alive As all that were naturally in and from Adam the corrupt Fountain of Mankind are under the sentence of Death so all that are in Christ the Head of the Regenerate shall partake of his blessed Life Others shall be raised by his Power as their Judg but not as their Head rais'd to be more miserable than Death can make them not be transform'd into his glorious Resemblance made capable of suffering an ever-dying Death not revived to eternal Life Now the Bond of our Union to Christ is the Holy Spirit derived from him as the Head of the Church and is the inward powerful and lasting Principle of Holiness and new Obedience in Believers He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit that is by the Spirit of Holiness has a real Participation of his Life is both quickned and united to him When the Prophet Elisha by the outward applying the parts of his Body to the dead Child inspir'd Life into him there was no real Union between them but Christ is by his Spirit so intimately united to Believers that he lives in them and they in him The sanctifying Spirit renews the directing and commanding Faculties the Fountains of moral Actions enlightens the Understanding with saving Knowledg rectifies the Obliquity of the Will purifies the Affections and reforms the Life so that the same Mind is in Christians as was in Christ and as his Conversation was such is theirs in the World This Divine Change is not wrought by natural Reason though assisted by the most powerful Arguments The Breath of a Man may as easily dispel a Mist or thaw a Frost as humane Directions and Motives to Vertue can renew the Mind and Heart and produce a Holy frame of Soul towards God Renewed Christians are said to be in the Spirit illuminated inclin'd and enabled by the Spirit to do God's Will and the Spirit of God to dwell in them by his peculiar and eminent Operations They live in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit An Angel may assume a Body and act by it but the humane Soul enlivens it and performs sensible Operations by it And such a Principle is the Holy Spirit to the Soul gives it spiritual Life Activity and Power for good Works By what Application of the Spirit 's Power this is produc'd is mysterious and inexplicable but as the Apostle speaks of his Rapture into the third Heavens that he knew it was real and heard unutterable things though how it was performed whether in the Body or out of the Body he could not tell thus when a natural Man the current of whose Thoughts and Affections was to the things of this World becomes spiritual when the carnal Appetite is subdued and sanctified Reason has the Throne when he feels such strong and sweet Impulsives to Holiness as engage the Will when the Stream of his Desires ascend to the things above and his Life becomes Holy and Heavenly he feels and knows this wonderful Change though the manner how it was wrought he cannot tell I will shew more fully this sanctifying Work of the Spirit that we may the better understand our State The Spirit of God is denominated by various Titles the Spirit of Truth the Spirit of Holiness the Comforter and represented by various Types by an Ointment that clarifies the Eye to see things aright by cleansing refreshing Water by purifying refining Fire correspondent to his sacred Operations in the Soul As the Spirit of Truth he illuminates the Understanding to see the Reality and Excellency of supernatural and Heavenly things of the great Mysteries of Godliness of Eternal Glory so that a Christian in his most deliberate solemn and composed Thoughts in his exactest Valuation infinitely prefers them before the gaudy Vanities of this transient World When the Eyes of the Mind are truly enlightned present things appear or rather disappear as Shadows As the Spirit of Holiness he renews the Will and Affections inspires the Soul with Divine and unutterable Desires after the Favour and Grace of God and communicates spiritual Power for the Prosecution and obtaining those Desires The Holy Spirit raises such a Love to God that habitually and strongly inclines the Soul to obey his Commands This is the most clear and essential Character of a Christian the special and most excellent Property of a Saint upon which all other Holy Qualifications depend As Reason is the first and chief Excellence of Man from whence his other Perfections are derived that distinguish him from the Brutes and give him a natural and regular Preeminence and Dominion over them so that a Man is most properly defined a reasonable Creature Thus the Love of God is the most Divine Grace the true Form of Holiness the Root from whence all other Vertues spring and flourish and most peculiarly distinguish a Saint from unregenerate Men however adorn'd and accomplish'd so that a Saint is most properly defined to be a Lover of God This is the Principle of true Holiness inherent in the Soul and shining in the Conversation that distinguishes the Sincerity of a Saint from the Art of Hypocrisy an affected Appearance of Religion for