that it is a corruptible perishing dying thing and hath that within it self which if there were no danger from without would not fail at last to destroy it ye that are of the strongest and most athletick constitution must at last yield to the necessity of Nature Heb. ix 27. for it is appointed for all men once to die this is the Decree and Ordinance of God a Law that shall never be either repealed or altered Eccl. xii 2. The time is coming when the Sun and Moon and Stars shall be darkned and the Clouds return after the Rain Verse 3. When the Keepers of the House shall tremble and the strong Men bow themselves and the Grinders cease because they are few Verse 6. and those that look out of the Window be darkned When the silver Cord shall be loosed and the golden Bowl broken when the Pitcher shall be broken at the Fountain and the Wheel be broken at the Cistern Vehse 7. then shall the Dust return to the Earth as it was and the Spirit to God that gave it Thus you see by what hath been said wherein the vileness of the body doth consist S. Paul comprises all in a little room 2 Cor. v. 1. when he calls it our Earthly House of this Tabernacle by which words he intimates unto us that it is a poor mean Cottage so strait and narrow that the Soul is as it were crowded and thrust up in it and cannot inlarge nor stretch forth it self to its just dimensions so dark that it can see nothing but through the chinks and holes thereof and that only that lyes in a strait line before it so weak and ruinous that it is ever and anon ready to drop down on our heads 〈◊〉 11. I come now to the second thing designed and that is to enquire how we come to have such vile bodies The followers of Pythagoras and Plato who held the prae existence of Souls tell us that they are adjudged and condemned to this condition for their ill demeanour in that higher state that the Soul growing impure in it self forthwith loses its vital congruity with the more thin and subtile vehicle of Aether or Air and requires one of a more gross consistency as being more suitable to the moral turpitude and impurity she hath contracted through her sinful Apostasie and turning aside from God But these are the conjectures of men in the dark let us see what account the Holy Scriptures will give us in this matter There we read that Man when he came first out of the hands of God was an excellent Creature and the Masterpiece of the whole visible Creation the Image of God was resplendent in him and the Divine Glory rested upon him his Soul was full of light and purity and his body that was framed out of the uncorrupted Earth was wrought into a delicacy and fineness correspondent to it so that it was as a Crystal Case through whose transparent sides might in a sort be seen the sparkling lustre of that Jewel that was inclosed therein the humors were equally mixt and every part most exactly fitted and proportioned there was no defect nor deformity in him This was the state of Man whilst innocent but alass he sinned and no sooner had he sinned but immediately he found the sad effects thereof within himself the light and joy which was ere while within him was now turned into darkness and sadness his hope and confidence into fear and a dread of the Divine displeasure He who before did familiarly converse with God now flies his presence and would if possible hide his guilty head from him Now it was that death according to the threatning got within him and planted there the principles of corruption now the body became as it 's here called a vile body a necessitous indigent body a passive suffering body a weak and frail body a perishing and corruptible body it was sin that was the true cause of all this misery and infelicity of ours it was sin that spoil'd the harmony that broke the peace that stirred up the humors that discomposed the spirits that clouded the glory and majesty of the body and reduced it to that mean and contracted size that now it is of Through sin it is that we became liable to so many changes to perils from above the malignant influences of the stars and the poysonous blasts of the air to perils from below the deadly productions of the earth which nourish for a while but lay the seeds of death within us to perils and dangers from every thing round about us and with which we do converse It was sin that cast us out of the Paradise of God that drave us from under the shade of the Tree of Life that shut us up in our prisons and seal'd us up in our vile bodies as in a grave had we never sinned we had never been thus restrained by our bodies thus oppressed and burthened with our bodies thus wearied and tired with our bodies had we continued in the condition wherein we were at first created they would have been no more a burthen to us than are feathers to the birds whereby they fly from place to place Thus having clear'd unto you the second particular how we came to have such vile bodies I proceed according to the method proposed to improve the point and that I shall do by way of Information by way of Reproof and by way of Exhortation I. By way of Information and it will inform us of two things 1. Of the great evil of sin in that it hath marr'd and spoil'd one of the most beautiful pieces of the Creation Perhaps we cannot or at least will not see the evil of sin in its own nature and as it is considered in it self O see it in its effects and consequents you may know how corrupt and impure the fountain is by the muddy and polluted streams that flow immediately from it you may know how bad the tree is by the bitter and unwholsome fruits it produceth There is no evil in the world no vanity in the creature no disorder within your selves that doth not owe its original to the sin of man all your deformities all your imperfections all your decays and weaknesses all your pains and griefs and maladies are the effects of sin O think of this whenever you are tired and wearied with a dull and heavy body whenever you are afflicted and troubled with a sickly distempered body and indeavour to work your hearts to a perfect abhorrency and detestation of that which hath been the Author and Occasion of so much mischief to you All men cannot see the disorders and confusions that sin hath wrought upon the Soul to this there is required the special illumination of the Spirit whose peculiar work it is to convince the world of sin but we may all see the fearful work it hath made upon our bodies O take heed of it fly from it as
