of God, who could make what himself should choose to be the product of any cause; so that if the Christians had peace, they went abroad and brought in converts: if they had no peace but persecution, the converts came in to them. In prosperity, they allured and enticed the world by the beauty of holiness; in affliction and trouble, they amazed all men with the splendour of their innocence, and the glories of their patience; and quickly it was that the world became disciple to the glorious Nazarene, and men could no longer doubt of the resurrection of Jesus, when it became so demonstrated by the certainty of them that saw it, and the courage of them that died for it, and the multitude of them that believed it; who, by their sermons and their actions, by their public offices and discourses, by festivals and eucharists, by arguments of experience and sense, by reason and religion, by persuading rational men, and establishing believing Christians, by their living in the obedience of Jesus, and dying for the testimony of Jesus, have greatly advanced his kingdom, and his power, and his glory, into which he entered after his resurrection from the dead. For he is the First Fruits; and if we hope to rise through him, we must confess that himself is first risen from the dead. That is the first particular.

2. There is an order for us also: we also shall rise again. The ashes of old Camillus shall stand up spritely from his urn: and the funeral fires shall produce a new warmth to the dead bones of all those who died under the arms of all the enemies of the Roman greatness. This is a less wonder than the former; for if it was done once, it may be done again: for since it could never have been done but by a power that is infinite, that infinite must also be eternal and indeficient. By the same almighty power, which restored life to the dead body of our living Lord, we may all be restored to a new life in the resurrection of the dead.

When man was not, what power, what cause made him to be? Whatsoever it was, it did then as great a work as to raise his body to the same being again; and because we know not the method of Nature's secret changes, and how we can be fashioned beneath in the secret parts of the earth,' and cannot handle and discern the possibilities and seminal powers in the ashes of dissolved bones, must our ignorance in philosophy be put in balance against the articles of religion, the hopes of mankind, the faith of nations, and the truth of God? And are our opinions of the power of God so low, that our understanding must be his measure; and he shall be confessed to do nothing, unless it be made plain in our philosophy? Certainly we have a low opinion of God, unless we believe he can do more things than we can understand; but let us hear St Paul's demonstration: if the corn dies and lives again; if it lays its body down, suffers alteration, dissolution, and death, -but, at the spring, rises again in the verdure of a leaf, in the fulness of the ear, in the kidneys of wheat; if it proceeds from little to great, from naked ness to ornament, from emptiness to plenty, from unity to multitude, from death to life be a Sadducee no more, shame not thy understanding, and reproach not the weakness of thy faith, by thinking that corn can be restored to life, and man cannot; especially since, in every creature, the obediential capacity is infinite, and cannot admit degrees; for every creature can be any thing under the power of God, which cannot be less than infinite.

But we find no obscure footsteps of this mystery even amongst the heathens : Pliny reports that A pion, the grammarian, by the use of the plant osiris, called Homer from his grave; and in Valerius Maximus we find that Ælius

Tubero returned to life, when he was seated in his funeral pile; and in Plutarch, that Soleus, after three days' burial, did live; and in Valerius, that Eris Pamphylius did so after ten days. And it was so commonly believed, that Glaucus, who was choked in a vessel of honey, did rise again, that it grew to a proverb: “Glaucus having tasted honey, died and lived again." I pretend not to believe these stories to be true; but from these instances it may be concluded, that they believed it possible that there should be a resurrection from the dead; and natural reason, and their philosophy, did not wholly destroy their hopes and expectation to have a portion in this article.

For God, knowing that the great hopes of man, that the biggest endearment of religion, the sanction of private justice, the band of piety and holy courage,―does wholly derive from the article of the resurrection-was pleased not only to make it credible, but easy and familiar to us; and we so converse every night with the image of death, that every morning we find an argument of the resurrection. Sleep and death have but one mother, and they have one name in common.

