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plain it was raised again with its natural instruments of eating and drinking which he once actually used, to assure his disciples of the reality of his resurrection. And though now those parts are useless to him, as to that particular animal operation, yet there is no doubt but his soul still uses them for other unknown purposes peculiar to his glorified state; or if he do not, yet since those parts were necessary to the perfection of a human body, and consequently to the redintegration of his human nature, it was requisite he should be raised with them, that so he might have corporeal organs adapted to his animal faculties, which it is plain were not extinguished by his resurrection: and since the resurrection of our Saviour's body is in scripture represented as the pattern of ours, (for he shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, Phil. iii. 21.) we may hence warrantably conclude, that ours shall be raised as his was, complete in all the parts of an human body.

V. And lastly, So is the resurrection of the dead; i. e. So are these human bodies to be changed and altered by the resurrection: so ver. 37. That which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain. Intimating, that as the seed when it is sown is nothing but bare seed, though when it is quickened it springs up into a long stalk and ear, which many times contains in it an hundred grains; even so this mortal body, which is only the naked seed of our resurrection, shall be very much altered from what it is, and changed into a more complete and perfect substance. For the more clear and distinct explication of which, we will first consider the change that will then be made in the

bodies of good men; and secondly, the change that will be made in the bodies of the wicked.

First, We will consider the change that will then be made in the bodies of good men; which consists of four particulars :

First, They will be changed from base and humble into glorious bodies.

Secondly, From earthly and fleshly into spiritual and heavenly bodies.

Thirdly, From weak and passive into active and powerful bodies.

Fourthly, From mortal and corruptible into immortal and incorruptible bodies.

1. The bodies of good men will be changed from base and humble into bright and glorious ones; so ver. 43. It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory. That is, When it is sown in the grave, it is a base and abject thing, not to be endured above ground for its ghastly looks and nauseous stink and putrefaction; but at its resurrection it shall come forth in a bright and beautiful and venerable form. For so our Saviour assures us, that after their resurrection the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father, Matt. xiii. 43. that is, the matter of their bodies shall be refined and exalted into a bright and lucid substance, which shall glitter like the sun, and cast forth rays of glory round about them: and this, perhaps, is that inheritance of the saints in light, that is, embodied in light, which the apostle speaks of, Col. i. 12. For when this dull matter comes to be reanimated with a blessed and glorified soul, it will doubtless derive from it a great deal of beauty and lustre. For if now the soul, when it is overjoyed, can so trans

figure our bodies, fill our eyes with such sprightly' flames, overspread our countenance with such an amiable air, and paint our faces with such a serene and florid aspect, what a change will it make in our resurrection-body, which, being incomparably more fine and subtil than this, will be far more pliable to the motions of the soul! When, therefore, the happy soul shall reenter this softened and liquefied matter, ravished with unspeakable joy and content, how will its delightsome emotions change and transfigure it! how will its active joys shine through and overspread it with an amiable glory! especially when with this natural energy of its glorified soul our Saviour himself shall cooperate to change this vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the mighty working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself. Though now therefore the matter of our bodies is vile and sordid, and such as seems altogether incapable of such a glorious change; yet, according to the best philosophy, there is no specific difference in matter and if the vilest and most ignoble matter may by mere motion not only be crystallized, but transformed into a flaming brightness, as we are sure it may; if in lighting of a candle that is newly blown out, by applying another to the ascending smoke, this dark and stinking substance may in the twinkling of an eye be changed into a bright and glorious flame; into what a refulgent substance may the matter of this mortal body be changed, by the concurrence of an infinite power with the vigorous activity of a glorious soul!

2. The bodies of good men will be changed from earthly and fleshly into spiritual and heavenly. So

ver. 44. It is sown, saith he, a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body; where those words, wμai xò, which we render a natural body, may perhaps be better translated an animal body; i. e. a body suited and adapted to this animal life, which the beasts that perish enjoy in common with us; a body that is sustained by animal operations, and recreated with animal pleasures, and which, by reason of its gross substance, doth continually crave to be supplied with suitable nourishment, and treated with gross and carnal pleasures, which is the very thing that renders it so great a cumber to the immortal spirit that animates it. But at the resurrection it will be improved into a spiritual body; not that it will be converted into a spiritual substance; for the apostle's own words do assure us that it will still remain a body; but the spirituality of it will consist in this, that, being wrought into a purer and finer substance, it will no longer need or crave these animal nourishments and pleasures, but be perfectly fitted for and contempered to the soul, and entirely resigned to its use and service; for it will then be refined from all those animal appetites of eating, drinking, and carnality, which do now too often not only render it unserviceable to the soul, but also hurtful and injurious: so that then it will be in entire subjection to the mind, and all its members will be devoted instruments to the service of righteousness; so that now there will be no longer any law in its members to wage war against the law in the mind, but the mind will govern, and the body obey without any contest or reluctancy. And as the body will be wholly obedient to the mind, so it will be perfectly adapted to its service: for whereas now, by reason of its gross consistency, it is an unwieldy

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luggage to the soul, and doth very much clog and encumber her in her operations; it will then be wrought into so fine and tenuous a substance, as that, instead of a clog, it will be a wing to the soul. For its consistence will be subtil as the finest ether, and active as the purest flame; it will have nothing that is gross or burdensome in it to retard or weary it in its flights, to rebate its vigour or slacken its motion; but it will be all life, and spirit, and wing, and, like a perpetual motion, be carried on with unwearied swiftness by its own internal springs; and being freed from all that weight which now renders it so slow and heavy, it will be able to move like a thought, and to keep pace with the most nimble wishes of the soul: so that what Hierocles saith of his spiritual body, ὃ τῇ νοηρᾷ τελειότητι τῆς ψυχῆς συνάTYTα, i. e. that it is such a body as is every way fitted to the intellectual perfections of the soul, will be true of this resurrection-body, which will be perfectly attempered to a perfect mind, and fashioned into a most convenient organ for it, whereby to exert its purest and most spiritual operations.

3. The bodies of good men will be changed from weak and passive into active and powerful bodies; so ver. 43. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power: that is, Whereas the body which we sow in the grave is exceeding weak and infirm, liable to infinite passions and diseases, and can do but little, but suffer much; it shall be raised with a temperament so pure and just, so hale and vigorous, that no disease or infirmity shall ever find any place in it, or be able to cramp it in its operations: for, besides that its elementary qualities (if any such remain in it) shall be turned into such an exquisite temper, that they shall never jar or disagree with each other,

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