carnal sordid respects and from civil Vertue that restrains from what is ignominious and disgraceful to our Reputation and makes obnoxious to Penalties of the Laws and excites to praise-worthy Actions upon worldly Motives and from Philosophical Morality that forbids Vice as contrary to Reason and commends Vertue as the chief Ornament and Perfection of humane Nature without a Regard to please and glorify God And Divine Love is the Principle of universal Holiness Love is called the fulfilling of the Law as 't is a comprehensive Grace and as it draws forth all the active Powers of the Soul to do God's Will in an exact manner Universal Obedience is the Exercise of Love in various Instances As the Spouse in the Song of Solomon is transform'd in divers Representations sometimes as a Sister sometimes as a Warriour sometimes as the Keeper of a Vineyard but she always acted as a Lover and her chief business was to please her Beloved This Allegorical Description of the Church signifies that when the Soul is inflamed with the Love of God that Affection will be active and discover it self in all it does or suffers in the Service of God This will make a Christian very desirous and diligent to please God in all things and careful not to displease him in any thing for that is the inseparable Effect of Love The Felicity of the natural temper and the force of Education may cause a loathing of some Evils and dispose to some good Works but with a reserved delight in other Sins and a secret Exception against other Duties Servile Fear is a partial Principle and causes an unequal respect to the Divine Precepts it restrains from Sins of greater Guilt at which Conscience takes fire it urges to some Duties the neglect of which causes Disquiet but the Love of
Promise of God to all penitent Believers in the Kingdom of Heaven and excludes all impenitent Infidels Divine Justice will illustriously appear then in distinguishing Believers from Unbelievers by their Works the proper Fruits either of Faith or Infidelity All the thick Clouds of Disgraces Calumnies Persecutions that often oppress the most sincere Christians here shall not then darken their Holiness and all the specious appearances of Piety which the most artificial Hypocrites make use of to deceive others shall not conceal their Wickedness And accordingly the one shall be absolved and glorified the others condemned and punish'd for ever In short without violation of his own righteous establishment in the Gospel God cannot receive the unholy into his Glory 3. Besides the Legal Bar that excludes unsanctified Persons from the beatifick vision of God there is a moral incapacity Suppose that Justice should allow Omnipotence to translate such a Sinner to Heaven would the Place make him happy Can two incongruous Natures delight in one another The happiness of Sense is by an impression of Pleasure from a suitable Object The happiness of intellectual Beings arises from an entire conformity of dispositions So that unless God recede from his Holiness which is absolutely impossible or Man be purified and changed into his likeness there can be no sweet Communion between them Our Saviour assigns this Reason of the necessity of Regeneration in order to our admission into Heaven That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit According to the quality of the Principle such is what proceeds from it The Flesh is a corrupt Principle and accordingly the Natural Man is wholly carnal in his propensions operations and end The Disease is turn'd into his Constitution He is dead to the Spiritual Life to the actions and enjoyments that are proper to it Nay there is in him a surviving Principle of Enmity to that Life not only a mortal coldness to God but a stiff aversation from him a perpetual resistance and impatience of the Divine Presence that would disturb his voluptuous enjoyments The Exercises of Heaven would be as the Torments of Hell to him while in the midst of those pure Joys his inward inclinations vehemently run into the lowest Lees of Sensuality And therefore till this Contrariety so deep and predominant in an unholy Person be removed 't is utterly impossible he should enjoy God with satisfaction As it was necessary that God should become like Man on Earth to purchase that Felicity for him so Man must be like God in Heaven before he can possess it Holiness alone prepares Men for Celestial Happiness that is against the corruption and above the perfection of meer Nature I shall now proceed to consider more particularly what is requisite in order to our obtaining of Heaven 1. Faith in the Redeemer is absolutely required of all that will partake of the Salvation purchased by him God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have Eternal Life This is the Spirit and Substance of the Gospel therefore I will briefly unfold it The Son of God having assumed the human Nature and performed what was necessary for the expiation of Sin the Father was so pleased with his Obedience that from his lowest State he rais'd