that he went down into Hell i.e. During the time that his Body was in the Grave his Soul was in the place where separate Souls do live after Death But although the Soul when it ceases to live in the Body does still live yet when it leaves the Body we who consist of a Soul and a Body do die And so long as the Soul does live without its Body so long we are under the power of Death And even that Soul that still lives is in the state of the Dead So that the Resurrection which is design'd to be a Remedy of that Calamity Death is to us must be the freeing the Soul from that Vagabond state that the Displeasure of God makes it to suffer out of its Body It is the bringing the Soul that lives when we are dead out of that state where it lives in a preter-natural condition without its Body to live as the Soul of a Man was by God appointed to do when he breathed it into a Body of Flesh I call the separate state of our Souls a vagabond and preter-natural Condition because when they go out of the Body they leave their own proper Habitation and wander into unknown Regions And therefore St. Paul styles our being in the Body a being at home and when we die in his style we travel out of the Body or go abroad 2 Cor. 5. And according to the import of that Curse by reason of which we die and go out of the Body we should for ever like Vagabonds that leave their native Soil and roam about the World have continued abroad but that God in great Goodness to us has provided us a mercifull Saviour whose business it is to take care of our Souls when they leave their own Habitations and in his due time to bring them back again to their homes And therefore St. Paul though he speaks of this separate state as a thing no way desirable in it self That no Man how little reason soever he has to be in love with this World does groan for that he would be uncloathed v. 4. Yet considering the safe hands our Souls are committed to when they are abroad does upon that reason speak of this state as a thing much more Eligible than to stay always here in the Body though it is our home We are always confident knowing that whilest we are at home in the Body we are absent from the Lord We are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the Body and to be present with the Lord v. 6 8. i.e. Though we do leave our Habitations we are well pleased with our condition because we shall be under the immediate care of him who at the last will brng us out of this exiled State and restore us to our own Habitations again Hence the Resurrection is spoken of as our triumph over Hades that receptacle or prison of separate Souls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O Hades where is thy victory 1 Cor. 15.55 The Sea gave up the Dead which were in it and Death and Hell or Hades delivered up the Dead that were in them And Death and Hell or Hades were cast into the lake of fire Rev. 20.13 14. i.e. Death will deliver up our Bodies which lie imprison'd in the Grave and Hades will deliver up our Souls that are there imprison'd and then an Everlasting Being shall succeed The Resurrection then does not only respect our Bodies which see Corruption but that Immortal part of us which by Death is forced out of the Body and driven like an Exile to live from home in a foreign Country contrary to the Laws of its Nature For the Resurrection restores us that which Death deprives us of and brings back our Exiled Souls to their old native Dwellings Although the Resurrection will bring our Dead Bodies out of their Graves yet this is not all that we are to understand by the Resurrection because the raising a Dead Body to life will not be the raising the Man that died unless the same Soul and Spirit that was separated from it by Death be re-united with it again To breathe a New Soul into a Body that is raised out of the Dust is rather the creating a New Man than the raising an Old one For the same Man that died cannot be said to be raised to life again unless the Soul be brought out of its Prison as well as the Body out of its Grave For so long as the Soul is kept a Prisoner in the place where separate Soul live we are as much in the state of the Dead as while the Body does lie in the Grave This re-embodying the Soul that by Death is compell'd to quit the Habitation it is at first born with and to live abroad in an unknown Region is the thing in which our Conquest over Death does consist and consequently is the Resurrection that the Gospel speaks of 'T is true the Resurrection has most usually a respect to the Body and does denote its leaving its Prison whither it is conveyed But besides this the Holy Scriptures do speak of the Resurrection with a respect to the Soul and that alteration of its state when it shall of a separate Spirit become embodied a second time i.e. When it shall be brought out of its confinement and returned to its own Habitation This is the meaning of that place where the Sadducees are said to have denied the Resurrection i.e. They were as is plain from our Saviour's Answer persuaded that Death does as well reduce the Soul to nothing as the Body to Dust And that since after Death there is no part of us remains alive there is nothing lest to ground our hopes of a Resurrection upon because there is nothing of us left in respect of which the Resurrection will be a Blessing and consequently that there is no state of life to be expected after this because Death does not only dissolve but destroy the very Principles of our Constitution Our blessed Lord therefore to prove to them