THIS is part of a very remarkable Dis­course of St. Paul's; and indeed all his are such. In it he treats of the great Article, by which our holy Re­ligion stands or falls, The Resurrection of Christ; as, likewise, of that of Christian Men. For, [Page 2] here he does not speak of the entire Argument,1 S. Iohn 5. 29. but of the Resurrection to life. Acts 24. 15.

Now, after having prov'd by several convin­cing Reasons, that Christ is risen, and that those who are Christ's shall rise also in God's due time, he proceeds to the discovery of a mysterious Truth not hitherto unfolded to the Corinthians. This holy S [...]cret consisteth of two Branches. The first, is the wonderful change which shall, of a sud­den, be made in the Bodies of those true Chri­stians who shall be found alive at that time, when Christ shall come to judge that world, which, with such insolence and ingratitude, set him at nought. The Apostle shews that there shall then be no other separation of the Souls of the Iust from their respective Bodies, than what the Almighty power of God shall make by the trans­mutation of those Bodies from a gross to a heavenly frame. The second, is the like glorious alteration which shall be made at the last in the Bo [...]es of those, who, having slept in Christ, shall be rai­sed again at that day▪ Behold (saith he) I shew you a mystery; 51▪ we shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed,

[Page 3] In a moment,52. in the twinkling of an Eye at the last Trump (for the Trumpet shall found) [some awakening Power shall go before the Heavenly King, when he descendeth with his Host of An­gels] and the Dead shall be raised incorruptible,53. and we shall be changed.

For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

That which I have to say, at present, upon these words may be reduced to four Heads.

• 1. The grounds of the Belief of a Christian, concerning this change of a corruptible and mor­tal, into an incorruptible and immortal Body.
• 2. The many and great advantages which will accrue to those whose bodies shall be at last in this extraordinary manner transfigured.
• 3. The means without which no man shall at­tain this Blessed End.
• 4. An Exhortation to the conscientious use of [Page 4] the means, by which we may, with certainty, ar­rive at this Change, which will be so very much every way for the better, that whensoever we shall leave these earthly Tabernacles, (in which we shall dwell but a few days, and, peradventure whilst those last, incommodiously enough) we may (by the grace of God and the ministration of his holy Angels) be received into everlasting habita­tions.

1. I begin with the grounds upon which we be­lieve that the Body shall be raised and made Cae­lestial in the Heavens, and corrupt no more, and dye no more.

That the Body is mortal, is an Article in every mans Creed, though many live as if they had not spent a thought about dying, and upon the ac­count which, after death, must be made by them.

That the Body shall rise, M. Fel p. 10. putes co. jam re­vixisse. was a Doctrine which the Primitive Christians spake of with such great assurance, that as the Heathen, in Minutius▪ Felix, observes, a man that heard them would almost think they themselves were already risen. And tho the conceit of Origen v. Gennad. Massil. de Eccl. dog­mat. c. 6. p. 5. c. 7. p. 6. about a new Caelestial bo­dy, [Page 5] instead of the glorified frame of the old one (at least of the ideal rudiments of it) had been by his Followers entertained, yet, they agreed with other Christians in the point of a heavenly Tabernacle. Nevertheless, all men in all Ages have not had a Faith equal with theirs, but some (especially in ours so over-run with Scepticism) have doubted con­cerning the Resurrection and further Change of this Body; such things entring with dif­ficulty into our imaginations, of which no Instance has been seen by us. Notwithstand­ing which, we have reason to believe this Change, though none have come out of their Graves to shew us it.