him to Divine Glory and gave him supream Authority and all-sufficient Power to communicate that Glory to others Thus our Saviour declares Thou hast given him i. e. the Son power over all Flesh that he should give Eternal Life to as many as thou hast given him And he exhorts the People Labour for that Meat that endures unto Eternal Life which the Son of Man shall give unto you for him hath God the Father sealed Now this glorious Life is not given to all but only to those who are united to him As Adam the principle of the carnal corrupt Nature derives Guilt and Death to all his Progeny so Jesus Christ who is opposed to him the Head and Prince of the renewed State communicates Life and Glory to his People The Apostle expresses it As in Adam all dye his natural Descendants are involv'd in his Condemnation even so in Christ shall all be made alive that is all that are spiritually united to him shall partake of his glorious Resurrection And St. John tells us He that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son hath not Life The having the Son upon which our right to Eternal Life depends is believing in him Faith has a principal Efficiency in receiving Christ therefore 't is exprest by that Act But as many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God and consequently Heirs of Glory so as many as believed on his Name And Christ is said to dwell in our Hearts by Faith This is not a meer assent to the Doctrines of the Gospel concerning the Dignity of his Person that he is in so high and glorious a Relation of being the Eternal Son of God and the infinite value of his Merits whereby he is able to save all that come unto God by him and his merciful compassionate Nature to embrace returning Sinners and the excellency of the benefits purchased by him but such a Belief as sways the Will and Affections to receive him upon God's terms for our Salvation Faith is seated in the whole Soul in the Mind and Heart and accepts of Christ intirely as Prophet Priest and King The parts of the Mediator's Office are inseparably connected and all the Effects of them are communicated to the same Persons Jesus Christ is made of God to Believers Wisdom to cure their Ignorance and Folly Righteousness to abolish their Guilt Sanctification to renew their Natures and Redemption to free them at last from the Grave and bring them to Glory From hence 't is clear that the Faith which is justifying and saving includes in its Nature as dependance and trust in Christ as a powerful and merciful Mediator that is able and willing to reconcile us to God and make us for ever happy in his Favour so a sincere resolution of Obedience and Subjection to all his holy Commands even to the plucking out of the right Eye and the cutting off the right hand the parting with the most pleasing or profitable Sins For the Promises of God that are the Rule of Faith make an offer of Christ upon these Conditions to us Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of Sins And only the Justified shall be glorified Those therefore who desire a partial interest in him as a Saviour out of absolute necessity to escape Hell and will not out of Love submit to him as their Prince have not that Faith that is unfeigned and gives a title to Eternal
2. Death considered in the strictest propriety as destructive of the natural Being that is our first and most valuable Good in the order of Nature is the just object of Fear The Union between Soul and Body is very intimate and dear and like David and Jonathan they part unwillingly Nature has a share in the best Men and works as Nature St. Paul declares we would not be unclothed not finally put off the Body but have it glorified in conjunction with the Soul Our blessed Saviour without the least impeachment of the Rectitude and Perfection of his Nature express'd an averseness from Death and with submission to the divine Will desired a freedom from it His Affections were holy and humane and moved according to the quality of their Objects 3. The natural Consequents of Death render it fearful Life is the foundation of all natural Enjoyments and the Loss of it induces the loss of all for ever 'T is from hence that such Evils that are consistent with Life and deprive us only of some particular Content and Pleasure are willingly chosen rather than Death The forfeiture of Estate the degrading from Honour the confinement to a perpetual Prison the banishing from our native Country are less Penalties than Death There is a natural love of Society in Man and Death removes from all The Grave is a frightful Solitude There is no Conversation in the Territories of Darkness This also Hezekiah in his apprehensions of Death speaks of with Tears I shall see Man no more in the Land of the Living As in the Night the World is an universal Grave all Things are in a dead Silence Palaces Courts of Justice Temples Theaters Schools and all Places of publick Conversation are shut up the Noise and Rumour that keeps Men in continual Observation and Action ceases Thus when