that there is a Resurrection makes use of an Argument that proves that the Soul is alive after Death and consequently that there is another state in which as Men we must live an Immortal life God is not the God of the dead but of the living saith our Saviour i.e. The Souls of the great Patriarchs are alive somewhere else God could not properly style himself The God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob and therefore they must rise again Wherein the strength of our Saviour's argument lies I shall not now enquire For it is enough to my present purpose that he proves there will be a Resurrection because the Soul is still alive For this implies that the Resurrection will not only bring the Body out of its Grave but the Soul out of its Prison and return it to its ancient Habitation Otherwise the Soul 's being alive after we are dead would no more prove a Resurrection than if
we have born the Image of the Earthy have lived in such a Body as Adam had so we shall bear the Image of the Heavenly i.e. We shall have such glorious heavenly Bodies at the Resurrection as Christ now has For flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God Flesh and Blood such as now we carry about with us Bodies that cannot live without food and which by reason of the weakness and imperfection of their Senses are oftentimes pained by that which is their pleasure But what is corruptible must put on incorruption and these vile Bodies shall be changed and fashioned like to Christ's glorious Body Phil. 3.21 i.e. Such as his Body is such shall ours be discharged of all that is their burden and shame or that creates vexation or uneasiness here and improved to that height in all its Powers that we who cannot bear the light of the Sun when it travels in its strength whose Eyes water and are offended when too much light pours in upon them shall be enabled to live in such glory as is not yet revealed and to walk in that inaccessible Light to which no mortal Eye can approach This Change is express'd in Scripture by our rising with spiritual Bodies and bearing the Image of the Heavenly which does not mean that our Earthly Bodies shall be turned into Spirits For then the life we should be raised to would not be of the same nature with that which we now live i.e. It would not consist in the vital Union of a Soul and a Body but of two Spirits For a Body turned into a Spirit is no Body But now that which the Scriptures teach us concerning a Resurrection is That our Bodies shall come out of their Graves and that we shall have the same Bodies as well as the same Souls though improv'd in their capacities and qualities That the life the Resurrection is designed to restore us is the life we lose because it is styled the Resurrection of the Dead which could not be if it be a Body turned into a Spirit that our Souls shall be united to For then the Resurrection would not unite it to a Body at all i.e. It would not give us the life of a Man which is the life that Death deprives us of They who contend for such a Rarefaction of our Bodies into Spirits tell us That we shall have the agility and subtilty of Spirits so as to be able to penetrate Bodies and to be in a place not as we are now by filling it but as Angels are who do not exclude any Body thence by being there And this they suppose is the Nature of Christ's glorious Body which is the pattern after which the Resurrection will fashion ours For to this purpose they insist upon that Text of St. John which tells us That our Saviour enter'd into the room where the Disciples were met together when the Doors were shut As if St. John's meaning was That he had passed through the Doors in the same manner as a Spirit does But now the Evangelist saith no such thing nor do I see how any such thing can be concluded from what he does say The Words of the Evangelist are these Then the same day at evening when the doors were shut where the Disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews came Jesus and stood in the midst Joh. 20.19 In which he only tells us the time when but nothing of the manner how he appeared whether by passing through or opening the Door or any other way That he came in the Evening when the Doors were shut i.e. At that time of the night when according to the Custom of the Jews who were not wont saith Musculus to shut their doors in the day-time the Doors were shut Or if they give an account of such a Miraculous way of appearing as surprized the Disciples this does not necessarily oblige us to believe that he came into the room as a Spirit by piercing through the Doors For he might present himself among them in a surprizing manner though he did not pierce the Door neither is it known that Spirits do thus appear So that it is no proof that the Resurrection did turn his Body into a Spirit because he enter'd a room at that time in the Evening when the Jews shut up their Doors unless it be made appear that he could no other way enter it but by passing through the Door and that Spirits are wont thus to enter But that our Saviour's Body was not turned into a Spirit and that the Miracle of his Appearance did not lie in his passing through the Door he himself gave his Disciples a sensible proof at this very time when he show'd them his Hands and his Side and bid them Handle him and see that it was he himself i.e. The Man Christ Jesus that was crucified and no Spirit as they believed him to be because a Spirit has not flesh and bones as ye see me have Luk. 24.39 When therefore the Scriptures tell us