And here, I appeal to all sensible men, whether That God who is the Author of Mo­tion, by which all Alterations in bodies are made, who brought this goodly Frame of the World out of an heap of indigested Matter, who formed the Body of Adam out of the Dust, who has so framed Nature, that a spring of Vege­tables should succeed their death in Winter; who quickens dying Seeds into beautiful Stems and Flowers and Fruit, who caused even the [Page 6] dry rod of Aaron to bud, and blossom, and bring forth Almonds; who has given skill and power to men, by Fire and other natural Causes, to open and refine the grossest bodies, in whose Book (saith David) were all our members written, Psal 13 [...] 1 [...] which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them; who is pleased frequently to raise the Sick to Health and Strength and Vigour, after they had suffer'd a long and tedious languishment, in which low Estate their Flesh and their Spirits were wasted, and their Bones stood, as it were, staring upon them; I appeal (I say) to all men of sound common sense, whether that God who hath done these great things, is not able to put together the parts of an humane body which he made, contriv'd, and formerly joyn'd; and to advance the frame of it from grossness to purity. To think he is not, is next to no think­ing at all, and it is to reproach God's Power, and Knowledge and Wisdom, which is a peri­lous as well as an injudicious and irreverend practice.

How God will effect the change of this Body, when he shall make it Coelestial, I pretend not [Page 7] to explain. No man (I believe) can minute­ly tell how a grain of Mustardseed grows up into a Tree, or arborescent Plant. It is true, we cannot properly call that part of this Do­ctrine, which is revealed, any longer a My­stery. But there is something of it kept se­cret still. God hath not been pleased fully to discover the methods of his working this wonderful effect. It may suffice, in this Do­ctrine of Grace, (as in those of time, and place, and rest, and motion in Nature,) that we know enough for our present use, though we know not all; and that we are sure of the thing it self, though we cannot comprehend the manner of it.

It is more than barely credible, it is certain, That God, who can do all this, will at last do it, because he has said he will. He who, on earth caused the Faces of Moses and Saint Stephen to shine, who translated Elias, in the Chariot of a bright and glorious Cloud, into the Heavens; has told us, in his holy Word (which shall not pass away, though this World shall) that,S. Mat. 13. 43. at the end of it, the Righteous shall shine forth as the Sun, in the Kingdom of their Father;

[Page 8] That they who shall be accounted worthy to obtain that World,St. Luke 20. 35, 36. and the Resurrection from the Dead, shall be equal with the Angels.

That if our earthly House of this Tabernacle be dissolved,2 Cor. 5. 1. we have a Building of God [a Divine Frame], an House not made with hands, eter­nal in the Heavens.

That there is a natural and a spiritual Body:1 Cor. 15. 44. 49. and that, as we have born the image of the earthy, we [Christians] shall also bear the image of the heavenly [Adam].

All this is further confirmed to us by the Oeconomy of the Gospel. That sets forth Christ as the Person, who, on Earth, was transfigured in so admirable a manner, that his Face did shine as the Sun, and his very Rayment was white as the Light; S. Mat. 17. S. Mark. 9. 2, 3. S. Luk. 9. 29. who bought both Body and Soul with an incorruptible price; who died and rose again, That he might be Lord both of the dead and living; who rose as a publick person, as the Head of his Church, in order to the Resurrection of the members of it; who, rising from the Dead, became the first Fruits of them that slept; who, (both to accom­modate himself to these Regions, and to [Page 9] prove, beyond contradiction, that it was he himself and not a Spectre; Took again his body with flesh,Artic. 4bones, and all things ap­pertaining to the perfection of Man's nature, and ascended through the starry Heavens into a Region still more pure,Heb. 4. 14. and had that body made Coelestial, and still lives in that most heaven­ly form, and will come again and receive his true Disciples into that thrice happy Ierusa­lem, Philip. 3. 21. where he now is, and will change their vile bodies, and fashion them like to his own glorious body, not abolishing the substance of them, but exalting the meanness and earth­liness of their present frame into Coelestial agility and lustre.

