to all the Elect of a Victory over Death which shall be partially accomplish'd at the time of their Dissolution but finally consummated in the day of the Resurrection for Death hath not such a power over the living nor the Grave over the dead as Christ hath over both to destroy the one and swallow up the other in victory These several things laid together compose a very solid Argument to disswade from immoderate sorrow for those that sleep in Jesus But this leads to the Second Argument which the Apostle urges upon the same account which is drawn from the great advantage that shall follow the death of the Righteous such as sleep in Jesus will God bring with him Which either supposes or implys these several things First That Jesus Christ who is God-man will make his second appearance or coming at the end of the world I understand God in my Text personally for the Son To them that look for him says the Heb. 9. 28. Author to the Hebrews shall he appear the second time without Sin unto Salvation There is a double coming of Christ mentioned in Scripture the first in the Form of a Servant the second with all the Glory of an Incarnate God at his first coming he was despised and rejected of Men but at his Phil. 2. 9 10 11. second every knee shall bow to him of things in Heaven of things on Earth and things under the Earth and every Tongue confess that he is Lord to the glory of God the Father At his first coming he conceal'd his Glory by the Veil of his Flesh but at his second he designs to manifest and display it in the most bright and majestick manner At his first coming into this World he was entertain'd in a Stable and when he went out of it he expir'd upon an infamous Tree but when he comes again he will appear in the Clouds seated on a great white Throne the Emblem of his unspotted Holiness and regal Authority At his first coming he was reproach'd and despis'd of the People but when he comes a second time his Enemies shall be struck with a defenceless silence And tho some may be ready to say our Lord delays his coming because he has been conceal'd from their sight for several Ages by the Curtains of Heaven yet know it will not be long e're he that shall come will come and will not tarry the Curtains shall shortly be drawn and the Scenes of Glory shall open 't is as certain that he will come as if the Event was past or as if we now saw the Heavens open and he moving towards us in the Chariot of a bright Cloud But Lord what will his Enemies do in the great Day of his Wrath how will they bear the lightning of his Eyes the smoke of his Breath the thunder of his Voice the weight of his Arm and the terrors of his Wrath who have despised his Grace blasphem'd his Person and spurn'd at the sounding Bowels of his Love Secondly It implies the Resurrection of their Bodies who sleep in Jesus Christ cannot bring them with him in the Clouds of Heaven unless he first fetch 'em from the bowels of the Earth and the bottom of the Sea for at the sound of the last Trump all the Elements shall give up their Dead Believers shall not always continue under the power of Death but shall be reviv'd incorruptible and immortal Indeed to Reason not improv'd by the supernatural Light of Divine Revelation it seems an Acts 26. 8. incredible thing that God should raise the Dead Pliny reciting those things which he thought not to be in the Power of God mentions these two Mortales aeternitate donare aut revocare defunctos Lib. 2. cap. 7. And tho there are various things in Nature which are shadows of the Resurrection yet I am inclined to think they would never have convinc'd us of it had not the Scripture reveal'd it to us The Earth has been represented as a kind of Grave or Sepulchre to the vegetable World where as one Mr. Beconsal observes the vital Powers are sealed up and stifled all the Winter and yet at Spring are actuated expand and send forth a lively Verdure So a grain of Corn is not quicken'd except it rot and die Our sleep every night is the Image of Death and our awaking in the morning a shadow of the Resurrection Now altho from these circular Revolutions of Nature a probable Argument for the Resurrection may be drawn yet those that are certain and concluding are only to be fetch'd from the Fountain of Truth The sure Word of Prophecy And if it should be said that several Heathens believ'd the Resurrection of the Body that may be accounted for two ways either Tradition might hand it down from Noah or they might gain light in this Doctrine by conversing with the Writings of the Old Testament for I think nothing is more evident than that a great many Heathen Authors have borrowed the brighter Notions that adorn their Books from the inspir'd Writings of Moses and the Prophets as several Learned Men have abundantly prov'd So that I say the only infallible assurance we have of the Resurrection of the Body is founded on Divine Revelation It will therefore be necessary that I recite a few passages of Scripture before I proceed The first I shall mention is the words of Job I know that my Redeemer Job 19. 