that we shall rise with spiritual bodies the meaning is that our Bodies when the Resurrection has restored us them shall not need those refreshments of Meat and Drink and Sleep that now they stand in need of but shall live as Spirits do without putting us to charge and labour to maintain their life And this our Blessed Lord teaches us in his Answer to the captious Question of the Sadducees whose Wife the Woman whom the seven Brethren had successively married should be at the Resurrection The children of this World where one Generation goes and another comes marry and are given in marriage because in a World where we are mortal this is the only way we have of preserving our Names and of living when we are dead But they who shall be accounted worthy to obtain that World and the Resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage neither can they die any more but are equal to the Angels Luk. 20.34 35 36. i.e. They are equal to the Angels in this That they shall die no more and since they are in this equal to them they shall live like them For because they themselves will be Immortal the reason of Marrying and giving in Marriage will be at an end And indeed there is a necessity that our Bodies should be thus changed because the World we shall then live in will not be the same as this is For whether we shall ascend to the highest Heavens where Christ now sits at the right hand of God or whether we shall have our Habitations in that new Earth that will be made after this old one which has been the Seat of so much Wickedness is destroy'd it is requisite our Bodies should be otherwise fashion'd than now they are that they may be suited to the Nature of the place we shall dwell in It is not a thing that a Christian can find any thing incredible in that our Bodies after they are raised and
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
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
improved by the Resurrection should by the power of that Spirit that raises them ascend into Heaven and be capable of dwelling there For the possibility of this is exemplified to us in the Ascension of a Humane Body that was dead and rose again as we likewise shall die and rise again But now whether our Lord's Ascension be to teach us where we shall live when we are risen again or no i.e. Whether we may conclude from thence that we shall ascend into Heaven as well as we do that we shall rise again from the Dead because he did is not easie to be resolved He told his Disciples indeed that in his Father's house are many mansions And that one reason of his Ascension was to prepare a place for them and that at his second coming he would receive them to himself that where he is they might be also Joh. 14.2 3. But it does not plainly appear from hence that we shall ascend and live with him in Heaven The preparing the place where we shall live with him is the fruit of his Ascension and we are plainly taught in this and other Texts that when he comes again we shall live with him in the place that he has prepared for us now he is in Heaven But it is not evident that by his Father's House and the Mansions therein we are to understand the Heavens whither he is ascended He does intend thereby 't is true the place that he prepares for us now he is in Heaven and where we shall live with him when he descends again from Heaven But why may we not understand by this place the New Jerusalem that St. John saith he saw come down from God out of Heaven Rev. 21.2 And indeed why should St. Peter say we look for new Heavens and a new Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness if that new Earth which God will create be not designed to be the Habitation of Men after the Resurrection It seems something more natural and easie to be believed that Man who consists of a material as well as a spiritual Part should rather have his Habitation in that place where he was made and which is suited to the condition of his Nature than to be carried to the place where Angels and pure Spirits have their abode St. Paul tells us that we which are alive and the dead shall when the Lord descends be caught up together in the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air and so shall we ever be with the Lord 1 Thess 4.17 But his meaning is only this That when he shall come to judge the World we shall go forth to meet him or shall be conducted or conveyed by Angels through the Air to the Judgment-seat and after he has given Judgment upon the World we shall for ever be with him which does not imply that we shall be carried into Heaven and there be with him but where-ever he is whether in Heaven or in the New Earth that as St. Peter saith we look for we shall ever be with him But let this matter be as it will the place where we shall be with him does require a Change in our Bodies If we must go to Heaven with him Flesh and Blood such as it is now cannot inherit or enter into that Kingdom And therefore some have imagin'd that our Bodies must be turn'd into Spirits because the Heavens above is the proper Habitation of Spirits Or if we shall live with him upon Earth it will be upon a New Earth wherein Righteousness is to dwell an Earth renewed on purpose that it may be a suitable dwelling-place for our renewed Bodies And this proves that our Bodies must be exalted to a more excellent state purified from all those corrupt Appetites that make such a World as this is needfull to us For if our Bodies should rise such as they are now this World such as it is would be a