also Fourthly it proceeds from that neer Union which is betweene a Beleever and Jesus Christ Christ is the head and Beleevers are the members now the members must bee raised and received up to Jesus Christ to make his body a perfect body Thus much for the Reasons why that Jesus Christ at the second coming shall raise and receive the bodies of the Elect to himself as well as the soules The second query is this but what benefit is it to the body what endowments shall the body receive by this when Christ comes First in generall I shall say this to you that the body shall receive more glorious endowments then ever it could bee capable to receive and enjoy here in this world it may bee thy body is endowed with a comely feature yet when Christ comes to receive thy body it shall bee endowed better then now it is Chrysostome saith take Wooll and let this Wooll be dyed into a Scarlet or purple colour dyed in graine yet the Wooll is the same Wooll as it was before when it was white but yet there is a more goodly lustre put upon it Thy body shall bee the same body but thy body shall have more illustrious endowments then now it hath And thus much onely in the generall now to come to particulars I shall resolve this question in these six Particulars There are six glorious endowments that the body shall receive from Jesus Christ at his second coming when he receives the body to himselfe First from being a naturall body as it is now it shall bee made by Christ a spirituall body that is the first endowment thou shalt cast off thy old Apparell of corruptible flesh and blood and shalt bee cloathed with robes of glory it is no contradiction to say a spirituall body because the Apostle useth the expression 1 Cor. 15. 44. It is sowne a naturall body it is raised a spirituall body There is a naturall body and there is a spirituall body The meaning is the body as it lives here is a naturall body needing naturall refreshments but saith the Apostle is shall be raised a spirituall body it shall have no more need of naturall refreshments which the naturall body requireth when it is a spirituall body it stands in no more need of meat no more need of drinke nor sleep and other naturall refreshments it shall bee raised a spirituall body Mat 22. 30. For in the resurrection they neither Marry nor are given in Marriage but are as the Angels of God in Heaven The Angels have no need of food and stand in no need of outward helps Rev. 7. 15 16. Therefore are they before the Throne of God and serve him day and night in his Temple and hee that sitteth on the Throne shall dwell among them They shall hunger no more neither thirst any more neither shall the Sunne light on them nor any heate Therefore O beleeving soule behold thy happiness of soule and body in glory they shall bee no more standing in need of naturall refreshments then spirits doe when the Scripture saith that your bodies should be received by Christ The Platonick Philosophers understand the body shall bee turned into a spirit into a ghost or into winde or aire but that is not the reason of it it shall bee of the same substance as it is upon the Earth but it shall be refined Secondly the bodies of the Elect when Christ receiveth them to himselfe of vile bodies they shall bee made beautifull it may bee thou hast some deformity but Christ shall refine that body and new varnish and make it beautifull Phil. 3. 21. Who shall change our vile body that it may bee fashioned like his glorious body according to the working whereby hee is able even to subdue all things unto himselfe The body of Christ is a beautifull body neither spot nor wrinckle nor any such thing in it thy body shall bee like Christs glorious Body 1 Cor. 15. 43. It is sowne in dishonour it is raised in glory it is sown in weaknesse it is raised in power Here thy body it is a vile body Elâ—phaz cals the body a house of clay and Job cals it a house of Earth It is the Opinion of Gerrard and he gives strong reasons for it that if there bee any defects upon the body in this world if any of the members of the body be wanting it shall be restored to thee at the resurrection and there are these reasons to be given for it First because our bodies are promised to bee like Christs Body now Christs Body hath no redundant and defective member defect is but the product of sinne and the result of sinne therefore our bodies being said to to bee like Christs Body there shall bee no defect in it Secondly some members are necessarily required to make up the happiness of the Elect in Heaven suppose an Elect man should bee borne blind or lost his eies by casualty if this man should not have his eyes he could never see Christ in Heaven we shall see with these very eyes the Body of Christ The third reason is this because the bodies of the Elect shall bee as Adams body was in innocency Adams body was created perfect by God when Christ raiseth thy body it shall never want a member nor abound in a member thy vile body shall bee beautifull what though others bee 〈◊〉 then thee and clearer skin'd then thee what though others mens Earth bee painted better then thine yet when Christ receives thy body it shall be a beautifull a glorious body therefore you have that phrase Mat. 13. 