the Sun of this present Life is set all the Affairs and Business all the vain Joys of Company Feasting Dancing Musick Gaming ceases Every one among the Dead is confined to his sealed obscure Cell and is alone an entertainment for the Worms The Psalmist saith of Princes Their Breath goeth forth they return to the Earth in that very day their Thoughts their glorious compassing Thoughts perish This the Historian observes was verified in Julius Cesar After his assuming the Imperial Dignity he thought to reduce the numerous Laws of the Romans into a few Volumes comprising the Substance and Reason of all to enrich and adorn the City of Rome as was becoming the Regent of the World to epitomise the Works of the most learned Grecians and Romans for the publick Benefit And whilst he was designing and pursuing these and other vast and noble Things Death surprised him and broke off all his Enterprises At the terrible Gate that opens into Eternity Men are stripp'd of all their Honours and Treasures and as naked as they come into the World go out of it Be not thou afraid when one is made rich when the Glory of his House is increased For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away his Glory shall not descend after him Death equally vilifies makes loathsom and ghastly the Bodies of Men and reduces them to sordid Dust. In the Grave the Dust is as precious and powerful of one as of another Civil Distinctions are limited to the present time The prodigious Statue in Nebuhadnezzar's Vision Dan. 2.32 33 34 35. while it was upright the Parts were really and visibly distinct The Head was of fine Gold the Breast and Arms of Silver the Belly and Thighs of Brass the Legs of Iron the Feet part of Iron and part of Clay but when the Stone cut out without hands smote the Image upon the Feet then was the Iron the Clay the Brass the Silver and the Gold broken to pieces together and became like the Chaff the Wind carries away Who can distinguish between Royal Dust taken out of magnificent Tombs and Plebean Dust from common Graves Who can know who were rich and who were poor who had Power and Command who were Vassals who were remarkable by Fame who by Infamy They shall not say this is Jezebel not know this was the Daughter and Wife of a King The King of Babylon stiled Lucifer the bright Star of the Morning that possess'd the first Empire in the World was degraded by Death humbled to the Grave and exchanged all his glorious State for Worms and Putrefaction The Worm is spread under thee and the Worms cover thee In short Death separates Men from all their admired charming Vanities Now considering Man merely in the Order of Nature what Reflection is more fearful and tormenting than the necessity that cannot be over-ruled of parting for ever with all the Delights of Life Those who have ascended to the Throne that are arrived at the height of Temporal Happiness what a melancholy Prospect is before them of Death and the dark Grave When all things conspire to make Men happy here the sensitive Faculties and their Fruitions are ebbing and declining till then sink into Death the Whirlpool that will shortly swallow them up for ever This renders the Thoughts of Mortality so frightful and checks the freest enjoyments of carnal Pleasures 2. Death is fearful in the apprehension of Conscience as 't is the most sensible mark of God's Wrath that is heavier than Death and a Summons to give an account of all Things done in this Life to the righteous Judg of the World 'T is appointed to all Men once to die and afterward the Judgment The Penal Fear is more wounding to the Spirit than the Natural When the awakened Sinner presently expects the Citation to appear before the Tribunal above where no Excuses no Supplications no Priviledges avail where the Cause of eternal Life or Death must be decided and the awards of Justice be immediately executed O the Convulsions and Agonies of Conscience in that hour when the diseased Body cannot live and the disconsolate Soul dare not die what Anxieties surround it This redoubles the Terrors of Death that the first transmits to the second that was figured by it O the dismal aspect of Death riding on a pale Horse with Hell the black Attendant following This Fear surprized the Sinners in Sion Who among us can dwell with devouring Fire who among us can remain with everlasting burnings This made a Heathen the Governor of a Province to tremble before a poor Prisoner While Paul discoursed of Righteousness Temperance and Judgment to come Felix trembled 'T is a fearful thing to fall into the Hands of the living God who lives for ever and can punish for ever None is so powerful as God nothing so fearful as the guilty Conscience 3. The Degrees of this Fear are express'd by Bondage This Passion when regular in its Object and Degree is excellently useful 't is a wise Counsellor and faithful Guardian that plucks off the Mask from our Enemies and keeps Reason vigilant
