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certainly he would not have won free, if he had not paid the uttermoft Farthing; therefore his glorious Refurrection is a fure Maniteftation of his prefent Satisfac

but this is the very first Exercise of it, the Abhorrency of the Soul upon the Sight and Smell of its own Lothsomeness. Now, there is no Hope of any reviving; tho' all the Wisdom and Art of Mention, it is a publick Acquittance and Aband Angels were employed in this Buff- folution of him from all our Debt, and fo nefs, there is nothing able to quicken one by Confequence, of all he died for; for fuch Soul, until it please the Lord to speak their Debt was laid upon him, and now fuch a Word as he did to Lazarus, Arife, ne is difcharged; and therefore the become forth, and fend his Spirit to accom- lieving Soul may tremblingly boast, who plish his Word, and this will do it; when hall condemn me? for it is God that the Spirit cometh into the Soul, he juftifieth. Why? because all my Sins quickeneth it, and this is the first Refur were laid on Chrift, and God hath in a rection: Obleffed are they who have moft folemn Manner acquitted and difPart in this, whofe Souls are drawn out charged him from all, when he raised of the Dungeon of Darkness and Igno-him from the Dead; and therefore he rance, and brought forth to behold this glorious Light that fhineth in the Gofpel, and raised out of the Grave of the Lufts of Ignorance, to live unto God henceforth; for fuch they have their Part in the fecond Refurrection to Life, for you fee these are conjoined, If the Spirit dwell in you, be ball raise you, &c. You fee here two Grounds and Reasons of the Refurrection of the Body, Chrift's rifing, and the Spirit's indwelling; now I find thefe in the Scripture made the two Fountains of all Chriftianity, both of the firft and second Resurrection.

The Refurrection of Chrift is an Evidence of our Juftification, the Caufe of our Quickening or Vivification, and the Ground and Pledge of cur laft Refurrec tion; and all these are Grounds of ftrong Confolation. The firft you have, Rom. iv. 25. Chrift died for our Sins, and rofe for our Juftification; and the ver. 34. of this chap. Chrift is dead, yea, rather has rifen again; who then shall condemn? Here is a clear Evidence, that he hath paid the Debt wholly, and fatisfied Juftice fully Since he was under the Power of Death, imprifoned by Justice,

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cannot, and none other can fue me, or profecute a Plea against me, fince my Cautioner is fully exonered of this Undertaking, even by the great Creditor, God himself.

But then, his Resurrection is a Pawn or Pledge of the fpiritual railing of the Soul from Sin: As the Death of Chrift is made the Pledge of our dying to Sin, To his rifing, of our living to God, Rom. vi. 4, 5. These are not meer Patterns and Examples of fpiritu al Things, but affured Pledges of the divine Virtue and Power, which he being raifed again fhould fend Abroad throughout the World: For, as there are Coronation Gifts, when Kings are folemnly inftalled in Office, fo there are Coronation Mercies, Triumphal Gifts; when Chrift rofe and afcended, he bestowed them on the World, Eph. iv. And certainly thefe are the greateft, the Vertue of his Death to kill the old Man, and the Power of his Refurrection to quicken the new; and by Faith, a Believer is united and ingrafted into him, as a Plant into a choice Stock, and by Vertue and Sap coming from Chrift's Death and Refurrection, he is transformed into the Similitude of

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both: He growth into the Likeness of his Death, by dying to Sin, by crucify ing these inward Affections and Inclinations to it; and he groweth up into the Similitude of his Refurrection, by Newnefs of Life, or being alive to God, in holy Defires and Endeavours after Holinefs and Obedience. And thus the firft Resurrection of the Soul floweth from Chrift's Refurrection.

But add unto this, that Chrift's rifing is the Pledge and Pawn of the fecond Resurrection, that is, of the Body; for he is the Head, and we the Members: Now it is most incongruous, that the Head should rife and not draw up the Members after him; certainly he will not cease till he have drawn up all his Members to him: If the Head be above Water, it is a fure Pledge that the Body will win out of the Water; if the Root be alive, certainly the Branches will shoot out in Spring-time, they fhall live alfo. There is that Connexion betwixt Chrift and Believers, that wonderful Communication between them, that Chrift did nothing, was nothing, and had nothing to him, but what he did, and was, and suffered perfonating them, and all the Benefit and Advantage redounds to them. He would not be confidered of, as a Perfon by himfelf, but would rather be ftill taken in with the Children: As for Love, he came down and took Flesh to be like them, and did take their Sin and Mifery off them, and fo was content to be look ed upon by God as in the Place of Sinners, as the chief Sinner fo he is content and defirous, that we should look on him as in the Place of Sinners, as dying, as rifing for us, as having no Excellency or Pri vilege incommunicable to us: And this was not hid from the Church of old, but prefented as the grand Confolation,

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Tby dead Men jha..live, together wit my dead Body they fball rife: And therefore may poor Souls awake and sing, though they muft dwell in the Duft, yet as the Dew and Influence of Heaven maketh Herbs to fpring out of the Earth fo the Vertue of this Refurrection shall make the Earth and Sea and Air to caft out and render their Dead, Ifa. xxvi. 19. Upon what a fure and ftrong Chain hangs the Salvation of poor Sin ners? I wish Chriftians might falute one another with this, Chrift is risen, and fo comfort one another with these Words; or rather, every one would apply this Cordial to his own Heart, Chrift is rifen: And you know what a golden Chain this draweth after it, therefore we must rife and live.