43. Thâ—â— shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdome of their Father Thirdly from being a mortall body it shall bee by him an immortall body the body as it is here it is a mortall body dying and rotting in the grave but it shall bee made by Christ immortall 1 Cor. 15. 52 53. In a Moment in the Twinkling of an eye at the last trump for the Trumpet shall sound and the dead shall bee raised incorruptible and we shall be changed For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortall must put on immortality Those mortall bodies that must die must bee made immortall and those incorruptible bodies made incorruptible and never die this is the great happiness of the elect that their bodies shall bee made immortall bodies Fourthly the bodies of the elect from being lyable to sorrows and sufferings in the world shall bee made impassive bodies the body here is exposed to Diseases Aches Consumptions and what not the body it is an Hospitall of Diseases a Magazine of all Infirmities but the Lord shall make this body impassive lyable to no sufferings God shall then wipe a way all teares from our eies no sorrows no crying nor no paine there is the great happinesse of the body it shall be made impassive not lyable to hunger thirst paine Diseases and the like Fifthly thy body from being a
heavy and lumpish body as now it is shall bee made an agile and swift body the Eagle shall not flee so strongly as the bodies of the Elect shall flee from place to place and it is grounded from that Scripture 1 Thess 4. 14. for if wee beleeve that Jesus Christ dyed and rose againe even them also which sleep in Iesus will God bring with him Which the body could not doe if the body did not lose its lumpishnesse and heavinesse which it hath here Zanchy doth illustrate it by this comparison â— saith he the body is like the Chick in the agge the Bird in the egge strives not but when it is flusht then it can flie so when thou arâ— raised thou canst goe from one part of the world to another in a moment so was Christs body when it was raised Christ was taken immediately up into heaven which is as Astronomers say if wee may beleeve their guesâ—es above 40 Millions of Miles now the soule hath a lumpish body that it cannot follow the soule therefore the body shall bee made conformable to the Soule the body is now a tyred Jade to the Soule but then it shall not be so Sixthly from being a weak body it shal be made a strong body 1 Cor. 15. 44. It is sown in dishonour it is raised in glory it is sown in weaknesse it is raised in power The body of man is a weake fleshly thing Anselâ—e is of this Opinion on this Text 1 Cor. 15. saith hee mans body shall bee so strong that hee shall bee able to tosse a mountaine as a child would tosse a tennis ball this is the great glory that God puts on the body that being a natural Bodie it shall bee made by Christ a spirituall Body of being a vile Body it shall made by Christ a beautifull Body from being a mortall Body it shall be made an immortall Body from being lyable to sorrowes and sufferings in this world it shall bee made impassive being a heavy lumpish Body it shall bee made an agile Body and from being a weak Body it shall be made a strong Body Now before I come to the Application there are two Objections which lye in the way As in the primitive times there were the Sadduces that held there was no resurrection and after Christs time there was Hymeneus and Philetus which said that the Resurrection was past already and the Church of Corinth was tainted with this Error if Christ be risen from the dead how say some amongst you that there is no Resurrection of the dead Now in the Primitive and Christs time there was this Opinion that there was no Resurrection of the Body and so made this meerely but a poeticall fiction and to be no reall and undoubted truth The Scripture which they urge is this you talke of the Body being raised by Christ how can this bee when the Apostle saith expresly the Body is made of flesh and blood 1 Cor. 15. 50. Now this I say Brethren that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdome of God neither doth corruption inherit incorruption Therefore if flesh and blood cannot come to Gods Kingdom how then can the Body come there First I answer it cannot bee the Apostles intent to impugne the bodies rising for the drift of the whole Chapter is to prove that the Body shall be raised therefore it is not imaginable that in one breath the Apostle should deny and affirme the same thing Secondly the Apostle doth understand by flesh and blood the bodies of men as they have sinfull infirmities cleaving to them in this world the body as it is now a sinfull body an infirme body a weak mortall body as it is now shal never come to Heaven the generality of Interpreters run this way by flesh and blood is understood the bodies of men as lyable to sinne as in this world they shall not be raised up they shall not come to Heaven but we shall bee changed we shall not all sleep but bee changed the Apostle proves this 1 Cor. 15. 