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to cool it, in eternal flames. These same feet, that now stand in the way of sinners, and carry men in their ungodly courses, shall stand in the burning lake. And these now covetous and lascivious eyes, shall take part in the fire and smoke of the pit.

Thirdly, How the dead shall be raised. The same Jesus, who was crucified without the gate of Jerusalem, shall, at the last day, to the conviction of all, be declared both Lord and Christ; appearing as Judge of the world, attended with his mighty angels, 2 Thes. i. 7. He shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the arch-angel and with the trump of God, 1 Thes. iv. 16. The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised, and these who are alive, changed, 1 Cor. xv. 52. Whether this shout, voice and trumpet, do denote some audible voice, or only the workings of divine power, for the raising of the dead, and other awful purposes of that day (though the former seems probable) I will not positively determine. There is no question but this coming of the Judge of the world will be in greater majesty and terror, than we can conceive: Yet that awful grandeur, majesty and state, which was displayed at the giving of the law, viz. thunders heard, lightnings and a thick cloud upon the mount seen; the Lord descending in fire, the whole mount quaking greatly, and the voice of the trumpet waxing louder and louder, (Exod. xix. 16, 18, 19.) may help forward a becoming thought of it. However, the sound of this trumpet shall be heard all the world over; it shall reach to the depths of the sea, and into the bowels of the earth. At this loud alarm, bones shall come together, bone to his bone: the scattered dust of all the dead shall be gathered together, dust to his dust; neither shall one thrust another, they shall walk every one in his path; and meeting together again, shall make up that very same body, which crumbled into dust in the grave. And at the same alarming voice, shall every soul come again into its own body, never more to be separated. The dead can stay no longer in their graves, but must bid an eternal farewel to their long homes: They hear his voice, and must come forth, and receive their final sentence.

Now, as there is a great difference betwixt the godly

and the wicked in their life, and in their death; so will there be also in their resurrection.

The godly shall be raised up out of their graves, by virtue of the Spirit of Christ, the blessed bond of their union with him, Rom. viii. 11. "He that raised up Christ from the dead, shall also quicken your mortal bodies, by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." Jesus Christ arose from the dead, as the first-fruits of them that slept, 1 Cor. xv. 20. So they that are Christ's shall follow at his coming, ver. 23. The mystical Head having got above the waters of death, he cannot but bring forth the members after him in due time.

They shall come forth with inexpressible joy; for then shall that passage of scripture, which, in its immediate scope respected the Babylonish captivity, be fully accomplished in its extensive spiritual view, Isaiah xxvi. 19.

Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust." As a bride, adorned for her husband, goes forth of her bedchamber unto the marriage; so shall the saints go forth of their graves, unto the marriage of the Lamb. Joseph had a joyful out-going from the prison, Daniel from the lion's den, and Jonah from the whale's belly; yet those are but faint representations of the saint's out-going from the grave at the resurrection. Then shall they sing the song of 'Moses and of the Lamb, in highest strains; death being quite swallowed up in victory. They had, while in this life, sometimes sung, by faith, the triumphant song over death and the grave, "O death where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" 1 Cor. xv. 55. But when they sing the same, from sight and sense; the black band of doubts and fears, which frequently disturbed them, and disquieted their minds, is for ever cashiered.

May we not suppose the soul and body of every saint as in mutual embraces, to rejoice in each other, and triumph in their happy meeting again? And may not one imagine the body to address the soul thus? "O my soul, have we got together again, after so long a separation! art thou come back into thine old habitation, never more to remove! O joyful meeting! how unlike is our present state to what our case was, when a separation was made betwixt us at death! now is our mourning turned into joy; the light and gladness sometime sown, are now sprung up, and Ff

there is perpetual spring in Immanuel's land. Blessed be the day, in which I was united to thee, whose chief care was to get Christ in us the hope of glory, and to make me a temple for his Holy Spirit. O blessed soul, which, in the time of our pilgrimage, kept thine eye on the land then afar off, but now near at hand! thou tookest me up into secret places, and there madest me bow these knees before the Lord, that I might bear a part in our humiliations before him; and now is the due time, and I am lifted up. Thou didst employ this tongue, in confessions, petitions, and thanksgivings, which henceforth shall be employed in praising for evermore. Thou madest these (sometimes) weeping eyes sow that seed of tears, which is now sprung up in joy that shall never end. I was happily beat down by thee, and kept in subjection; while others pampered their flesh, and made their bellies their gods, to their own destruction: And, now I gloriously arise, to take my place in the mansions of glory, whilst they are dragged out of their graves, to be cast into fiery flames. Now, my soul, thou shalt complain no more of a sick and pained body, thou shalt be no more clogged with weak and weary flesh; I shall now hold pace with thee in the praises of our God for evermore." And may not the soul say, "O happy day in which I return to dwell in that blessed body, which was, and is, and will be for ever a member of Christ, a temple of the Holy Spirit! now shall I be eternally knit to thee; the silver cord shall never be loosed more; death shall never make another separation betwixt us. Arise then, my body, and come away; and let these eyes, which served to weep over my sins, behold now with joy, the face of our glorious Redeemer; Lo! this is our God,and we have waited for him. Let these ears, which served to hear the word of life, in the temple below, come now and hear the hallelujahs in the temple above. Let these feet, that carried me to the congregation of saints on earth, take their place now among these who stand by. And let that tongue, which confessed Christ before men, and used to be still dropping something to his commendation, join the choir of the upper house in his praises for evermore. Thou shalt fast no more, but keep an everlasting feast; thou shalt weep no more, neither shall thy countenance be overclouded; but thou shalt shine for eyer, as a star in

the firmament. We took part together in the fight, come now, let us go together to receive and wear the crown.

But, on the other hand, the wicked shall be raised by the power of Christ, as a just Judge, who is to render vengeance to his enemies. The same divine power which shut up their souls in hell, and kept their bodies in a grave, as in a prison, shall bring them forth, that soul and body together may receive the dreadful sentence of eternal damnation, and be shut up together in the prison of hell!

They shall come forth of their graves, with unspeakable horror and consternation. They shall be dragged forth as so many malefactors out of a dungeon, to be led to execution; crying to the mountains and to the rocks to fall on them, and hide them from the face of the Lamb. Fearful was the cry in Egypt, that night the destroying angel went through, and slew their first born. Dreadful were the shouts, at the earth 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 have now 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 tygers! Cursed be the day that ever we met! O that

I had remained a lifeless lump, rotten 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 I had 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 wouldst thou have taken more true care of me, than thou didst. O cruel kindness! hast thou thus hug ged 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 madst 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 mine 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 was 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 sensu ality, thy unbelief and hypocrisy !"

But may not the soul answer; « Wretched and vile carease, am I now driven back into thee! O that thou hadst lain for ever rotting in thy grave! Had I not torment enough before! Must I be knit to thee again, that, being

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