Point The Ensuring Grounds of a Believers Resurrection are principally two 1. The Resurrection of Christ 2 Cor. 4.14 Knowing that he who raised up Jesus from the dead will also raise us up by Jesus 1 Cor. 6.14 1 Thess 4.14 for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him Christ rose not as a Private but as a Publick common Person Our Nature was raised in his Person and therefore in our Nature all true Believers He rose as the First Fruits of them that sleep 1 Cor. 11.20 And upon this account our Resurrection is secured and not our Resurrection meerly but in all its happy Modifications and Issues as the First Fruits offered to God did not only assure but sanctifie the whole following Harvest And this security tho of something future is so strong that that the Apostle illustrates it by an opposite Instance wherein the security is actually and most lamentably felt as at 1 Cor. 15.21 22. for as by Man came Death so by Man comes the Resurrection from the Dead As in Adam we all die so in Christ shall we be made alive but every man in his order Christ the First Fruits afterwards them that are Christs at his coming so that as our Death and the Death of all that shall come into Being is secured by Adam's so with an equal but more joiful certainty the Resurrection of Believers is secured by Christ wherefore because he lives they shall live also John 14.19 This inferring a believers Resurrection from Christ is grounded on three reasons 1. He is the Meritorious Cause of our Resurrection The Prayer of the Prophet as it engaged the Divine power raised the Shunamites Child 2 Kings 4.33 34. the dead Souldier revived at the touch of the Prophet's Bones chap. 13.21 How much more shall the will of Christ and the power of his Death raise us * Baxter 's Sts. Rest p. 1. cap. 5. Sect. 2. He was our Surety when under the arrest of Death and making full satisfaction to the Justice of God merited not only our Impunity but our Advancement Now having finished the work of our Redmption by his sufferings and Death his Resurrection is but the just consequent of his Passion and Discharge or Acquittance upon this our Justification is grounded Rom. 5. ult Now the price being paid and the Acquittance received there is no Barr against our happy Resurrection any more than against his because the Price was paid in our stead and the Acquittance received is for the use of the principal Debter whoever receives it Furthermore the Redemption of Christ extended to the Body as well as to the Soul otherwise he had been but an incompleat Saviour therefore Christians who have experienced the vertue of his redeeming Grace are said to wait for the final act of his Redeeming Power in the Redemption of their Bodies Rom. 8.23 * Athanas. de Inearnat verbi Whether there should have been no Resurrection of the Body at all if Christ had not died and whether he died so far for all both just and unjust to raise them as some think Or whether there should have been a Resurrection of the Body if Christ had not died and Man should have still suffered both Temporal and Eternal Death in toto supposito in his whole Person as others think †Cocceus de faedr Cap. 2. Sect. 2. yet certainly in the present order the Resurrection of Believers must be ascribed to the Merits of the Cross and looked upon as the fruit of Christs Death so that it remains as sure as the vertue and efficacy of his Passion 2. He is the effective Principal or cause of our Resurrection All power is given him in Heaven and in Earth He is the support of our Bodily Life and the Author of that Spiritual Life we live as Believers and by him all things are upheld and do consist therefore t is requisite that all things should be likewise beholden to him for their Restitution It must be a Mediating Power the power of a Mediator to preserve things in being where their being is forfeited and Annihilation deserved and likewise to heal the disorders Sin hath introduced among all kind of Beings that relate to the Use and Comfort of Apostate Man And as he is the Author of this Restitution among the Creatures so likewise of the Resurrection of Man which will be accompanied therewith By his General Power and Agency wicked Men shall be raised He is Lord of the whole unseen State who as he can commit so can bring forth having the Key of Death as well as of Life He will exert his Power to recompact the scattered parts of their Bodies and as a Judge Authoritively Summon them to appear before him But Believers are raised tho not by an Inferiour yet by a more benign and advantageous power His own Resurrection put him in the Possession of that Power which do effectually secure ours Rom. 14.9 For to this end Christ both died and rose and Revived that he might be Lord both of the Dead and Living 3. Christs Resurrection is the Example or Pattern of a Believers because he arose therefore they shall rise and shall so arise as he did and be restored to Life according to his Pattern Phil. 3.21 Our vile Bodies shall be changed into the likeness of his most Glorious Body His Body was raised the same so shall ours and yet his Body was improved by the Resurrection so shall ours too and so much the more improved than his as they need it more whereupon as to our Bodily State we shall become like the Angels that are in Heaven