he was expiring upon the Cross Luk. 23.46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice he said Father into thy hands I commend my spirit and having said thus he gave up the ghost He commended his spirit into the hands of God the Father and thither certainly it went And by this example of the Captain of our Salvation are we taught to do the like and to commend our souls at the hour of death into the hands of Almighty God and may be sure that all righteous mens souls go thither and not into Purgatory And St. Stephen commended his spirit to our blessed Lord. Acts 7.59 And they stoned Stephen calling upon God and saying Lord Jesus receive my spirit Into the hands of our blessed Lord did he commend his spirit and there is no doubt but that thither it went even to our blessed Lord where he saw him standing at the right hand of God ver 56 and not into any Purgatory And St. Paul concluded that he should be with Christ as soon as he was dead and Christ is at the right hand of God as the sacred Scriptures testifie 2 Cor. 5.8 We are confident I say saith he and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. And Phil. 1.23 For I am in a strait betwixt two saith he having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better He concluded that when he departed hence he should be with Christ And Christ is at the right hand of God as these places shew Rom. 8.34 Ephes 1.20 Col. 3.1 St Paul doth plainly shew that righteous men go to Heaven as soon as they dye and depart hence and that they go not to any such place as Purgatory And as for Elijah we are told that he went body and soul strait away to Heaven 2 King 2.11 And it came to pass as they still went on and talked that behold there appeared a chariot of fire and horses of fire and parted them both asunder and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into Heaven Here we plainly see that Elijah was carried strait away by this whirlwind into Heaven both body and soul and went not to be purified first in any Romish Purgatory We read also of Enoch that God took him Gen. 5.24 And this doth shew that God took him to himself and that he sent him not to any Romish Purgatoy And we may see that the Penitent Thief went immediatly into the Paradise of God Luk. 23.42 And he said unto Jesus Lord remember me when thou comest into thy Kingdom And Jesus said unto him verily I say unto thee to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise The Penitent Thief was immediately after his death to be with our blessed Lord and therefore not in any Purgatory but in the Paradise of Heaven a place of joy and happiness 2 Cor. 12.2 It is clear that righteous men immediately after death go to a place of joy and happiness and are not to be tormented in any Purgatory And as for the Wicked they are like to go to Hell a place of torment and misery and are not like to be released from thence at all This is shewed by the Parable of the Rich man that the Wicked immediately after death go to Hell and are like to abide there for ever Luk. 16.22 The rich man also died and was buried and in hell he lift up his eyes being in torments Here we see that he went presently to Hell a place of torments And he could obtain no ease nor comfort and no release from this place Ver. 24 And he cried and said Father Abraham have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame But Abraham said Son remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented And besides all this between us and you there is a great gulf fixed so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot neither can they pass to us that would come from thence Here it is plain that he could obtain no ease nor comfort and that this small request would not be granted him And by the Gulf here Abraham sheweth that it was not in his power to help and relieve him and that his condition was not to be altered And in the verses following he desireth that his Brethren at his Father's house might be warned to take care in time that they came not into this place of torment but he doth not desire that they or any persons else upon earth should pray for him For if it were not in Abraham's power to help him much less in theirs And it doth appear that the torments of Hell are everlasting and that there is no help for men when they are there Matt. 18.8 saith our Saviour Than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire And Matt. 25.41 Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire And ver 46. