the World that he is an Atheist purely for the good of Life He is an Atheist because he would not have his Life sour'd with ill-natur'd Restraints as he believes them And yet because he is an Atheist he cannot endure to hear of a life that is Everlasting or of recovering his life again when he has lost it And is it now a wise thing to be an Atheist when every one that is so is taught by his Principles to thwart his own desires and to make it a part of his Wisdom to deride the belief of enjoying that for ever which he pretends to have a greater value for and to consult the good of more than any body else If he be wise in being such a friend to life as he would have the World believe he is when he would have nothing to interrupt or lessen the joys and pleasantries of it why is he such an Enemy to is as to be unwilling the Faith of those that believe an Eternal life should be true But if he be wise in ridiculing and opposing this Faith why does he profess himself a friend to Life Either he must be a fool in being contented that this belief should be false or in loving Life so much as he does Especially when we consider it is for the sake of Life that he chuses to believe as he does Why is Life so precious a thing to him that he cannot endure to think of any thing that is troublesome to it when with a great deal of satisfaction he can think of loving it for ever Atheism then is a very foolish thing not only because it makes a Man an Enemy to his own Life but an Enemy to the Immortality of it only that he may be thought the greatest friend to it by providing extravagantly for it now as a foolish Heir sells the Reversion of an Estate for the present Enjoyment of a small pittance of it The Atheist will perhaps plead for himself that he is no Enemy to a suture Life but to the belief of it without Reason And it is true he is no Enemy to the Life that he now lives nor is there any reason that he should because it is all he hopes for But if he loves Life at all why is he a friend to those Principles that will not suffer him to rejoyce in the hopes of a Resurrection to Life again He saith he sees no reason to believe this Suppose he had well consider'd the matter yet methinks he should not deride those who are persuaded there is good reason to believe it but rather lament it as his misfortune that he cannot discern the reason upon which others ground their belief For he that so loves his Life as to be unwilling to lose it should at least be very favourable towards a Doctrine that promises the Restauration of Life again and wish that he could see good reason to believe the Truth of it But to laugh and make a mock at it as if it was not worth wishing it was true does not savour of that Wisdom which a love of Life should prompt him to 5. We may hence inferr the Reasonableness of a Holy Life Our Religion does wisely command us to set our Affections on things above and not on things on the Earth and to have our Conversation in Heaven because our Life in this World will shortly have an End and it is in Heaven that we must live an Everlasting life Upon which account it is very fit that we should acquaint our selves with the Nature of the place we are going to and how we must live when we come thither And as he who is about to settle in another Country to send those Vertues before-hand thither which may be a maintenance to us when we come thither We to be sure ought not so to live now as if we were to live no more for what will become of us when we do live again if we have made no provision at all for that life The main solicitude that ought to fill our thoughts is not how we may thrive and improve our Fortunes in this World i.e. To put our selves into such a condition that while we live here we need not fear either poverty or the disgrace that accompanies it but what we must do that when we are returned from the Dead we may not be despised for our want of such Vertues as are to support that Life This ought to be the End of our Living now because we must live again For a loose inconsiderate way of living can be reasonable upon no account but either because we shall never be taken away from a World of
such delights as now we live in or because when we are once gone out of this World there is nothing more to be expected In either of these two cases a Man might be allowed to provide for this life with all the care and solicitude that he can without thinking of any other But if we must die and after Death must rise to Life again the same reason that obliges us to be carefull for this ought also to prevail with us to provide for another life We are very apt indeed to live here in this World as if we should never leave it i.e. While there is marrow in our bones and vigour in our spirits we are very apt to forget we shall die But yet there is no Man so ignorant or so insensible of the corruptible state we are at present in as to believe he never shall No the Graves they meet with in every Church-yard and the frequent Funerals of their friends or neighbours are so many irresistible Notices of their own Mortality and tell them the sad story that this lovely World they so much doat on and they must part This then is not the reason why Men live loosely but generally they who live wickedly are apt to persuade themselves that they shall never live again And though it is the illness of their Lives does drive them to this persuasion yet they discourse the matter as if the reason why they live no higher than this World was because they were certain there is no other And it is true that if they be right in their belief they are not much to be blamed for their way of living because if there be no other life but this a Man has nothing more to do than to enjoy this the best he can But then this is a tacit confession That if there be another life they ought not to live as they do because a sensual way of living can only be suited to a World that affords no other than sensible delights And then let this Man think with himself whether he does wisely to live so here as to put him out of conceit with another life when all his unwillingness to live again will not hinder him from returning to a new state of life Let him think whether his way of living be such as he can approve of and satisfie himself in when it makes him rather to chuse since he cannot avoid dying never to see nor hear any thing more than to rise and live again afterwards And if a wicked Man can upon no other score go on in his way with any tolerable ease but by wishing he may never see day again when once Death has closed his Eyes how can we chuse but think that a Resurrection to another life does in the opinion of this Man call for another course of life than what he now lives For if we we must rise and live again after this it is surely our interest and concern so to pass through this life as to carry along with us none of those sensual Inclinations and Affections as will not suffer us to live well in the next CHAP. II. The Resurrection as it denotes the raising our Bodies II. I Come now to consider the Resurrection as it imports our living again in these very Bodies A Resurrection is a restoring life to the Body that dies For if it was not the same Body that the Soul now lives in that it shall be united to again by the Resurrection it could not be called a Resurrection To believe that it shall inhabit a Body but not the same Body is to believe that God will make it a new Tabernacle but not erect and raise up the old one And how many subtilties soever Men of wanton Wits may frame to themselves to puzzle this Article of our Faith they ought to consider that they are undermining the very Doctrine of the Resurrection it self at the same time that