The Rise Race and Royalty of the Kingdom of God, Part 2 · Subpart (1 of 3)

The Rise Race and Royalty of the Kingdom of God · Part 2 · Subpart (1 of 3)

p. 434The State of a Saints Soul and Body in Death.

THe peculiar consolations, and joys of Death to a Saint, pour forth themselves, into ten distinct channels, or streams.

1. Death is no dissolution to the Soul, or Body of a Saint, but a restitution and return of both to liberty, peace, and perfection.

2. Both descend no more, but ascend in Death.

3. Death hath in it no melancholy overcast, or unpleasant darkning to the Soul or Body; but a sweet, unexpected, surprising, and ravishing increase of a pure, divine, and triumphant light, circling in, and shining through all.

4. Death casts no deformity upon either part of a Saint, but cloaths both with an heavenliness, amiableness, and beauty.

5. Death is no streightning, or imprisonment to Body, or Soul, but a blessed enlarging of both to a divine state, and freedom.

6. The Death of a Saint hath nothing bitter in it; but is a spring of pure sweetnesses, and pleasures dividing itself into every part, and making all the garden of God.

7. There is nothing of the Devil in the Death of a Saint; but Christ risen, and glorified is all, fills all, and shines thorow all.

8. Death hath nothing of wrath in it; but is all divine love unvailing itself.

9. There is nothing of Death in the Death of a Saint; but life, and immortality unclouded, and shining forth clearly.

10. Death is no other thing to a Saint than a heightning of his spirituality, p. 435making him all thorough-out spiritual, purely spiritual, without any mixture unchangeably spiritual without any interruptions, inconstancies, or darkintervals.

1. Death is no dissolution to the Soul, or Body of a Saint, but a restitution and return of both to liberty, peace, and perfection. 2. Corinth. 5. 1. St. Paul expresseth this ground of confidence, and joy in Death: For we know, that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens. It is the observation of learned Divines, that the Greek word here foreign, which we render to be dissolved, signifieth to take up our…Inn, from that circumstance of unloosing the Horses, and taking them out of the Waggon, or Chariot to bring them into the Inn, and Stable, that there they may be at their liberty to rest, and feed, and lie down. From this word upon this ground, an Inn, or House of reception, & refreshing for Travellers, hath its name in Greek, foreign.

At our Birth, which is the morning of this life, and our entrance upon our Journy through this weary world, our Souls and Bodies are joyned to this fleshly Image by the natural spirit, the spirit of this world, as Horses put into a Waggon, to which they are fastned by their Harnes, and Traces. The Body is as the fore-horse, but the Soul as the filler, which draws most, and bears the chief weight, All the day long of this life we draw this Waggon heavy laden with all sorts of temptations, and troubles thorow deep ways of mire, and sand. This only is our comfort, that the divine will, which is love itself in its perfection, as a hand put forth from Heaven thorow a Cloud, at our Birth put us into this Waggon, and governs us all the day. In the evening of our life, at the end of our Journey Death is the same divine will, as a naked hand of pure love shining forth from an open heaven of clear light, and glory, taking our Souls, and both Bodies out of the Waggon, and Traces of this …leshly Image, and Spirit, and leading them immediately into their Inn, into a place of freedom, rest, and refreshing into the unity of the eternal spirit into the Bosom of our Lord Jesus.

Obj. But before I proceed any farther, I will indeavour to make my whole way more clear by answering an objection, which perhaps already ariseth in most of your thoughts. You may be ready to say; Is this your meaning, as you seem clearly to express it, that the Bodies also of the Saints suffer no dissolution in Death, but return immediately to a state of purity, and perfection? This seemeth to contradict the common sense of all, the faith of the Saints, and the plain letter of the Scriptures. Do we not with our Eyes see every day the dead Bodies of the best Persons thrown into the Grave, turning to Corruption, and Putrefaction, either before, or in the Grave, dissolved to Worms, and Dust, their bones scattered, and cast up and down Church-yards? The blessed Body of our Lord Jesus was taken off from the Cross, a bloody, liveless, mangled Corps, a sad, and ruthful spectacle. So he was laid in the Grave, the same Body, which after three days rose again, and was taken up into Glory. p. 436The Scripture plainly testisieth, that in Death, as the Spirit returns to God who gave it, so the dust returns to the Earth as it was, God passeth this sentence of death upon Adam for his transgression: Dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return. Do not we by faith, grounded upon the clear letter of the Scripture expect the Resurrection of our Bodies, at the sound of the last Trumpet?