Habitation proper enough for it nay such a one as they can only live in But a World discharged from all its Vanity and Corruption does require an Immortal incorruptible Creature to live in it And now if the same Body we now live in must rise again and not only so but rise purified and exalted to a glorious Condition according to the Improvements we now make in Vertue let us consider what Thoughts this ought to furnish us with And 1. How satisfactory ought the Doctrine of the Resurrection to be to us The only reason that Death is so formidable to us now is because it puts an end to the life of these Bodies that we extremely love and doat upon 'T is very uncomfortable to think that we who feel the Benefits of life and have a quick and pleasing sense of the comforts and satisfaction of living in a World that is furnish'd with all things that are delightfull to the Eye and pleasing to the Ear and gratefull to all the Senses that belong to our Bodies must ere-long languish away to a breathless Carcase That our Eyes that let in so many delightfull Objects must be eaten out with Worms our Ears stopt and our Bodies crumbled to Dust and that we shall no longer enjoy either the fruits of our labours or the benefit of those designs we have laid for the raising our Fortunes But must bid adieu to our Estates to our Pleasures to our Companions and Friends never to hear nor see nor rejoyce with them more in this life And now if Death upon this account is so melancholy a Consideration If it damps our Spirits and chills our Blood to think of leaving these Bodies that we are so well accustom'd to and acquainted with and a World where we have so many Interests and Engagements and which we find so well fitted for us to go to live in a place we can give very little account of and without these Bodies which we know not as yet what it is to live without How much contentment should it be to us to have a Doctrine that assures us we shall live again in these Bodies that we leave behind us when we go into the other World with so much reluctancy and unwillingness Upon this account Religion ought to be very dear to us and Atheism lookt upon as the most uncomfortable Opinion that can be thrust upon the World because among other mischiefs it deprives us of the hopes of having our Bodies restored to us again which is the most comfortable thing that a Spirit which by the Law of its Creation is to live in a Body can think of It must be a very uneasie thing for an Atheist not only to think of leaving this World but of losing his Body which is the only part of him that he loves for ever This Man above all others must be extremely afflicted with the thoughts of dying because if his Opinion be true he has nothing to love but his Body and this World He must look upon himself to be only made for this World and therefore
lightning the Spirits does too often issue in very great Immoralities Upon the same reason it is that Men let themselves loose to all extravagant Jollities of a sensual life and grow enamour'd of this World because it is a place so well stored with Entertainments for our sensitive Part. But although the Pleasures of this World do appear very considerable to us and are extremely taking with us when we consider our Bodies as they are now yet how meanly would they appear to us if we consider'd that all the suitableness that is in them is owing to the present imperfection of them But that when we receive them again purified and improved nothing of this nature will be delightfull to us How little pleasure should we take in feasting a wanton and luxurious Appetite or in adorning a Carcase that must die and return to Dust or in any of the most delicious Enjoyments of this life did we think that all this Care is laid out upon a Body that is corruptible and mortal And that this same Body when it is raised to its most perfect state will as much loath and abhorr all these things as a Beggar rais'd to a plentifull Fortune does the Rags he was once clad with At the Resurrection though we shall live again in these very Bodies yet there will be no Eating nor Drinking nor any gratifying of Sense with any of those delights that now we reckon the very Comforts of this life But we shall either despise them or be as much despised and scorn'd for our inclinations toward them as the Beggar who being advanced to a great Estate does rather delight in a Barn and a wandring Life than a Palace and the respects that belong to his Fortune And why should we for the sake of these Bodies which then will be above them value and love the delights of this sensible World as the best and only Pleasures we are capable of If we would judge of the Delights of this World from the Capacities of our Bodies the best way would be to take an account of them from their Relation to our Bodies when they are in their best and most exalted Condition And then I am sure they would appear very mean and contemptible We cannot 't is true pass our Lives comfortably here without living upon and enjoying this World But yet it is very fit we should be mortified to this World and enjoy the pleasures of it very sparingly because we must live again in another World and the Bodies that are now pleased with the Enjoyments of this will if they be fit to live there find no more pleasure at all in them And the only way to cure us of our too great fondness for worldly things is to consider how little pleasure we shall take in them when we live again how base and contemptible all the Temptations that here court us to