assaulted with sickness with pains and aches and distempers such which shall never decay myriads of Ages shall not make the flower of our youth to fall or fade nor bring the least wrinkle or deformity upon us there shall be an everlasting spring our greenness and verdure shall never be turned we shall have incorruptible bodies that is we shall never die for where there is no sin there can be no death there shall be none of the causes of death neither natural within us nor accidental from without us There shall be no Serpent in that Paradise of God no Tempter no forbidden fruit there shall be no infectious Air there shall be no death in the land of the living Again our bodies shall be raised in power they shall have a wonderful strength and vigor whereby they may be inabled to bear that exceeding weight of glory We shall have glorious bodies God shall refine them and make them like the purest sky they shall shine like the brightness of the firmament Dan. xii 3. and as the stars for ever and ever Then shall the Righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father Mat. xiii 43. as our Saviour tells us adding immediately who hath ears to hear let him hear Fulgtbit anima luce divinae sapientiae ex quâ luce râ—spiendescentia quaedam in ipâ—a quoque câ—pâ—ra transfundetâ—r Now besides what Scripture hath said it is clear and evident to our very reason that there shall be such a change wrought upon the body whether we consider the exalted state of the Soul which is to be united to it or the nature of the place where it is to have its constant residence and abode even the Heaven of Heavens the Court and Palace of the great King where there is no Earth nor Water nor any other of the Elements of this lower World neither any of the Creatures that live in them but pure light of unconceivable brightness now since we are to be in such a place our bodies must have such qualities as shall be correspondent and suitable to the purity of it for otherwise we should not be capable of living in it the grossness and heaviness of our bodies would incline and sway us down to this dull Earth again we should soon be weary of that strange place and groan and sigh to be delivered from it as the pure and holy Souls of good men do from this Now consider seriously with your selves what the advantages of this glorious change shall be it is a thing agreed upon by learned men and approved by experience that the frame and temper of our minds doth much depend upon the prevailing humors of our body nothing is more plain than this the mutability and changeableness of the disposition of our minds may convince us of it how are we at some times prest down with the weight of the body being almost stifled and suffocated with the noysome vapors that do ascend from it insomuch that we can neither think nor act with that force and vigor that is proper to the Soul and Spirit of man we become in a manner meer lumps of clay and 't is an hard matter to discern any thing in us that may distinguish us from the very brute creatures and yet we the very same persons when the cloud is removed when the fog that benighted us is dispersed and scattered what an alteration do we find how serene and clear are our minds how free are our thoughts how nimble and active is the Soul and how quick and lively in all its motions and operations Now think with your selves if a good temper of body can so much promote the pleasure and happiness of our minds whilst we are here what an exalted condition shall we be in when our bodies are become wholly spiritual when there shall be no gross or earthly alloy in our constitution when the clouds arising from these lower regions shall never interpose or come between the Soul and its glorious object But so much may suffice to be spoken concerning the first particular viz. What this change shall be and wherein it doth consist II. I come now to the second thing intended and that is to shew what assurance we have of it or what grounds and reasons there are to persuade our selves that thus it shall be and this I shall dispatch in a few words we have as great assurance as the thing is capable of and it lies in these four particulars First in the promise of God who in his Word hath declared that whomsoever he leads by his Counsels he will bring at last to his glory besides my Text there are divers other passages of Scripture which I have occasionally mentioned already and therefore shall not trouble you with a needless repetition of them only give me leave to shew you what reason you have to acquiesce and rest satisfied in these promises and that both upon the account of his power and of his truth and faithfulness upon the account of his power he is Omnipotent he is Almighty he can do whatever he pleases men may promise and not be able to perform but we cannot conceive any such thing concerning God without doing him the greatest injury imaginable he that made the world of nothing and framed these bodies of ours out of the dust how easie a thing is it for him to change these vile bodies of ours and transform them into the likeness of that of our glorious Redeemer Again we have reason to depend and rely without scruple upon the promise of God if we consider his truth and faithfulness he cannot lye nor deceive his creatures those are weaknesses and imperfections utterly inconsistent with the holy nature of God and therefore the Scripture pronounces them blessed who trust in God in a right manner because it is impossible they should be deceived or disappointed Psal 146.5 6. Happy is he who hath the God of Jacob for his help In omnibus Deum frielem invenim is in ultimo deficiet faliet August whose hope is in the Lord his God which made Heaven and Earth and all that therein is which keepeth truth for ever Now this God who is just in all his Actions and true and faithful in all his sayings hath told us that he will glorifie these vile bodies of ours 1 Tit. 2. In hope of Eternal Life which God that cannot lye hath promised unto us II. Our assurance lyes in the resurrection and glorification of Christ which was not only an Example and Pattern of ours but is also the Cause because he is risen we shall rise also because he is glorified we may be sure we shall be glorified together with him This appears from the relation we bear unto him he is our head we are the members of his body now if the head be glorious so shall we his members be also we are his servants and followers and therefore may conclude he will in his