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment And Mar. 9.43 Than having two hands to go into Hell into the fire that never shall be quenched where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched And Rev. 14 11. saith St. John And the smoak of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever And they have no rest day nor night who worship the Beast and his Image And Rev. 20.10 And the Devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the Beast and the false Prophet are and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever By these and such places it doth appear that the Wicked are like to be tormented in Hell for ever and are not to be released from thence And that all Prayers and Masses and Papal Absolutions will signifie nothing at all to them and cannot deliver them from thence And now seeing all men are ranked under these two sorts of Righteous and Wicked seeing there are but two places and states to go to after death viz. Heaven and Hell seeing the Righteous after death upon their departure hence go into Heaven a place of joy and happiness and the Wicked go to Hell where they are to abide for ever and from whence they cannot be delivered It is from hence also manifest that there is no such place as the Romish Purgatory and that it is a meer fiction and sinful delusion It it clear that the Doctrine and Practice of the Romish Church concerning Purgatory are not agreeable to the sacred Scriptures and that a multitude of places therein do bear testimony against them XIII Their selling of Pardons and Indulgences for Money is not agreeable to the blessed Word of God The sacred Scriptures do shew that there is no Pardon to be had for mens sins except they repent of them and forsake them and become new and reformed men And
17.3 And when he had restored the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother his mother said I had wholly dedicated the silver unto the Lord from my hand for my son to make a graven image and a molten Image now therefore I will restore it unto thee yet he restored the money unto his mother and his mother took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to the founder who made thereof a graven Image and a molten Image and they were in the house of Micah From hence it doth appear that they intended to serve the Lord by these Images Jeroboam pretended by his Calves also to worship and serve the Lord as we may see 1 King 12.28 Whereupon the King took counsel and made two Calves of gold and said unto them It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem behold thy Gods O Israel which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt From hence it doth appear that he pretended to worship and serve the same God by his Idolatrous Calves that was worshipped at Jerusalem and the same God that brought them up out of the Land of Egypt And yet he is branded with infamy for his practice herein and called Jeroboam the Son of Nebat who made Israel to sin 2 King 10.29 And his House and Family were totally consumed upon this account 1 King 13.34 And this thing became sin unto the House of Jeroboam even to cut it off and to destroy it from off the face of the earth And 1 King 14.7 His pretending to serve and worship the true God hereby did not at all excuse his Idolatry but notwithstanding this his Calves are called other Gods and the judgment of God came upon his House for his wickedness herein And it doth appear that the very Heathens by their Images and Idols did design to worship the supreme God as the Apostle sheweth Rom. 1.22 23. Professing themselves to be wise saith he they became fools And changed the Glory of the uncorruptible God into an Image made like to corruptible man and to birds and fourfooted beasts and creeping things From hence we may see that they originally at the first intended to worship the supreme and incorruptible God by these Images of men and beasts and used them as Substitutes and Representations of him in Religious Worship And Rabshakeh also pretended that the Altars that Hezekiah destroyed were for the Service of the supreme God 2 King 18.22 But if ye say unto me saith he we trust in the Lord our God Is not that he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away and hath said to Judah and Jerusalem ye shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem Hence we may see that he pretended that these altars and high places were for the worship and service of the Great God above that was the God of Israel The old Idolaters both Israelites and Heathens pretended as much we see for their Image-worship as the Papists now can do and yet we see that they are both condemned in the Word of God We are to make no Images or Similitudes and Likenesses of Man or Beast or Crucifixes to worship the Great Jehovah thereby or his blessed Son or the Glorious Trinity For this would be Idolatry like the Heathenish Idolatry and flat against the Commands of God And the worshipping of the Images of the Saints is a more base and vile kind of Idolatry and a more wicked thing because they themselves are not the true Objects of our Worship And the more to shew that no Images or Similitudes are to be used in the Worship of God we may see that when Moses made the Tabernacle for his Worship and Service the Mercy-seat was to be left vacant and empty and to be filled with no Image or Similitude but only such Sparks of Glory as God himself was pleased to exhibit there Exod. 25.17 And if God been to be worshipped by any Image or Similitude we may be sure that one should have been placed in this peculiar Seat of his But there was to be none and hereby are we taught that none is to be made for Religious uses And Moses warneth the People that they should not corrupt themselves by making a graven Image or any Similitude upon this account and enforceth his Charge to them with this reason because they had seen no Similitude of God when he spake to them from Mount Sinai Deut. 4.15 Take