Mat. 22.30 As we shall be purged from all our present Infirmities so we shall no longer need the means of bodily Sustentation for the Children of God which are the Children of the Resurrection are equal unto the Angels and can die no more Luke 20.36 Our Lord was raised that he might ascend and be glorified so shall we God will redeem our Souls from the Power of the Grave that he might receive us to himself The Second Ground is 2. The Inhabitation of the Spirit And this is a more immediate or proximate Foundation of this blessed Priviledge Resurrection simply considered hath its dependance only on the Will and Power of God but it is of a Glorious Resurrection that we here speak The meer Resurrection of the Body is absolute but a Resurrection unto Glory is conditional and therefore appropriate to some only and the Author of this Glorious Resurrection hath determined to whom it shall be vouchsafed He himself hath confined it to such as have a work of Grace effectually wrought by the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them Now the Inhabitation of the Spirit in Believers will more clearly appear as the Ground of their Resurrection by considering these two things 1. The Spirit of Holiness is the vital bond of Vnion between Christ and
number but such as Voluntarily put themselves into it and wilfully continue notwithstanding the means which the great Redeemer uses to educe and recover them Death is no where perpetual but where it is self-procured None lie under it and abide under it but they that loved it and refused to to take hold of the Paths of Life None die unintrested in the Redeemer and his Power but such as rejected him while they lived Therefore 2. Vse Let this admonish us to take care and provide that we be of that number to whom this blessed priviledge belongs Since it is not common to all but proper only to some with what solicitude should we concern our selves and follow on the Enquiry till we arrive at a certainty in this matter Since the enquiry is of highest importance and admits of a plain and true solution it can never be justified as rational to continue in a dubious uncertainty Who would not covet to be in a special Relation to the Almighty and Gracions Redeemer and to be one of those whom he will Redeem from the Power of the Grave The knowledge of this alone can preserve the true comfort of our lives and fill us in Death with Joy Vnspeakable and full of Glory Let us therefore with assiduous diligence endeavour to make our Calling and Election and therewith our Glorious Resurrection sure This matter will quickly be brought to an Issue with every one of us either Death will Triumph over us and prey upon us as Eternal Trophies of its Conquest or through Divine Grace and Love we shall be delivered and Triumph over it There are Two or Three Things will ascertain our State and let us into the Knowledge of what our final Issue will be 1. Are we Regenerate Creatures We are naturally Apostates from God and in open defiance against his Soveraignty and Laws and there can be nothing but a fearful Expectation or looking for of Death and Vengeance which shall devour and consume such Adversaries until we cease to be Adversaries until the contrariety of our Natures against him be subdued and we become new Creatures Our Expectations cannot rationally be altered but upon a precedent Change of State The Resurrection of Christ is the Ground of this blessed Hope in Believers as hath been shewn but their Regeneration is the Evidence of it A Soul that passes out of this World unrenewed must never expect a Reunion with a raised Glorified Body The Body indeed shall be raised and reunited to the Soul but it will be in order to compleat the Misery of the Sinner Redemption from the Power of Sin and Redemption from the Power of Death are Coextensive and have both the same Subjects Rev. 20.6 Blessed and Holy is he who hath part in the first Resurrection on such the second Death hath no Power There is the Priviledge and there is the Character of the Person to whom it belongs It is in vain to think of dissolving the Divine Order or separating what God hath joined together None ever was or shall be so blessed as to be exempt from the Power of the second Death but such as are Holy and have Part in the first Resurrection Though the Soul be the immediate Subject of Regeneration yet it respects the whole Person The Understanding and Conscience and Will and Affections are all changed in this Work And the bodily Members and Senses are destinated by the renewed Soul and employed in new Services and are no more the Members of Unrighteousness but Instruments of Service to Jesus Christ Rom. 6.19 The Laws of the great Redeemer are the Rule of Duty to the entire Man and are obeyed or violated by the Soul and Body in Conjunction Now where there hath been this entire Obedience yielded by a Man renewed in his whole Constitution it shall receive a just recompence of Reward and those that have followed Christ in the Regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit on the Throne of his Glory they shall sit with him judging the Twelve Tribes of Israel Mat. 19.28 2. Are we Dead with Christ If we be Dead with Christ we believe that we shall also live with him If we be planted together with him in the likeness of his