they attempt to prove it impossible that the same Body should rise again But I shall not examine those curious Questions with which vain Men endeavour to perplex this Doctrine For since it is upon Revelation that the Certainty of it depends we are to have a Recourse to that Revelation that God has given us concerning it to understand the true import of it For what he has revealed he will do it is certain enough that he has power to do And if we know not how it can be done it is because we know not all that God can do 1. Then he has revealed that he will raise up these very Bodies again in which we now live and which see Corruption These Bodies I say which are the Instruments and Companions of our Souls in all the Actions and Labours of this life It is I know insisted on as a thing very congruous to Reason that the Body which is a partner with the Soul in its good or ill in this life should likewise share with it in the same in the life to come But this is a way of arguing that was not thought of till we had received the Notices of this Doctrine another way For the wise Heathens who believed the Soul's Immortality and that when it goes into the other World it is either adjudged to happiness or misery according to our Actions in this life never thought of this argument to persuade them into the belief of a Resurrection And it is very strange that not one of those great Men that have discours'd of the Rewards and Punishments of the other life should not think of this reasonableness that the Body should share with the Soul in these to inferr a Resurrection Neither is it easie to apprehend why it should be thought fit that a clod of Earth should have a reward or punishment for what is done when it can do nothing that is deserving of either I know it is fit and absolutely necessary the Body should be raised since the Man that does vertuously or wickedly must be rewarded accordingly But this Necessity cannot be made appear by any Congruity in the thing that the Body should partake with the Soul of its future Recompence but only from that Revelation that tells us we must all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his Body We must all appear we who now live in the Body and every one not the Soul only of every Man must receive the things done in the Body Therefore our Saviour tells us expressly That all that are in their Graves shall hear his voice Joh. 5.28 All that are in their Graves i.e. the same Men that are dead which cannot be true if the same Bodies be not raised that go to the Grave No Bodies go to the Grave but those we now live in and therefore the same Bodies must come out of their Graves otherwise we shall not rise the same Men we die nor will those that are in their Graves hear his voice For if it was
and by going to the place of separate Spirits has taken possession of it as his own Kingdom in right of his Conquest over the Devil And the Resurrection he has assured us of will free us from our shame For then Death will be swallowed up of Victory and we shall appear in the World and live like our selves again This will be the day of our Triumph and Joy when that which is sown in dishonour and weakness shall rise in glory and power And because we go out of this World with the expectation of a Resurrection we may appear before the Inhabitants of the invisible World without any dread or shame because we shall there live in hope under the protection of a mercifull Redeemer 4. This may inform us of the Difference between this Life and that we shall then live We shall live in the same Bodies indeed but not in Bodies that carry such marks of dishonour and shame in them as now they do nor such a Life as now we live For the great difference between them is this That now our Bodies are frail and brittle and we carry the great valuable Treasure of Life in Earthen Vessels that are subject to decay and which erelong will be broke to pieces and lose the Treasure that is put into them But then they will be purified to a Heavenly frame and no longer subject to those innumerable Chances that beat upon and at last break them down Here it is only that little scantling of Life which Sin and the Divine Wrath have left us that we enjoy but there we shall have that full portion that God in our Creation set before us and what through the Redemption of his Son we are restored to the Hopes of Here we live subject to a thousand Miseries and Infirmities and are put to daily trouble to repair the decays of a corruptible Nature and at last after all the supports and refreshments of Meat and Drink or the Remedies of Physick our Spirits run off and the Grave becomes our Habitation But then we shall have a Life unless by our own folly we treasure up so much Wrath as will not suffer us to live and we our selves carry Misery along with us a Life I say that no Sorrow shall embitter no Wants weary and disquiet with Labour and Solicitude and which will be able to sustain it self for ever without any of those Succours and Remedies that our present Necessities call for There will be none of that thoughtfulness for to morrow which now often breaks our Rest and embitters our Lives no sweating for Bread to maintain Life nor any of those Anxieties which here the fears of losing what we have do perplex us with For there the Reason of all this will be taken away because we shall then enter upon a World replenish'd with all that Humane Nature can desire and the Life we shall live will have none of those Exigences that suppose imperfection in us That which makes this Life so full of vexation and sorrow is the Curse that is come upon our selves and that which is come upon the Earth for our sakes For it was but fit that the Earth should be changed when Sin had alter'd the Nature of us that were to live upon it And since a Mortal and Corruptible Creature must live a Life of Sorrow and Labour it was requisite the Earth should be despoiled of that fertility that gave innocent Man an easie Maintenance and be Cursed to bear Briars and Thorns for a Creature that was to fetch his Food out of it with Sweat and Sorrow Now what wonder is it that the Life of Man which is not to be sustain'd but by his own Labour should begin to be over-run with Cares and Solicitudes when that fertility which fed him with Ease began to leave the Earth and instead of the Fruits of Paradise he saw Briars and Thorns spring up all about him 'T is Natural when our Bread fails and we see a scarcity of Provision begin to appear to have our Cares heightned and our Heads fill'd with Thoughtfulness So that our Solicitudes and Anguish for the things to sustain Life are but like the scramblings of Children when they are afraid the things they value should all be snatch'd from them For when the Earth began to fail Man of that plentifull and easie Provision with which in Innocency he was fed it is no wonder that like Men afraid lest the whole World should fail us our Desires grew impatient and made us restless and thoughtfull But now in the other World when we live again we shall not want the things that are needfull to us now and all that we shall need to make that Life perfectly Happy will be abundantly provided for us Then the Curse that took away our Blessings will it self be taken away And the New Heavens and New Earth that God will then create will no more be an occasion to us of those vexatious Solicitudes that the Poverty of this World begets in us than any Exigencies in our Nature will We shall rise with Bodies renewed i.e. Freed from all the ill Consequences of our first Apostasie and we shall live in a World renew'd too i.e. Freed from the Effects of that Curse that brought forth Briars and Thorns in it I mean which is the Cause