Ans. I answer to these objections first in general. I fully assent to all these testimonies of sense, of the letter of the Scriptures, & of the common faith of all the Saints concerning the Resurrection of the Body. Yet is it true that I mean this, I believe this, in this meaning and belief my Soul, and Body rejoice, and triumph together; that not the Soul alone, but also the Body of a Saint in the very first moment of Death, meeteth with no dissolution, but a restitution, and most delightful return to liberty, peace, and perfection: This is that sweet, and comfortable sense of Death, which the holy Spirit seemeth to have sealed upon my Soul, from all principles of reason, of Faith, and from the letter of the Scriptures. In this sense I wish, that all were, as I am, to behold▪ with the same spiritual Eye in the same light of the Spirit, the beauty, and loveliness of Death in the Body of a Saint, the beauty, loveliness, and pleasant life of the Body of a Saint in Death.

I come now to give a more particular answer fitted to the several objections by four distinctions.

The four distinctions are these. 1. Of a two-fold body in a Saint. 2. Of a two fold Dust. 3. Of a two-fold Sense. 4. Of a two-fold Resurrection.

1 Dist. There is a twofold Body, which the Scripture in its language attributes to a Saint: There is a Body, from which a Saint is to be delivered. You read of this, Rom. 7. l. Wretched Man that I am, who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death. There is a body in a Saint, which is to be delivered. St. Paul speaks of this in the name of all the Saints. Rom. 8. We also, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, wait for the adoption, the redemption of the Body. There is a Body, which is the seat of Death, a Body of Death, as in the forementioned place; who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death? In all the members of this Body sin reigneth, as a King, establishing his Law. For so, in the same place, a little before, it is written: With my Members I serve the Law of Sin. This is the Body of Flesh, in which there dwelleth no good, as St. Paul speaks in the same Chapter. There is again in a Saint a holy, living, immortal Body, the seat of a holy, heavenly, and immortal Life, in as much as it is the Temple of the Holy Ghost For so St. Paul testifieth, as to an unquestionable, and known truth, granted of all the Saints in the primitive times, 1 Corin. 6. 19. What? know you not, that your Body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost? Again, a Saint carryeth about with him thorow his life a Body, which is a partition-wall between him, and his Beloved, which divides between Christ and him, which he must break p. 437forth from, and cast off, before he can be taken into the Bosom of Jesus Christ, and be with him, 1 Corin. 5, 6. 8. St. Paul complains that while he is present in the Body, he is absent from the Lord, and breaths forth passionate longings to be absent from the Body, that he may be present with the Lord. But a Saint hath a Body, which is so far from dividing him, and Jesus Christ, that these two divine lovers are entirely united, and both one in it. It is Christs own Body, as well as a Saints. All the Members of it are the Members of Christ, as they are of a Saint, 1 Corin 6. 15. Know ye not, that your Bodies are the Members of Christ? shall I then take the Members of Christ, and make them the Members of a Harlet? God forbid. Yea he carryeth this union so high, that he maketh the Lord Jesus, and a Saint in this Body of his, of which alone he speaketh, to be one Spirit, and makes that the principal ground, upon which he builds his arguments against Fornication, v. 16. 17, 18. What? know ye not, that he, which is joyned to a Harl…t, is one body, for two, saith he, shall be one flesh, but he that is joyned unto the Lord is one Spirit. Flee Fornication, he that committeth Fornication, sinneth against his own Body. How manifestly here are a fleshly Body, and a spiritual Body distinguished one from another? A Body, in which Forn…cation makes the Man one flesh with the Harlot? a Body, in which a Saint is one Spirit with Jesus Christ?

These two are one Body, which standeth in two mixed Principles, and Images. The Body of a Saint, while this life lasteth, standeth partly in a carnal, or fleshly principle, and Image. This is the Body of Death, in which no good dwels, which is subject to the Law of Sin. While a Saint is present in this Body, he is absent from Christ. This is that, from which a Saint groaneth to be delivered. The Body of a Saint standeth in part, and imperfectly, while we live here, in a Spiritual Principle, and Image. Thus the Body of a Saint is the Temple of the Holy Ghost, the Body, and Member of Christ, one Spirit with Christ, by which one Spirit it is Baptized into his Spiritual, and heavenly body. This is that body of a Saint, which groaneth to be redeemed, and delivered from the Body of Death, as from its Captivity, Prison, and Grave.

The Death of a Saint finisheth this Captivity, breaketh open the Prison, and the Grave, and setteth free the Body of a Saint into the liberty of its Adoption or Sonship; that is, into its Spiritual, and divine form of a Son of God.