twinkling of an Eye be changed that they may be qualified for it Now herein the Wisdom of God is wonderful that Death which by the Covenant of Works was the deserved Penalty of Sin by the Covenant of Grace should be the Instrument of Immortality That as Joseph by a surprising Circuit was brought from the Prison to the Principality so a Believer by the Grave ascends to Heaven This the Apostle in his Divine Disputation against Infidels proves in a most convincing manner Thou Fool that which thou sowest is not quickned except it die As the rotting of the Corn in the Earth is necessary to the reviving and springing of it up so we must die and the Image of the Earthly Adam be abolish'd that we may be transformed into the Image of the Heavenly One And to the other part of the Question Why the Saints remain in the state of Death for a time there is a clear Answer The Resurrection of the Saints is delayed till Christ's coming to Judgment partly for the Glory of his Appearance For what an admirable Sight will it be that the Saints of all Ages shall at once arise glorified and immortalized to attend upon our Saviour in the last Act of his Regal Office and then to make a triumphant Entry with him into Heaven And partly that the establish'd order of Providence may not be disturbed for the changing of our Nature into Glory in a suddain and inexplicable manner cannot be without miraculous Power and if every Believer presently after Death were in his glorified Body translated to Heaven the World would be always filled with Miracles which were to cease after the sufficient Confirmation of the Gospel by them But how long soever the Interval be to the Resurrection it shall be with them that sleep in Jesus as 't is with those that awake out of a quiet natural Sleep to whom the longest Night seems but as a Moment so when the Saints first awake from Death in the great Morning of the World a thousand Years will seem no more to them than to God himself but as one day I now come to prove the third thing That our Saviour will abolish the Dominion of Death over the Saints Whilst the Bodies of the Saints remain in the Grave they seem to be absolutely under the Power of Death The World is a Golgotha fill'd with the Monuments of its Victories And it may be said to this our last Enemy in the Words of the Prophet to the bloody King Hast thou killed and taken Possession But we are assur'd by an infallible Word that the Power of Death shall be abolish'd and the Bodies of the Saints be reviv'd incorruptible and immortal The Resurrection is a Terra incognita to the wisest Heathens a Doctrine peculiar to the Gospel some Glimmerings they had of the Soul's Immortality without which all Vertue had been extinguish'd in the World but no conjecture of the reviving of the Body But Reason assists Faith in this point both as to the Will of God and his Power for the performing it I will glance upon the natural Reasons that induce the considering Mind to receive this Doctrine and more largely shew how the Resurrection of the Just is assured by our Redeemer 1. The Divine Laws are the Rule of Duty to the entire Man and not to the Soul only and they are obeyed or violated by the Soul and Body in Conjunction Therefore there must be a Resurrection of the Body that the entire Person may be capable of Recompences in Judgment The Soul designs the Body executes the Senses are the open Ports to admit Temptations Carnal Affections deprave the Soul corrupt the Mind and mislead it The Love of Sin is founded in bono jucundo in sensible Pleasures and the Members are the Servants of Iniquity The Heart is the Fountain of Prophaneness and the Tongue expresses it And the Body is obsequious to the Holy Soul in doing or suffering for God and denies its sensual Appetites and Satisfactions in Compliance with Reason and Grace The Members are the Instruments of Righteousness It follows then there will be an universal Resurrection that the rewarding Goodness of God may appear in making the Bodies of his Servants gloriously happy with their Souls and their Souls compleatly happy in Union with their Bodies to which they have a natural Inclination and his revenging Justice be manifest in punishing the Bodies of the Wicked with eternal Torments answerable to their Guilt And of the Possibility of the Resurrection the circular and continual Production of things in the World is a clear Demonstration of the Power of God for that effect There is a pregnant Instance that our Saviour and the Apostle made use of as an Image of the Resurrection A Grain of Corn sowed in the Earth corrupts and dies and after springs up entire its Death is a disposition to Life The Essays of God's Power in the Works of returning Nature Flowers and Fruits in their season instruct us how easily he can make those that are in the Dust to awake to Life If the Art of Man whose Power and Skill are very narrow and limited can refine Gold and Silver to such a Luster as if their matter were not Earth digged out of the Mines If from black Cinders it can form Chrystal Glasses so clear and shining how much more can Omnipotency recompact our