Death we shall be also in the likeness of his Resurrection If we suffer with him we shall reign with him Rom. 6.5 8. Our likeness to Christ must be begun in our present embodied State This is the fixed Order of Heaven The other World is the World of Perfection where the Image of Christ or of the Devil is compleated according to which of them was begun here upon Earth None can have Communion with the Redeemer in his glorious Resurrection but such as have Fellowship with him in his Sufferings and are conformable to his Death Phil. 3.10 A Man that continues to Live cannot while such be the subject of Resurrection He must first Die So our Self-denial and Mortification and Dying with Christ as necessarily precedes our Communion with him in his glorious Resurrection 3. Are our Hearts and Affections now with God and Christ in Heaven Nothing less than an Heavenly Conversation can justifie our looking for a Saviour who shall change our vile Bodies into the Image of his most glorious Body Phil. 3.20 21. A Terrene Temper of Mind and an Heart unlimitedly engaged in the World doth absolutely contradict the Hopes of a blessed Resurrection and Reception into Heaven It is the Nature of Hope as it is a Christian Grace to engage the Soul in a serious Pursuit of that which is hoped for And also to give it a deep Tincture of its Object before it is actually enjoyed Therefore if we don't savour heavenly Things above all carnal and worldly Delights and seek them with the greatest Diligence our Hopes are Fallacious The Wise and Holy God cannot act so Inconsistently with Himself How Inconsistent soever Mens Actions and Hopes may be as to bestow Heaven and Glory upon one that never desired or esteemed or sought it that would always prefer the Honours and Emoluments of the World before it This would be to violate the Rules of Discrimination which he himself hath fixed and such an Inglorious Amplification of that blessed Kingdom as would leave it almost undesirable and the Priviledges of Christians would cease to be Priviledges when others may have an equal share in them These Enquiries do in short recur to this Have we a sure Interest in Christ who is the Prince and Lord of Life Have we received him in all these Respects wherein he is to be received and absolutely resigned our selves to him as our Lord and Saviour Hath there passed such mutual Acts between us and him of giving and receiving as that thereupon He may be truly called ours and we as truly said to be his He will finally redeem none but his own Have we remaining Indications of this in our Hearts and Lives Have our Course in this World been ordered agreeably thereto in
me into his Family that I am no more under the Dominion of Satan as one of his Houshold or Slaves And this is a Pledge and Earnest that he will receive me to himself into the Mansions of his Glory where I shall no more fear the Arrest of Death or be molested with any other natural Evils Now having seen the Sense of the Words there is something material to be observed if we look on them in their Mutual Aspect and Relation to each other And 1. The latter Part of the Words doth direct and confine our Apprehensions of the former There is a Resurrection both of the Just and Unjust Acts 24.15 These are specified by their different Ends One is a Resurrection unto Life the other unto Damnation John 5.9 And it is determined which Resurrection must be here meant by that which is added For He shall receive me All must be rais'd and though it is by the same Almighty Power yet not to the same ultimate Purpose and End Some are rais'd that they may be sent into the most remote and reimpassible Distance from God Others that they may be taken into the nearest Union with him 2. There is a Mutual Security inferred from the Expressions on each other But God will redeem my Soul from the Power of the Grave for he shall receive me He must first redeem me from out of the Hands of Death before he can receive me My final Blessedness consists in my Reception with him This Blessedness must reach to the Body which is an essential Part of the Man as well as the Soul otherwise it is not Compleat and Perfect And 't is his Word whereon he hath caused me to Hope that where he is his Servants shall also be John 12.26 This makes it necessary that the Body be raised Good Actions and whatsoever is a part of Divine Service or belongs to us to do as his Servants though designed by the Counsel and Resolution of the Spirit yet are performed by the Ministry of the Flesh And the Body is the Consort of the Soul in all its Obedience and Sufferings They must be both offered as one living sacrifice to God Rom. 12.1 They must both concur to render us his Servants therefore their Concourse is necessary that his Servants may be where he is And because it is a God one who is infinitely powerful and faithful that is to make me thus finally and perfectly Blessed I have no Reason to doubt But he will redeem my Soul from the Power of the Grave His rewarding Goodness as well as his revenging Justice must be made manifest And how can that be unless the Body be raised that the entire Person may be capable of a just Recompence If I am one of those whom he will receive it is impossible that I should be held under the Power of Death or remain its Captive any longer