25 26. liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the Earth And tho after my skin worms destroy this Body yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my self and my eyes shall behold and not another tho my reins be consumed within me Which Text tho by some understood of a providential Resurrection yet I think not without some force upon it for I cannot see any necessity of taking it in a figurative and improper sense I am sure that St. Clement who was not only contemporary with St. Paul the Apostle but his Companion and Fellow-labourer in his first Epistle to the Corinthians cites this Text to prove the Resurrection of the Body and understands it in a literal proper sense But that passage which is yet more plain and full is the words of our Blessed Saviour John 5. 28 29. Marvel not at this for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the Graves shall hear his Voice and shall come forth they that have done good unto the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil to the Resurrection of Damnation Which Text is so expressive of the Resurrection of the Body that it needs no Comment It also proves that the very same Body that fell by Death shall arise again for if it be not the very same Body which was laid in the Grave that is call'd forth by Christ's powerful Voice 't is not properly a Resurrection but a new Production of the same specifick Being But when I
7. of our Bodies return to God that gave 'em and are fix'd in a state of Happiness or Misery Had not the Apostle believ'd this we cannot imagine that he would have esteem'd Death to be gain to him or that he would have been in any strait to determine and fix his choice for present Death or longer Life for the latter would have been much more eligible if he had believ'd that his Soul at death would have been as insensible and unactive as his Body and no doubt but he would rather have desir'd to continue in this World where he had enjoy'd Communion with Christ and often seen him by a steddy eye of Faith than to be hurried out of it by Death and render'd utterly incapable of any enjoyment of his Redeemer till the Resurrection But 't is yet more evident from another Expression of our Apostle that he was very far from the Opinion or rather Dream of the Soul 's sleeping with the Body till the Resurrection His words are these We 2 Cor. 5. 8. are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the Body and to be present with the Lord. q. d. We have good courage and are well arm'd against the fears of Death being well assur'd that we shall have upon our Dissolution an immediate admittance into the Presence of our glorified Lord for the Apostle supposes not only that the Soul is capable of existing while separated from the Body and of exercising her Faculties and Powers in such a state but that so soon as she leaves the Body she shall enter into the presence of Christ and behold his Glory But I pass on and shall briefly represent the force of the Apostle's Arguments against immoderate Sorrow for the dead The first of which is taken from the nature of their Death who die in the Lord 't is describ'd by the soft Character of a Sleep which as you have heard refers only to the Body Now the death of the Righteous may be thus set forth on the following accounts 1. Because the Body is then eased of all its Pains and freed from all Fatigue and Toil to which it was expos'd while animated with the Soul And therefore as Death is compar'd to Sleep so the Grave is compar'd Isa 57. 2. to a Bed where the righteous are said to rest In this Life the best of Men are frequently made uneasy by acute Distempers and corroding Pains and Death is frequently sought for because Life is a burden You that have frequently visited the Chambers of the sick cannot surely have forgotten the sighs of those Prisoners who have groan'd upon Beds of Down as if every part of their Bodies had been violently extended on a Rack It would be endless to reckon up the vast number of Diseases that affect the Children of God in this World for being tainted with original Sin as well as the vilest of the People they may expect the same Distempers and tho they tarry here but a few days they are ordinarily full of trouble and if their Bodies are not often indispos'd yet thro the Malice of Enemies and the Miseries and Unkindnesses of their Friends they are frequently made to bow towards the Grave before they drop into it For indeed the best of our earthly Comforts have their hidden stings but they shall give us no more pain and uneasiness after we are fallen asleep in Job 3. 