The other Caufe which is more immediate, and will actively accomplish it, is the Spirit dwelling in us: for there is a fuitable Method here too : As the Lord firft raised the Head Chrift, and will then Faife the Members, and he that doth the one cannot but do the other; fo the Spirit first raiseth the Soul from the woful Fall into Sin which killed us, and fo maketh it a Temple, and the Body too, for both are bought with a Price, and therefore the Spirit poffeffeth both; But the inmost Residence is in the Soul, and the bodily Members are made Servants of Righteoufnefs, which is a great Honour and Dignity, in regard of that bafe Im ployment they had once; and so it is most fuitable that he who hath thus dwelt in both, repair his own Dwelling-house : For here it is ruinous, and therefore must be caft down; but because it was once a Temple for the Holy Ghoft, therefore it will be repaired and built again; for he that once honoured it with his Prefence, will not fuffer Corruption always to dwell. ST

in it: For what Chrift by his Humination and Suffering purchased, the Spirit hath this Commiffion to perform it; and what is it but the Reftitution of Mankind to an happier Eftate in the fecond Adam, than ever the first was into. Now, fince our Lord, who pleased to take on our Flesh, did not put it off again, but admits it to the Fellowship of the fame Glory in Heaven, in that he died, he dies no more, Death hath no more Dominion over him, he will never be wearied or afhamed of that human Cloathing of Flesh ; and therefore certainly that the Children may be like the Father,the Followers their Captain, the Members not difproportioned to the Head, the Branches not different and heterogeneous to the Stock, and that our rifing in Chrift may leave no Footftep of our Falling, no Remainder of our Mifery; therefore the Spirit of Chrift will alfo quicken the mortal Bodies of Believers, and make them like Chrift's glo Fious Body.

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Godly and Ungodly; yet, O what infi nite Diftance and Difference in the Nature and Ends of their Refurrections ! There is the Refurrection of Life, and the Refurrection of Condemnation, Joh. v: zg. O! happy they who rise to Life that ever they died! But O miferable, thrice wretched are all others that they may not be dead for ever. The Immortality of the Soul was infinite Mifery, because it is that which eternizes their Mifery; but when this Overplus is added, the Incorruptibility of the Body, and fo the whole Man made an inconsumable Subject, for that Fire to feed upon perpetually, what Heart can conceive it without Horror And yet we hear it often without any fuch Affection. It is a ftrange Life, that Death is the only Refreshment of it; and yet this may not be had, the ball feek Death, and it sball fly from them. Now, my Beloved, I would defire this Difcourfe might open Way for the hearty and cordial Intertainment of the Gofpel, and that you might be perfuaded to awake unto Righteousness, and fin no more, 1 Cor. xv. 34. Be not deceived, my Brethren, Flefb and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. Certainly, if you have no other Image than what you come in to the World withal, you cannot have this Hope, to be conformed one Day to the glorious Body of Chrift: What will become of you in that Day, who declare now by the continued Vent of your Hearts, that this holy Spirit dwells not in you? And, alas! how many are fuch? Oh! pity your felves,

This must be done with divine Power, and what more powerful than the Spirit? For it is the Spirits or fubtile Parts in all Creatures that caufeth all Motions, and worketh all Effects. What then is that Almighty Spirit not able to do? You have Shadows of this in Nature, yea, convin cing Evidences; for what is the Spring, but a Refurrection of the Earth? Is not the World every Year renewed, and rif eth again out of the Grave of Winter? as you find it elegantly expreffed, Pfal. crit. and doth not the Grains of Seed die in the Clods, before they rife to the Harveft, Cor. xv. All the Viciffitudes and Alte-your Souls and Bodies both. If for Love rations in Nature, give us a plain Draught of this great Change, and certainly it is one Spirit that effects all.

But though there be the fame Power required, to raise up the Bodies of the

to your Bodies; you will follow its prefent Lufts, and care only for the Things of the Body, you at the greateft Enmity and Hoftility against your own Bodies. Confider, I befeech you, the eternal

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State of both, and your Care and Study, teaching you another Way than the will run in another Channel. And for World walks into, I recommend unto you you who have any working of the Spirit that of the Apoftle's, 1 Cor. xv. 58. in you, whether convincing you of Sin Wherefore my Brethren, be fedfaft, &c. and Mifery, and of Righteoufnefs in always abounding in the Work of the Chrift; or fometimes comforting you by Lord, knowing your Labour is not in the Word applied to your Heart; or vain.

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SERMON XXXII.