ye therefore saith he good heed unto your selves for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire Lest ye Corrupt your selves and make you a graven Image the Similitude of any figure the Likeness of male or female the Likeness of any beast that is on the earth the Likeness of any winged fowl that flyeth in the air the Likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground the Likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth Here it is plainly shewed that no Images or Similitudes whatsoever are to be made as Mediums to Worship Almighty God by And we may see that this would be very injurious to him and a great derogation from his exceeding great Glory and Majesty and tend much to the debasing of Him in our minds to make dead and senseless Images to personate him which are much more vile and mean than our selves This is as St. Paul saith the changing the Truth of God into a Lye Rom. 1.25 For how can he be represented by a dead and senseless Image who so far exceeds all the understanding and apprehension of Man Our Saviour hath told us that God is a Spirit Joh. 4.24 He is a most Glorious Spiritual Being that cannot perish and decay but is an Everlasting and an Ever-living God And how can be then be represented by a Material and corruptible Image that must return to destruction and dust at the last This is the way to beget mean and low thoughts of Almighty God in our minds and such we ought not to have of him as the Apostle sheweth Acts 17 29 Forasmuch then as we are the off-spring of God saith he we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold or silver or stone graven by art or man's device God is of such a vast Immensity and Infinity that is not to be exprest nor conceived by us Thus saith the Lord Isa 66.1 the Heaven is my Throne and the Earth is my footstool Where is the house that ye build unto me And where is the place of my rest And Jer. 23.24 Do not I fill Heaven and Earth saith the Lord And so dreadful was his Majesty upon Mount Sinai that the Israelites cryed out that they should be all struck dead with it if the Lord spake any more to them Exod. 20.19 Deut. 5.25 And how then shall he be represented in any meet way by dead stocks and stones and so mean and base a thing as an Image is
And Exod. 34.13 But ye shall destroy their altars and break their Images and cut down their groves And Numb 33.52 Then ye shall drive out all the Inhabitants of the land from before you and destroy all their molten Images and quite pluck down all their high places And Deut. 7.5 But thus shall ye deal with them ye shall destroy their altars and break down their Images and cut down their groves and burn their graven Images with fire And again Deut. 12.3 And you shall overthrow their altars and break their pillars and burn their groves with fire and you shall hew down the graven Images of their Gods and destroy the name of them out of that place In all these places were they strictly commanded to beat down and destroy all Images for Religious use and all such Idols out of their land This is often repeated to them that they might be sure to take great Care to do it And they were commanded to cast away the very gold and Silver that was upon them as a cursed thing and not to take it to them that they might not be snared thereby Deut. 7.25 26. The graven Images of their Gods shall ye burn with fire thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them nor take it unto thee lest thou be snared therein for it is an abomination to the Lord thy God Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house lest thou be a cursed thing like it but thou shalt utterly detest it and thou shalt utterly abhor it for it is a cursed thing Here we see what cursed and abominable things Images are to Almighty God and that his People and Servants are commanded to abhor and detest them and not to take so much as the gold and silver that was upon them lest they should bring a Curse upon themselves thereby And this one might think should be enough to keep all good People from all Image-worship and to make them abhor all such thoughts And we may see that all good Kings and Princes did beat down and destroy all Images and such Idols according to the Commands of Almighty God Moses burnt the Calf that Aaron had made and ground it to Powder and cast it upon the water and made the Children of Israel to drink of it notwithstanding it doth appear that it was made for the Service of the true God Exod. 32.20 Hezekiah brake down the Images that were set up to be worshipped in Judea and is commended for doing that which was right in the sight of the Lord 2 King 18.3 And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord He removed the high places and brake the Images and cut down the groves And yet Rabshakeh pretended that he had broken down the Altars of the Lord. Josiah brake down all the Images that he met with in his Dominions and is commended for a good King and for doing that which was right in the sight of the Lord 2 Chron. 34.2 And he destroyed Jeroboam's Altar at Bethel and it is like his Calf too if it were to be found and was not destroyed before 2 Kings 23.15 And yet Jeroboam pretended to serve the true God by his Calves as I have shewed before King Asa also destroyed the Images and all such Idolatrous Worship and is commended herein for doing that which was good in the eyes of the Lord 2 Chron. 