And, indeed Philosophy (such as is not vain, though much is, especially when it refines upon sacred Mysteries,) does plainly shew us, that a heavenly body is only fit for a heavenly Region; That a pure body is not in its element, unless it lives and moves in pure aether. Upon which account, I suppose, Saint Paul himself observes that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God above; 1 Cor. 15. 50. neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. It must be changed into a body that can­not [Page 2] corrupt or die, if it is to subsist most happily for ever in an heavenly place: and such is the place prepared for the Children of the Resurrection.

All this being considered, it becomes us not to be faithless, but believe that this mortal shall put on immortality. For it is full out as absurd to refuse to believe when there is a reason for our Faith, as to be­lieve, with a forward credulity, when there is none.

The consequence of this Belief is very comfortable: for great and many are the ad­vantages derived to Christians, by being cloth'd with a Coelestial Body: and that is the 2d. Head which I proposed to discourse of. The very nature of the thing speaks aloud the benefit which will accrue to them by the renovation of this Body. There is scarce a comparison to be admitted betwixt this earth­ly body, and that which shall be at the Ascen­sion of Christians. They differ more than the least and dimmest Star, and the brightest and greatest Luminary in the Firmament of Hea­ven. Of this St. Paul takes notice in the for­tieth verse of this Chapter, and those which follow it, saying, There are Coelestal bodies and [Page 3] bodies Terrestrial; 1 Cor. 15. 40. but the glory of the Coelestal is one, and the glory of the Terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the Sun, v. 41. and another glory of the Moon, and another glory of the Stars; for one Star differeth from another Star in glory. So also is the Resurrection of the Dead. It is sown in corruption, v. 42. it is raised in incorruption; It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory: It is sown in weakness, v. 43. it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, v. 44. it is raised a spiritu­al body. Happy are the people who are in such a Case.

But, to descend to a more special considera­tion of this matter: The happiness derived from the change of a natural to a spiritual body, con­sisteth in a deliverance,

1. From the grossness of the former, as it is a body of this flesh and blood.

2dly, From the disorderly motions of it, as it is a corruptible body.

3dly, From the perishing nature, decay and fall of it, as it is both a corruptible and mor­tal body.

The first advantage which Christians obtain by changing an earthly for an heavenly body, is deliverance from the grosness of the former as it is a body of this flesh and blood. And [Page 12] this is a very valuable priviledge, upon three Accounts.

• 1st. Vpon the account of natural case.
• 2dly, Of Divine Contemplation.
• 3dly, Of Piety and Devotion.

1st. Christians have a priviledge, by being freed from the grosness of this body, upon the account of ease which is so naturally desired. For (as the Book of Solomon speaks agreeable to its title) the corruptible body presseth down the Soul. Wisd. 9. 15. And, in that load and heaviness, there is little comfort.Corpus hoc Animi pon­dus ac poe­naest, quod equidem non aliter adspicio quam vin­culum li­berta [...]i meae circumda­tum. Seneca says, of the body, that it is the weight and pain of the mind, and a kind of Bond round about its Liberty. Our Of­fice for the Burial of the Dead, calls it the burthen of the Flesh. St. Paul, also, makes this acknowledgement in 2 Cor. 5. 4. we who are in this Tabernacle do groan [groan earnestly. v. 2.] being burdened. By this great change that which was formerly, a heavy and uneasie weight, becomes as wings and (as the Antients speak) a Coelestial Chariot, to the Soul.

2ly, Another priviledge enjoy'd by Chri­stians upon deliverance from the grosness of this body, is freedom from a mighty impedi­ment of Divine Contemplation. The Scrip­Scripture [Page 13] teacheth us, That this visible World shall be renew'd.Hebr. 1. 10, 11, 12. The Heavens and the Earth which now are shall Perish; not in their Being, but with reference to their present Frame; which, as it is, is a glorious Structure; but He who made all things, can and will Build it bet­ter. This Earth and these Heavens shall be folded up as is a Vesture, and be marvellously changed. Upon which, there shall be new Heavens, and a new Earth.