Voluptuousness and Luxury will appear when we are in so good a condition that we shall be able to live without the most needfull Enjoyments that now we have CHAP. III. The Resurrection consider'd as it is an Entring us upon an Immortal Life III. I Come now to consider the Resurrection as it is the beginning of an Immortal Life We shall not only then begin to live again and to live in these Bodies which Death deprives us of but to live an Immortal life 'T is the great reproach of that Life we now live that it is mortal because by receiving it mortal we receive it with the mark of God's displeasure upon it And Mortality does detract so very much from Life that it leaves us very little Life to boast of But when we rise again we shall for ever be freed from that which is so much the reproach of Life And the Life we shall then begin to live will be the same that Adam should have lived had he not brought a Curse upon himself and us i.e. It will be the Life that God in our Creation design'd us for Was the Resurrection only design'd to restore us the Life we lose when we die I mean just in the same imperfect condition we now enjoy it we should be apt to rejoyce in it as a Blessing and to fetch Arguments from thence to lay the Terrours of Death because it is much better to be in a living than a dead State Better is a living Dog than a dead Lion saith the Wise-man Eccles 9.4 i.e. The most contemptible Creature that has Life is in a much better condition than the most noble that wants it For to him that is joyned to all the living there is hope i.e. He that is alive does by virtue of that principle of Life that is in him reap much comfort and satisfaction from a prospect of all the good he is capable of This Notion some have carried so far as to persuade themselves that the Damned who undergo Everlasting Torments are in a much better condition than if they were in a state of Annihilation Because though they live in the most miserable condition yet they live And they who live do enjoy some good whereas they who have no life enjoy no good at all Upon which reason they conclude it is much more Eligible to be than not to be and to live though in the greatest misery than not to live at all But I must confess that I don't apprehend the fineness of this kind of arguing Neither does it appear that any Man does set such a value upon Life as to be content to live the most deplorably wretched life so that he can but live For Misery when there is nothing to allay it does spoil the pleasure and take away the very desire of living But however such a life as we now live is acceptable enough to us though in the course of it we do meet with many troublesome Circumstances Our sensibility of this we make appear by that daily care we take and that great expence we are at to find out Remedies to put off Death as long as we can For though there be vexatious passages in this life yet we generally feel they are tolerable or when they swell to a bulk exceeding our strength almost yet we often see that the greatest of Temporal Evils are not very long and upon that account we hope we may out-live them So that although it was to no better a life than this is that we should rise again yet we should be well satisfied with the thoughts of a Resurrection And the rather because this is a life that we are well acquainted with and know the worst of and by having made a trial of it do know how to pass through it with some tolerable ease and comfort But yet there is one Evil that attends this life which nothing that we enjoy in it can make tolerable and that is the Certainty of Death So that were we only to rise to a Mortal life this thought that we must die again would much abate of our esteem
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
for the Life to come a Life that nothing can destroy but our own Folly and Negligence Do we judge him an improvident Man who takes no thought at all for to morrow but expects that Providence without his own industry and fore-cast should supply his Necessities And do we make no Reflections upon our own foolish Improvidence when while we are thoughtfull and labour for food and raiment to preserve a Life that we must part with we leave all the care of an Immortal Life to the Goodness and Mercy of our heavenly Father without any serious Considerations what we are to do to qualifie our selves for it Immortality is 't is true the Gift of God and all that at last he bestows it upon must acknowledge that it is owing to his Goodness and Mercy But he has no-where told us that he will give it to those that are unworthy of it St. Paul tells us That it is to those who seek for glory and honour and immortality that he will give Eternal life Rom. 2.7 And in this consists his Revealed Mercy that he will raise and give Life again to a Creature that his Justice takes away Life from But then it behoves us to take care that when we have it we don't lose the Benefits and Advantages of it And by neglecting those Improvements whereby we are to prepare our selves for it to put us out of a condition of living happily when we have it 'T is Holiness alone can qualifie us for a glorious Immortality and this we may be sensible of because the Mortality and Misery we now labour under are the fruits of Sin And there can be no way to make our selves Immortal and Happy but by abandoning that which at first made us Mortal and Miserable So that if we still go on to corrupt our selves by the illess of our doings though we do rise again after Death Misery will follow us and