14.2 King Hezekiah also brake in pieces the Brazen Serpent that was set up by Moses when it was abused to an Idolatrous use that it might be no more an occasion of Idolatry 2 King 18.3 And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord He removed the high places and brake in pieces the brazen Serpent that Moses had made for unto those days the Children of Israel did burn incense to it This we see can be no Plea for Idolatry and Image-worship because he brake this brazen Serpent to pieces when it was thus abused to an Idolatrous use and his commended for doing that which was right in the sight of the Lord. These we see brake down and destroyed all Images and such Idols and are commended for their practice in so doing And we may see that Shadrach Meshach and Abednego would not be driven to worship the golden Image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up by all the threatnings and Terrors that he could use tho' he threatned to cast them forthwith into the midst of a Fiery Furnace if they did it not Dan. 3.15 And because they would not break the sacred Commands of Almighty God and commit such wickedness as the King commanded them but were resolved to part with their Lives tho' it were in this terrible and dreadful manner rather than do so God did in a wonderful manner deliver them and they received no harm at all tho' they were cast into a fiery Furnace as we see in that Chapter Again farther we may see that God hath declared himself to be a jealous God and that he will not part with his sacred Rights and give his Worship to Images and Idols and that a Wo and Curse is denounced against such Idolaters and that they are like to be shut out of the Kingdom of Heaven and to go to the Lake that burns with fire and brimstone God declareth himself to be a jealous God in the second Commandment upon this account Exod. 20.5 Thou shalt not bow down thy self to them nor serve them For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God And so Exod. 34.14 For thou shalt worship no other God for the Lord whose Name is jealous is a jealous God And saith he Isa 42.8 I am the Lord that is my Name and my Glory will I not give to another neither my Praise to graven Images And saith Moses Deut. 4.24 For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire even a jealous God God we see hath flatly declared that he will not part with his Sacred Worship and Service and let them be given to Images and Idols and hath oft declared that he will be full of jealousie and Fury when men set up Images and such Idols to rival him And a Curse and Wo is denounced against such as worship Images This is the first of Moses's Curses Deut. 27.15 Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten Image an abomination unto the Lord the work of the hands of the crafts-man and putteth it in a secret place and all the people shall answer and say Amen Tho' this should be done secretly yet he that should do it is here pronounced Cursed And saith the Psalmist Psal 97.7 Confounded be all they that serve graven Images that boast themselves of Idols worship him all ye Gods And saith the Prophet Isaiah Isa 42.17 They shall be turned back they shall be greatly ashamed that trust in graven Images that say to the molten Images ye are our Gods And Isa 45.16 They shall be ashamed and also confounded all of them
Spirit in Noah and other pious men perhaps too For it was the Spirit of Christ that was in Noah and the Prophets But they being then disobedient and abusing God's Mercy and Long-suffering and refusing to amend their sinful lives are now in hell eternally damned and not in Purgatory and the Long suffering of God doth now no longer wait for their repentance and here is no proof that Christ preached to any such spirits in prison after his death And it doth appear that these sinners are like to perish for ever from 2 Pet. 2.4 For saith he if God spared not the Angels that sinned but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment And spared not the old World but saved Noah the eight person a preacher of righteousness bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly Here we see that these wicked and ungodly men are reckoned with the Angels that sinned and are cast down to hell And from hence it doth appear that they are like to perish for ever and that they are not in any Purgatory out of which they are like to be delivered Here in this place of St. Peter 1 Pet. 3.19 there is nothing that looks like the Popish Purgatory out of which men are to be delivered by Prayers and Masses and Popish Absolutions Again saith St. Paul 1 Cor. 3.15 If any man's work shall be burnt he shall suffer loss but he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire And this some Papists would have to be the fire of Purgatory But it is clear that the Apostle asserteth no such thing as Purgatory here The Apostle here doth shew that this was to be a fiery Tryal to try every man's work of what sort it was and that if a man's work should be burnt in this Tryal and be found to be nought