Charnel-houses are but cemeteries' or sleeping-places; and they that die, are fallen asleep, and the resurrection is but an awakening and standing up from sleep but in sleep our senses are as fast bound by Nature, as our joints are by the grave-clothes; and unless an angel of God waken us every morning, we must confess ourselves as unable to converse with men, as we now are afraid to die and to converse with spirits. But, however, death itself is no more; it is but darkness and a shadow, a rest and a forgetfulness. What is there more in death? What is there less in sleep? For do we not see by experience that nothing of equal loudness does awaken us sooner than a man's voice, especially if he be called by name? and thus also it shall be in the resurrection: we shall be awakened by the voice of a man, and he that called Lazarus by name from his grave, shall also call us: for although St Paul affirms, "that the trumpet shall sound, and there shall be the voice of an archangel;" yet this is not a word of nature, but of office and ministry." Christ himself is that archangel, and he shall "descend with a mighty shout," saith the apostle ;*" and all that are in the grave shall hear his voice,” saith St John + so that we shall be awakened by the voice of man, because we are only fallen asleep by the decree of God; and when the cock and the lark call us up to prayer and labour, the first thing we see is an argument of our resurrection from the dead. I will not now insist upon the story of the rising bones seen every year in Egypt, nor the pretences of the chemists, that they, from the ashes of flowers, can reproduce, from the same materials, the same beauties in colour and figure; for he that proves a certain truth from an uncertain argument, is like him that wears a wooden leg, when he hath two sound legs already; it hinders his going, but helps him not the truth of God stands not in need of such supporters; nature alone is a sufficient preacher. Night and day; the sun returning to the same point of east; every change of species in the same matter; generation and corruption: the eagle renewing her youth, and the snake her skin; the silk-worm and the swallows; the care of posterity, and the care of an immortal name; winter and summer; the fall and spring; the Old Testament and the New; the words of Job; and

the visions of the prophets; the prayer of Ezekiel for the resurrection of the men of Ephraim; and the return of Jonas from the whale's belly ; the histories of the Jews and the narratives of Christians; the faith of believers and the philosophy of the reasonable ;—all join in the verification of this mystery. And amongst these heaps, it is not of the least consideration, that there was never any good man, who having been taught this article, but if he served God, he also relied upon this. If he believed God, he believed this; and therefore St Paul says, that "they who had no hope" (meaning of the resurrection) 66 were also atheists, and without God in the world." And it is remarkable what St Austin observes, that when the world saw the righteous Abel destroyed, and that the murderer outlived his crime, and built up a numerous family, and grew mighty upon earth,-they neglected the service of God upon that account, till God, in pity of their prejudice and foolish arguings, took Enoch up to heaven to recover them from their impieties, by showing them that their bodies and souls should be rewarded for ever in an eternal union. But Christ, the first fruits, is gone before, and himself did promise, that when himself was lifted up, he would draw all men after him: "Every man in his own order; first Christ, then they that are Christ's at his coming."-And so I have done with the second particular; not Christ only, but we also shall rise in God's time and our order.

But concerning this order I must speak a word or two, not only for the fuller handling the text, but because it will be matter of application of what hath been already spoken of the article of the resurrection.

3. First Christ, and then we : and we, therefore, because Christ is already risen: but you must remember, that the resurrection and exaltation of Christ was the reward of his perfect obedience and purest holiness; and he calling us to an imitation of the same obedience, and the same perfect holiness, prepares a way for us to the same resurrection. If we, by holiness become the sons of God, as Christ was, we shall also, as he was, become the sons of God in the resurrection: but upon no other terms. So said our blessed Lord himself: "Ye which have followed me in the regeneration, when the son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon thrones judging the tribes of Israel."* For as it was with Christ the first fruits, so it shall be with all Christians in their own order: as with the head, so it shall be with the members. He was the Son of God by love and obedience, and then became the Son of God by resurrection from the dead to life eternal, and so shall we; but we cannot be so in any other way. To them that are Christ's, and to none else shall this be given for we must know that God hath sent Christ into the world to be a great example and demonstration of the economy and dispensation of eternal life. As God brought Christ to glory, so he will bring us, but by no other method. He first obeyed the will of God, and patiently suffered the will of God; he died and rose again, and entered into glory; and so must we Thus Christ is made "the way, the truth, and the life:" that is, the true way to eternal life he first trod this wine-press, and we must insist in the same steps, or we shall never partake of this blessed resurrection. He was made the Son of God in a most glorious manner, and we by him, by his merit, and by his grace, and by his example; but other than this there is no way of salvation for us that is the first and great effect of this glorious order.

*Luke, xiv. 14.