50 51. Now this I say Brethren that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdome of God neither doth corruption inherit incorruption Behold I shew you a mystery wee shall not all sleep but wee shall all bee changed Our corruptible Bodies shall not come to Heaven as they are corruptible but come to Heaven by being incorruptible but we shall all be changed that is our Bodies shall be changed from being mortall corruptible and being weake and sinfull to bee holy and Immortall so that flesh and blood as now it is sinfull corruptible till changed and made glorious and pure shall not come to Heaven Second Text which they urge against the Body being glorified and say it is but a fancy Job 14. 7 8. 9. For there is hope of a Tree if it bee cut downe that it shall sprouâ— againe and that the tender branch thereof will not cease Though the root thereof wax old in the Earth and the stock thereof die in the ground yet through the sent of water it will bud and bring forth Bought like a plant But man dieth and wasteth away yea man giveth up the ghost and where is heeâ—â— A Tree faith Iob if that dies it may live again but if man dies hee vanisheth away and where is man on this they build that man shall never live againe To this take this cleare Answer That when Iob speakes Though a tree dies it lives againe but if man dies hee lives not Iob understands it by living againe in this World so there is more hope of a Tree then of a Man But you will aske me how do you prove this for to be Iobs intent I prove it to you from Iobs words in the 12. vers So man lieth down and riseth not till the heavens bee no more they shall not awake nor bee raised out of their sleep So that here Iob speakes of a rising when the Heavens shall bee no more when the world shall be burnt with fire then man shall bee awakned and in the 14. vers If a man die shall bee live againe All the daies of my appointed time will I waite till my change come Iob speaks in this Chapter of the change of the Body and of the raising of the Body Tertullian and Austine say well that there is no Doctrine of Religion is more repugnant to sense and reason There is this reason that may seeme to be against the raising of the Body How is it possible that the Bodies of men can be raised when that they are so confounded together as they are in the Earth Suppose a Man bee killed and devoured by a Wolfe a Lyon eates that Wolfe suppose that the Lyon dyes and the Fowles of the aire eate that Lyon and men eate those Fowles how can the bodies of Men be raised being thus confounded Suppose a Man bee drowned in the Sea and the Fishes in the Sea eat that man how can his substance be gathered
whereas the scripture saith expresly that Christ shall come from Heaven with his Saints and wee read in Scripture that there are the Spirits of just men made perfect as well as the innumerable company of Angels Fifthly this would follow that it would bee a great discomfort to a godly man on his death-bed to think he should bee so many hundred yeares soule and body in the grave before Christ would bring him to Heaven it would bee a very uncomfortable Doctrine for a man to thinke on that I shall die like a beast that my soule after death shall not bee taken up into Heaven And thus I have proved that immediately after the godly die their soules are received into heaven I have proved it by pregnant instances in the Scripture by generall expressions in the Scripture and by those expresse passages in Scripture and have given you those absurdities that will arise in case it should be denyed A word now from what hath been spoken If it bee that Christ doth receive thee O thou beleever to himselfe before the totall and compleat reception I would then give you this use for to comfort you Use First fear not a dying time let not death bee dreadfull and terrible to thee Beloved were this true indeed that when thou diest thy soule should perish with thy body then a Life is not worth the having but when thou shalt thinke on thy death-bed here now is a disease consuming thy body and sending of thee to thy grave and now there is but a little time betweene thee and Heaven that when I am a dying I am in the very Suburbs of Heaven a little breath between mee and Heaven O how should this comfort a dying man when that hee hath good evidences for Heaven O this should greatly comfort thee against thou comest to die to thinke that thy dead-bed is the very Suburbs of heaven I have read what John said that wrote the Revelarions when hee was ready to die I doe beleeve saith hee that in this very day my soule shall be presented before the Lord Jesus Christ O thinke now thou art leaving thy friends it will not bee a day before Christ and I shall meet in heaven As in the Booke of Martyrs wee read that in Queene Maries time two friends were put to death together One of them was fearfull to thinke that the flames should scorch his flesh O saith the other bee of good comfort for halfe an houre hence thou shalt bee in Heaven O thinke though thou art weake and sick even unto death yet that thou shalt shortly bee with Jesus Christ doubt not of the truth of this For I could even pawn my soul of the truth of it that the soules of the Elect are taken up into heaven