Verse 12. Therefore Brethren, we are Debters not to the Flefb, to live after the Flesh, &c.

ALL LL Things in Chriftianity have a near and ftrait Conjunction, it is fo entire and abfolute a Piece, that if one Link be loofed, all the Chain falls to the Ground, and if one be well faftned upon the Heart, it brings all alongft with it: Some fpeak of all Truths, even in Nature, that they are knit fo together, that any Truth may be concluded out of every Truth, at least by a long Circuit of Deduction and Reafoning; but whatsoever be of that, certainly Religion is a more entire Thing, and all the Parts of it more nearly conjoined together, that they may mutually enforce one another; Precepts and Promifes are thus linked together, that if any Soul lay hold indeed upon any Promife, of Grace, he draws alongft with it the Obligation of fome Precept to walk fuitable to fuch precious Promises. There is no Encouragement you can indeed faften upon, but it will join you as nearly to the Commandment, and no Confolation in the Gofpel, that doth not carry within its Bofom an Exhortation to holy

walking. Again, on the other Hand, there is no Precept, but it should lead you ftraight way to a Promise, no Exbortation, but it is invironed before and behind with a strong Confolation, to make it pierce the deeper, and go down the fweeter. Therefore you fee, how easily the Apoftle digreffeth from the one to the other, how sweetly and pertinently thefe are interwoven in his Difcourse. The firft Word of the Chapter is a Word of ftrong Con/alation, There is no Condemnation to them that are in Chrift, and this like a Flood carries all down with it, all Precepts and Exhortations, and the Soul of a Believer with them; and therefore he fubjoins an Exhortation to holy and fpiritual Walking upon that very Ground: And because Commandments of this Nature will not float (fo to fpeak) unless they have much Water of that kind, and cannot have fuch a fwift Course, except the Tide of fuch Encou ragements flow faft; therefore he opens eth that Spring again in the preceeding Sfa

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Words, and letteth the Rivers of Con- pel might be thus kindly affectioned to

wards others, and that you would take it thus, the calling you off the Ways of Sin, as an Act of the greatest Love. But then confider the Equality of this Obligation, for there is nothing preffed upon you, but what lieth as heavily upon them that preffeth it: This Debt binds all. O ! that the Minifters of the Gospel could carry the Impreffion of this on their Hearts, that when they perfuade others, they may withal perfuade themselves; and when they speak to others, they may fit down among the Hearers.. If an Apoftle of fo eminent Dignity levelleth himself in this Confideration, therefore Brethren we are Debters; how much more ought Paftors and Teachers to come in the fame Rank and Degree of Debt and Obligation with others: Truly, this

folation flow forth, even the Hope of Immortality and eternal Life: And this certainly will raise up a Soul that was on Ground, and carry him above in Motion of Obedience; and therefore he may well, in the next place, ftir them up to their Duty, and mind them of their Obligation, therefore Brehren, we are Debters, not to the Flefb. To make this the more effectual, he drops it in with Affection, in afweet Compellation of Love and Equality, Brethren. There is nothing fo powerful in Perfuafion, as Love, it will fweeten a bitter and unpleafant Reproof, and make it go down more eafily; though it maketh lefs Noife than Threatnings and Severity and Authority; yet it is more forcible, for it infinuates itself, and in a Manner furprif eth the Soul, and fo preventeth all Re-is the great. Obftruction of the Success of fiftance: As when the Sun made the the Gospel, that these who bind on Bur-Traveller part with his Cloak, whereas dens on others, do not themselves touch the Wind and Rain made him hold it faf them with one of their Fingers; and ter; fo Affection will prevail, where white they feem ferious in perfuading o-Authority and Terror cannot. It will thers, yet withal declare by their Carri melt that, which a ftronger Power can- age, that they do not believe themselves not break: The Story of Elijab, 1 King. what they bear upon others; fo that xix. may give fame. Reprefentation of this, preaching feemeth to be an Impofture, The Lord was not in the ftrong Wind, and Affections in perfuading of others to nor in the terrible Earth-quake, nor yet be borrowed as it were in a Scene to be in the Fire, but in the calm ftill Voice: laid down again out of it. But then aThe Lord hath chofen this Way of pub-gain, there is a Mifconceit among People, lishing his Grace in the Gofpel, because the Sum of it is Love to Sinners, and Good will towards Men: He holds it forth in the calm Voice of Love, and these who are his Ambaffadors fhould be cloathed with fuch an Affection, if they intend to prevail with Men, to engage their Affections. O! that we were poffef fed with that brotherly Love one towards another, for the Salvation one of another; efpecially, that the Preachers of the Gof

that this holy and fpiritual Walking is not of common Obligation, but peculiar to the Preachers of the Gofpel. Many make their Reckoning fo, as if they were not called to fuch high Aims and great Endeavours; but truly, my Beloved, this is a Thing of common Concernment, the Holy Ghoft hath levelled us all in this Point of Duty, as he hath equally exalted all in the moft fubftantial Dignities, and Privileges of the Gospel: This:

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