a more dreadfull Condemnation than that which in Adam we fell under will come upon us PART II. II. I Come now in the Second place to consider what Certainty we have of the Truth of this Doctrine One would think that no Doctrine should meet with a more easie Reception than this of the Resurrection And that the love of Life should so strongly incline us to the belief of it as not to suffer us to expect so full a Proof and plain an Evidence as we do for Matters that we are not so much interested in But yet as gratefull a thing as it is to live and as willing as we are to have those things to be true which are for our good we mightily boggle at the Difficulties that are in a Resurrection and will hardly allow it possible that God should raise the Dead It appears very unaccountable to us that a Body that has undergone so many Thousand changes should at the last arise the same it was And that every Atom that belongs to it should after they have been carried to the furthest part of the World perhaps meet together and make up the same Body This is an Objection with which the incredulous believe this Doctrine is sufficiently puzzled and that no Wit of Man can make it appear so much as possible that such a thing can be viz. That the same Body that dies should rise again when perhaps the Dust of which that Body was made has belong'd to a thousand Bodies But though this be a Difficulty to us does our Reason tell us that it is so too to an Almighty and All-wise God Though we can give no account where or how the Dust of every Body shall be found yet we may conceive that every Dust is some-where and that That which is to be found some-where is not impossible to be found by an All-wise God whose Eyes go through the World This alone is sufficient to prove it possible without having a recourse to any Parallel Instances in Nature And for my part I must profess that I don't understand how any thing of this Nature can so much as make it appear to be possible We have been told that the Succession of the Summer to the Winter and the springing of the Day after a dark Night and the like do bear some kind of Resemblance to a Resurrection But how does it appear that it is possible a dead Body should rise and live again because we see there is a Succession of Days and Nights and that after a cold Winter we have a warm Spring that fetches Plants and Flowers out of the Earth For these things have those certain Causes in Nature which don 't at all belong to a Resurrection This will be the Work of God's Almighty Power And that he will make use of his Power to this purpose is no way to be known but by Revelation No conclusion can be made that because God in the first Creation of all things did make the Vicissitudes of Day and Night and so frame the Motions of the great Luminaries of the World that we should have Winter and Summer and that Plants and Flowers should seem to wither and die at the Approach of Winter and to revive again when the Spring returns That therefore it is possible the Dead Bodies of Men should return to Life again For how can we possibly conclude that a Body that dies and sees Corruption may rise again because we see Flowers and Plants that do not die in Winter to put forth and flourish in Summer These things have their own Natural Causes But to know the Possibility of a Resurrection we must have a Recourse to the Will of God because this is a matter that depends upon his pleasure For if he will do it it is enough to satisfie us that the thing is possible because it is to be the Work of Omnipotency And it is no more impossible for an Almighty God to gather together the scatter'd Dust of a Dead Body and to make that a Body again which has already been one than to make a World out of Nothing Now that we have such a Revelation none that consult the Scriptures and believe them to contain the Oracles of God can make any doubt of And for the better satisfying us he has exemplified the possibility of it in the Resurrection of Christ and furnish'd us with an assured Priniciple to ground our Expectation upon by raising him for our Justification CHAP. I. The Resurrection as Revealed 1. FIrst then I shall consider what ground of Certainty we have in the Holy Scriptures that there shall be a Resurrection And as to this matter it is to be observed that the Scriptures of the Old Testament do speak very sparingly of it And although before our Saviour's coming it was no doubt the belief and expectation of good Men yet their Faith and Hope were grounded upon no express Revelation of it And the Reason was because in this consisted the Grace that in the days of the Messiah should be procured for and communicated to
Spectres and Walking-Ghosts But 1. 