of all the Miseries and Sorrows of this Life For they who shall be accounted worthy to obtain that World and the Resurrection from the Dead can die no more for they are equal unto the Angels Matt. 26.36 What that means we cannot tell because it is little that we know as yet of the state and condition of the other World But this it teaches us That we shall be Immortal and live just such a Life as they do Not such a Life of Labour and Toil and Misery as now we do because the Curse that is the cause of it will then be taken off 5. Let us consider how much Reason we have to prepare our selves for another Life Life is so valuable a thing to us that we judge it worth all the tiresome Journeys we take and the irksome Labour we are at to lay up something for the sustaining of it 'T is for the sake of Life that we even chuse to Drudge our Bodies in continual Toil and to expose Life it self to very great Dangers For had we none of those wants that put us to pain and create Thoughtfulness in us could we live without Labour and Industry we should chuse to sit still and to enjoy Life with ease And if we are content to undergo so many Hardships for a Life that is Mortal if we believe there is a Necessity upon us to follow our Callings and to be intent upon our worldly Interests that we may provide those Necessaries of Life without which we shall certainly die and which when we have them will not long preserve the Lives we labour for With how much greater care ought we to lay up
Body as does abundantly answer the Expression of God's being their God For if God be their God he will certainly satisfie so Natural a desire as that of a separate Soul towards its Body is i.e. He will bring the Soul out of its separate state and raise the Man that is dead Thus then of old from the time that Man became Mortal has this Doctrine been Revealed And although there are no such express Texts in the Old as there are in the New Testament for it yet all that consider the import and design of these Promises made to Adam and Abraham must grant that nothing less than the Resurrection from the Dead was intended in them They are the Promises upon which God founded his Church in the two first periods of it as now the Christian Church is upon that clear discovery we have of a Resurrection And because the Church is the same it was in all Ages the foundation likewise must be the same And as in the time of Adam's Innocency it was the Hopes of an Immortal Life that was the Encouragement he had to maintain his Innocency so since we became Mortal it is the same Hope wherewith God encourages us to return to and persevere in our Duty only with this difference That now we are to be made Immortal by conquering Death Thus the Seed of the Woman will break the Serpent's Head and God will show himself to be Abraham's God CHAP. II. The Resurrection as Exemplified to us in the Resurrection of Christ II. I Come now to consider what Ground of Certainty we have for this Doctrine as it is Exemplified to us in the Resurrection of Christ And this is such a sensible Demonstration of the certain Truth of it that none can reasonably make the least doubt of it who does not call in question the Truth of Christ's Resurrection For if it be certainly true that Christ is risen from the Dead this is a sufficient Answer to all those Objections wherewith wanton Wits endeavour to puzzle this Doctrine For no Argument can be good against which there lies plain matter of fact Let them pretend never so much Impossibility in the case yet since we can tell them of a Man that was dead and is alive again all the Impossibilities that they talk of come to this That it is impossible a Man should know all that God can do There are Two things then that I shall do 1. Consider the Certainty of Christ's Resurrection 2. What Ground of Certainty we have from thence that we shall rise again SECT I. Of Christ's Resurrection I. In speaking of Christ's Resurrection I shall 1. Consider the Certainty of it That he did rise 2. By what Power he rose 1. That he did rise again i.e. That the Body in which he suffer'd which was dead and buried and which lay three days in the Grave was raised again out of the Grave and is ascended into Heaven That the same Jesus who was Born of the Virgin Mary and lived a true and proper Life as we do among the Jews for above Thirty years and whom they took and put to Death as truly as they did the two Malefactors that were Crucified with him That Jesus I say who under-went as real a dissolution of Soul and Body as any other Man that is born into the World does did rise again the same Man both in Body and Soul as before he was Crucified This is the Doctrine that the Apostles were appointed to publish to the World that by being convinced that a Man who died as we do was raised again we might believe that there is forgiveness with God i.e. That the Punishment that is inflicted on us for Sin will not be Eternal Ye Men of Israel hear these words Jesus of Nazareth a Man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you as ye your selves also know Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain whom God hath raised up having loosed the pains of Death Act. 2.22 23 24. The sum of which is this That as it was the same Jesus who was approved of God among them by Miracles and Wonders and Signs that the Jews crucified so it was the same Jesus that they had crucified and slain that God raised up This is an Article in which upon the account of the Curse we are fall'n under we are so nearly concern'd that the Apostles did mainly inculcate it as if the Preaching the Resurrection of Christ was to preach the whole of Christianity And God took care we should have as full an Evidence of the Truth of it as any Matter of Fact can possibly be proved by The Apostles I say were mainly concern'd in persuading the World to the belief of this Doctrine not that this is all that Christianity requires us to believe but because the other Articles of our Faith do either terminate in this and by consequence must be believed when we believe this or else are not of that moment to us as this is This is an Article that sets before us the Mercy we stood in need of the Mercy of being deliver'd out of the Hands of our Enemies and of having Life and Immortality the Blessings we lost in Adam brought to light And therefore the Resurrection of our Lord was accounted of that moment in our Religion that the Office they consider'd themselves Ordain'd to was this of being Witnesses of his Resurrection Act. 1.22 And accordingly this Doctrine St. Paul did in a peculiar manner recommend to the thoughts and care of Timothy Remember this that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my Gospel 2. Tim. 2.8 This then being so considerable an Article of our Faith I am to consider what Evidence we have of the Truth of it For as the Apostle speaks if Christ be not risen then is our Preaching vain and our Faith is also vain 1 Cor. 15.14 i.e. The Christian Religion is of no use to the World The Evidence then that we have to prove this though it be not such as does carry an infallible Certainty in it yet is such as is sufficient to satisfie any unprejudiced person Because it is all the proof that a Matter of Fact as this is is capable of For we have the Testimony of several Hundreds that saw and convers'd with him after he was risen and that for forty days had both opportunity and liberty to examine the Truth of it throughly and to satisfie all the Doubts that rose in their Minds concerning it And besides we have good reason to believe that his greatest Enemies were convinced of the Truth of it And they who will not admit of this as a sufficient proof may as well question the Truth of every thing we see whether those be Men or no that we live among nay whether we our selves be not