Dust and reanimate it with a glorious Life Death that dissolves our vital Frame does not abolish the matter of our Bodies and though 't is corrupted and changed by a thousand accidents yet 't is unperishing and under whatsoever Colours and Figures it appears God perfectly discerns and will separate it for its proper use More particularly I will shew how the Resurrection of Christ is an assurance of the Resurrection of Believers to Glory As our Surety he was under the arrest of Death it becoming the holy Majesty of God and conducing to the ends of his Government not to derogate from the dignity of his Law but to lay the penalty upon his Son who interposed for us Now having finish'd the Work of our Redemption by his Sufferings his Resurrection was the just consequent of his Passion And 't is observable that his Resurrection tho one entire Act is ascribed as to himself so to his Father by whose consent and concurrence he rose again Therefore 't is said Whom God raised up having loosed the Pains of Death since it was impossible he should be holden by it 'T was naturally impossible upon the account of the Divine Power inherent in his Person and legally impossible because Divine Justice required that he should be raised to Life partly to vindicate his Innocence for he was reputed and suffered as a Malefactor and principally because he had fully satisfied God Accordingly the Apostle declares he died for our Sins and rose again for our Justification Having paid our Debt he was releas'd from the Grave and the Discharge was
justly deprived of it and cast into a Dungeon of Horror the Emblem of Hell The Sentence of the Law has its full force upon impenitent Sinners with intolerable aggravations for neglecting the Salvation of the Gospel Concerning the Heathens the Scripture declares 1 st That although the Law publish'd by Moses was not communicated to them yet there was a silent though less perfect Impression of it in their Hearts The Law of Nature in the fundamental Precepts of Religion and Society and Temperance was better known than obeyed by them Therefore the Apostle endites them for atrocious Crimes such as natural Conscience consenting with the Law of God severely forbids upon the pain of Damnation Thus 't is said of the Heathens Who knowing the Judgment of God that they which commit such things are worthy of Death not only commit the same but have pleasure in them that do them And at the last Day As many as have sinned without the Law as delivered to the Jews shall be judged and perish not according to that Law of Moses but the Law of Nature that obliged them to do Good and restrain themselves from Evil of which the counterpart was not totally deleted in their Hearts 2 dly Although the Revelation of Christ in his Person Office and Benefits is not by the preaching of the Gospel that is necessary for the begetting of Faith extended to all Nations yet the Grace of the Redeemer is so far universal that upon his account the indulgent Providence of God invited the Heathens to Repentance His renewed Benefits that sweetned their Lives and his powerful Patience in forbearing so long to cut them off when their Impurities and Impieties were so provoking was a Testimony of his inclination to Clemency upon their Reformation And for their abusing his Favours and resisting the methods of his Goodness they will be inexcusable to themselves and their Condemnation righteous to their own Consciences We are next to consider the Sanction of the Law that enforces Obedience and it will appear that God is not extream but wisely and justly ordained Eternal Death to be the punishment of Sin This will appear by considering 1. The end of the Sanction is to preserve the Authority of the Law in its full vigour to render it most solemn and awful and consequently 't is the wisdom of the Law-giver to ordain a Punishment so heavy as to overpoise all Temptations that might otherwise induce the Subjects to transgress its Precepts Therefore to Adam the first and second Death was threatned upon his Disobedience and Fear as a Sentinel was planted in his Breast that no guilty Thought no irregular Desire no deceitful Suggestion should enter to break the Tables of the Law deposited therein Now since notwithstanding the threatning Man was so easily seduced by the insinuations of the Tempter to break the Law and disorder the Government of God in the World 't is evident that such a Restraint was not over-rigorous to secure his Obedience I shall not insist on what is sadly visible since the first Apostacy that there is in Mankind such a prodigious propensity to sensual things that without the fear of Hell no Arguments are strong enough to prevent the bold violation of the Divine Law 2. 