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 The first Reporters of his Resurrection were Mary Magdalen and Mary the Mother of James Joanna and the other Women that were with them who came in the dawn of the first day of the Week to the Sepulchre with Spices to Embalm his Body God hereby in his wise Providence provided a Confutation of the Calumny of the Scribes concerning his Disciples stealing his Body out of the Sepulchre Now it will hardly be supposed that they should come with a design to take away his Body who were sollicitous how they should rowl away the Stone Neither is it probable that they should feign the story that he was risen who thought of nothing but Anointing and Embalming his Dead Body These Women to whom he first appeared after his Resurrection brought the glad Tidings to his Disciples to whom he afterwards shewed himself alive by many infallible proofs being seen of them forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God Act. 1.3 The two first that saw him were Peter and Cleophas as they were Travelling to Emmaus After that he appeared to the Eleven the same Evening as Peter and Cleophas were giving an account what had happen'd to them in the way and how he was known of them in breaking of Bread And to convince them he was no Spirit as they supposed but the same Jesus that was Crucified he show'd them his Hands and his Side and offer'd them the same sensible proof that it was he himself as satisfies every Man that he whom he sees speaks to and eats with is a Man and no Spirit His next Appearance was to the Eleven when Thomas was with them to remove whose incredulity he offer'd all the satisfaction without which he had declared he would not believe After this he by Appointment appear'd in a Mountain of Galilee to the Twelve where he was seen as St. Paul saith of above five hundred Brethren at once After which he was seen of James then of all the Apostles And last of all he was seen of me also saith the Apostle as of one born out of due time 1 Cor. 15.6 7 8. Now that which I mention all this for is to prove the certain Truth of this Matter of Fact from these three Things 1. That it is well attested 2. That they who were the first Reporters of it could not be deceived 3. That it could be no contrivance 1. It is well attested The Testimony of two or three Witnesses has always been accounted sufficient to establish every Truth This is enough not only to determine those Controversies that happen among Men but to dispose of the dearest Interests Men have in this life For though the Testimony of a single Witness may be doubted because though he speaks Truth there is much difficulty to know that he does so Yet the concurrence of many in delivering the same thing is allow'd for a certain Evidence of the Truth of it untill it can be made to appear that all those many speak only by report For in that case they bear no Testimony at all to the thing in Question but only to the Report Or that it appear there is a Combination among them for then though they be many yet they are but one Witness though the Matter be true 'T is thus likewise that we come to the Knowledge of Persons and Actions of past Ages And no Man makes any question whether there were such Persons as Pompey and Julius Caesar or whether they did such things as are reported of them because they have been deliver'd down to us by Persons that either knew them or had sufficient means inform themselves of the Truth of what was reported concerning them Now thus it is that the Truth of Christ's Resurrection is deliver'd down to us I mean we depend upon the Testimony of such a Nuber of Witnesses who saw and convers'd with him for forty days and received instructions from him and afterwards beheld him ascend into Heaven as seldom any Matter of Fact is Establish'd by And since we have the same Evidence for this Matter as we have for the Truth of all History no Man ought to call the Truth of it into question untill he has made it appear that the Persons that were the first Reporters of it were of no credit or that they contrived the story This is expected from all that except to the Testimony of any person For no Man's Testimony ought to be laid aside till it is some way or other sufficiently invalidated because it ought not to be taken for granted concerning any person that he is a Knave till it be proved that he is so 2. That they who were the first Reporters of it were not deceived Their Testimony is this That they divuiged nothing but what they were Eye-witnesses of i.e. They preached That Christ was risen because they had seen him alive again It is possible indeed that our Eyes may be deceived in what they see and that which we judge to be a Man may prove an Apparition But though at sometimes our Senses may impose upon us yet they seldom do but we know of it and especially if we have time to examine any Object we can hardly be deceived in our Judgment of it or at least we seldom live long under the Cheat. And indeed it would argue a Man extremely inclined to Scepticism to question whether these be real Bodies we our selves have or those be real Men that we live with because it is possible our Eyes may be deceived and that be no-body which we take to be one and those no Men which we believe are so For though we may be thus mistaken yet no-body doubts but there are ways whereby we do know we are not mistaken when we judge him to be a Man whom we see and speak withall Now whatever it is that satisfies us that the Men we converse with are not Apparitions the same certain Proofs had the Apostles that That Jesus who was crucified was alive again For if our Senses do not always deceive us what should hinder but that they should tell as well as other Men that they were not deceived in this matter And indeed if we consider the whole account we have of their Evidence it will appear they could not be deceived any more than we our selves are in the view of a plain sensible Object For he was seen of them forty days so that they had time to recollect themselves and throughly to examine the Truth of what they saw And besides a mistake of this nature does not use to lie on this side I mean Men do not use to mistake a Spirit for a Man It may sometimes fall out that a Man may be mistaken for a Spirit but the Appearance 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