As fire is said to separate things of different kind, and to gather into one things of the same nature: so is the Death of a Saint the flame of God, the fire of Divine Love, Jesus Christ coming in the invisible flame of this Heavenly fire to separate the fleshly Principle, and Image from the spiritual Principle, and Image, both in the Soul, and Body of a Believer. The fleshly Principle, and Image, which is in the Body of a Saint, as a foreign, and strange thing, as rust upon Gold, is entirely cast off to the Spirit, and Image of this p. 438world, and of the Devil, to which it belongeth. The Body of the Saints in its Spiritual Principle, and Image, which are truly, and properly its own, in, which it is truly, and properly itself, is intirely for ever gathered up into the unity of the Eternal Spirit, the heavenly Body, and Bosom of our Lord Jesus.

In the Epistle to the Hebrews, ch. 9. 23. The Blood of Lambs, and Goats were said to cleanse the figures of heavenly things in the Tabernacle, but the Blood of Christ the heavenly things themselves. The Soul, and Body of a Believer are the heavenly things themselves. For these are that true Temple of the Holy Ghost, of which the first Tabernacle, and Temple were figures. As the death of a Saint is a conformity to Christ, and a fellowship to Christ on his death: so doth the Blood of Christ, that is, the divine virtue, and the life of the God-Head in the death of Christ, cleanse these heavenly things, the Soul and Body of a Saint at his death from all their dust, rubbish, and filth, from all mixture with the fleshly Principle, and Image.

Thus now the Body of a Saint, as well as his Soul, is made compleatly a pure, and heavenly Temple of the Holy Ghost. It subsists alone in an immediate, entire, and mutual union with this blessed Spirit. It lyeth wholly in it, as in the Fountain of life, immortality, love, peace, and joy. It is filled with it, as the Temple with the smoak of the sweet incense, and with the Glory of God.

How unhappy are you? How bitter is death, how full of deformity, how dreadful, how dark, how dismal to you, who leave this life before the Fountain of Eternal Life hath opened itself in you? Death to you is a devouring fire from below, which burns upon your Spirit, and flesh, consuming the order, the beauty, the sweetness of both, and changing them into a ruinous heap of utter darkness, desolation and confusion.

But blessed are you, thrice blessed are you, whose Souls, and Bodies are both married by one Spirit unto Jesus Christ, before Death comes to separate them one from another; whose Souls, and Bodies are become Temples of the Holy Ghost, and are inhabited by the Holy Ghost, before Death comes to demolish the fleshly frame, and building. Death to you is a lovely form, it which your Jesus himself comes into your whole Person, both Soul, and Body, as into his Garden or Vine-yard, to drive out the wil… Beasts, all the powers of darkness, to pluck up by the roots, and to ca… out the Weeds, every thing of this worlds, of a fleshly Spirit, and Image, that the Divine Shades, the Spiritual Plants, the fruitful Vine of his own Life, and Love, and of his own heavenly Image may alone flourish here, and himself alone may delight himself in the midst of these, as in a Garden shut up. Jesus Christ comes by Death to your Bodies, and Spirits, a… to a Beloved fountain, to cast out of it every thing of filth, of earth, and flesh, which polluteth it, that he may see his own face clearly all over it, that he alone p. 439may drink of it, that he may lye in the midst of these waters for ever bathing in them, that you in both may be a fountain sealed up to himself. Death is to you, who believe, a rich Marriage-bed of Gold and Purple, into which your naked Souls and Bodies quite stripped in the twinkling of an eye, of all their r…ggs, are taken to lye in the naked bosom and imbraces of your beloved Bridegroom the Lord Jesus.

Thus much for the twofold Body.

2 Dist. The 2. Distinction next to this of the twofold Body in a Saint, is that of the twofold dust in Death. In the last chapter of Ecclesiastes, v. 7. we read That in Death the dust shall return to the earth as it was, and the Spirit to God who gave it. Gen. ch. 3. 17. God passeth this Sentence of Death upon Adam after the Fall: Thou shalt return to the Ground. For out of it thou wert taken, Dust thou art, and to Dust thou shalt return.

There was a Dust before the Fall, out of which the Body of Man was made, Gen. 2. 7. God formed man of the dust of the ground. First observe here by the way, that the ground from which the dust was taken, of which the Body of Man was formed, was the ground of Paradise. For so we read immediately after at the 9th v. That out of the ground God had made to grow every Plant that was pleasant to the eye, and good for food, with the Tree of Life in the midst of them.