That Phrase is in some Places metaphorically used, in setting forth a New and Excellent State of the Church.2. Pet. 3. 3, 7, 12, 13, 6. But, in St. Peter it is to be lite­rally understood of a New Frame of Nature, after the Old (reserved unto Fire against the Day of Iudgment) shall be, by such means, dissolved, as the Earth was once overflow'd by Water. But the Change in Noah's time was from better to worse; this will be from worse to much much better. Doubtless it will be a glorious World which God will raise out of the Ruins of this. It is a World expected as a wonderful Blessing from the Promise of God. Vers. 12, 13, 14.

[Page 14] Now in this World,Wisd. 9. 15. the Earthly Tabernacle weigh­eth down the Mind that museth upon many things; and it is from the grossness of the Organs of it that we think so little, and discern so little of the Beauty of Nature and Providence. And the more the Eye is help'd by Art, the more it raiseth Admiration in him who considers the Works of God. It letteth in a New World of Creatures, and an infinite agreeable Variety of Motions, Figures, and Contextures, which we discern nothing of by our naked Sight. And in such Contemplation, there is more true and useful Pleasure, than in all the Brutalities in which Sensual Men consume their Time, Substance, and Health; and waste their Con­science too. Now, it will be necessary for the Body to be Coelestial, that it may be capa­ble of considering those extraordinary Stamps and Characters of the Divine Power and Wis­dom which will be found upon a Coelestial and Incorruptible World; the observing of which, will (I believe) be one of those Exercises in which the Spirits of Just Men made Perfect shall be most happily employ'd. For if these Heavens declare the Glory and Handy-work of God, [Page 15] those will much more do so; and a Saint can­not be such if he delights not in that Mani­festation.

3dly, Another Privilege arising from our Deli­verance from the grossness of this Body, is the re­moval of a great hindrance of Piety and Devotion. It cannot but be an extreme Mortification to those who would lift up their Hearts to God, and have their Conversation in Heaven, to feel such a pres­sure and dulness upon their Spirits as damps and deadens them in their Holy Admirations, Prai­ses and Prayers. This especially will be an ex­traordinary Grief to them when they set them­selves with all their Heart and Soul and Might, to answer, with the Degrees of their Devotion, the most solemn Occasions of Publick Worship; such as those of this Day, on which all that is within us should bless the Name of God, who hath begotten us again to a lively Hope by the Resur­rection of Iesus from the Dead. But when the Body is not Restive, and the Spirits move as Handmaids to the Soul; then, even here on Earth, it is ravish'd with Religious Joy.

The second Advantage which Christians obtain, by changing an Earthly for an Heavenly Body, is Deli­verance [Page 16] from the disorderly Motions to which this Body is liable, as it is a Corruptible Body; whether the Spring of them be within, or from without; and upon which account it may be called (as it is in the Book of Wisdom) a Body that is subject unto Sin. Wisd. 1. 4. Here frequently Sickness and violent Tor­ture render Life not worthy the Name of Life, and provoke the Patients to think, sometimes, that Death moves very slowly towards them. Here, it many times happens, that one corrupt Member must be cut off for the Preservation of the rest; though with certain Pain, and uncertain Hope. In this Body, the Warmth which is subser­vient to Wit and Elocution, carries frequently with it a mixture of Extravagance and Indiscretion. How often does this Corruptible Frame bring such Decays upon the Memory, that all things are almost forgotten, even Injuries themselves? tho of this sort of Oblivion we have no reason to complain. What is more common to Man than the raging and swelling of unruly Passions and Affections, which are troublesom both to the Per­son so highly moved, and to the World to which he gives Disturbance? How often do unreasona­ble Appetites and Inclinations become so impe­tuous, and war with such force against the Soul, in [Page 17] Men who are not yet grown up into strong Ha­bits of Grace, that the Good which they would do, that they do not; and the Evil which they would not do, that they do? How often do Flesh and Blood prejudice the Understanding by Enthusiastick Heat, which represents to it Dreams and strong Delusions and flashes of Madness in the Fancy, as immediate Illuminations from God? How frequently does it form a dark Cloud of Melancholy in the Imagination, and fashion that Cloud into all the Shapes of Terror and Affrightment, in good, though scrupulous Men? Upon this account they cry out, in their haste, and in the anguish of their Souls,Psal. 77. v. 7. Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will He be favourable no more? Is his Mercy clean gone for ever? v. 8. Doth his Promise fail for evermore? v. 9. Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Hath he, in Anger, shut up his tender Mercies? These, through the fumes of the Blood, rather than the guilt of the Conscience, are for a season in this Life, of all others the most miserable; for such a troubled Spirit who can bear? Never­theless, upon the whole, their Condition is much safer and better than theirs who sport with their Misfortunes, and mock at their Griefs, and at the same time wallow in Sin without any Re­flexion [Page 18] upon either the Criminalness or the Peril of their own Sensuality. For these latter, at the dreadful Day, shall have their Bodies made the most Dishonourable and Unprofitable of all Vessels, whilst those of the former shall be chang'd into Vessels of the highest Honour and the greatest Use, that Hum [...]ne Nature is capable of; and such they shall remain for ever. And that is