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4. But there is one thing more in it yet: "Every man in his own order; first Christ and then they that are Christ's:" but what shall become of them that are not Christ's? why there is an order for them too: first, "they that are Christ's, and then they that are not his :" "Blessed and holy is he that hath his part in the first resurrection :"* there is a first and a second resurrection even after this life: "The dead in Christ shall rise first :''+ now blessed are they that have their portion here; "for upon these the second death shall have no power." As for the recalling the wicked from their graves it is no otherwise in the sense of the spirit to be called a resurrection, than taking a criminal from the prison to the bar, is a giving of liberty. When poor Acilius Aviola had been seized on by an apoplexy, his friends, supposing him dead, carried him to his funeral pile; but when the fire began to approach, and the heat to warm the body, he revived, and seeing himself encircled with funeral flames, called out aloud to his friends to rescue, not the dead, but the living Aviola from that horrid burning but it could not be, he only was restored from his sickness to fall into death, and from his dull disease to a sharp and intolerable torment. Just so shall the wicked live again; they shall receive their souls, that they may be a portion for devils; they shall receive their bodies, that they may feel the everlasting burning; they shall see Christ, that they may look on him whom they had pierced;' and they shall hear the voice of God passing upon them the intolerable sentence; they shall come from their graves, that they may go into hell; and live again, that they may die for ever. So have we seen a poor condemned criminal, the weight of whose sorrows, sitting heavily upon his soul, hath benumbed him into a deep sleep, till he hath forgotten his groans, and laid aside his deep sighings; but, on a sudden, comes the messenger of death, and unbinds the poppy garland, scatters the heavy cloud that encircled his miserable head, and makes him return to acts of life, that he may quickly descend into death and be no more. So is every sinner that lies down in shame, and makes his grave with the wicked; he shall indeed rise again, and be called upon by the voice of the archangel; but then he shall descend into sorrows greater than the reason and the patience of a man, weeping and shrieking louder than the groans of the miserable children in the valley of Hinnom.

These, indeed, are sad stories, but true as the voice of God, and the sermons of the Holy Jesus. They are God's words, and God's decrees; and I wish that all who profess the belief of these, would consider sadly what they mean. If ye believe the article of the resurrection, then you know, that, in your body, you shall receive what you did in the body, whether it be good or bad. It matters not now very much, whether our bodies be beauteous or deformed; for if we glorify God in our bodies, God shall make our bodies glorious. It matters not much, whether we live in ease and pleasure, or eat nothing but bitter herbs; the body that lies in dust and ashes, that goes stooping and feeble, that lodges at the foot of the cross, and dwells in discipline, shall be feasted at the eternal supper of the Lamb. And ever remember this, that beastly pleasures, and lying lips, and a deceitful tongue, and a heart that sendeth forth proud things, are no good dispositions to a blessed resurrection. But if any of you have lost the life of grace, and so forfeited all your title to a life of glory, betake yourselves to an early and an entire piety, that when, by this first resurrection, you

have made this way plain before your face, you may with confidence expect a happy resurrection from your graves: for if it be possible that the Spirit, when it is dead in sin, can arise to a life of righteousness; much more it is easy to suppose, that the body, after death, is capable of being restored again and this is a consequent of St Paul's argument: "If, when ye were enemies, ye were reconciled by his death, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life;"* plainly declaring, that it is a harder and more wonderful thing for a wicked man to become the friend of God, than for one that is so, to be carried up to heaven and partake of his glory. The first resurrection is certainly the greater miracle: but he that hath risen once, may rise again; and this is as sure as that he that dies once, may die again, and die for ever. But he who partakes of the death of Christ by mortification, and of his resurrection by holiness of life and a holy faith, shall, according to the expression of the prophet Isaiah, "Enter into his chamber of death;" when Nature and God's decree "shall shut the doors upon him, and there he shall be hidden for a little moment:" but then shall they that dwell in dust, awake and sing, with Christ's dead body shall they arise; all shall rise, but "every man in his own order; Christ, the first fruits, then they that are Christ's at his coming." Amen.

DEATH AND IMMORTALITY.

For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again: neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.-2 Sam. xiv. 14.

WHEN our blessed Saviour and his disciples viewed the temple, some one amongst them cried out, "Master, behold what fair, what great stones are here!" Christ made no other reply, but foretold their dissolution, and a world of sadness and sorrow which should bury that whole nation, when the teeming cloud of God's displeasure should produce a storm, which was the daughter of the biggest anger, and the mother of the greatest calamity, which ever crushed any of the sons of Adam: "The time shall come, that there shall not be left one stone upon another." The whole temple and the religion, the ceremonies ordained by God, and the nation beloved by God, and the fabric erected for the service of God, shall run to their own period, and lie down in their several graves. Whatsoever had a beginning, can also have an ending; and it shall die, unless it be daily watered with the purls flowing from the fountain of life, and refreshed with the dew of heaven, and the wells of God: and therefore God had provided a tree in Paradise to have supported Adam in his artificial immortality: immortality was not in his nature, but in the hands and arts, in the favour and superadditions of God. Man was always the same mixture of heat and cold, of dryness and inoisture; ever the same weak thing, apt to feel rebellion in the humours, and + Is. xxvi. 20.

* Rom. v. 10.