cularly by a trumpet to collect and rally their armies; so at the resurrection our Saviour, by the ministry of his angels, under the conduct of their archangel, will assemble and rally our scattered atoms, and then by his divine power organize them into human bodies again, and reunite them to their proper souls. For so, Matt. xxiv. 31. Christ tells us that his angels shall with the sound of the trumpet gather together his elect from the four winds. Which if you compare with the above-cited text, you will find that this sound of the trumpet, by which the elect are to be gathered, is to precede their resurrection, and consequently that it is not to gather them when they are raised, but to gather them to be raised; that is, to collect their dispersed dust, which hath been blown about upon the wings of the wind, in order to their being redintegrated into human bodies, and reinformed with their primitive souls.

IV. So is the resurrection of the dead; i. e. So are our dead bodies to be raised again into the proper form and kind of human bodies: and this is implied in ver. 38. But God giveth it a body as it pleaseth him, and unto every seed his own body: i. e. As to the seed of wheat, which dies in the winter, God gives in the spring the body, or stalk, and ear of wheat; so to this mortal body, which we sow in the grave, God will give at the resurrection its own proper and specific form. For the soul will have the same faculties at the resurrection that it hath now in this mortal state; and the body is only in order to the soul, its parts and members being all purposely contrived into fit instruments for the soul to work withal. These inward faculties therefore

continuing still and for ever the same, it is highly requisite that at the resurrection they should be refitted with the same corporeal instruments of action : for the soul is the same to the body, what the art is to the thing that is formed by the art: and therefore as the thing formed is not perfect, so long as it is any way disproportionable to the art which formed it; so neither can the body be perfect, till in all its parts it is every way apportioned unto the faculties of the soul. And how can the matter of this corrupted body be readapted to the natural faculties of a human soul, unless it be raised again into an human body, and restored to its primitive figure and proportion? For should it be raised with more or fewer parts than those it now consists of, it must either be defective or superfluous in its parts, or the soul must have more or fewer faculties to employ them. It is true, after the resurrection, the scripture plainly tells us, that our souls shall no longer exercise those their animal faculties of nourishing and propagating; that the sons of the resurrection shall neither marry nor be given in marriage, but that they shall be equal to the angels of God, Matt. xxii. 30. And indeed since every individual man will then be raised into an immortal state, there will be no need either that they should be nourished themselves, or that they should propagate any more individuals to preserve their kind. But it doth not hence follow, either that the soul shall be deprived of those animal faculties, or, consequently, that the body shall be raised without the organs by which those animal operations are performed. For though our Saviour's body, after the resurrection, had no need of nourishment; yet it is

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