than for such a Season as the Method and Order of his working makes needful And there is an equal Necessity inferred also on the other side Because He will redeem my Soul from the Power of the Grave therefore He shall receive me to himself There is a Mutual Insurance because it is equally impossible for a Believer to be redeemed from the Power of the Grave and not be finally and perfectly Blessed as to be perfectly Blessed without being first redeemed 3. This Mutual Relation between the Words doth intimate a Manifestation of my belonging unto God Resurrection alone simply considered doth not prove me to be his but when he shall both raise me and receive me it is thereby manifestly determined whose I am Here it is still liable to Question both as to my self and others To whom I belong and though I find this weighty Question sometimes comsortably resolved yet at other times I cannot discern or take the Comfort of any such Answer But then it will be finally decided Redemption from the Grave is a demonstrative Argument of his Interest in us to which we cannot but Assent As the Jews professed a readiness to believe that Christ belonged to God and was his Son if as a Father he would deliver him from the power of Death on the Cross Matth. 27.43 The Honour of our Lords Relation to the Father was much eclipsed by his poor Life and ignominious Death And though his darkest Nights were enlightened with some discoveries of his Deity yet they were vanishing and transient But in his Resurrection he was declared to be the Son of God with Power Rom. 1.4 And the Father publickly owned him in the Face of a contradicting World The glorious Resurrection of Believers will be an illustrious and convincing Evidence that God is their God and that they are his People The Doctine or general Proposition from the words is this True believers tho they die yet shall not perpetually remain in a state of Death but be raised and received up into Glory That they die as well as others tho they are delivered from the Sting of Death is necessary for divers reasons * Bates of Death cap. 4. namely for the more Eminent Exercise of their Grace and Illustration of the Divine Glory for the preserving a due and just difference between the Militant and Triumphant State of the Church And that the sinful frailties which cleave to them here may be abolished and they prepared for the Caelestial life of which the Natural Body is uncapable And 't is likewise necessary that they remain under the power of Death for a time that the established Order of Providence might be preserved †Bates ut supra and that the Glory of our Redeemer at his second appearance might be greatned together with their own Glory by their simulraneous Resurrection and Glorification and Triumphant Entry with him into Heaven But it is not of this that we are to speak All are equally subject to the stroke of Death but all are not again redeem'd from its power Death and the Grave is not universally Overcome as to all It still remains a Conquerer over Multitudes and will be finally victorious over them But tho Death worketh in Believers and surronds them on every side and at last gains a temporal conquest over their bodily Life Yet hereafter that Vanquished Life shall revive and that more Noble Life which is hid with Christ in God shall be consummate and made perfect In this present State Christians may vanquish the fears of Death But 't is at their Resurrection when their corruption shall have put on Incorruption and their mortals shall have put on Immortality that the saying shall be brought to pass which is written Death is swallowed up in Victory O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory Thanks be to God who giveth us Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 15.54 55 56 57. I shall briefly State the Grounds of the blessed Resurrection of true Believers and shew you its necessity and then make some Application of this
That the one should be glorified in Heaven and the other remain in the Dust Besides this we may justly conceive of a fixed innocent Inclination in the glorified Soul to her former Dear Associate and therefore the satisfying such an Inclination by their Re-union must contribute to the Felicity of the Person Their Relative of Mutual Happiness would be likewise impaired if any that truly belonged to their Number were wanting and still kept under the Power of Death For they are all inviolably United in Love which as it were transforms one into another and causes the Glory of every Saint to redound to the Joy of all And every one both adds to and shares in the Felicity of the whole Here there are many Vitious Allays of Love among true Christians and they do not duely sympathize with one another in their Conditions of Life But in Heaven they are of one Heart and one Soul there is an exact Agreement of Tempers and Inclinations so that could we suppose the Body of one detained as an Eternal Prisoner of the Grave and such a ones Happiness thereby impaired the whole would suffer therein But I come now to the Use Now as this Doctrine of the blessed Resurrection of Believers being fix'd on the fore-mentioned Grounds and Reasons must needs be acknowledged a great Truth and one of the true and faithful Sayings of God So upon strict Enquiry it will appear a