The third sort of Advantage which those who are Christ's will be happy in; that is to say, a freedom from the perishing nature, decay, and fall of this Body, as a corruptible mortal Body; for this Corruptible must put on Incorruption, and this Mortal must put on Immortality. There are two things which all Men naturally desire; to know an end of their Sufferings, and to have no end of their Happiness. The way to the Accomplishment of these Desires is not shewn in the Schools of Zeno or Plato. It is confess'd, there was taught by them a cele­brated but false Doctrine of Restitution [...] of the World. This they would have to be brought to pass in the Revolution of a certain Period of Time, in such sort, that all things should come about again, and be as they had been before for a like quantity of Duration; and so in Vicissitudes [Page 19] for ever: From whence it would follow, that this Corruptible Body, after it had put on Incor­ruption for a season, should become corruptible again, and mortal again. But in the School of Christ, we learn a Proposition which is most Confortable as well as most True; to wit, that after the Resurrection, Ascension, and glorious Change of this Body, all Grossness, all disor­derly Motion, all Pain and Trouble shall cease; but of the Felicity of the Christian Man's Soul dwelling in it, there shall be no End. The Apostle assures us, That Death, their last Enemy, shall, it self, be then destroy'd. For the Lord [Jesus] shall descend from Heaven with a Shout, 1 Thess. 4. 16, 17. with the Voice of the Archangel, and with the Trump of God; and the Dead in Christ shall rise first; then those which are alive and remain, shall be caught up in the Clouds together with those that have been raised, to meet the same Lord in the Air, and so shall they be ever with the Lord.

The Sting of Misery is the Continuance of it, and Hell is the more Hell for that. Continuance also is the Heaven of Joy. It is made Perfect by our possessing it, without any Shadow of Suspi­cion of being ever bereaved of it. And thus [Page 20] it will be after the Resurrection of the Just. Then shall be entirely fulfilled the Words of the Prophet Hosea, Hosea 13. 14. He will ransom thee from the Power of the Grave: He will redeem thee from Death. O Death! he will be thy Plague; O Grave! he will be thy Destruction. Then shall be made good those Words of St. Paul, 2 Cor. 5. 4. Mortality shall be swallowed up of Life: Or, as he expresseth it, in the Words after the Text,1 Cor. 15. 54.—When this Corruptible shall have put on Incorruption, and this Mortal shall have put on Immortality; Then shall be brought to pass the Saying that is written, [written of old by the Prophet Isaiah] Death is swallowed up in Victory. Isai. 25. 8.

These which I have recounted, are (you will say) very great Advantages which a Christian shall gain by changing this Earthly for a Heavenly Body. But, it may be, you will add, Why cannot the Soul be fully happy in it self without any Body at all; and happier than in a Body, though Incorruptible and Immortal?

