WHO SHALL ENJOY THIS REST. 77. the grave, then a beast or a stone were as blessed; nay, it were evidently ,a curse, and not a blessing. For was not life a great .mercy ? Was it not a greater mercy to serve God and to do good, to enjoy all the comforts of life, the fellowship of saints, the comfort of ordinances, and much of Christ in all, than to lie rotting in the grave ? Therefore some farther blessed- ness is there ,promised.Flow else is it said, We are come to the spirits of just rnaen made perfëct 2(k) Sure, at the resurrection, the body will be made perfect as. well as the spirit. Does not scripture tell us, that Enoch and Elias are taken up already ; and shall we . think they possess that glory alone? Did not Peter, James, and John, see Moses also with Christ on the mount? yet the scripture saith, Moses died., And is it likely that Christ deluded their senses, in showing. them Moses, if he should not partake of that glory till the resurrection ? And is not that of Stephen as plain as we can, desire, Lord Jesus receive my Spirit ?(l). Surely, if the Lord receive it, it is neither asleep, nor dead, nor annihilated ; but it is where he is and beholds his glory. That of the wise man is of the same import ; The spirit shall return unto God' who it.(m) Why are we said.to_have eternal life.; and that to know God is life eternal ; and that a believer on the Son bath everlasting life ? or how is the king- dom of God within us ? If there be as great an inter- ruption of our life, as till the resurrection, this is no eternal life, nor everlasting kingdom. The cities of Sodom and Gomarrah are spoken of as suffering the vengeance of eternalfire.(n) And if the wicked already suffer eternal fire, then no doubt but the godly enjoy eternal blessedness. When John saw his glorious re- velations, he is said to be in the spirit, and to be car- ried away in the spirit.(o) And when Paul was caught up to the third heaven, he knew not whether in the body or out of the body.(p) This implies, that spirits are 'ca- pable of these glorious things, without the help of their (k) Heb. xii. 22, 23. (m) Eccl. xii. 7. (o) Rev, i. 10. iv. 2. (l) Acts vii. 59. (n) Jude ver. 7. (p) 2 Cor. xii. 2.
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