An Exp!ifition of the EpijUe SX'\.11 fomuch that he is fain to put a Neruerthelefs, in theWords after, Neverthelefs 'faith ~he) God k11owt whom hh, and_(o hewr/J (though thefe fall away, and overthrow the Fa1th thus) keep hu Eletl. And m the I Cor.I5 .2. 111 wh1ch Chapter hefpeaks of the RefurreCl:ion ofChrif'r, and of ours in the whole Chapter afterwards ; Theft thingt (faith he) we preach to yo11, by which alfo)'e arefaved' you cannot be faved without believing them, take it in the influence, the contrary Doctrine bath, and the Soul not now under the Go(pel. But then the chief R.eafon ofall is this. Becaufe that the R.efurrefrion, it is the great preparation and beginning ofthat World to come ; of that new State, and ~Iteration, and qualification, and fitting ofthe whole Man for that Glory, which God raifeth us u-p unto. It is the beginning, as I may fo fpcak,of that new World. You fhall find therefore this reafon given, in 1 Cor. I 5· 53, 54· why there muf'r be a R.efurrection, For (faith he) Flejb a11d Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom ofGod, therefore, faith he, thofe that do not die, they muf'r have fomething analogous to the R.efurrcction, they muf'r all bechanged; Behold, faith he, I ]hew J"'' aMyffer;, 1ve JhaU 110t aU jleep, but we Jba/J be cha11ged; f.,. thit corr•ptible, mllfiJllll on incorr•p– /IOtJ; a11dthifmortal, 1lmft put onim1110rtallity: We cannot po!Tefs Heavenelfe.You have the very fame, in I Theff. 4· I 4· where he tells you the Story of the other World, from firf'r to laf'r ; and he faith, that before fuch time as we go to meet the Lord, and to be for ever with him ; we muf'r either <ife again,or thofe that do not rife again rnu!l: be changed ; which is the very fame that be faith, in that I Cor. 15 . And la!tly, There is a greater degree of Glory, infinitely greater, to what the Soul bath now in being with Chrif'r; fo much greater, that the Apof'rles generally flip that by (though there be fome few places that hold forth that Glory in the mean time) when they fpeak ofthe Glory to come, and ufually tell us rather ofthe Glory of the R.efurrefrion, and ofthe Reward that fhall be at the Refurrefrion, becaufe comparatively to that, all that the Soul receivetb before, it is exceeding fmall. You fhall fee the Scripture abundant in it, I Pet. r. 4· T• an Inherit011ce incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, referved in Heaven for JOlt ; it follows, ready to be revealed in the !aft lifJJe, Joh. 6. 40. when .Chrif'r prornifed Life and Happinefs upon believing,- He that believeth ]hall have ever/afling Lift, be adds, And I will raife him 11p at the!aft day. Luk. I4. I4. Thou j/Jalt be recompenced at the 1(efitrreliion ofthe Ju.ft. And in ]oh.5.29. it is called the Refurrefrion ofLife, as ifthat Life did but then begin. Nay in Job. 6. 39· Chrif'r fpeaks, as ifwe were lof'r, ifwe fhould not be raifed again; Do but mark his Words: Thitif the Father·, Will, which bath fcnt me;. that ofa/J which he bathgi– ven me, ljho~t!d lofc nothi11g; butJho11id raifeit up agai11 at the !aft day. So that al– though the Soul be in Happinefs before, and therefore f'riled, The Spirit1 ofjuft Men made perfeCI, yet notwithf'randing, that is reckoned as nothing, in compari– fon, becaufe ofthat excefs o! Glory,wbich fhall be when Body and Soul fhall both meet together; which will infinitely tranfcend all that was before: For then, Je– f"' Chrijl jhflll come to be glorified in hi1 Saint1, and to he admired in all them that be– lieve, as ifthey had fcen no Glory before, 2 Thejf. I. ro. And therefore becaufe the Refurrection is that time, wherein there fhall be fuch an eminent excelS ofGlo– ry, it iscalled, in Heb. 11. a better Re.forre{hm,aRefiurefrion in nulioremftatum, to a better Condition. The third thing, I would have you obferve, is this; that we are faid, 'to be. Now raifed. He bath raifed"'' faith be, and He bath made 11< fit together in lxavenfJ p!ace1. F'or as bofore God, and as in his view, we are fo. There were thole that did teach, that the 'J?.:fomelion wtH pa.ft, as in 2 Tim.2.I8. which Paulthere makes a damnable Herefy ; but although it is not paf'r, yet to God it is as if it were; and be vieweth us asnow raifed, and as now fitting in heavenly places; though we ar_e in themidf'r ofour Sins. In Mat. 22. 32. where Chrif'r argues for the RefurreC:i:l– on; Have;·enot read (faith he) that which wtH JPok!n by God; ftlJing, I am the G.d oj'Abraham, and the God o[Ifaac, and the God ofJacob: God i1 not the God of t_he dead but oftlx /ivi11g. He if the God~[thehving, !31th he, and theref<;>re th~y are reckoned as alive; for fo cloth Luk!mterpret tt, m Ch•p. 20.38. addmg tbts, for all live unto him, the meaning whereofis this, that Abralwn, Ifa<c, and Jacoh, ~U
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