Power by which he was raised was the Power of God And what should hinder but we may believe that he could do that by vertue of his Divine Power which no Man can believe that he could do by the Power of a Man For it is as agreeable to Reason to believe that he who has the Power of God and do all that God can do as that he who has no more than the Power of a Man can do no more than a Man can do Let us but allow him to be what he was the Son of God according to the Spirit of Holiness and it will be no astonishing thing that he who was God as well as Man could do that which none but God can do 2. Let us consider how much Reason we have to believe that he is able to raise us likewise He himself has told us That God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life Joh. 3.16 i.e. That the design of his Life and Death was to reverse the Sentence of Death that we are fall'n under and to provide a safe retreat for our Souls in the other World where when they come thither they shall live under his protection in hopes of being restored by him to their Bodies again Upon which account he styles himself the Life of the World and the Resurrection and the Life to teach us that we are to ground our Hopes of living again after Death upon him And accordingly he informs us that the Power of raising the Dead as well as of judging the World is committed to him Marvel not at this for the hour is coming in which all that are in their Graves shall hear his voice And shall come forth they that have done good into the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation Joh. 5.28 29. And the Apostle makes the general Resurrection of the Dead to the effect of Christ's descending to judge the World The Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout with the voice of the Arch-angel and with the Trumpet of God and then the Dead in Christ shall rise first 1 Thess 4.16 Those Expressions of his descending with a shout the Voice of the Archangel and the Trumpet of God denote the Magnificence of his appearing and the mighty Power wherewith he shall raise the Dead For in these Expressions the Apostle alludes to the several ways of gathering Assemblies and especially to Tribunals to denote that when Christ appears again he will give a general Summons for all Flesh to appear before him Now the Hopes of a Resurrection is so agreeable to us that the Scriptures frequently make use of it as the best support for the bearing up our Minds under the pressures of this life And what better assurance can we have of this than that it is committed to him whose Errand into the World was to restore Life unto it and who in his own Resurrection has given us a proof of his Power to do it Let the unreasonable Sceptick start Objections to perplex our Faith Let the Atheist like those at Athens mock at the Doctrine of a Resurrection Let both the one and the other pretend it never so impossible that our Souls when they have left our Bodies should be brought back again into them or that our Dust when it is scatter'd and has suffer'd so many changes as they talk of should be gather'd together again yet we know and have had a proof of the Power of him in whom we believe We have seen his Triumph over Death and Hell in his own Resurrection And what Difficulty can it be to him who has spoiled Principalities and Powers and triumph'd over them who has conquer'd Hell or Hades and of a Prison has made it a place of Safety and Refuge for departed Souls to give them the fruits of his Victory and to summon them before him when he appears the second time What Difficulty can it be to him who has a Divine Power to find out that which is not lost as certainly the Dust of our Dissolved Bodies is not 'T is a Divine Power that we depend upon for our Resurrection and he who has promised us that he will raise us up at the last day has given us a proof of his Conquest over Hell and the Grave That which he bids us hope for is not beyond the Power of his Spirit for he has that powerfull Spirit that can quicken a Dead Body and make it habitable again For that Spirit by which he raised himself is able to quicken and raise us likewise And therefore that portion of his Spirit that he here communicates to us is styled the Earnest of our Inheritance as a pledge given us in hand to assure us of what he will do for us And since it is a portion of that Spirit by which he rose from the Dead we are to consider it as a security he has given us that we shall rise too If Christ be in you though the Body be dead because of sin i.e. Though it is a Body that Death has the Power of that we now live in because Sin has corrupted it yet the spirit is life because of Righteousness Rom. 8.10 i.e. The Spirit is our security that we shall live again because its Office is to heal our Nature and to take away that which is the cause of Death And if the spirit of him that raised Jesus from the dead dwell in you i.e. If you have the same Spirit of Holiness that was in him he that raised up Jesus from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by the spirit that dwelleth in you v. 11. For that Omnipotent Spirit by which he rose will produce the same Effect upon all in whom it dwells CHAP. III. The Assuured Principle upon which Christianity teaches us to ground our Hopes of a Resurrection viz. As Christ rose for our Justification III. THE Third thing that the Certainty of a Resurrection depends upon is that Assured Principle that God has furnish'd us with by raising Christ for our Justification And in considering the Import of this and how assuredly it satifies us that we shall rise again I shall do these Two things 1. Consider what Justification means 2. In what sense Christ rose for our Justification SECT I. 1. I shall consider what Justification means But I shall not here concern my self to give an account of the several Acceptations of this word among other Writers but only to state its proper signification as it is a principal Doctrine of the Christian Faith and what that peculiar Privilege is which St. Paul who does mainly and more fully insist upon it in his Writings than any other of the Sacred Writers intendeth by it And for the better understanding it we must consider that it is a Juridical Term and is properly the Act of a Judge and has a respect to his
again So that Christ's rising for our Justification does imply these things 1. That God discharged him from the Punishment that he bore for our Offences 2. That he has received Power to justifie us 1. His rising for our Justification means his being discharged from the Punishment he suffer'd for our Offences If we consider his Resurrection with a respect to himself and his Sufferings as personal none can deny but God did in a very glorious manner bear witness to his Innocency thereby and acquit him of those Crimes wherewith his Accusers charged him and that unjust Sentence that his Enemies gave upon him When he was taken by wicked hands and haled before a Judge when he was accused condemned and executed upon a Cross between two Thieves he appear'd as a vile Criminal in the Eye of the World according to what the Prophet Isaiah spoke of him long before We esteem'd him stricken and smitten of God and afflicted i.e. That a just Providence had deliver'd him up to suffer a deserved Punishment But when he rose to Life again he was justified in the sight of Angels and Men to be that Holy and Innocent Person that had done nothing worthy of Death This his Enemies were so sensible of that when his Apostles publish'd to the World how that he was risen again they exclaim'd against them and by Threats