The Jewish Doctors teach us, that the dust, of which the Body of Man was made, was a fine and precious powder, in which all the excellencies of the whole Creation were exactly tempered, and mingled together in one Body. The Scripture seemeth to give us a foundation for this belief. When Moses saith, That God made out of the ground to grow every Plant pleasant to the Eye, good for food, and the Tree of Life in the midst of them; he seemeth to signifie that this was a divine ground, in which God from the beginning had sown the divine seeds of all the beauties, pleasantnesses, sweetnesses, and of all the beautiful and pleasant Lives of Paradise itself, and of the whole Creation, as it was in a Paradisical state. The dust then of this ground, which composeth the Body of Man, was the manifold beauty, sweetness, virtue and life of Paradise, of the whole Paradisical state of things gathered together, contracting themselves into one, and shading themselves, like the beauties, sweetnesses, and virtues of a flower in its precious seed. But that which is chiefly to be considered here, is the state of all things before the Fall. Sin was not yet entred, which brought in Death. The Unity of the Creature among themselves, between God and the Creatures, was yet entire. The divine life and Image flourished thorow the whole Creation. All the Creatures stood upon their divine root, and were filled with a divine Sap, like flowers upon their stalks, and trees at the height of the Spring.

St. John gives us a sweet, and beautiful Image of the whole Creation in its first state before it lost its life, sweetness, and unity by Sin, Joh. 1. 3, 4. p. 440All things were made by him, that is, Jesus Christ, and without him nothing was made that was made. In him was life, and that life was the light of Men. There are two things observable in this Scripture. 1. That which we read, without him was nothing made, foreign, signifieth properly nothing was made apart, or separate from him. The Holy Spirit seemeth here to point out the primitive union of the whole Creation, and all the distinct parts of it with the Lord Jesus, the living Root, the glorious Head of all, and in all. 2. Where we read; Without him nothing was made, that was made, this latter clause, that was made, addeth nothing to the sense, and looketh like a vain repetition. Some therefore place it at the beginning of the following verse, and read it thus; that, which was made, in him was life. This describeth to us the effect of that union. Jesus Christ put a life, a divine life into every Creature by his union with it. St. Paul seemeth to relate to this Scripture, and to confirm this living, beautiful, and Divine State of all the Creatures, as they came forth from God, Colos. 1. 16. All things were made in him, all things were made thorow him, unto him, and into him. v. 18. All things stood together in him.

Well then the Dust, the Ground, the Earth, the Darkness in the pure state of the Creation were made in Christ, were life in him, were made in union with Christ. They were made thorow Christ, as their mould, and channel. They were made by Christ, as their Original pattern, as the immediate power putting forth itself in them. They stood together with the rest of the Creatures in the Divine Unity in Christ. Thus had this Dust, of which we speak, a Divine life in it, a Divine Beauty upon it, a Divine Seed in it; this life was the life of Christ, and so comprehended according to its kind, all the lives and vertues of all the Creatures, and of Paradise. Its beauty was the beauty of Christ, in which after the like manner all created beauties centred, and met in one. Christ himself was the Seed in this Dust, and so not only the excellencies, and virtues of the whole Creation, but all the uncreated Treasures of Life, and Glory lay together shaded, and vailed within this Dust. But their vail, and their shade was a living, beautiful, and pleasant Picture of themselves, all filled with the sweet Odour of those hidden Ointments.

I have one thing more to say to describe this Dust. Man, who was the last days work, the comprehension, and perfection of the whole Creation, was made in a shadowy Image of God. For so the word Image in the first of Genesis signifieth, and the Scriptures in their whole course testify. In the beginning all things came forth from God in an universal Darkness before the Light of the first day.

This Darkn…ss is remarkable in several eminent circumstances. 1. It was cast forth immediately from the Divine Nature, and from the glorious Person of Christ to be a vail round about upon the Eternal Glory itself, and to be a ground of the whole Creation. 2. It stood in an …immediate union with p. 441the Divine Nature, and the glorious Person of Christ, springing forth immediately from it, and depending immediately upon it. 3. The unsearchable riches of the God-Head, and of Christ, with all the various Excellencies of the creatures as they were in their eternal patterns and principles, lay hid together within this shade. 4. Out of this ground did God make to spring all the creatures in their primitive paradisical purity and pleasantness, being wrapt up here, as in their first matter, and having their proper seeds sown here.

Thus was this Darkness a shade indeed, but pure, indued with a Divine Life, cloathed with a Divine beauty and lustre, bearing a Divine figure, breathing forth a Divine sweetness, spread forth every moment fresh with a new lustre, and sweetness from the Divine Nature, vailing within itself all the Joys and Glories of God, Christ, Heaven and Paradise, and as it hides all these in its Bosom, lying itself in the Bosom of Christ.