17 18. Jesus For in the Grave the wicked cease from troubling there the weary be at rest there the Prisoners rest together they hear not the voice of the Oppressor 2. In Sleep no labour is expected from the Body so when Believers are overtaken with a mortal slumber Christ expects no Service from their Bodies While the Soul continues united to the Body we are oblig'd to yield the Members of the one as well as the Faculties of the other Rom. 6. 13. as Instruments of Righteousness unto God but in a state of separation there is expected neither Service nor Suffering from the Body So that while we continue on the Stage of this World the Advice of the wise Man is very proper Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do Eccles 9. 10. it with thy might for there is no Work nor Device nor Knowledg nor Wisdom in the Grave whither thou goest All our vital and animal Operations shall cease when our Spirits return to God and our Bodies are reduc'd to Dust The one is fix'd in an unalterable state of Happiness or Misery and the other put into an incapacity for Action A middle place betwixt Heaven and Hell for departed Spirits is a groundless Imagination for it could not be said with truth that such as die in the Lord rest from Rev. 14. 13. their Labours if they were to pass into a refining Fire equally tormenting in degree but not in duration with that of Hell as those of the Roman Faction assert Therefore let us rather attend to the words of our Lord and follow Joh. 9. 4. his Example I must work the Works of him that sent me while it is day the night cometh when no Man can work 3. Death to the Righteous is disarm'd of its sting and being alter'd in its nature it may sutably be set forth by the notion of Sleep St. Paul tells us that 1 Cor. 15. 56. the sting of Death is Sin and the strength of Sin is the Law Death receives its destroying Power from Sin and Sin from the Law Sin being a Transgression of the Law which discovers its odious nature and denounces Damnation for it But Death approaches Believers without its sting Christ having yielded an indefective Obedience to the Law and suffer'd the penalty of it in the room and stead of Believers Hence says the Apostle There is therefore now no condemnation Rom. 8. 1. to them which are in Christ Jesus Christ hath redeem'd 'em from the Curse Gal. 3. 13. of the Law being made a Curse for ' em And the Apostle represents Believers as triumphing over Death in such terms as these O Death where is thy Sting O Grave 1 Cor. 15. 55 57. where is thy Victory Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Christ has remov'd the scandal of Death by dying and perfum'd the Grave by lying in it and passing through it 4. The Death of the Righteous is compar'd to a Sleep on the account of what shall follow thereupon for as men do awake after Sleep so they shall revive after Death as we are assur'd by a very remarkable Prophecy Hos 13. 14. and Promise I will ransom them from the Power of the Grave I will redeem them from Death O Death I will be thy Plagues O Grave I will be thy Destruction repentance shall be hid from mine eyes In which words we must consider the Prophet as personating of Christ and uttering the Triumphs of a mighty Conqueror which contain a glorious Promise
exalted humane Nature cannot fully be represented by the most graceful turns of Language and lofty figures of Speech therefore we must be content with very imperfect Idea's of his Glory till we have the happiness to see him as he is Yet we have enough reveal'd concerning it to invigorate our desires and raise our wonder His eyes are represented Rev. 1. 15. like a flame of fire his voice as the sound of many waters his feet like to fine brass as if they burn'd in a furnace his countenance as the Sun shining in its full strength Now after this bright Pattern shall the Bodies of the Saints be form'd in the Resurrection O what proportion of Parts what agreeableness of Colour how radiant an Air shall sit upon their Countenance Mark 1◠43 〈…〉 for they shall shine with a lustre exceeding the brightness of all the Lamps of Heaven The Apostle also assures us that tho they are sown natural they shall be rais'd spiritual Bodies i. e. the Matter of 'em shall be exalted and improv'd to an extraordinary degree of fineness for Matter is properly enough said to be spiritual when 't is much refin'd And how great a difference may we observe in material things for instance betwixt the animal Spirits in the Brain and the grosser parts of the Body betwixt a lump of Clay and the refin'd matter of the Air betwixt the Earth and the Sun that shines upon it yet all material Substances from which we may collect what Christ can do to exalt and refine our bodies in the Resurrection But farther they may be called Spiritual in that they will be much better fitted to serve our Spirits than they are now Here our Bodies are