8R M. that it can hold together for one Day, conXII. fidering the Motions and Concuffions it is And if Difeafes and Cafual

exposed to.

ties should spare it, yet the Wear and Tear of feventy or eighty Years will break and diffolve it into its original Duft.

But at the Resurrection this Corruptible will put on Incorruption, and this Mortal Immortality; all the Principles of Corruption and Putrefaction fhall be discharged, and every Part will be wrought into a Solidity and Firmness of Texture that shall for ever preserve it from all Waste and De

cay.

And this nearly coincides with those other Characters of a natural and spiritual Body. For a natural, or rather animal Body (which better expreffes the original Word, and the Diftinction made by the Apoftle) is a Body endued with meer animal Life, that cannot be maintained without conftant Supplies and Discharges of Nourishment, and therefore can hardly efcape dangerous Distempers from that very Nourishment by which it lives: A Life of a grofs and ponderous Body, that is in a Manner fastened to the Ground by its own natural Gravitation, which refifts all Motion, and is not moved

from

from one place to another without Force. ŠÈR

What the Nature and Texture of a spiritual Body may be, we do not fo well understand for want of proper Ideas; but it seems to be fuch a Body as fhall in fome Sort approach to, and resemble spiritual Subftances, which are fubject to no Distempers or Decays, because they need no Nourishment, and thus they are defcribed in the Revelation, ch. 7. v. 16. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more.

How it should be a Body void of Gravis tation, is ftill harder to account for by the Principles of Philofophy, unless it is to dwell in a Place removed out of the Influ ence of all the great Objects of Attraction, and this is not abfurd to suppose. But however from its being termed a fpiritual Body, we may well conclude that it will not be heavy and fluggish, as all animal Bo dies are, but from fome Principles or other will be endued with great Activeness and Agility, like Spirits.

Another Character is, that it is fown in Weakness, but raised in Power. And weak indeed it is at the Hour of its Diffolution, whether it be by Sickness, or the Decays of old Age; but in its beft Bb 2 Eftate

XII.

XII.

er.

SER M. Eftate the Strength of the strongest Man is Weakness, if compared with the Strength of many of the brute Creatures, who are yet his Slaves without knowing their own PowAnd even this fmall Degree of Strength is derived and precarious. Let the strongeft Man be deprived of Nourishment for a few Days, and from Sleep for a few Nights, and he will foon be convinced of his own Weakness, and Dependence. But this weak Body fhall be raised in Power; inherent and original Strength, that shall borrow no Recruits from Meats and Drinks, but shall be Permanent, and execute all the Orders of the active Spirit without Decay or Laffitude.

ry.

The laft Characters are in thefe Words, It is fown in Dishonour, it is raised in GloAnd this evidently relates to the great Difference in point of Beauty and Comeliness between the fame Body before and after the Refurrection. What Havock will a lingring Fit of Sickness make in the most beautiful Face; and how do some particular Distempers ruin it beyond Recovery in a few Days? but when Death comes, it never fails to wipe out all the Graces of Colour and Featate, and to fpread Ghaftlinefs and Hor

For

XII.

For over the Countenance. And yet Beau- SR M. ty and Proportion, and Majesty of Person, are the Lot of very few, even in the most flourishing State of Life. The firft Sin of Adam has left fad Marks upon the Perfons of his Pofterity, which are to be read in the Unfightly, Unfhapely, and ill Proportioned, who are more than one half of Mankind. And what the Sin of Adam fpared, the Vices of his Children have gone near to finish, by a fad Portion of Diseases and Hereditary Infirmities which they have entailed on their Offspring. Add to these the Blind, the Lame, the Maimed, the Crooked and Deformed by Means of Accidents and Mifchances, and the Sum of all put together will fhew the Juftness of the Expreffion, It is fown in Dishonour. But the Remedy follows at Hand, for it is raised in Glory. Here is an infallible Cure, and unfailing Source of Comfort to good Men under all the forementioned Evils. For then thefe vile Bodies fhall be changed, and fashioned like unto Chrift's glorious Body, as the fame Apoftle defcribes them in Phil. 3. 21.

SERM.
XII.

And this one Hint may give us some Light into the general Nature of a glorified Body, or a spiritual Body as it is before called, of which our bleffed Saviour gave a fhort Sample when he was transfigured in Prefence of three of his Difciples, for his Mat, 17. 2. Face did shine as the Sun, and his Raiment was white as the Light. This feems to be an Anticipation of that celeftial Form which he was afterwards to affume

Exod.31.35.

upon his Afcenfion. The Appearance upon the Face of Mofes when he came down from the Mount after being present with God, is a further Illustration of this Point; for the Skin of his Face fhone fo that the People were afraid to come near him, and he was forced to cover it with a Veil while he talked with them. A certain Glory and Radiancy from the divine Prefence adhered to his Countenance, and remained upon it for a confiderable Time, altho' at first it was not perceived by himself. And it is highly probable that a Glory of this Nature fat upon the Face of St. Stephen when he was queftioned before the Sanhedrim, for At 6. 1. we read that they faw his Face as it had been the Face of an Angel. Some extraordinary Appearance there was for certain in his

Coun