'T is consented to by common Reason that there ought to be a proportion between the quality of the Offence and the degrees of the Punishment Justice takes the Scales into its hand before it takes the Sword Now Sin against God is of such an immense Guilt that an eternal Punishment is but equivalent to it This will appear by considering 1. The Perfections of the Law-giver who is infinitely above us One Act of Sin is Rebellion against God and includes in it the contempt of his Majesty before whom the highest Angels cover their Faces with Reverence and Adoration as unworthy to behold his Glory and cover their Feet as unworthy that he should behold them the contradiction of his Holiness that is his peculiar Glory the denial of his Omniscience and Omnipresence as if he were confin'd to the superior World and busy in regulating the harmonious Order of the Stars and did not discern and observe what is done below the defiance of his Eternal Power and provoking him to Jealousy as if we were stronger than he 2. If we consider the Obligations of the reasonable Creatures to obey his Commands the guilt of Sin rises prodigiously They were made by his Power with this special character of Excellency according to his Image they were happy in his Love they were endowed with intellectual Faculties capable to understand and consider their Obligations to their bountiful Lord. From hence it appears that Sin is the most unnatural Rebellion against God and in it there is a concurrence of Impiety Ingratitude Perfidiousness and whatever may inhance a Crime to an excess of Wickedness 3. The meanness of the Motives that induce Men to prefer the pleasing their depraved Appetites before Obedience to his sacred Will extreamly aggravates the Offence Of this we have a convincing Instance in the first Sin committed upon Earth Deceitful Curiosity flattering Pride a secret pleasure of acting according to his Will join'd with the low attractives of Sense blinded and transported Adam to eat the Mortal Fruit against the express Command of God And ever since the vanishing shadows of Honour or Gain or Pleasure are the only perswasives to Sin And what can be more provoking than for a Trifle to transgress the Law of God and equally despise his Favour and Displeasure Can any Punishment less than Eternal expiate such Impieties The Rules of Humane Justice may discover to us the Equity of the Divine Justice 'T is ordained by the wisest States that many Crimes which may be done in a few minutes shall be punish'd with Death and the Offender be deprived of his natural Life for ever And is it not most just that Treason against the Great and Immortal King should be revenged with Everlasting Death 4. That which farther clears the Divine Justice in punishing Sin with Hell is this That God by his infallible Promise assures us that all who sincerely and uniformly obey him shall be rewarded with Heaven for ever a Blessedness most worthy the Greatness and Love of the Eternal God to bestow upon his Servants a Blessedness that surpasses our most comprehensive Thoughts Now if Everlasting Glory be despised what remains but endless Misery to be the Sinner's Portion The Consequence is remediless If Sin with an eternal Hell in its Retinue be chosen and embrac'd is it not equal that the rational Creature should inherit his own choice How just is it that those who are the Slaves of the Devil and maintain his Party here should have their Recompence with him for ever That those who now say to the Almighty Depart from us we desire not the knowledg of thy Ways should hear the dreadful Depart from me into everlasting Fire
most solemnly publish'd to the World 'T is therefore said the God of Peace raised him from the Dead the Act is most congruously ascribed unto God invested with that Title because his Power was exerted in that glorious Work after he was reconciled by the Blood of the Covenant Briefly Our Saviour's Victory over Death was obtained by dying his Triumph by rising again He foil'd our common Enemy in his own Territories the Grave His Death was a Counter-poison to Death it self as a bruised Scorpion is a noble Antidote against its Venom Indeed his Death is incomparably a greater Wonder than his Resurrection For 't is apparently more difficult that the Son of God who originally possesses Immortality should die than that the humane Body united to him should be raised to a glorious Life It is more conceivable that God should communicate to the humane Nature some of his Divine Perfections Impassibility and Immortality than that he should submit to our lowest Infirmities Sufferings and Death Now the Resurrection of Christ is the argument and claim of our happy Resurrection For God chose and appointed him to be the Example and Principle from whom all Divine Blessings should be derived to us Accordingly he tells his Disciples in a fore-cited Scripture Because I live ye shall live also Our Nature was rais'd in his Person and in our Nature all Believers Therefore he is called the first-fruits of them that sleep because as the first Fruits were a pledg and assurance of the following Harvest and as from the condition of the first Fruits being offered to God the whole Harvest was entitled to a Consecration so our Saviour's Resurrection to the Life of Glory is the earnest and assurance of ours He is called