earth, take their place now among those who stand on mount Zion above. And let that tongue which confessed Christ before man, and used to be still dropping something to his commendation, join the choir of the upper house in his praises for evermore. Thou shalt fast no more, but keep an everlasting feast: thou shalt weep no more, neither shall thy countenance be overclouded: but thou shalt shine for ever, as a star in the firmament. We took part together in the fight, come now, let us go together to receive and wear the crown.

with

But on the other hand, the wicked shall be raised by the power of Christ as a just Judge, who is to render vengeance to his enemies. The same divine power, which shut up their souls in hell, and kept their bodies in a grave, as in a prison, shall bring them forth, that soul and body together may receive the dreadful sentence of eternal damnation, and be shut up together in the prison of hell! They shall come forth of their graves, unspeakable horror and consternation. They shall be dragged forth as so many malefactors out of a dungeon, to be led to execution; crying to the mountains and to the rocks, to fall on them and hide them from the face of the Lamb. Fearful was the cry in Egypt that night the destroying angel went through and slew their first-born. Dreadful were the shouts, at the earth's opening her mouth, and swallowing up Dathan, Abiram, and all that appertained to them. What hideous crying then must there be, when, at the sound of the last trumpet, the earth and the sea shall open their mouths, and cast forth all the wicked, delivering them up to the dreadful Judge? How will they cry, roar, and tear themselves! How will the jovial companions weep, howl, and curse one another! How will the earth be filled with their doleful shrieks and lamentations, while they are pulled out like sheep for the slaughter? They who, while they lived in the world, were profane debauchees, covetous worldlings, or formal hypocrites, shall then in anguish of mind, wring their hands, beat their breasts, and bitterly lament their case: roaring forth their complaints, and calling themselves beasts, fools, and madmen, for having acted so mad a part in this life, and not having believed what they then see. They were driven away in their wickedness," at death; and now all their sins rise with them, and like so many serpents, twist themselves about their wretched souls and bodies too, which now have a frightful meeting, after a long separation.

Then we may suppose the miserable body thus to accost the soul, "Hast thou again found me, O mine enemy! my worst enemy! savage soul! more cruel than a thousand ty

gers? Cursed be the day that ever we met! O that I had remained a lifeless lump, rotten in the belly of my mother; and had never received sense, life, nor motion. O that I had rather been the body of a toad or serpent, than thy body! for then I had lain still and had not seen this terrible day! If I behooved to be thine, O that I had been thy ass, or one of thy dogs, rather than thy body; for then wouldst thou have taken more true care of me than thou didst. O cruel kindness! hast thou thus hugged me to death, thus nourished me to the slaughter? Is this the effect of thy tenderness for me? Is this what I am to reap of thy pains and concern about me? What do riches and pleasure avail now, when this fearful reckoning is come, of which thou hadst fair warning? O cruel grave! why didst thou not close thy mouth upon me for ever? Why didst thou not hold fast thy prisoner? Why hast thou shaken me out, while I laid still, and was at rest? Cursed soul, wherefore didst thou not abide in thy place, wrapt up in flames of fire? Wherefore art thou come back to take me also down to the bars of the pit? Thou madest me an instrument of unrighteousness; and now I must be thrown into the fire. This tongue was by thee employed in mocking at religion, cursing, swearing, lying, backbiting, and boasting, and withheld from glorifying God; and now it must not have so much as a drop of water to cool it in the flames. Thou didst withdraw mine ears from hearing the sermons which gave warning of this day. Thou foundest ways and means to stop them from attending to seasonable exhortations, admonitions, and reproofs; but why didst thou not stop them from hearing the sound of this dreadful trumpet? Why dost thou not now rove and fly away on the wings of imagination, thereby, as it were, transporting me during these frightful transactions, as thou wast wont to do, when I was set down at sermons, communions, prayers, and godly conferences: that I might now have as little sense of the one, as I formerly had of the other? But, ah! I must burn for ever, for thy love to thy lusts, thy profanity, thy sensuality, thy unbelief, and thy hypocrisy."

But may not the soul answer? "Wretched and vile carcase, am I now driven back into thee! O that thou hadst laid for ever rotting in thy grave! Had I not torment enough before? Must I be knit to thee again, that being joined together as two dry sticks for the fire, the wrath of God may the more keenly burn us up? It was by caring for you, I lost myself. It was your back and your belly, and the gratifying of your senses, which ruined me. How often was I ensnared by your ears? How often betrayed by your eyes? It was to spare you

that I neglected opportunities of making peace with God, loitered away Sabbaths, lived in the neglect of prayer; went to the house of mirth, rather than to the house of mourning; and that I chose to deny Christ, and forsake his cause and interests in the world; and so am fallen a sacrifice to your cursed ease. When at any time my conscience began to awake, and I was setting myself to think of my sins, and the misery I have felt since we parted, and now to feel, it was you that diverted me from these thoughts, and drew me off to make provision for thee, O wretched flesh. By your silken cords, fleshly lusts, I was drawn to destruction, over the belly of my light and conscience; but now they are turned into iron chains, with which I am to be held under wrath for evermore. Ah! wretched profits! ah, cursed pleasures! for which I must lie for ever in utter darkness." But no complaints will then avail. "O that men were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end !",

As to the Qualities with which the bodies of the saints shall be endowed at the resurrection, the Apostle tells us, they shall be raised incorruptible, glorious, powerful, and spiritual, 1 Cor. xv. 42, 43, 44, "It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body."