and severe Usages endeavour'd to silence them because they brought his Blood upon them This was a visible Justification of his Innocence For no other way was more effectual to take away his Reproach and to procure him Honour among Men than by giving him the Life that was taken from him This indeed was his own Personal Justification But it teaches us That it is not agreeable to the Nature of Justice that Death should hold those that are Innocent And although we cannot plead our Innocence to excuse our selves from Dying yet when the Offences for which we die are pardoned Justice can no longer consider us as under an Offence For since Death is a Punishment for our Offences the same Mercy that pardons the Offence does likewise remit the Punishment i.e. it gives us a Right to our Lives And it is but just that we should have our Lives restored i.e. that we should rise again when Justice can no longer treat us as Offenders by keeping us under the Power of Death And in this sense God by justifying his Son has likewise justified us For though he was Innocent yet for the accomplishing the Redemption of Mankind he was content to charge himself with the Sins of the whole World And as it was by Sin that Death enter'd into the World he who would bear our Transgressions was according to the just Judgment of God that doom'd sinfull Man to die appointed to bear our Punishment likewise So that his Resurrection is not only an Argument that God looked upon him as a Righteous Person that had been unjustly condemned to die but as a Person that having sufficiently satisfied for the Offences for which he died Justice had no right to keep under the Power of Death As it was an Attestation of his Innocence and the spightfull Accusations that his Enemies loaded him with it was an Act of Justice i.e. it was Justice that acquitted him from the unjust Sentence of Pontius Pilate But as it was a freeing him from the Punishment of the Offences for which he was deliver'd it was a mercifull Discharge from an Obligation to Punishment So that since he was deliver'd for our Offences and died because a Sentence of Death was pass'd against Offenders his Rising again is a visible Declaration of that Mercy that pardons Offences For he who dies upon the account of Sin must rise from under a Sentence of Condemnation when he returns to Life again And thus it was that Christ rose He rose from under a Curse and was deliver'd from Death not as a Calamity but as a Punishment And since his Resurrection was of this nature let us consider in what respect it is for our Justification Now as to this matter we may observe these things 1. That by rising from the Dead he has given us an instance that it is possible that a Creature that is condemn'd to die because of an Offence may rise again 2. That that Justice which has condemn'd us to die is fully satisfied and therefore we shall rise again 3. That his Resurrection was not a Personal Privilege but the Triumph of our Representative and Mediatour over Death and consequently a publick Discharge of Mankind from the Sentence of Condemnation 1. That by rising from the Dead he has given us an instance that it is possible that a Creature that is condemn'd to die because of an Offence may rise again One of the greatest Difficulties that lies against this Doctrine is this That we are condemn'd to die by the just Judgment of God and undergo it as a Punishment of our Sin For is it possible that a Punishment when it is inflicted a Sentence after it is executed should be reversed A condemn'd Person before the Sentence is executed upon him may be reprieved and pardon'd And if we were not deliver'd over to Death at all i.e. if we did not see Men die it might easily be believed that we could live an Immortal life But when we are condemn'd and die because we are condemn'd it appears too late to hope for a Pardon after the Punishment is inflicted But this will be no such difficulty if we consider that the Divine Mercy provided that the Death we are adjudged to should not be Eternal by promising before Sentence was given upon us That the seed of the Woman should bruise the Serpent's head So that although Justice did require that we should lose our Lives for ever as Malefactours do and does 't is true inflict such a Death upon us as for ever separates us from this present World what Difficulty can there be in a Resurrection which restores us no more than what Divine Mercy reserved for us when his Justice condemn'd us and is the fulfilling of that Original Promise made to Adam Had we been condemn'd never to live again neither in this life nor in another Mercy could not have saved us when once the Sentence had been executed up us because a Pardon would then have come too late to save us But when it is only a Death that deprives us of the Hopes of living again in this life that we are condemned to our being condemned to such a Death cannot render it impossible that we should live again in another This is the difference between the Death that we are all condemned to already and that which wicked Men will be condemned to in the Day of Judgment This deprives us only of the Hopes of living again in this life but not in another and therefore a Resurrection from the Death we are now condemned to is not impossible upon the account of the Sentence we are fall'n under
is a reasonable and necessary Duty because there can be no Religion at all without it And the believing the Principles of Revealed Religion is as reasonable and necessary because there can be no Christanity without it By Revelation we have a plainer account and a more distinct and certain Knowledge 't is true of all the Principles of Natural Religion than we could have it and in this respect it is of great use for the furthering that Piety and Holiness without which we cannot see God nor live an Immorral life But it was not for the making these things known only that God sent his Son into the World For though it was necessary that when he would once more make a trial of our Faith and Obedience to him he should rectifie those mistakes that we were run into concerning the first Principles o Religion yet it was first of all necessary that he should put us into such a condition that the hopes of succeeding in our Endeavours after Holiness might be an encouragement to us Now this is the thing that he has Revealed to us in the Gospel and 't is the being persuaded of this astonishing Mercy that is the Faith which Christianity presses upon us And besides considering our present Circumstances the belief of the Principles of Natural Religion is not enough for us who have corrupted our Nature This Faith was suited to the state of Innocent Man before he was doom'd to a Mortal Condition But since we feel our selves Mortal and know we must die what encouragement can our knowing there is an Immortal state for such as improve themselves for it be to us to aspire after it when we know we are Mortal and cannot avoid dying Surely something more is needfull to encourage us to do our utmost to prepare our selves for it than the Faith that was the foundation of that Religion whereby Innocent Adam was to have made himself Immortal because we cannot become Immortal as he might have done For unless we believe that we shall live again though we die we are so little concern'd in that Life that is Eternal that we shall never upon the bare believing there is such a Life and that Man was made for it be persuaded to the Practice of Holiness because such a Belief does not persuade us that there is such a Life for us The Soul 't is true is Immortal and will live for ever after Death has separated it from the Body But for ought that any Man knows 't is so much the worse