Such is the Ground, such is the Dust of the Ground, and the Earth, out of which the Body of Man was first taken, and into which the Body of a dying Saint returns. Such is the Darkness of Death, that overshadows a Saints body, like the Nights in Paradise. But there is this advantage now, that this pure, primitive Dust and Darkness are heightened, have a new, and greater beauty, and sweetness by the Resurrection of Christ from the Dead. This is the first Dust, the Dust before the Fall.

2. The second Dust is that after the Fall understood in that sentence; Dust thou art, and to Dust thou shalt return. This is the Dust of that Death which sin brings forth, a cursed Dust, the Dust of the cursed Earth, which bringeth forth Bryars and Thorns. That former beautiful and blessed Dust lies captivated in this, as in a Prison, or Grave of contrariety and enmity. This Dust is composed of three things; 1. A Separation, Dissolution, and Desolation, from the …orce and power of Enmity. 2. A Blackness of Darkness from a cloud and storm of wrath. 3. The seeds of shame, pain, anguish, horrour and torment hidden in it.

This Dust is that which the Body of a Saint casts off in Death, upon this worldly Image and Spirit, together with the Spirit and Image of this world. This is that which suffereth dissolution, which representeth deformity, and striketh the horrour in Death. All which are now of the Image of this world, and to the Image of this World, in the Spirit of this World, and to the Spirit of this World, within the Kingdom of the Devil, having no more relation to a Saint in Death, than the filthy raggs of a Prince in a Dangeon, to the Prince at Liberty, and in his Pallace.

Death rubbing off the Rust of this cursed Dust from the Body of a Saint, leaves it all a shining, rich, incorruptible Dust of pure Gold. His Body is now entirely with Christ, a precious, pleasant, and living Dust in the Garden-Beds, the Beds of Spices or perfumed Flowers in Paradise. This is the second Distinction of the two Dusts.

p. 4423 Dist. The third distinction is of a twofold sense, Rom. 8. 6. St. Paul teacheth us, That to be carnally minded is Death, but to be spiritually minded is Life, and Peace. The Greek runs thus: the mind of the flesh, and the mind of the spirit. The word mind is foreign, which signifieth a practical understanding, and comprehendeth a twofold act; one of the understanding to dis…rn, and judge; another of the will to tast, and rellish. So the mind is here a sense, and a favour both in one. Thus you have here a twofold sense, Spiritual, and Carnal or Fleshly.

1. The Spiritual sense is set forth three ways. 1. By the Principle. 2. By two effects of this Principle. 3. By two companions of these effects.

1. The Principle of a Spiritual sense is the Spirit; this holy, and blessed Spirit is the only, and proper Principle of a Saint, and Saintship, of a Son of God, and a S…ship to God. Art thou indeed a Saint? then thou art in the Spirit of Glory, and of God, as in thy Root, and Element, as a Tree of Life in the Root of Eternal Life, and Love, as Fishes in the water of Life, as Birds in the pure air of Divine Love, as Angels in Heaven, Rom. 8. 9. You are not, (saith St. Paul to the Saints) in th… Flesh, but in the Spirit. Art thou indeed a Son of God? Then is this Spirit of Grace, and Immortality in thee, as thy natural Principle, as the power of Nature according to the new, and Divine Nature which acteth thee. Rom. 8. 16. As many as are led by the Spirit of God, are the Sons of God. The word led is foreign acted. As the Soul acts the Body, as the principle of reason the Soul of Man, as the nature of the Sun acts the Sun in its shinings, in its motions; thou also art acted by the Divine Spirit, to which the Sun, the Soul of Man, the principle of reason are empty, and weak shadows, so far as thou in truth art a Child of Light, and a Son of God the Father of Lights.

Let me here by the way touch a three-fold string in your Souls. 1. A mournful string. 2. A string of desire. 3. The string of praise.

1. Is the Sp…it the principle of a Saint? how then should we mourn, th… this Spirit of Grace, this Comforter is grieved, that this Spirit of Light, and Life is quenched by unbelief, sensuality, unkindness, and neglect? how should we mourn that this Holy Spirit, this Spirit of Truth is slighted, and spoken evil of, as a Spirit of licentiousness, or as a fancy, and delusion, and all this among Saints, at least in profession, when as this Spirit is the only principle of Saintship? St. Jude in his Epistle, speaketh of this as the Sin of Devils, for which they are cast down to Hell, and bound in Chains of Darkness, that they did forsake their first state, and their own habitation. It is in Greek not their first state, but their first principle, foreign. O Saints is not this a Sin, greater than that of Devils, not only to forsake, but to grieve, and cast shame upon this first, and most blessed Spirit, which is your only principle, a principle of Divin… Life, Light, and Purity; your own habitation, a habitation of Divine Rest, and Glory?