immediately after death O then let not death trouble you Doct. 4 The fourth Doctrine here mentioned is the benefit of Christs coming and that is to raise your bodies from the dead and receive them to himselfe This is the particular that I am now to insist upon and receive you to my selfe Obser The Observation is this that the maine end of Christs coming againe is for to raise the bodies of the Elect and to receive them to himselfe not onely to save the Soule immediately after death but to raise the body also There are two Queries in the Doctrinall part of this point touching the end of Christs coming which is to raise the bodies of the Elect and to receive them to himselfe First Why Jesus Christ must raise the bodies of the Elect and receive them to himselfe as well as the soules Secondly when Christ doth receive the body to himself then what endowments doth the body receive as now it hath not First why must Christ receive the body to himselfe as well as the soule There are four reasons First because of the Resurrection of his own body Christs own body is raised from the dead and received up into heaven and therefore the bodies of the Elect must be there also where Christ is there must his members be Christ the head is raised from the dead and received up into glory The Apostle doth give this reason 1 Cor. 15. 12. Now if Christ bee preached that hee rose from the dead c. As if he should have said Christ being risen from the dead doth argue that our bodies must rise from the Grave though they be dead there In 1 Cor. 6. 14. And God hath both raised up the Lord and will also raise up us by his own power 1 Thess 4. 14. For if wee beleeve that Jesus dyed and rose againe even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him So that because Jesus Christs body is raised from the dead and received up into Heaven therfore our bodies must bee raised up and received into glory with him Secondly the bodies of the Elect must be raised because of the inhabitation of the Spirit the Spirit doth sanctifie the bodies of the Elect as well as the soules the very God of peace sanctifie you throughout and I pray God that your soule Spirit and Body bee kept blamelesse unto the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 6. 18 19 20. Flee Fornication every sinne that a man doth is without the body but he that committeth Fornication sinneth against his own body What know yee not that your body is the Temple of the holy Ghost which is in you which yee have of God and yee are not your owne for yee are bought with a price Therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods Now the spirit of God having a gracious worke in the body as well as the soule Therefore the body must be raised up from the dead as well as the soule and this the Scripture makes an Argument of the resurrection in Rom. 8. 11. But if the spirit of him that raised up Iesus from the dead dwell in you hee that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortall bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you So that spirit that raised up Christ from the dead if that dwelleth in you and the graces of the spirit that spirit shall quicken your mortall bodies therefore the bodies of the Elect shall be raised from the dead and received into glory with the soule Thirdly because the body hath a conjunction and co-operation with the soule in all gracious working the body shall bee partner with the Soule being received unto Jesus Christ because the body doth co-operate with the Soule Rom. 8. 13. For if yee live after the flesh yee shall die but if yee through the spirit doe mortifie the deeds of the flesh yee shall live Now being that the godly doe mortifie the deeds of the body and do expose their bodies to tortures and torments for Jesus Christ now because the bodies of the Elect doe co-operate with the soule in good therefore the body shall be co-partner with the soule in good
together at the last Day Answer it is the answer of Perkins First much may bee done by Nature by art First an Illustration from a Refiner put before Refiner a masse of mettall and there shall bee in that one Lumpe a veyne of Silver a veyne of Brasse of Gold of Tyn of Iron and the like and these Mettals are all mingled together Now a Refiner by his art he can distinctly sever the Silver from the Gold and the Iron from the Lead Now can art do this and shall not the God of Nature sever this man from that man God shall sever them though they are heaped together Againe a Gardner soweth varietie of Seeds yet doe you come to the Garden and let one aske you what seed lieth in that Bed or in this Bed as roâ—ting in the ground you cannot tell But come to the Gardner and aske him what Seed is in that Bed and hee can tell you distinctly the Seed in every Bed And cannot the the great God doe this hee that made us knowes our shape wee cannot tell what mans dust this is in the Grave I but God that laid it in the Grave he knowes hee knowes which shall bee my dust and which shall be thy dust and which every mans dust hee knowes what body shall spring up thence Therefore labour to exalt Faith in the great Mystery of raising and glorifying your bodies