for us that it is if it must always live in such a state as is not Natural to it For it is very plain that it leaves the Body with a great deal of Reluctancy And I don't believe that they who are no friends to the believing the Doctrines of Redemption and Justification as they mean our being restored to the Hopes of a Resurrection by the Death and Passion of Jesus Christ are such friends to Death that they part with their Bodies very easily And this I think proves that they could be very well content that their Bodies were as Immortal as their Souls and that they might live an immortal life in their Bodies It is not the Soul's Immortality that contents them however they may seem to put a good face on 't and make a Vertue of Necessity For they look upon Death as a great Calamity at least which no Man could do was he persuaded that Death would put him into his best State and Condition Now what does all this mean but that a Resurrection is very acceptable to us and that without it we in our Circumstances cannot have that Immortality which Adam by the Principles of Nature was encouraged to hope for I dare say that they can be very well contented that God would raise their dead Bodies again so improved as we believe he will And upon what account then can they except against the Reasonableness of that Faith which they can be contented should be true and own to be necessary to make the belief of another State a compleat and sufficient Motive to a Holy Life The Apostle observes that without Holiness it is impossible to please God and therefore that he that comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him Heb. 11.6 And accordingly he gives us a large Catalogue of brave Men that by Faith subdu'd Kingdoms wrought Righteousness and obtained the Promises Which implies that we shall never be persuaded to deny our selves the present Enjoyments of this life and keep our selves within the measures and bounds of Religion unless we believe there is another Life and a God that will reward us there And therefore so much Faith as this is was a Duty that Adam while he was Innocent was obliged to because though he was Innocent he was a Probationer for Immortality And it was requisite that he who was a Probationer for Immortality should believe there was such a State and that there was a God that would reward him with it if he did improve himself to the perfection it belong'd to for the encouraging him to do his Duty But so much Faith as was sufficient to encourage an Innocent Man is not enough for us who are guilty and condemn'd to die because we are so For Innocent Man might by improving his Nature i.e. by doing his Duty make himself Immortal But we who are guilty and condemn'd can do no such thing because we are not in a state of Trial if we be not freed from the Curse that is upon us And that which is needfull to put us into such a state must be a part of our Faith if we do believe that we have a prospect of Immortality i.e. We must believe that God has justified us that we may apply our Minds like Probationers for Immortality to that Improvement of our selves that is to qualifie us for it 4. This is a further Consideration that ought to reconcile us to the Thoughts of leaving this World I have observed with how much satisfaction we ought to go out of this World because the Resurrection will restore us both our Souls and Bodies again i.e. Will bring our Bodies out of their Graves and our Souls out of that place where they live in a Praeter-natural state out of their Bodies But the thoughts of our being in a Justified state ought to raise our Minds much higher and to fortifie them with more Resolution and Courage when we come do die because it sets before us the Reason and Ground of our Hope and eases our Minds of that which is the most stinging Consideration in Death Death is as I have said very terrible to us upon many accounts It hales us out of a World that cloaths us with solt Raiment and gorgeous Apparel and feeds us with rich and sumptuous Delicacies and furnishes us with delights for the Eye and Ear and every Sense All which must be very troublesome
that we shall assuredly rise again to Life because our Redeemer who has over-come Death has the Power of raising us to Life again and of justifying us to Eternal life in his Hands It is not a believing that there is a God For though such a Faith does much contribute to the comfort of our Lives when we know that he is reconciled to us yet it serves only to fill us with terrour and astonishment if his Wrath does still lie upon us Nor is it a believing only that he employ'd a great Prophet to make our Duty more plain and to give us the best Rules and the most excellent Example of a Holy Life For such a Revelation can be of no advantage to us if our former Offences for which we are condemned are not pardon'd Neither is it a believing that though Sin be strong and prevalent in us yet we are not one jot the less Just because we commit Sin as some speak but by being united to Christ who has fulfill'd all Righteousness we have all Righteousness that is needfull to possess us of Everlasting life i.e. That God has put all into the Hands of his Son and that we have nothing more to do for the gaining Eternal life but to believe that Christ has done all for us For all that we can do will not make us one jot the more Just and Righteous in the sight of God i.e. Nothing more qualified for Eternal life than we are without it Now that this is not the Faith that the Gospel requires of us is evident from hence That the Gospel does all along suppose us to be in a state of Probation for Eternal life which this Faith does not For it supposes we are as safe as we can be by believing the things that Christ has done and suffer'd for us and that by means of this Faith his Righteousness is ours and that this Righteousness which is ours by believing is the only Righteousness we have to trust to for Eternal life Now if this be so we must deprive Christ of two of his Offices viz. his Prophetick and Regal Offices For having fulfill'd all Righteousness for us there was no need of his discharging the Office of a Prophet by interpreting the Mind of God and prescribing Rules of Life to us nor of executing the Office of a Prince in governing us by Rules of Righteousness who have all Righteousness in him And besides To what purpose are all the Motives and Exhortations to do Righteousness which we meet with in the Gospel Why is a Day of Judgment appointed to take an account of our Doings if believing that he has done all for us be all the Duty that our Eternal Happiness depends upon St. Paul tells us That we must all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his Body according to what he hath done whether it be good or bad 2 Cor. 5.10 And if we must be Judg'd for all that we our selves do in this Life it is certain that we have somewhat more to do than to believe that Christ has done all for us The true account then of this Matter is this That Christ by suffering Death having born the Punishment that in Adam we were doom'd to has procured us a full discharge from that Punishment i.e. God has justified us so that there is no need of our doing Righteousness that we may rise again from the Dead because that which Christ has done and suffer'd has procured us this Mercy and we may depend upon him for it Of this Mercy God has given us an Assurance by raising him from the Dead For his Resurrection is for our Justification or a certain Evidence that God has justified us as his Death was for our Offences or the Punishment that the Justice of God has doom'd us to But then though this Justification be only owing to the Merits of Christ yet we must do Righteousness