FIRST, The bodies of the saints shall be raised incorruptible. They are now, as the bodies of others, a very mass of corruption, full of the seeds of diseases and death; and when dead become so nauseous, even to their dearest friends, that they must be buried out of their sight in a grave, there to rot and be consumed: yea, loathsome sores and diseases make some of them very unsightly, even while alive. But at the resurrection they leave all the seeds of corruption behind them, in the grave; and rise incorruptible, incapable of the least indisposition, sickness, or sore; and much more of dying. External violences and inward causes of pain shall for ever cease; they shall feel it no more: yea, they shall have an everlasting youth and vigour; being no more subject to the decays which age produced in this life.

SECONDLY, They shall be glorious bodies: not only beautiful, comely, and well proportioned, but full of splendour and brightness. The most beautiful face, and best proportioned body that now appears in the world is not to be named in comparison with the body of the meanest saint at the resurrection; for "then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun," Matth. xiii. 43. If there were a dazzling glory on Moses' face, when

he came down from the mount; and if Stephen's face were "as it had been the face of an angel," when he stood before the council, how much more shall the faces of the saints be beautified and glorious, full of sweet agreeable majesty, when they have put off all corruption, and shine as the sun? But observe, this beauty of the saints is not restricted to their faces, but diffuses itself through their whole bodies; for their whole body is raised in glory, and shall be fashioned like unto their Lord and Saviour's glorious body: in whose transfiguration not only did his face shine as the sun,' but also his raiment was white as the light,' Matth. xvii. 2. Whatever defects or deformities the bodies of the saints had, when laid in the grave, occasioned by accidents in life, or arising from secret causes of their formation in the womb, they shall arise out of the grave free of all these. But suppose the marks of the Lord Jesus, the scars or prints of the wounds and bruises some of the saints received while on earth, for his sake, should remain in their bodies after the resurrection; like as the print of the nails remained in the Lord Jesus' body, after his resurrection; these marks will rather be badges of distinction, and add to their glory, than detract from their beauty. But howsoever that be, surely Isaac's eyes shall not then be dim, nor will Jacob halt; Leah shall not be tender-eyed, nor Mephibosheth lame of his legs. For as the goldsmith melts down the old crazy vessel, and casts it over again into a new mould, bringing it forth with a new lustre; so shall the vile body which laid dissolved in the grave, come forth at the resurrection in perfect beauty, and comely proportion.

THIRDLY, They shall be powerful and strong bodies. The strongest men on earth being frail and mortal, may justly be reckoned weak and feeble: in regard to their strength, howsoever great, it is quickly worn out and consumed. Many of the saints now have bodies weaker than others; but "the feeble among them, (to allude to Zech. xii. 8,) at that day, shall be as David, and the house of David shall be as God." A digrave vine says, that one shall be stronger at the resurrection, than an hundred, yea, than thousands are now. Certainly great, and vastly great, must the strength of glorified bodies be; seeing they shall bear up under an "exceeding and eternal weight of glory." The mortal body is not at all adapted to such a state. Do transports of joy occasion death, as well as excessive grief does? And can it bear up under a weight of glory? Can it subsist in union with a soul filled with heaven's raptures? Surely no. The mortal body would sink under that load, and such a fill would make the earthen pitcher to fly all in pieces.

The Scripture has plainly told us, that flesh and blood (namely) in their present frail state, though it were the flesh and blood of a giant, cannot inherit the kingdom of God,' 1 Cor. xv. 50. How strong must the bodily eyes be, which, to the soul's eternal comfort, shall behold the dazzling glory and splendour of the new Jerusalem; and stedfastly look at the transcendant glory and brightness of the man Christ, the Lamb, who is the light of that city, the inhabitants whereof shall shine as the sun? The Lord of heaven doth now, in mercy, hold back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud upon it; that mortals may not be confounded with the rays of glory which shine forth from it, Job xxvi. 9. But then the vail shall be removed, and they made able to behold it, to their unspeakable joy. How strong must their bodies be, who shall not rest night nor day, but be without intermission for ever employed in the heavenly temple, to sing and proclaim the praises of God, without weariness, which is a weakness incident to the frail mortal, but incompetent to the glorified body!

LASTLY, They shall be spiritual bodies. Not that they shall be changed into spirits; but they shall be spiritual, in respect of their spirit-like qualities and endowments. The body shall be absolutely subservient to the soul, subject to it, and influenced by it; and therefore, no more a clog to its activity, nor the animal appetites a snare to it. There will be no need to beat it down, nor to drag it to the service of God. The soul in this life, is so much influenced by the body, that in Scripturestyle it is said to be carnal; but then the body shall be spiritual, readily serving the soul in the business of heaven; and in that only, as if it had no more relation to earth than a spirit. It will have no further need of the now necessary supports of life, namely, food and raiment, and the like. "They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more," Rev. vii. 16, "For in the resurrection, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven." Then shall the saints be strong without meat or drink, warm without clothes, ever in perfect health without medicine; and ever fresh and vigorous, though they shall never sleep, but "serve him night and day in his temple," Rev. vii. 15. They will need none of these things more than spirits do. They will be nimble and active as spirits, and of a most refined constitution. The body that is now lumpish and heavy, shall then be most sprightly. No such thing as melancholy shall be found to make the heart heavy, and the spirits flag and sink. Where the carcase is, there shall the saints, as so many eagles be gathered together." I shall not further dip into this matter, the day will declare it. Dd

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