p. 4432. O all you, who desire to be Saints, or to grow in the new, and Divine Nature of a Saint; let your hearts burn by day, and by night with continual longings for the Spirit. This alone is that of which a Saint is bred, by which he is nourished. This alone is the Heavenly Root, the Sap, the sweet Dew, Showers, and Influences, the warm, and cherishing Sun-shine to every Spiritual Plant, Cry therefore, and wait for this Spirit; wait upon it; minister to it; seek it; suck it in by all means, thorow all its own manifestations, and ordinances, of Nature, or of Grace. When this world was first made a beautiful frame out of a dark Deep, the Spirit moved upon the face of the waters. When Jesus was conceived in the womb of the Virgin, the Holy Ghost overshadowed her, and rested upon her. In both places the expressions seem to allude to a Bird, or a Dove spreading itself over its Nest to hatch its young Ones. When the Lord Jesus was Baptized, the Holy Ghost descended, and rested upon him in the form of a Dove. Dost thou indeed desire to have thy dark, defiled, dead heart made a new Creature, to have Jesus Christ to be born, or to grow within thee, and to be Baptized yet more, into Jesus Christ the Sea of all Heavenly Beauties, Loves, and Joys? O then pray to the blessed Spirit to make thy Soul his Nest, to move upon the face of thy Spirit, to overshadow thee, to descend and rest upon thee in his Dove like form.

3. O all ye Saints, sing the praises of the holy Spirits let the high praises of the holy Spirit be ever in your mouths. Say to the Spirit; this is the womb of Divine Life and Power, which hath born us, and brought us forth to be Children, and Heirs to God; these are the Breasts of Divine Life, and sweetness, which give us suck; this is itself, the Heavenly Milk of the Eternal word, by which we live, and grow. Do you see any glympse of Evangelical Light, and Truth, do you feel any workings of Grace, any sweet springings of Love and Joy? Give Glory to the Spirit, it is this blessed Spirit, which now shines in you, enlivens you, and acts you. The Children of Iracel in the Wilderness, in a great want of water, met with a Well, then they sang to it in these words, Spring O Well, the Princes have digged it with their S…aves. When ever thou meetest with any fresh stream, any sweet drop of the water of Life rising up within thee in th…s parched Land, and weary Wilderness, sing to thy Well, sing to the blessed Spirit, and say in thy Song: my Well springeth, my Jesus hath digged it in my heart with the Golden Scepter of his Grac…, and Love. Thus let every gracious thought, gracious moving of thy mind, will, or affections put into thy mouth a new Song of joyful praises to the Spirit, as the dear, and inseparable principle of Life, of Heaven, of Eternity within thee, thine own… principle. Thus much of the Principle.

2. The two effects of this Principle are a Spiritual sense, & savour both comprehended in that expression: to be heavenly minded. How often doth my Spirit labour in the Bosom, and power of the Eternal Spirit for these two things, 1. That all Men were brought forth into this Spiritual Principle. 2. p. 444That all, who have the Spiritual Principle within them, were continually acted by it! How sweet would life be to them, for the sight of their Eyes, and rellish of their Spirit? They that live in the Spirit, see all things by a Spiritual Light, It is indeed a pleasant thing to behold this Light. Every glympse of it infuseth a heavenly joy into the Heart, and scattereth all Clouds of grief, or melancholy. These see all things in a Spiritual Image, that is in a Divine, and Immortal Glory. They tast the sweetness of a Heavenly, and Divine Love in every thing. Every thing presenteth itself to them in an Heavenly Appearance, and every appearance of things entreth into their Souls with a heavenly taste, and rellish, far sweeter than Hony to the Palate.

All our converse with things of every kind of Nature, or Grace; of Sense, or reason proceedeth from a union with those things in one Principle, and is a communion with them in that Principle. Such as the Principle is, such are the Appearances, and rellishes of things to us, such is our converse with them. All Appearances of things to Men, or to Angels in every natural Principle, to our senses, or to our understandings are no more than shadows, or dreams. The Spirit alone is Truth. When melancholy forms, and Images of things in this world afflict our Spirits; when the pleasant things here lift them up to vain joys, and glories; if the holy Spirit awaken himself, and arise in us: all these fly away, all other appearances of things break up into an appearance of Eternal Beauty, and Blessedness springing forth from this Spirit like the shadows of the night, when the Sun is seen, and a dream, when a Man awaketh.

