less, they that are truly such, will as certainly hear that blessed sentence pronounced upon themselves at the last day, as ever it was pronounced by him before. In short, hath he promised to prepare a place for us, and to receive us to himself, that where he is, there we may be also?" Then we need not, we cannot question but that the place will be ready for us, and that we shall live with him for ever. The consideration whereof cannot surely but make our hearts even leap with joy, and fill our mouths with nothing but praise and thankfulness this day to almighty God for the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the great foundation of all these our hopes and expectations from him. Especially considering that not only our souls, but our bodies too, and so our whole man, will be at that day advanced to the highest glory they are capable of: for as Christ is risen from the dead, so he is become the first fruits of them that slept,' which is the other thing to be considered in the words, even that,

II. Christ being risen from the dead,' thereby 'became the first fruits of them that slept.' For the understanding whereof, we must know, that the apostle is here proving that our bodies shall rise again at the last day, and he proves it from this argument, because Christ rose again. 'Now,' saith he, 'if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you, that there is no resurrection of the dead?' And then having prosecuted the argument, by showing how many absurdities would follow upon the denial of Christ's resurrection, he concludes it with these words,' But now is

Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept;' that is, Christ's resurrection is a plain and undeniable argument, that we also, who sleep or die, shall rise again; for as the same apostle elsewhere observes, 'If the first fruit be holy, the whole lump also is holy.' So here,

'Christ is the first fruits of them that slept,' so that he rising again, all others must needs rise too. In the same sense he is elsewhere called, 'the beginning, and the first begotten from the dead." Not but that there were several raised from the dead before, as some in the Old Testament, and some by him in the New, as Lazarus and the widow's son at Naim; but these rose so as to die again; whereas Christ was raised to an immortal life, so as never to die more; and he was the first that ever did so; and whosoever do so, as all shall at the last day, they do it by virtue of his resurrec

tion.

For as the apostle argues in the following words, Since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead: for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.' All mankind being contained in Adam, when he fell, all fell in him; and so the whole human nature being contained in Christ, when he rose, all rose with him, at least virtually and potentially. So that by virtue and power of his rising from the dead in our nature, all that partake of that nature in which he did it, shall rise again too, and therefore he is called the second Adam: one by whom all mankind shall be raised from

1 Rom. xi. 16.

2 Col. i. 18. Rev. i. 5.

that death to which they were made subject by the first. The first Adam died, and therefore we must die too. The second Adam rose again, and therefore we shall rise again too. So that Christ's resurrection is not only a proof, but the cause of ours; and we shall as certainly rise again, as Christ ever did so, and because he did so. In which respect, Christ's resurrection affords us as great matter of joy and comfort as any we have hitherto mentioned; as appears from the matter, the manner, and the end of our resurrection, which I shall briefly explain unto you.

1. As for the matter, it is plain that the same bodies that die, shall rise again. As our Saviour's body was the same after his resurrection, that it was before and at his passion, of the same stature, the same proportion, the same features, the same substance every way, so it will be with us. The same bodies out of which our souls depart when we die, shall be raised to life again at the resurrection; for otherwise, if there should be any change of the substance, it could not be properly called a resurrection; our bodies cannot be said to rise again, unless they be the same they were before, at least as to the substance; it must be the same flesh, the same bones, the same nerves and sinews, the same veins and arteries, the same head, the same heart, the same hands and feet, and so as to the other parts of the body, the substance will be the same.

This is that wherewith Job comforted himself in the midst of his troubles, saying, 'I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself, and mine

eye

1

shall behold and not another.' But this he could never have expected, unless he had been sure that that very flesh and eye which he then had, should be raised again at the latter day, and not another.

2

But here we must observe, that though the substance of our bodies will be the same as they are now, or as they will be when we die, yet the disposition and qualities of that substance will be much altered; for as the apostle saith, '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." It is still the same body, but it is now endowed with incorruptible, with glorious, with powerful, and with spiritual qualities. And so, though it be still the same body, yet that body shall be so disposed and ordered, that it shall far exceed that wherein our souls are at present immured; so far, that our bodies shall be then made like to the body of Christ himself; for as the apostle assures us, he shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself.' 3

6

Now who is able to express the comfort that a soul which is truly pious, must needs receive from a firm belief and serious consideration of this, that very body which he now hath, shall not only be raised again, but it shall be made much better than it was before, fashioned like to Christ's body, that is, as pure, as glorious, as spiritual,

Job. xix. 25, 26, 27.

21 Cor. xv. 42, 43, 44.

3 Phil. iii. 21.

as it is possible for a body to be. We cannot but all find, by sad and woful experience, that the bodies we now carry about with us, are a great clog and hinderance to us in the performance of all religious duties, and so both in the pursuit and enjoyment of real happiness; and that too, not only when they are in pain or sick, but likewise when we have all outward ease and health that we can desire; for our souls being so closely united to our bodies, that so long as they are in them, they cannot act without them, but in all their operations are forced to make use of the animal spirits in our bodies, which are generally either too gross and heavy, or else irregular and disorderly. Hence it comes to pass that we are commonly very dull and heavy in all religious exercises, or else our imaginations are so disturbed, our passions so unruly, and all our thoughts so desultory and inconstant, that we find it very difficult to fix our minds so as to serve the Lord without distraction; every little humour that ariseth in the body, being apt to discompose the animal spirits, so as to make them unfit for the service of the soul.

And besides that, our bodies, by reason of the several humours which are apt by turns to be predominant in them, do not only impede and hinder us in doing what is good, but excite and stir us up to what is evil and wicked; from hence it is that some are passionate and fretful, others melancholy and dejected. Some are inclined to lust and uncleanness, others to drunkenness and intemperance; which last, is in divers respects, both the effect and the cause of such ill humours arising in the body. Be sure these and many such like sins, though they would not be sins without the soul, yet they would

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