Laft Enemy; that I may find by it a paffage to thine eternal Glory and Happiness. I trust upon thy fatherly Goodnefs and unchangeable Affection, upon that intimate Relation with which I am honoured, and am confident thou wilt not forfake me in my urgent Neceffity and Agoney. Send to me thy good Angels, that they may carry me upon their Wings, and introduce me into thy heavenly Kingdom, and fee thy Salvation compleat. I long to be with thee in thy celeftial Jerufalem, and enter into thine holy Sanctuary, into the Society of the glorified Saints, and immortal Spirits, that minifter before thy Throne. I am fenfible of thy Sa ving-Grace bestowed upon me, and mine Affections are al ready feparated from the World; at prefent all my Thoughts and Expectations are with thee, my good God. Receive me into thy magnificent Palace, that I may fee thy Face in Glory, and embrace my bleffed Redeemer. And before I go hence, Speak to my Soul in a Language anfiverable to its vehement Longings, and let me hear this comfortable Saying, This day fhalt thou be with me in Paradife. I am already. fenfible of that Foy, that expects me in thy Prefence, where it fall be full and compleat, of that Peace and Happiness, into which I am going apace. I have already the Fore-taft of the heavenly Pleasures which must needs exceed all that we can fay or think. I fee the Heavens open, and my Lord Jefus ready to receive me. Into thy Hands I commit my Spirit, for thou haft redeemed it. Amen.

CHAP XXIII.

The Eleventh Confolation. The glorious Refurrection of our Bodies.

W

Hen God created Angels, he gave them a fpiritual, and altogether celeftial Nature, that had no Affinity with Matter. I confefs, that fome of thefe heavenly Spirits have often appear'd in human

Bodies to the ancient Patriarchs.

But thofe Bodies

were extraordinary and miraculous, formed by the Power of Almighty God for fuch Occafions. Befides thofe holy Spirits were not in those Bodies as the Soul is in ours, quickning and animating them in the fame manner, but only as the Pilot is in the Ship that he governs. Therefore, as foon as they had fulfilled the Work about which they were employed by God, they left thofe Bodies without Prejudice to their Beings, as the Pilot leaves and goes out of the Ship when he hath brought it to the defired Haven. All the Happiness of thefe glorified Spirits confifts in this, that God hath confirm'd them in his Grace and Love, and admitted them for ever to à continual Contemplation of his glorious Face. 'Tis not fo with our Souls, for altho' they be alfo fpiritual and of an heavenly Subtance, God hath not created them to be alone, and to fubfift at a Distance from all Matter, but to live in the pleafant Company of thofe elemental Bodies, which he hath fashion'd in à most artificial Manner. When he creates a human Soul, and conveys it into an organiz'd Body, 'tis not that it should be there as Water in a Veffel, or as a King in his Palace; it lives not there as an affifting Form, or as an outward Caufe of the Body's Operations; but 'tis united to it by a very ftrict Union, and ferves as an effential Form. 'Tis the Principle of our Life, the internal Caufe of Motion, of Senfe, and of Understanding. So that, to fpeak properly, Man cannot be faid to be altogether of a fpiritual Nature, as the holy Angels, nor a fingle Body, as the Sun and the Stars; but he is made up of both. Therefore, if our Souls wifh to depart out of this earthly Tabernacle, 'tis not out of any Hatred of it as 'tis in it felf and its proper Nature; for none ever hated his own Body, ever once feeks to nourish and cherish it But by Accident, because of the Vanity and Corruption to which Sin hath enthrall'd it; we defire earnestly to depart out of it, to a Place where Righteousness and true Holiness reign, that we might C c 2

be

be with the Lord Jefus, to behold him nearer. 'Tis therefore an undoubted Truth, That unless the Body partakes of the fame Happiness and Glory of the Soul, Man cannot be faid to be perfectly and entirely happy. I confefs, 'tis a great Joy to us, to know, that when' our Soul cafts off this earthly Body it enters into the eternal Dwellings of Heaven, whether it goes to behold the Face of the Father of Lights; but this holy Joy is difturb'd with fad Reflections, and this heavenly Sweetness is strangely altered with the bitter Confiderations of this poor Body caft into the Earth, and left to the Mercy of the crawling Worms. For 'tis a moft hateful Thing to view our Body rotting and turning to Afhes; that Body that was our Pavilion, our Palace; hay, more than fo, that was half Part of our felves. Therefore, if we will render our Joy accomplish'd, and apply an effectual Comfort to our Souls, we must nourish and entertain this pleasant Affurance, that the Ruin of our Bodies, for which we lament so much, shall not be eternal; but as our Body falls down by Death, it fhall rife again one Day at the general Refurrection. This is one of the noblest and moft excellent Myfteries of our Chriftian Religion, and one of its moft glorious Advantages. The Wisdom of the World, with all its Reafonings, and the heathenish Philofophy, with its rareft Subtilties, could never attain to this wholfome and comfortable Doctrine. Therefore, when St. Paul preached to the Council of Athens, he was heard with Admiration, until he had fpoken to them of the Refurrection; as foon as he began to mention that, they laugh'd at him.