very comfortable Truth And that 1. With respect to the present Afflictions and Sufferings of this Life and particularly the Frailties and Diseases and Weakness and Vileness of these Bodies The Dictates of Reason and the Prescriptions of Moralists are ineffectual to form the Soul to true Patience and Contentment under bodily Sufferings But Faith and Hope in a blessed Resurrection administers powerful Support And as this excels all natural Topicks so all the consolatory Points in Revealed Religion do ultimately center and terminate in this For if our Hope was only in this Life whatever may be propounded to us we were of all Creatures most miserable 1 Cor. 15.19 To know that our Bodies shall be raised to an immortal incorruptible Glory and changed into the likeness of Christ's Body makes us more unconcerned about their Condition and more contented that God should have the entire Disposal of them here This sweetens the most bitter Cups alleviates the most heavy Burdens and renders all bodily Distempers and Pains supportable and easie And furthermore it directs us so to behold so to account of so to improve these present momentary Afflictions as that they might Work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory 2 Cor. 4.17 2. With respect to our own Personal Dissolution This is the thing which Nature so much abhors to come under the Power of Death to be divulsed from all the Enjoyments of Life to be confined to the dark solitude of the Grave to see Man no more in the Land of the Living this is a frightful and disquieting Thought And inasmuch as this is a thing universally known it is also universally feared There is a lawful fear of Death when this Passion is regular both as to its Object and Degree it is excellently Useful As a wise Counsellour or faithful Guardian it keeps Reason awake and active so as that it might sustain the Evil in the best manner which it could not prevent And there is an inordinate fear of Death which as a Tyrannous Master doth continually disquiet and torment the Soul and keep a Man all his Life time under Bondage The Philosophers attempted to moderate and govern these anxious Fears but in vain * Bates Har. of Attr. cap. 17.355 p. Octa. All that they could oppose against this cruel Enemy while they were without the Knowledge and Belief of a glorious Resurrection was ineffectual But the Gospel furnishes us with real Remedies Christians cannot be afraid to Die when they know they Die in the Lord and belong to one who will redeem them from the Power of the Grave and swallow up Death in Victory Were we to be Eternal Captives to Death and Prisoners of the Grave for ever there were some Reason to dread it But when God speaks to us as to Jacob descending into Egypt Fear not to go down into the Grave I will go down with thee and I will surely bring thee up again So that hereby we are as sure of overcoming Death as suffering it as sure of being Conquerors as of being Combatants how are all excruciating fears hereby expelled In our own Strength indeed and acting separately from God we cannot overcome No one can save himself from going down to the Grave or by Price or by Force procure his Releasement and Discharge from its Captivity any more than from its War But in Relation to God we are more than Conquerors To be more than Conquerors is to be Triumphants Christians may thus Triumph in this Perswasion that tho' they tast Death the common Lot of every Man yet they shall be redeemed from it so as not to be hurt by the second Death and neither Death nor Life c. shall be able to separate them from the Love of God in Christ Jesus Rom. 8.37 38 39. Neither is this Doctrine of a blessed Resurrection only an Argument of Support and Comfort under the Apprehensions of Death but also a Just and Rational Incentive to Desire our Dissolution How willingly did Elias let fall his Mantle that he might ascend to Heaven How willing was Paul to be dissolved that he might be with Christ How desirously and boldly did the valiant Martyrs encounter with Death that interposed between them and their glorified State This upbraids our backwardness who profess to be enlightened and perswaded of that blessed and perfect World A loathness to Die in Christians is directly repugnant to their Hopes and a reproach to their Christianity it self We are not to obtain Heaven by an immediate Translation to it Death is a necessary intermediate way and there is a natural bitterness in it which makes it unpleasant 'T is a dark Passage from this to the other World though under the Custody and Dominion of our gracious Redeemer * How 's Domin Redeem over the Invis World p. 49. Yet notwithstanding this Believers are still to reckon their Mortality their Advantage and to bless God that they are not to spend their Immortality in the present State But you will say We should not fear Dying if we did know our Interest in Christ if we were assured that we were of that number whom he will redeem from the Power of the Grave and receive to himself It must be confessed there are but some whom God will thus Redeem others are to be left under the conquest of Death and of him that hath the Power of Death for ever And these have reason to fear and Tremble at the thoughts of Death and much more at its approach but then consider none are among that