To this, I think, it is proper to answer no more than thus much, in this short Discourse which is design'd not for nice Dispute, but solid Edification. That is to say, That God who [Page 21] framed his Creatures in divers Orders, made Man a Creature consisting of Soul and Body; and that it belongs to his Rank in the Creation to have them at last united again: Also, that by the perfectest Union of them, a Creature of that Order is, as such, compleated both in his proper Being, and in the happiness of it. To this purpose are (as I conceive) the words of St. Paul. In this [Tabernacle] we grow earnestly, 2 Cor. 5. 2, 3, 4. desiring to be Clothed upon with our House which is from Heaven. If so be that, being Clothed, we shall not be found Naked. For we that are in this Tabernacle do Groan, being burthened: Not that we would be Uncloathed, but Cloathed upon, that Mortality might be swallowed up of Life. He would not be without a Body at That day (for of that time he speaks) but he is desirous that a Celestial Form should be put upon Terrestrial Matter.Ver. 10.

These is a Question less curious than that which has been put, but exceedingly more use­ful; and it is this. What shall we do that we may come at these several great Advantages of living at last in an Heavenly body? And this is the

Third Consideration, and very fit for the Exercise of our Thoughts. For, in vain, do [Page 22] we Philosophize about a Celestial Paradise, and a Spiritual Body, and an Heavenly Word, without knowing and using the means of being happy in them all.

Those means are the Conditions of the Co­venant of Grace to which Christians on their Parts have solemnly consented, and which, by the assistance of God's Grace, they may and must perform, by their sincere Obedience to Him. The way to have better Bodies is to have more Virtuous Souls. God hath put us into this Body, as into the Habit of a Pilgrim on Earth, as Probationers for a more excellent Cloathing. And, according to our Patience, our Self-denial, our keeping the Body in Subjection to the Mind, our governing the Appetites and Passions of it, so shall the Resurrection and Ascension of it be. Righteousness (saith the Book of Wisdom) is Immortal; Wisd. 1. 15 and the giving heed to her Laws is the assurance of Incorruption; Ch. 6. 18, 19. and Incor­ruption maketh us near unto God. And he that will not awake to Righteousness shall not ascend to a state of Incorruption. God will not receive such a Violater of his Laws into his especial Presence. He will not admit so [Page 23] brutal a Creature into his Kingdom, where there is nothing to gratifie the Inclinations of Flesh and Blood. Such a Creature would still be desirous to Eat and Drink, and to enjoy the Pleasures of a corruptible Body.

We rise to Glory as Members of Christ, who (saith the Apostle) died for all, 2 Cor. 5. 15. that they which live should not live to themselves, but unto him who died for them and rose again. His true Members we cannot call our selves with any Propriety, if we fulfil not the holy Vow we made to him when we were initiated into his Church, by renouncing and forsaking all the sinful Lusts of the Flesh. St. Paul hath told the World in express Terms,Gal. 6. 8. That he who Soweth to the Flesh, shall of the Flesh Reap Corruption. (He shall die after all the pampering of the Body with Epi­curean Art, and for that it may be, much the sooner; He shall fat himself for Slaughter) but He who Soweth to the Spirit (who Feeds and Cultivates the Soul with Wisdom and Holiness) shall of the Spirit Reap Life everlasting; the Life of an Immortal Soul in an Immortal Body. Can it ever be imagined (or if it be, is it any other than mere imagination, and a very false [Page 24] and gross one too) that Christ shall raise the Temple of this Body to a Celestial House, making that second Temple much more glorious than this first, after it has been wilfully Desecrated by Man, and put to the vilest uses of Insobriety and Lust. Such Sensualities render this Body more Earthly still, and bury the Soul in it, so far are they from promoting it to an Heavenly Estate.