the first-born among the Dead and owns the Race of departed Believers as his Brethren who shall be restored to Life according to his Pattern He is the Head Believers are his Members and therefore shall have Communion with him in his Life The effect is so infallible that now they are said to be raised up together and made to sit in heavenly Places in Christ Jesus If his Victory over our Enemies had been imperfect and he had saved himself with difficulty and hazard as it were by Fire in the Apostle's expression our Redemption had not been accomplish'd But his Passion was triumphant and is it conceivable that he should leave the Saints his own by so many dear titles under the power of Death If Moses the Deliverer of Israel from the Tyranny of Pharaoh would not suffer any thing of theirs not an hoof to remain in the House of Bondage Will our great Redeemer be less perfect in his Work Shall our last Enemy always detain his Spoils our Bodies in the Grave This would reflect upon his Love and Power 'T is recorded to confirm our Hopes how early his Power was displayed in forcing the Grave to release its chained Captives And many Bodies of Saints which slept arose and came out of the Graves after his Resurrection and went into the holy City and appeared unto many What better Earnest can we have that the strength of Death is broken From what he has done to what he is able to do the Consequence is clear The Apostle tells us He will raise our vile Bodies and change them like unto his glorious Body by that Power whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself Our Redemption will then be compleat and all the bitterness of Death past The Redemption of the Soul is accomplish'd from Sin and Misery immediately after Death but the Redemption of the Body is the last in order and reserved to crown our Felicity at the Great Day Then Death shall be swallowed up in Victory abolish'd for ever And O the joyful reunion of those dear Relatives after such a Divorce when the Body that was so long detained in the loathsome Grave shall be reformed with all glorious Perfections and be a fit Instrument for the Soul and partaker with it in consummate Blessedness and Immortality 'T is said that those that wear rich Clothing are in Kings Houses but what are all the Robes of costly Folly wherein earthly Courtiers appear to the Brightness and Beauty of the Spiritual Body wherewith the Saints shall be clothed to qualify them for the Presence of the King of Kings and to be in his House for ever But O the miserable Condition of the Wicked in that Day Death now breaks their Bodies and Souls into an irreconcileable Enmity and how sad will their Conjunction be The Soul will accuse the Body to have been Sin 's Solicitor continually tempting to Sensualities and the Body will upbraid more than ever it allured the Soul for its wicked Compliance Then the Sinner shall be an entire Sacrifice burning but never consumed Now from the assurance of a blessed Resurrection by Christ the forementioned Fear of Death is conquered in Believers If the Doctrine of the Transmigration of Souls into Bodies the invention of Pythagoras inspired his Disciples with that fiery vigour as to encounter the most present and apparent Dangers being fearless to part with the Life that should be restored how much more should a Christian with a holy Confidence receive Death knowing that the Life of his Body shall not be finally lost but renewed in a blessed Eternity The fourth General to be considered is the Persons that have an Interest in this blessed Priviledg This Inquiry is of infinite moment both for the awakning of the Secure who vainly presume upon their Interest in the Salvation of the Gospel and for the confirming and encouraging the Saints And we have an infallible rule of trial declared by St. John He that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son hath not Life All the excellent and comfortable Benefits procur'd by our Saviour are communicated only to those who are united to him Particularly with respect to the present Subject Justification that great Blessing of the Gospel the compleat Pardon of Sins that disarms Death of its Sting is not common to all that are Christians in title but is a Priviledg with a limitation There is no Condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus vitally as their Head from whom are derived spiritual Influences and judicially as their Advocate in Judgment and such are described by this infallible Character who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit The Blessedness after Death that is assured by a Voice from Heaven is with this precise restriction exclusive of all others Blessed are the Dead that die in the Lord they rest from their Labours and their Works follow them The glorious Resurrection at the last Day when the Bodies of the Saints that now rest in Hope shall be incorruptible and immortal is the consequence of Union with him Thus the Apostle declares As in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made