We are taught by natural Philosopy, that the Images of things are seen thorow a Christalline humor in the Eye, as a fine Glass. If this Christal be dyed with any colour: all things, which we see, appear to us in that colour. In like manner there is a native moisture upon our Palates, and Tongues, by which we tast things. If this moisture have any tast of its own, every thing tasteth of it. Blessed art thou, who livest the life of a Saint. Thou livest the life of Heaven upon Earth. The Spirit is the Christal in the Eye of thy Soul, thorow which thou seest all things. This Christal hath a heavenly colour of Glory ever upon it. Thou then feest all things in this ravishing colour, in a Heavenly Glory. The Spirit is the Divine moisture, and water of life upon the pallate of thy Soul, by which thou tastest all things. This water of the Spirit hath ever the heavenly rellish, the unexpressible sweetness of the Divine Nature, of the Divine Love, of the pleasures of the God-Head. Thus thou savourest all things. This Love, and Sweetness thou rellishest in every thing.

3. The two companions of these two effects of a Spiritual Principle are …, and Peace. To be spiritually minded is Life, and Peace.

1. Life The Spirit, and Life are inseparable one from another. The words that I speak, they are Spirit, and they are life, saith Jesus Christ, Joh. 6. The Spirit is the Fountain of Life. For he is called the Spirit of Life, Rom. 8. p. 445The Quickening Spirit. 1 Cor. 15. The Power of an Endless Life. Heb. Let us ever pray, that we may ever live in the Spirit: For now we live, if we stand fast in our spiritual Principle. The Life which we now live, is first, pure. It hath nothing of any Mixture, of any Defilement, or of any shadow of Death. Secondly, It is perfect. It hath all the Sweetnesses, Virtues, Joys, and Beauties of Life in it. Thirdly, It is perpetual, It never ceaseth, It never endeth, but springeth to Eternity. Fourthly, It is a powerful Life. It maintains itself against all the Powers of Darkness, and Death. It maintains itself in the midst of them, as a sweet Light of Glory, shining in a dark place, and triumphing over the darkness. In a word, this Life is the purest, sweetest, and most lasting Li…e: For it flows immediately, and springs up continually from the Fountain of Life itself. Nay, which is far sweeter, and more glorious, it is Life, as it lies in the Fountain of Life. It is Life not only from the Spirit, but in the Spirit. So St. Paul speaks in this Chapter: They that are in the Spirit; and to the Galatians; if ye live in the Spirit.

2. The other Companion of a Spiritual Sense is Peace, Peace in the Language of the Scripture, signifieth a perfection of Happiness. It is distinguished into, 1. Peace above with God. 2. Peace within, in your own Consciences and Spirits. 3. Peace with all Creatures round about you. O how true is it, that they keep the Feast continually, a Royal and Divine Feast in white Garments, who live in a spiritual sense of things! Every day to them is a Holy Day, a Festival Day. All things are festival round about them. All things are in a Covenant of Peace with them, in a Covenant of Grace, and Divine Peace. All appearances of things in every State shine upon them from the glorified Person of Christ, as heavenly Beauties smiling upon them. All Providences, Changings, and Motions of things, are a Heavenly Musick, springing up to them, and sounding round about them, in the Unity of the Spirit. All Impressions made upon their Souls from every passage of Providence, or Change, is a most delicious sweetness upon their Spirits, an unexpressible Taste of Heaven and Eternity.

But the manner of St. Paul's Expression is very observable, and hath a great force in it: To be spiritually minded is Life and Peace. The sense and favour of the Spirit is itself Life and Peace universally, absolutely, in the abstract, in perfection, without any Confinement or Allay. The spiritual sense of a Saint, is the pure, and compleat Essence of Life and Peace in its highest Activity. How true is it, that a good man is satisfied from himself? How Holy, how High, how Happy, how Heavenly a thing is it to be a Saint, to be spiritual, to live as a Saint, to live spiritually? Thou now comprehendest all things in an uncorruptible Beauty, Love, and Joy in thy self, as in Heaven: For all things are to thee thine own spiritual Principle, thine own spiritual Sence, springing up and diffusing itself into all blessed Forms of Glory, Delight, and Immortality within thee. Jesus Christ tells his Spouse p. 446in the Canticles, That she is a Fountain of Living Waters flowing from Lebanon; That she is a Fountain of Gardens; That all her Plants are Plants of Paradise. O blessed Spirit, who livest in the Eternal Spirit, as thy Principle, by which thou art inwardly acted! The Principle of thine is the Fountain, the ground of Paradise within thee. All forms of things are Paradisical Plants, at once pleasant to the Eye, good for Food, desirable, to fill thee with all the most glorious Treasures of the Divine Wisdom. Thy Spiritual Principle is the Divine Ground, out of which all these Plants of Paradise grow up within thee, as thine own Plants. Thy spiritual Sense and Savour, is a perpetual Feeding and Feasting upon the Fruits of Paradise, which these Plants continually bring forth.