he should very narrowly escape and be saved as by fire He doth not here positively affirm that he shall be saved by fire but useth it as a similitude to express the difficulty of such a man's being saved That he shall be saved just as a man is saved by or out of the fire when his house is on fire about him and there is but one step between him and death Ver. 11 saith St. Paul For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ Now if any man build on this foundation gold silver precious stones wood hay stubble Every man's work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon he shall receive a reward If any man's work shall be burnt he shall suffer loss but he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire Here it is clear that the Apostle speaketh of some day of Tryal some such Judgment as came upon the Jews as seems probable And here we see that those that built upon the foundation of Christ sound Doctrines and good pious works according to the Gospel of Christ such as would abide the fiery Tryal of this Day and the strict examination of Almighty God as gold and silver will abide the fire those we see were to receive a reward and were like to speed well and here is no mention made that they should escape and be saved as by fire in such a hazardous and difficult manner But those that should build corrupt Doctrines and sinful Works upon this foundation such as would not abide the fiery Tryal of this Day as Wood and Hay and Stubble will not abide the fire such men were like to suffer loss and be in extreme danger and their deliverance would be like the delivering a man out of the fire when he is just ready to be swallowed up with destruction To escape by or out of the fire is a common expression to signify a narrow escape out of some great danger Psal 66.12 saith the Psalmist We went thorow fire and thorow water That is not thro' Purgatory as is clear enough because it was in this World but thro' great hardships and dangers And Amos 4.11 I have overthrown some of you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and ye were as a firebrand pluckt out of the burning That is ye were preserved from destruction just when it was seizing upon you like as a brand or stick is preserved from being burnt when it is snatched out of the very fire And so Zee 3.2 Is not this a brand pluckt out of the fire And saith St. Jude ver 23 And others save with fear pulling them out of the fire That is delivering them from the great danger that they were in And to be saved by fire is to be saved from perishing by it as St. Peter useth the like expression of being saved by water that is from perishing by water 1 Pet. 3.20 While the ark was a preparing wherein few that is eight souls were saved by water That is from being destroyed with the Flood which drowned the old World And so St. Paul useth by fire here in this place When such a Day of Tryal and Judgment cometh upon men God of his great Mercy may deliver some from the fire of Destruction when they have deserved and are ready to perish by it who will afterwards be truly thankful for such a Mercy and make a good use of it and have not provoked him in such a high degree and sinned so presumptuously against him as others have done In all these places that are alledged for the proving of the Romish Purgatory we see that there is nothing like it and that these very places do plainly prove to us that there is no such place as Purgatory where men are tormented and from which men are to be delivered by Masses and Prayers and Papal Absolutions Secondly We may see that this is confirmed by many places more in the Sacred Scriptures that there is no such place as Purgatory And 1. We may see that our work is to be done and completed here in this world in order to our eternal Salvation and is not to be done by us in the Romish Purgatory after death and therefore it is manifest that there is no such place as Purgatory where men are to be tormented and fitted for Heaven and Happiness Eccles 9.10 saith the Preacher Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with thy might for there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave whether thou goest Here the Divine Preacher sheweth that all our work is to be done and compleated here in this World and that there is no place for work or action in the grave after death And said he Eccles 11.3 If the tree fall toward the south or toward the north in the place where the tree falleth there it shall be And hereby he seemeth to intimate unto us that men at
