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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 and 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 sea shall open their mouths and cast forth all the wicked world, delivering them up to the dreadful Judge! How will they cry, roar, and tear themselves! how will the jovial companions weep and 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 mad men, 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 tigers? Cursed be the day that ever we met. O that I had remained a lifeless lump, rotted 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 had I lain still, and had not seen this terrible day! If I behoved to be thine, O that I had been thy ass! or one of thy dogs, rather than thy body! for then wouldest 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 lay 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, back biting, 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 thine 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 hypocrisy." But may not the soul answer, "Wretched and vile carcase, I am now driven back into thee, O that thou hadst lain rotting for ever 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 kindly 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 snare you, that I neglected opportunities of making peace with God, loitered away subbaths, lived in the neglect of prayer? went to the house of mirth, rather than the house of mourning?

and that I choosed 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 feel, it was you that diverted me from these thoughts and drew me off to make privision for thee, O wretched flesh! by your silken cords of fleshly lusts, I was drawn to destruction, over the belly of my light 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 !"

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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, I 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 when 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 splendor 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," Matt. xiii. 43. If there was a dazzling glory on Moses' face, when he came down from the mount; and if Stephen's face was, "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 beautiful 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 the 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," Matt. 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 in their formation in the womb, they shall rise 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's body after his resurrection: these marks will rather be badges of distinction, and add to their glory than detract from their beauty. But however 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 in a new mould, bringing it forth with a new lustre; so shall the vile body, which lay 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 man on earth being frail and mortal, may

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justly be reckoned weak and feeble, in regard to their strength, howsoever great, is quickly worn out and consumed. Many of the saints now have weaker bodies 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 grave divine 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 external 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 not. 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 splendor of the new Jerusalem; and stedfastly look at the trancendent glory and brightness of the man Christ, the Lamb, who is the light of the 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 veil shall be removed, and they be 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 inter mission, 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!

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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 en

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