men Why thy folly is much greater inasmuch as thou refusest a greater blessing than any of the forementioned ones and choosest a condition far worse than theirs Search into the causes of it and you shall find that it proceeds from the weakness of your Faith from the remisness of your Love to God from the flatness of your desires from the lowness and darkness of your spiritual apprehensions and from your unmortified affections you are not yet throughly crucified to the world nor is the world crucified to you there is a secret hankering after it a secret delight and satisfaction in it whatever you pretend to the contrary were it not so you would long earnestly for your enlargement and with Saint Paul Phil. i. 23. desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is far better III. This Doctrine exhorts us to a noble and generous contempt of the body Is it so vile a thing so mean and contemptible a thing in the sense I have explained it O then do not spend thy time thy strength thy substance in providing for it or in the satisfaction of it but think of the poor Soul that is imprisoned in it labour as much as you can to in large its condition here to separate it as much as may be from the body to advance it as far as your present state is capable above the body Would you not think him a mad man that should stop up all both peeping and breathing holes in his Prison that should desire that the walls thereof might be made much stronger and the doors be bolted much faster Such is the folly of those men who mind nothing more than the good habit of their body O transfer your care from the Body to the Soul for that must shortly lie down in the dust and perish but this shall abide for ever Think therefore how thou mayest provide for its security how thou mayest get a mansion in the Heavens that so when thou goest hence thou mayest not be at such an uncertainty as the generality of men are who know not what shall become of them or where their Eternal abode shall be When thou dost disregard and slight thy body upon the design of promoting the health and happiness of thy Soul thou shewest the highest regard to and care for it imaginable for as our Saviour saith He that loveth his life shall lose it John xii 25. and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal So he that expresses his love to his body by studying the pleasure and satisfaction of it doth take an effectual course to destroy it but he that despises and neglects it for the sake of Christ doth hereby infallibly secure its everlasting welfare for whosoever hath an interest in Christ may be assured that at his coming he will change this vile body that it may be fashion'd like unto his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself and so this leads me to the second thing contained in the words namely what shall be the state of the body at the resurrection it shall be transformed into the similitude or likeness of the glorious body of Christ In treating of this I shall observe this order or method I. To declare unto you what kind of change this shall be and wherein it doth consist II. To shew what assurance we have of it or what grounds and reasons to persuade our selves that thus it shall be III. To stir you up to a serious meditation of it that you may find the power and influence of this great truth upon your own hearts As for the first what kind of change this shall be it is evident that it shall not be a substantial change from the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here made use of by which is intimated unto us that the same substance shall remain only it shall have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is not another shape for the form and figure and lineaments of the body shall not be altered but another appearance as being freed from all those evil qualities that were contracted by sin and adorned with all the excellencies and perfections it is capable of This body of ours that we now carry about with us this vile body that is liable to so many injuries that is deformed with blindness cripled with lameness weakned with sickness pined with hunger dried with thirst scorched with heat contracted with cold this very body shall Christ change that it may be fashioned like unto his own body and that not as it was upon Earth but as it was when raised up by the mighty power of God like to his glorious body Saint Chrysostom when discoursing upon this place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost Hom. 13. in Ep. ad Philipp could not contain himself but break out into a rapture of joy and admiration Oh wonderful saith he that this vile body this earthy this corruptible body should be made like unto that body wherein Christ sitteth at the right hand of the Father like unto that body wherein he is Worshipped and Adored by all the Heavenly Host Who hath heard such a thing who could ever have imagined such a thing it shall be made like unto the glorious body of Christ in the participation of the same excellent qualities This is strange and we cannot but wonder at it but yet we may nay we must believe it for he hath said it and he will do it since he is able according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things to himself If you desire to understand more particularly the nature of this change Scritur 〈…〉 manitum usque quaque vestitum Tertul. de Resur carn the Apostle will inform you fully in the 15. Chapter of the first Epistle to the Corinthians and the 42 43 and 44. verses It is sown in corruption it is raised in incorruption it is sown in dishonour it is raised in glory it is sown in weakness it is raised in power it is sown a natural body it is raised a spiritual body O consider this well we shall have spiritual bodies not in the strict and most proper sense of the word for so a spiritual body is a contradiction but we shall have pure refined quick and agil bodies which if compared with these to which we are now restrained may well be called Spiritual We shall have spiritual bodies that is such as the blessed spirits wear when they go upon Heavens Embassies plyant and yielding to all the motions of the Soul like their vehicles of Aether We shall have incorruptible bodies that is such which shall not stand in need to be repaired and kept up by the constant supplies of meat and drink such which shall subsist unchangeably without those helps which nature now requires as necessary to the preservation thereof we shall have incorruptible bodies that is such which cannot be