The impenitent Sinner hopes against all grounds of hope, if he has expectation of see­ing God face to face with Eyes which have been full of Adnltery? and of praising God in Heaven with a Tongue that has been set on Fire from Hell, that has Insolently blasphem'd him on Earth, and bitterly revil'd his Servants, perhaps because they were his Servants, or for reviling sake. The like may be said of every Wicked­ness done by the Soul in this Earthly Taber­nacle. [...] Cor. 5. [...]0. For we must all appear before the Iudgment-seat of Christ, that every Man may receive the things done in his Body, according to that he hath done, whe­ther it be Good or Evil. This is part of the Con­fession of our Faith which we have, this day, made in these words. ‘At [Christ's] coming [Page 25] all Men shall rise again with their Bodies, and give account of their own Works; and they that have done good shall go into Life everlasting, and they that have done Evil, into everlasting Fire.’ Wherefore,

Fourthly, Knowing the Terrors of the Lord, which will seize upon the Ungodly, and bring them to Destruction both of Body and Soul, and the joyful Estate of a happy Soul in a Celestial Body, which shall be the Portion of all those who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit; We beseech you, both by the Severities and Mercies of God;

As sure as Christ is risen, these dry Bones shall live, as well as those did which the Prophet spake of in a Political Sense,Ezek. 37. 3, 11, 14. meaning by them the House of Israel, which God promised to Re­store.

It should, therefore, be our Care, not to put this vile Body into far worse Condition, but to consult the good of it; seeing the more Heavenly its Frame be made, the Felicity of the Soul in it will be the greater.

Men of light and desultory Humours affect Alterations, without considering the Events of them. Wise Men chuse them also, when they foresee plainly they will turn to their exceeding Benefit. And here they have a plain prospect of a most considerable advantage, of changing Corruption for Incorruption, and Mortality for Immortality.

[Page 27] If any are extreamly concern'd at Deformi­ties of the Body, as so many marks of Shame (tho' nothing which is not of our own doing can be a just reproach to us) why have they not the innocent Ambition of desiring a Cele­stial Body, which will be without wrinckle or blemish? And the way to procure so decent a a Body, is to rectifie the distractions of our Reason, and the monstrous choice of our un­govern'd Wills; and to subdue all dishonour­able Passions and Vices; and to keep our selves unspotted from the World. If divers are very Covetous of Life in this Body, as burthensome as it is, and wish their Years were not so many as they are, and that they would still be many more, even then when the Wheel is almost bro­ken at the Cistern, and the Blood can scarce creep on in its Circle; why are they averse to Christian Piety, which will provide for them an Immortal Body?

You will permit me,Eph. 5. 14. to use the Exhortation of the great Apostle, Awake thou that Sleepest, and rise from the Dead, and Christ shall give thee Life. Say not,Ver. 32. as the Epicures mentioned in this Chapter, Let us Eat and Drink [Page 28] for to morrow we die: But rather, let us be Sober and Vigilant, that when ever we die the first Death, we may overcome the Second. Seeing Christ is risen, and we shall rise and be changed by his Power, say not, upon any diffi­culties about Christian Religion, Why stand we in Ieopardy every hour? Ver. 30 31, 32. Why do we die daily? Why do we Fight with Beasts, or Men as Savage as they? Why do we not rather consult the ease of Flesh and Blood? but rather (as St. Paul in the Conclusion of this Discourse) Let us be sted­fast, Ver. 58. unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for asmuch as we know that our Labour shall not be in vain in the Lord.

Finally, Let us glorifie him with our Bodies, and with our Souls, that he may glorifie both. Then may we, upon good and comfortable grounds, joyn with the same Apostle in these words of Spiritual Triumph,

O Death! where is thy Sting?Ver. 55, 56▪ 57. O Grave! where is thy Victory? The Sting of Death is Sin, and the strength of Sin is the Law. But thanks be to God who giveth us the Victory through our Lord Iesus Christ, to whom, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, be Glory and Dominion for ever. Amen.