Therefore, while humane Reason remains in its Darkness and natural Ignorance, it cannot of it felf find out this glorious Mystery. But as foon as 'tis enlightned with the Light from above, it discovers its moft remarkable Circumftances, and acknowledgeth the Justice and Neceffity of the future Resurrection of our Bodies.

First, Since Rewards and Punishments ought to be proportionable and anfwerable to him who is to punish and reward, we must of Neceffity believe the Refurrection of our Bodies; otherwife the Pains of the wicked cannot be extream, and the Happiness of the godly can never be abfolute and perfect.

Secondly, As when a Traytor is executed, Men are wont to faften to the Scaffold, or to burn in the Fire, the Inftruments and Tools with which he had affaulted or offended his Prince; in the fame manner, the Bodies of the prophane and impious Varlets, of the Traytors against God's divine Majefty ought to be treated, they ought to be eternally punished with their Souls in Hell-fire; because they have been the unhappy Inftruments employed in affronting their

Creator.

Thirdly, The Body is not only the Inftrument employed by the wicked against God, but encourageth them, and hurries them on in Sin. For its Humours ftir it up, inflame, and carry it to evil Acts. For Example, its fanguine Conftitution makes it luxurious, and inclinable to the filthy Lufts of the Flesh; its Choler hurries it to violent and furious Actions; its Melancholy prompts it to the most horrid and hellish Attempts. So that if fuch are to be punished who caufe us to perform heinous Deeds, as well as the Actors, it belongs to God's Juftice to inflict upon the Body, as well as upon the Soul, eternal Punish

ments.

Fourthly, To every Thing there is a Seafon, and a Time to every Purpose under the Heavens, Ecclef. 3. As the Body of the Wicked and Reprobate hath had its good Things, and its Satisfactions during this Life, it muft needs have alfo in another Life its Punishments and its Torments.

Fifthly, But, not to forget the Reafons which have a Relation to the Faithful, and which are the Pillars and Supporters of our Faith and Hope; we may fay, That Jefus Chrift is no lefs able to fave us, than Adam

Cc 3

was

was to deftroy us. Now Adam having loft both Soul and Body, we muft conclude, that it belongs to Chrift to fave them both. Therefore the Body is to rife again, that it may partake of that Salvation or Redemption procured to us by this great Saviour.

Sixthly, As we have born the Image of the first Man, who was of the Duft of the Earth, we must also bear the Image of the fecond Man, who came from Heaven, 1 Cor. 15. Now we bear not this Image at preferit, in this Life; we must therefore bear it in another.

Seventhly, God hath not made a Covenant with Part of Man, but with all Man, compofed of Soul and Body. The Body therefore muft needs rife again, that it might partake of the eternal Fruits of Glory and Happiness, which are promised to us by his divine Covenant.

Eighthly, God is not only ftiled, The Father of Spirits, and the God of the Spirits of all Flefb; Heb. 12. But he declares himself to be the God of Abraham and of his Pofterity, Numb. 16. 27. He is not only the God of the Soul, or the God of the Body alone; but he is the God of believing Perfons, of both their Souls and Bodies. From hence it neceffarily follows, That the Bodies of fuch as are deceafed, are not utterly deftroyed, for God will raife them up again. With this Argument Chrift ftopt the Mouths of the Sadducees, who denied the Refurrection; Concerning the Refurrection of the Dead (faid he) Have you not read what God himself fpeaks to you? I am the God of Abraham, the God of Ifaac, and the God of Jacob; God is not the God of the Dead, but of the Living.

Ninthly, God hath adopted us to himself by Jefus Chrift, according to the good Pleafure of his Will, to make us the Heirs of his Kingdom, and Co-heirs of his Son. From this Paffage we may gather a certain Affurance of the Refurrection; for when this Father of Mercies fhall fee our Bodies lying in the Duft, out of his Tenderness and Compaffion, he will fay, There are the Bodies of my Children, the Members of mine

only