I have now a practicall application to make of this The Uses First this is it so that Jesus Christ shall raise your bodies and receive them to himselfe at his second coming Then let this comfort you against your sufferings in the body Suppose thou art exposed to violent Sufferings to Torments Tortures to Racks Fire and Faggots Suppose thy body undergoeth this for the sake of Jesus Christ yet remember thy body shall be raised and glorified by Jesus Christ Let it not trouble thee then that thy body shall be a crucified body because at Christs second coming it shall be a glorious body Again it may bee comfort to thee by reason of thy naturall infirmities Suppose thy body be a sâ—â—kly body suppose thy body bee full of Aâ—hes Agues Consumptions Diseases and the like suppose thy body bee maimed Blinde and Lame yet remember thy body that is vile deformed and sickly it shall have fresh Robes of glory upon it and be made like to the glorious Body of Jesus Christ We read in the book of Martyrs of two Martyrs that were to be burnt at Stratford Bow neer Lordon one Hugh Laborocke and Iohn Price the one blind the other lame this Price being full of feare when the fire was about him saith Hugh unto him bee not troubled though thou blinde and I lame yet remember death will heale thee of thy Blindenesse and mee of Lamenesse Suppose thou art blinde lame and maymed Christs receiving of thy body will cure all and truly there were comfort to a man under a bodily distemper when a man should thinke that this body of mine should rot in the Grave and never be raised from the dead But thy deformed body it should bee a beautifull body that which is a sickly body shal be made a healthful body and freed from all diseases A second Inference is this will Jesus Christ at his comign raise thy body and receive thy whole man unto himselfe Then learne to have a thirsting and longing soule after the second coming of Jesus Christ doe not desire to continue here upon Barth but to bee dissolved and to bee with Jesus Christ will any man bee grieved for changing of an old sute for a new Death doth this thou hast here an old rotten ragge of flesh about thee Christ will put a new sute on thee therefore the Apostle calls it the desire of the body to bee cloathed upon wee doe not desire to bee in Heaven without Bodies but wee desire to bee cloathed upon with those glorious endowments where with the elect shall bee clad in glory Therefore bee not unwilling to die doe not be unwilling to leave an old rotten Carcasse a sickly Body a Diseased Body Put a Bird into a Cage though the Cage bee made of Silver of Gold yet the Bird had rather flie abroad then be tied up in the Cage Whilest in the Body thou art in a Cage thou hadst better have thy Body in a glorified capacity then now it is Thirdly bee not afraid nor unwilling to die because thy Body shall bee changed by Death if thy Body should not die it would never be a glorified Body keep your Corne in your House and you will never have a Crop but cast your Corne into the ground and let it die there saith the Apostle that thou sowest is never quickened till it die let your Body bee kept alive here in the world and it shall never be raised to glory O do not thâ—n be unwilling to die because death to an Elect man is as a laying of Corne in the Earth As Corne doth rot in the ground to spring againe against the Harvest So doth thy Body rot in the Grave to spring againe at the Resurrection Fourthly if this be true that Jesus Christ will raise thy Body unto glory O then doe not abuse these Bodies of yours they are the Temples of the Holy Ghost these Bodies of yours shall one day bee raised and received by Jesus Christ It is an argument that the Apostle raiseth 1 Cor. 6. 14 15. vers And God hath both raised up the Lord by his own Power know ye not that your bodies are the Members of Christ shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the Members of Harlots God forbid This is the Apostles Argument The Apostle would reason against Adultery and Uncleannesse in the body what argument doth hee use Know yee this Christ will raise up our bodies and shall wee take these Members of our bodies and make them the members of a Where So then Beloved let the Doctrine of your Resurrection and of your bodies being raised and received to Jesus Christ provoke you that you doe not abse your Bodies He that keeps company with a Harlot sinneth against his owne Body 1 Cor. 6. 18. Flee Fornication every sinne that a man doth is without the Body but hee that committeth Fornication sinneth against his owne body For a man to lie and sweare it is against his Soule but for a man to bee uncleane it is to sinne against his Body O doe not die with an uncleane Body with an Adulterous Body and doe not abuse thy Body doe not abuse those Eyes of thine to bee windowes of lust that shall one day behold Jesus Christ do not abuse that body that must have a sweet communion with Christ in Heaven I am now come to handle the last point in the Text the last Clause that where I am there you may bee also These words they note unto you the Event or Consequent what shall follow upon Christs coming againe and receiving our