oftheir State by Creation. obt<lirt th.tt World , mid tht;refurrt{/Jo;l from the dead, Nnthtr ·marry 110r r«...A...T'\ "" givw 111 marrtage; rutther eau they dte any more, for they are equal Chap. 1 1 . t11t!o the A flgds , and are the Chtldrm of God, bemg the Chtldrm of ibe ~ Rejttrrdtion. Our Saviour Chrifi here, you fee, fpeaks exprclly, and in a way of clear dtffc:renec from that State of A dam, The words which are tranllated, 11e11her c,m they dte any mort , in the Original they are , for they Ct/111101 dye a11y more, and,fo indeed they are to be read; and they arc a Reafon of the Iormer words, that therefore they tJeither m,<~rry uor are givm i1t marriage; Jor (faith he ) they cannot dye any more ; The mean ing is this, They are put into an higher State of lmmortaiJty than Ad,;m nad; for though he was Immortal, that is, he fhould never have died, yet he did marry, and fhould have procreated Children; but, faith be , thefe are pur into fuch an Efiatc of immortality , as they !hall not dye, therefore (he bringeth it in as a Reafon) they Jha/J 110 nJoremarry, 11eithtr 6e givm m marriage; they are not capable of fuch an Efiate,for they are Immortal. And how Immortal? It is not only that they may · live, or '!lay dye , and God will keep them for ever, but they can-. not dye, there is impottntia morimdi, plainly, And as their not marrying is brot1ght in os a R.eafon of the former Alfertion, fo Chrifi giveth two t~ea(ons why they have fuch an Efiate of Immortality , as Adam ( tak<Jljlh at befi) had not, for be applies it to that, Firfi, faith h~, They are eqt~aho the Angels; and fecondly, Thq are the So11s ofGod, being the Sons of the Refurredion. Fi!.f, They are equal to the 4ngels; now it is certain, my Brethren,that the Angels being created immediately out ofnothing, though indeed God may annihilate them, he may bring them unto nothing again,yet they cannot dye, they have not principles to beldilfolved, they have not a form and a matter, a foul and a body dut may be fcparated. All things created immediately out of nothing, they cannot dye; as now, take the foul of a man, becaufe it is created of nothing , it is therefore immortal 1 as the Angels are; and therefore our earthly Parents are faid ro . be che Fathers 0 1 our bodies, and God the Father of our Spirits,Hebr. '2, 9· Now faith Chnfl , the bodies and fouls of thofe that fhall be counted worthy to obtain that world , they fhall both of them be put into that fiate the Angels are in, and in the fame fenfe 1hat the 'Angels are faid that they cmmot dye, in the fame fenfe fhall it be true of them, they cannot dye neither. Aod fecondly, Thry art the Childrm. of God, 6ei1tg the Cbil' drm of the Rejt~rref1io11; thet is, we have bodies of flefh and blood, and thefe bodies, we have them from our Parents , we are the Children of Adam: So the Sa:nts, as their Souls are born again, fo their bodies are, as it were, born again by the Refurredion; they have new kind of bodies, and therefore they are called the Chtldrm of the Rejrcrref1io11; and being Children of the R.efurredion, 1\aving bodies now frame.d immediately by the power of God, which fubduech all things to himfelf by as great a work as he created at firfi: Hence it comes to pafs that they are Sons of God in a more tranfcendent manner than Adam was. And as the Angels are fa id in a tranfcendent mannet to be the Sons of God, as immediately made by him, fo tbefe Children of the Refurredion may be fa~d to _be. Now then, being Sons of God in this tranfcendent fenfe, in oppofiuon to Adam, and in oppofition to all Mankind that are Sons of Men, being thus the Children of the Refurredion, their bodies bein11 born agatn by a new Creation at the Refurredion : Hence , faith he, •s God liveth ofhimfelf, and dieth no more, thefe are in this refpod tranfformed tnto Ius Image, that as he is immutable and unchangeable, fo Oull they; he puts it as a reafon why they cannot dye ; for , faith he, they are the Sons of God , and they bear the Image of God in rhat very thing, that as he ~nth immortality, fo they have immortality fuitable thereunto: So that, I fay, it is clear from this Text, which is11an evident•T ext , and I confe(s I have wondred at many of our Divines , who have handlr:d th1s Argument of the Immortality of our !ladies at latter day, have not
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