that we may for ever enjoy the Benefits of it and if we do not this our Mediatour himself will condemn us again So that being discharged from the Obligation to die as Malefactours we are to take care of our Lives lest we die again by the Sentence of our Redeemer i.e. We must add to our Faith all Christian Vertues which are necessary to qualifie us for Everlasting life lest the Gospel condemn us again This is that Mercy that the Gospel declares to us And accordingly the Faith that it requires of us is the believing that God sent his Son into the World upon this Errand and that being justified by his Death we shall not only assuredly rise again but by obeying the Gospel we shall assure to our selves Everlasting life So that the Faith that the Gospel requires of us does suppose we are in a Justified state i.e. discharged from the Sentence of Death that passed upon us in Adam and is required of us not as the only Righteousness whereby we are to make our selves Immortal but as an Encouragement to perfect Holiness that we may be justified to Everlasting life when we are Judged by our Gracious Redeemer And it is by this Faith that God makes a Trial of the Sincerity of our Hearts whether we dare depend upon the Power he has given his Son to raise us again and to give us Eternal life For he expects that we should leave this World as Abraham did his native Country and his Father's House though we know not the World we go to when we leave this with a firm belief in his Promise of being raised to a better life And for the better confirming our Faith the performing it is committed to the care of him that is risen and has received Power to destroy Death For his Resurrection is an Instance that Death is not an Enemy too powerfull for him to vanquish And since he is invested with that Power by which his own Body was raised what greater assurance can we have that Death shall be abolished than this That he who has undertaken to abolish it has that Power which can destroy Death But especially our great Certainty in this case does arise from hence That the doing of this is committed to his care the business of whose Life and Death was to deliver us from Death And is there any Reason to fear lest he who has loved us and laid down his Life for us should at last fail us of the Blessings that he came to mediate for us and which he has dearly purchased If he will suffer his Blood to be vilely cast away and the Price of our Redemption to be lost we may question whether he will finish the Salvation that he came to procure us But if he has any value for his own Blood any sense of his own Sufferings any regard to his own Merits we cannot but believe that he who has gone through the Tragical part of his Undertaking will undoubtedly Triumph at the last in the total destruction of
Death For what better and safer hands can this Power to deliver and save us be lodged in than the hands of our Saviour For he to be sure will suffer nothing to be lost that he came to save and which he has Power to save This I have insisted on because some who believe that Christ rose again cannot see any Reason from thence to believe that we shall rise again too Now there are but Two things that I can think of that can be an occasion of distrust in the case 1. That this Power was not given him to this purpose 2. If it was we are not certain that he will make use of it Now we are sufficiently secured against any fears of this nature For 1. If he has any Power at all given him it must be to this purpose For none can be said to have a Power to do a thing given him which he is not to do by the use of that Power A Power which is not to be made use of is no Power at all and it could not be said that Christ has Power given him to raise us if this Power that is given him be sufficient to do this and yet he is not permitted to use this Power to this purpose Now that he has such a Power his own Resurrection is a sufficient proof For upon the same Reason that we believe he rose from the Dead we must believe that he has Power to raise the Dead because the Scriptures that teach us the one do teach us the other also So that if he has the Power of raising us committed to him it must be to this purpose that he may raise us And 2. We have great Reason to believe that he will make use of this Power to this purpose For will not he accomplish his own undertaking Will he not finish the thing that he has been sollicitous for Has a Malefactour any reason to doubt whether his Life shall be saved when his friend that has with Cost and Charge been long suing for his Pardon has it at last in his own hands No we are secured by the Love of our Redeemer that the Power he has received will be made use of for our deliverance For where can such a Power be better lodged than with him whose great concern it is to have us saved Thus the Apostle does argue upon this matter If when we were Enemies we were reconciled to God by the Death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his Life Rom. 5.10 i.e. If he loved us so much when we were Enemies as by dying to reconcile us to God can we believe that he loves us the less now for having loved us so much before Or that after he has procured such a Power of delivering us from Death he will not do what he was so desirous should be done He who died that we might live will undoubtedly give us Life now that he has the Power of giving Life conserr'd upon him This is the Faith that the Gospel requires of us and it is so well grounded that nothing can be more reasonable But 2. Since Christ has received Power to justifie us by raising us from the Dead and giving us Eternal life This may insorm us wherein the Mercy of the Gospel does consist This is a Matter worthy our Consideration because there are so many that mistake it There are few or none so little acquainted with the Circumstances of our Nature but are sensible that we stand in need of a great deal of Mercy to save us And this Universal acknowledgment that it must be Mercy that saves us is an acknowledgment likewise that no other Religion but such a one as is sounded upon Mercy is suited to the Natural condition of Mankind A Religion that only teaches us our Duty and what improvement is necessary to qualifie us for Immortality is not now so adapted to our Nature as when Man was Innocent For because there are strong Aversions in us to that which is good Sensual inclinations that render man Sins very gratefull to Flesh and Blood and by that means give Sin such a power over us that the Conquest of one Sin is many times the labour of a Man's life we are not in a Condition to improve our selves for Immortality as Innocent Man might But though this is the Acknowledgment of all Men and the Gospel upon that account does contain the best Religion we can be under the Government of yet the Mercy of the Gospel which is the Mercy we want is not so well consider'd but that many who believe it is Mercy must save them do rest upon such Mercy as will not save them For that which many found their Hopes upon is the simple Consideration of the mercifull Nature of God without any regard to any particular Instance wherein he has Exemplified to us the Mercy he would have us depend upon For because Mercy is an Attribute that belongs to the Divine Nature they persuade themselves that nothing severe can be dreaded from a God of Mercy Thus bad Men bear up their Spirits under the pressure of their guilt and put by those Terrours wherewith the Consideration of God's Justice would affright them into an amendment of Life and at last make a shift to go out of the World without any great sense of their Danger For if they must appear before a Just and Holy God yet the God that will Judge