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cays, nor want that daily Suftenance and continual Recruit which thefe mortal Bodies cannot fubfift without. Meats for the Belly, and the Belly for Meats, but God fhall deftroy both it and them. This is that perfect and compleat Happiness which all good Men fhall enjoy in the other World; which, according to a Heathen Poet, may be thus briefly fumm'd Mens fana in Corpore fano, a Mind free from all Trouble and Guilt, in a Body free from all Pains and Difeafes. Thus our mortal Bodies fhall be raised immortal: they fhall not only by the Power of God be always preferved from Death, for fo the Bodies we have now, if God pleafes, may become immortal; but the Nature of them fhall be fo wholly changed and altered, that they fhall not retain the fame Seeds or Principles of Mortality and Corrup tion; fo that they who are once clothed with them, as our Saviour tells us, cannot die any

more.

2. Our Bodies fhall be raised in Glory. Then fhall the Righteous fhine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father, Mat. 13. 43. Our heavenly Bodies in Brightness and Glory fhall contend with the Splendor of the Sun it felf: A Refemblance of this we have in the Luftre of Mofes's Face, which, after he had converfed with God in the Mount, did fhine fo gloriously, that the Children of Ifrael were afraid to come near him; and therefore when he spake to them, he was forced to caft aVeil over his Face to cloud and eclipse the Glory of it. And that extraordinary and miraculous Majesty

Majefty of St. Stephen's Countenance, seems to be a Prefage of that future Glory which our heavenly Bodies fhall be clothed with: Acts 6. 15. And all that fat in the Council looking ftedfaftly on him, faw his Face as it had been the Face of an Angel; that is, they faw a great Light and Splendor about him. And if the Bodies of Saints do fometimes appear fo glorious here on Earth, how will they fhine and glitter in the other World, when they fhall be made like to Chrift's own glorious Body? For fo St. Paul tells us, that Chrift will fashion our vile Bodies like unto his glorious Body. Now how glorious and fplendid the Body of Chrift is, we may guess by the Vifions of the two great Apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul.

The former of them, when he faw the Transfiguration of our Saviour, when his Face did bine as the Sun, and his Raiment became Shining, and white as Snow, was at the fight of it fo tranfported and over-charged with Joy and Admiration, that he was in a manner befide himself, for he knew not what he said. When our Saviour discover'd but a little of that Glory which he now poffeffes, and will in due time communicate to his Followers, yet that little of it made the Place feem a Paradife : and the Disciples were so taken with the fight of it, that they thought they could wish for nothing better than always to live in fuch pure Light, and enjoy fo beautiful a Sight. It is good for us to be here; let us make three Tabernacles: here let us fix and abide for ever.

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And if they thought this fo great a Happiness, only to be where fuch heavenly Bodies were prefent, and to behold them with their Eyes; how much greater Happiness must they enjoy, who are admitted to dwell in fuch glorious Manfions, and are themselves clothed with fo much Brightness and Splendor?

The other Appearance of our bleffed Saviour after his Afcenfion into Heaven, to St. Paul as he was travelling to Damafcus, was fo glorious, that it put out his Eyes; his Senfes were not able to bear a Light fo refulgent: fuch glorious Creatures will our Lord make us all, if we continue his faithful Servants and Followers; and we shall be fo wonderfully changed by the word of his Power, from what we are in this vile State, that the Bodies we now have will not be able fo much as to bear the Sight and Prefence of thofe Bodies which fhall be given us at the Refurrection.

Now this Excellency of our heavenly Bodies the Schoolmen fancy will arife in a great mea fure from the Happiness of our Souls. The unfpeakable Joy and Happiness which our Souls fhall then enjoy, will break thro our Bodies, and be confpicuous, and fhine forth in the Brightness of our Countenances, and illuftrate them with Beauty and Splendor; as the Joy of the Soul, even in this Life, hath fome Influence upon the Body, and makes an imperfect Impreffion upon the Countenance, by rendring it more ferene and chearful than otherwife it would be: as Solomon tells us, Ecclef.8. 1. That a Man's Wisdom maketh his

Face

Face to fine. Virtue and Goodness purifies and exalts a Man's natural Temper, and makes his very Looks more clear and brisk.

3. Our Bodies fhall be raised in Power. This is that which the Schools call the Agility of our heavenly Bodies, the Nimbleness of their Motion, by which they fhall be rendred most obedient and able Inftruments of the Soul. In this State our Bodies are no better than Clogs and Fetters, which confine and restrain the Freedom of the Soul, and hinder it in all its Operations: The corruptible Body, as it is in the Wisdom of Solomon, presseth down the Soul, and the earthly Tabernacle weigheth down the Mind that museth upon many things. Our dull, fluggish, unactive Bodies are often unable, often unready and backward to execute the Orders, and obey the Commands of our Souls; fo that they are rather hindrances to the Soul, than any ways useful or ferviceable to her. But in the other Life, as the Prophet Ifaiah tells us, chap. 40. 31. They that wait upon the Lord fhall renew their Strength, they shall mount up with Wings as Eagles; they shall rnn, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint: Or, as another expreffes it, They shall fhine, and run to and fro like Sparks among the Stubble; the Speed of their Motion fhall be like that of devouring Fire in a heap of dry Stubble, and the height of it fhall furpass the towring Flight of the Eagle: for they fhall meet the Lord in the Air, when he comes to Judgment, and afterwards mount

up with him into the third and highest Heavens. This earthly Body is continually groveling on the Ground, flow and heavy in all its Motions, liftless and foon tired with Action; and the Soul that dwells in it is forced, as it wère, to drag and hale it along: but our heavenly Bodies fhall be as free, as active and nimble as our very Thoughts are.

4. And lastly; Our Bodies fhall be raised Spiritual Bodies; not of a spiritual Substance, for then the words would imply a Contradiction; it being impoffible that the fame thing fhould be both a spiritual and a bodily Subftance. But fpiritual here is oppofed, not to corporeal, but to natural or animal; and by it is exprefs'd (as it is ordinarily interpreted) the Subtilty and Tenuity and Purity of our heavenly Bodies. But I would rather explain it thus: In this State our Spirits are forced to ferve our Bodies, and to attend their leisure, and do mightily depend upon them in most of their Operations; but on the contrary, in the other World our Bodies fhall wholly ferve our Spirits, and minifter unto them, and depend upon them. So that by a natural Body, I understand a Body fitted for this lower and fenfible World, for this earthly State; by a fpiritual Body, fuch an one as is fuited and accommodated to a fpiritual State, to an invisible World, to fuch a Life as the Saints and Angels lead in Heaven. And indeed this is the principal difference between this mortal Body, and our glorified Body. This Flesh, which

now