oftentimes a clog and a hindrance to us but in the Resurrection they shall be like Wings to our Souls or to use the Phrase of the Antients They shall be as a Celestial Chariot to the Soul they shall neither be the cause of our ignorance nor of our sinning as they are now they shall not hinder but rather help forward our Devotions In a word they shall never suffer nor die more for they shall be rais'd immortal and incorruptible the one respects a deliverance from Death the other a freedom from Diseases so that Incorruptibility is an addition to the happiness of immortal Creatures for if Persons should never die yet if they were often diseased their happiness would be incompleat but the rais'd Bodies of the Saints shall never know any more sorrow sickness or death it shall not be in the power of any Creature to disorder the curious Contexture of the rais'd Bodys Mortality then will be swallowed up of Life This corruptible shall 1 Cor. 4 15 53. put on incorruption and this mortal immortality Thirdly The Saints being brought with Christ at his second coming does not only suppose their Resurrection but that with their rais'd Bodys they shall ascend up into the Air. And so much the Apostle asserts a little 1 Thess 15 17. after my Text For this we say unto you by the Word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep For we shall be caught up together with them in the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Whether those that are rais'd from the dead and those that shall be chang'd who never died shall be caught up into the Air by the immediate attractive Power of Christ or by the ministry of Angels I will not determine but that they shall ascend in order to their coming with him is beyond all dispute and probably their Bodies may be so refin'd that they may be capable of treading Air and mounting upwards as easily as they now move upon the Earth Fourthly Being brought with Christ at his second coming shall be to illustrate the Glory of our incarnate God and to advance the happiness of his redeemed ones They shall attend their Lord's Triumph and make up a part of his magnificent Retinue for as he shall come to be admir'd 2 Thess 1. 10. in all those that believe so they shall all share in his Glory they will then know by experience what riches of Glory is comprehended in that Promise and Privilege of being Heirs of God and joint Heirs with Jesus Christ O what a glorious Procession will this be through the Air when he that suffered upon the infamous Tree shall appear at the head of so long and bright a Train when all that the Father gave to him shall appear with glittering Crowns and spreading Palms the Rewards of Grace and the Tokens of Victory I proceed now to make some improvement of what I have said And First This Doctrine that I have deliver'd discovers to us the excellency of the Christian Institution Life and Immortality is brought to light by the Gospel All that has been said by Heathen Poets and Philosophers concerning a Future State was but obscure Conjecture to the shining Revelation of the Gospel They understood not that the sting of Death was remov'd by the sufferings of the Redeemer or that the Body should be rais'd with a transcendent Lustre and Dignity to receive a Reward with the Soul Yea under the Mosaick Oeconomy a future State was but obscurely reveal'd but under the Dispensation of the Gospel we have a most charming Landskip of Heaven and the way to obtain it is set in the most clear and certain light Secondly This Doctrine may be improv'd to guard good men against the slavish fears of Death Why should the Righteous be afraid to repose upon a bed of dust Death is but a sleep from which we shall be awaken'd in the morning of the Resurrection and Christ as you have heard hath disarm'd Death of its Sting and alter'd it in its very nature to the Righteous I confess I do not wonder that the wicked and profane are afraid of Death for they know it puts a period to their Pleasures and begins their Torments it snatches them from the joys of Life and fixes 'em under the agonies of the second Death So that some not only fear Death it self but the very name of it is terrible which occasion'd a Prince that I have read of to forbid the mention of it in all his Court Yea so enslav'd are some by the fear of Death that they conceive an abhorrence at the sight of a Coffin the dress of Mourners and the solemnities of a Funeral which as one says are only the Outguards that make up the Retinue of the King of Terrors 'T is reported of Alexander who had often encounter'd the numerous Armies of the Asian Monarchs and despis'd the terror of Battels yet when he was seiz'd with a mortal Disease in Babylon he was so afraid of Death that his Court was fill'd with Diviners and Victims and all the little arts of Superstition were us d to preserve his Life