them has the Bowels and Compassions of a Father And this Thought lays all frightfull Apprehensions of his Justice They consider not that Death is the Wages or the just desert of Sin and that by carrying their Sins along with them into the other World they carry that along with them that the Justice of God has already condemn'd and does punish them for when they die They think not that while they do wickedly they despise the Mercy that God has shown us and even throw away their own Lives which the Divine Mercy by justifying them from a Sentence of Condemnation has put into their own power to save It is evident indeed that their own Consciences being witnesses they do that which deserves Death I mean the Eternal loss of their Souls when they have a recourse to Mercy for their hopes of recovering them again when they are lost i.e. When they are separated from their Bodies and sent into the other World to live among Cursed Spirits For why else should they expect to receive their Souls again from the Hands of Mercy rather than of Justice if they were not conscious to themselves that they justly lose them And since they are conscious of this in their own Minds what reason have they to think that God will not do that which their own Consciences tell them they have deserved And there is this further to prove the Folly of such a Hope that they see the Mercy they trust to does not save them from the Punishment of Sin But Death
is derived from him For if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal Bodies by the Spirit that dwelleth in you Rom. 8.11 i.e. The Spirit whereby Christ does now raise us to a New life will likewise quicken our mortal Bodies and give New lise to us after Death But this is not all that is meant by his Power to justifie us For 2. He has Power and Authority given him as the Supreme Judge of the World to acquit us Eternally from Death or when we are risen to give us Eternal life And this is a distinct thing from God's justifying us from the Sentence pass'd upon Adam His raising us to life again after we are dead is owing to our Justification from that Sentence For had not he by dying satisfied the Justice that takes away our Lives we should not rise again to Life But whether we shall live for ever after we are risen or die again does depend upon that Sentence that as our Judge he will pass upon us God has appointed a day in which he will judge the World in Righteousness by that Man whom he hath ordained saith St. Paul Act. 17.31 i.e. God has given him Power to take an account how Mankind has used the Mercy that he has favour'd us with and to declare who according to the Gospel are worthy of Eternal life and who are not and accordingly to determine of our Eternal condition either by justifying us to Eternal life or condemning us to a second Death And this he intimates to us in the fore-mentioned Text I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly That they might have life i.e. That I might by raising them from the Dead restore them the Life that Death deprives them of And that they might have it more abundantly i.e. That I might justifie them to a Life that is Eternal when at the Resurrection they are Judged a second time His Resurrection 't is true does assure us that we are now in a Justified state i.e. That we are acquitted from the Sentence that has pass'd upon Adam and that in respect of this Justification we shall certainly rise to Life again But though we be absolved from that Sentence we must expect another to be pass'd upon us which will finally and eternally save us from Death if when we appear before that great Tribunal he that is to Judge us does find we have not neglected so great Salvation and sinn'd away the favour that has been granted us And this Power to absolve us for ever from Everlasting Death is given to him who came into the World to suffer for our Offences and rose again for our Justification And therefore the Apostle to the Hebrews tells us That as it is appointed unto Men once to die and after Death the Judgment So Christ was once offer'd to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation Heb. 9.27 28. i.e. Though we die by vertue of that Sentence that God gave upon us in Adam yet Christ having undergone the Punishment for us we shall not die Eternally by vertue of that Sentence For Christ who bore our Sins will come again to Judge us and then shall all his faithfull Servants be Eternally acquitted from that more dreadfull Curse that he will denounce against all that have lost their opportunity to save their Souls 2. This Power to justifie us i.e. to deliver us from Death by raising us to Lise again and acquitting us as our Judge at the last day he received when he rose from the Dead For then it was that he enter'd upon the publick Administration of the Affairs of his Kingdom and was made of God both Lord and Christ Then it was he received a Name that is above every Name and was dignified with the Honour of being Head over all things Thus he himself told his Disciples after his Resurrection That all Power was given unto him both in Heaven and Earth Matt. 28.18 By which he means the Power of that Kingdom that by vanquishing him that has the Power of Death he has obtained The Power of pardoning Sin and raising the Dead and giving Eternal life to all that faithfully and sincerely serve him The God of our Fathers saith St. Peter raised up Jesus whom ye slew and hanged on a Tree Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance unto Israel and remission of sins Act. 5.30 31. In which words the Apostle informs us that the Power God has given him is the Power of dispensing that Grace and Mercy that he has obtain'd for us The Power of delivering us from Death and of justifying us as our Judge to Eternal life And that this Power God advanced him to when he raised him from the Dead 'T is true while he was in this World he styles himself the Resurrection and the Life and tells us That God had given him Authority to execute Judgment because he is the Son of Man But yet in these Expressions he means no more than that he was the Person who was designed by his Father to this Eminent Dignity and Power of abolishing Death and Judging the World and giving Life and Immortality to mortal Men. And of this he gave a convincing proof by raising Lazarus from the Dead But yet the Life he restored Lazarus to was not that Immortal life which he will give his sincere Followers when he utterly destroys Death but the same Mortal life that he was possess'd of before But the Power of raising us to an Immortal life which he gave a proof that he was designed to be instated in by raising Lazarus from the Dead was not conferr'd upon him till he was risen from the Dead Then it was that he enter'd upon his Regal Office and was invested with that Power and Authority by which he has put all Enemies under his feet He is sat down on the right hand of God saith the Apostle expecting till his Enemies be made his foot-stool Heb. 10.12 13. Designing at the End of all things to subdue Death which is the last Enemy he is to destory and in a most solemn and glorious manner to deliver his faithfull Servants from their Captivity and all Power of Death for the suture and to put them into an actual possession of that immortal life that they live in an expectation of srom him And now if Christ be thus risen for our Justification or that he might receive Power to justifie us Let us consider 1. What Reason we have to depend upon him for Everlasting life This is that Faith that he expects from us and which in the Gospel we are so frequently exhorted to A believing that Death is vanquish'd by the Power of our Mediatour when he rose from the Dead and