death fall like trees and cannot afterwards alter their condition And saith our Saviour Joh. 9.4 I must work the work of him that sent me while it is day the night cometh when no man can work And this night we may be sure will come at death tho' our Lord here may have some respect to Persecution too And saith St. Paul Phil. 2.12 Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling Here the Apostle doth plainly shew that every one is to work out his own Salvation here in this World and exhorts us to do it with exceeding great care and lets us plainly see that it is not to be done by the Prayers and Absolutions of others after we are dead And saith the Apostle Heb. 3.13 But exhort one another while it is called to day Hereby also shewing that our work is to be done here before death And at the great Day of Judgment every one is to be judged according to the things that he hath done here in the body 2 Cor. 5.10 For saith St. Paul we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad According to the things done here in the body in this world are men to be judged at the last day and here is no regard that is to be had to the matters of Purgatory which shews that there is no such place And after death we may see that the righteous cease from their labor and are at rest and therefore are not laboring and tormented in the fire of Purgatory Job 3.12 13. Why did the knees prevent me or why the breasts that I should suck For now should I have slept then had I been at rest with Kings and Counsellors of the earth And ver 17. There the wicked cease from troubling and there the weary be at rest Job concluded that he should be at rest as soon as he was out of this troublesome world and that other righteous men should be so too and yet he had perfect knowledge of a world to come Job 19.25 And Daniel was to be at rest Dan. 12.13 But go thou thy way till the end be for thou shalt rest and stand in the lot at the end of the days And saith the Prophet Isaiah 57.1 None considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come He shall enter into peace From evil here in this world is the righteous man taken and when he departs hence he enters into peace and rest And saith the Apostle Heb. 4.9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the People of God For he that is entred into his rest he also hath ceased from his own works as God did from his Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest least any man fall after the same example of unbelief A rest remaineth to the People of God after this life is ended and here we are to labor that we may enter into it And saith St. John Rev. 14.13 And I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord from hence forth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labors and their works do follow them Those that dye in Christ are blessed and happy and are then to rest from their labors and not to be tormented in Purgatory 2 We may conclude from hence also that there is no Purgatory because the body has need to be purified as well as the soul and must be purified before it goes to Heaven but the body is not purified in Purgatory and therefore we may conclude that the soul is not purified in any such place It is more likely that the body should be purified in such a fire than that the soul should be so but the body lyes here in the grave with us until the resurrection and is not purified by Purgatory And yet the body must be purified before it can go to Heaven For the Apostle hath told us That flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of Heaven and that corruption doth not inherit incorruption 1 Cor. 15.50 But our bodies are to be glorified and spiritualized by our blessed Lord. Phil. 3.20 For our conversation is in Heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself The body is to be purified before it can go to Heaven but it is certain that the bodies of men dead are in the grave and not in Purgatory and that the bodies of the righteous are to be changed and glorified by our blessed Saviour and we may be sure also that the souls of the righteous are purified by him When we by the grace of God have done what we can to purify our souls we may be sure that our blessed Saviour will complete this purity and present them without spot before the Throne of God as I have shewed before This clear proof before our eyes that the bodies of men departed are not in Purgatory but in monuments and graves here upon earth doth make it more evident that there is no such place as Purgatory but that it is a vain Fiction and a meer Fable All Receptacles of the dead shall at the last day deliver up the bodies of men that are in them and are there to remain till that day according to John's Vision Rev. 20.13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it and death and hell or the Grave delivered up the dead which were in them and they were judged every man according to their works In the several receptacles where the bodies of men are and shall be reposed and laid up are they to abide till the general day of Judgment and are then and not before to be delivered up And if there were any need that men should be purifyed in Purgatory before they can be fit for Heaven there would be the same need and necessity that the last generation of men should be purifyed herein before they could be fit for Heaven But we are taught by St. Paul that at the last day the dead shall be raised up and that the living shall then be changed and so go with them strait to Judgment to meet the Lord and that the righteous shall from thenceforth abide with him for ever 1 Cor. 15.51 Behold saith he I shew you a Mystery we shall not all sleep that is die but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed That is those of us that shall be then living And 1 Thess 4.15 saith he For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord That we which are alive and remain unto