2. The Fleshly or Carnal Sense is also illustrated by three Circumstances. 1. The Principle. 2. The Effect of that Principle. 3. The Companion of that Effect▪

1. The Principle of a Carnal Sense is the Flesh. It is expresly called the Mind or Sense of the Flesh. The Flesh, the Natural Man, the Earthly Man, the Spirit of man, the natural Soul in the Language of the Gospel, and most of them in this present Chapter signifie the same Principle of a carnal Sense of Sin, and of Death. Happy is he that is not here deceived. Every Earthly Heavenly, Humane, Angelical Spirit, or Principle, however enlightened sanctified, heightened by the work of the Spirit, below that Spirit which … immediately born of the eternal Spirit, which is one Spirit with it, and live… in it, is Flesh, and this Principle of a fleshly Mind, or Sense, or of Death.

2. The Effect of this Fleshly Principle is Twofold: 1. A Carnal, … Fleshly Sense. 2. A Fleshly, or Carnal, Savour. How unpleasant is thy Life, who livest in this Principle for the sight of thine Eyes? The Light of … World, which alone thou seest, is Darkness, and the shadow of Death: Fo… the Prince of this World is the Prince of Darkness. Thou measurest Heavenly and Spiritual things by Earthly and Carnal.

When Jesus Christ in the Gospel was reproved by Peter, for the mentio… of his Sufferings and Death, the Lord replies to Peter, Get thee behind … Satan; For th…u savourest not the things of God, but the things of man. The… are Three things remarkable in these words. 1. There is a Humane, … there is a Divine Sense of the same things, and these two are contra… one to another. 2. Those things that are the things of man, and dreadful… man in an humane Sense, as Death, are Divine, have a Divine Beauty, … sweetness in them, to a Divine Sense and Savour. 3. The Humane sense the Humane Image, and rellish of things, springs from the Devil, as he is Sa…tan, that is, the Hater, the Enemy to all things Divine, to Love, to Ligh… to Truth to Immortality, and Blessedness.

3. The Companion of a Carnal Sense, and Savour, is Death: To be Ca…nally minded is Death. 'Tis Death in all the black Properties and Powers … Death. 1. That Divine Image of things, which alone is the Truth, is Spirit p. 447and Life, both the Paradises, the Heavenly, and the Earthly, as it is new born, and united unto the Heavenly, lie captivated in a Carnal Mind, or Sense, as in a Prison or Grave. 2. A Carnal Sense is that outermost Darkness, which is without the new, and Heavenly Jerusalem: 3. In a Carnal Sense are disorder, confusion, and desolation, the dissolutions of all the ban…s of Peace, Beauty, and Life. For these all consist in that order alone, which hath for its band the Unity of the Spirit. 4. A Carnal Sense hath ever the sting of Death in it. Fears, Cares, Grief, Pains, Anguishes, Torments never cease here. They are the Worm which never dyes, the Fire, which never goes out, in this region of the shadow of Death, a Carnal Mind, or Fleshly Sense.

Naturalists tell us, that some Candles may be so made, that all the Persons seen, by those lights shall appear as Ghosts one to another, or the whole place seem full of Snakes, and dreadful Serpents. Such are those lights of a Carnal Sense, by which all things are seen of thee, who art in a Carnal, Fleshly State. Every thing of Truth, as it appears to thee, is an apparition from below, bearing Paleness, Terrour, Death, and Hell in the face of it. Thou canst no where walk, sit, lie down in peace. All places, all States to thee are full of Serpents, hissing, shooting out their forked stings, casting their poyson at thee.

Wo to you, O ye Inhabitants of the Earth, ye, who dwell in a fleshly sense of things. The Devil is ever in the midst of you with great rage; here he is known by his name Satan, the Enemy, the Hater. But ye, O ye Inhabitants of Heaven who live in a Spiritual Principle, why are you ever found abroad? Why are not all your walks within in the Spirit, the heavenly Paradise, which God hath planted, and set you in to dress it, and to keep it, and to eat of the fruits of it without any exception within your own Spirits? Behold! not a single Cherubim, but the whole Army of glorious Angels, with the Presence, and Power of the Eternal Spirit, as a flaming Sword turning every way, keeps the entrance into this Paradise, not to keep you out, but to defend you in it by suffering no evil thing, none of the Powers of Darkness, of Death, of Wrath, to enter here. While you are without in a Carnal Mind, and Worldly Spirit, you are among the holes of the Foxes, the Dens of the Lyons, and the Mountains of Leopards. All things, with which you converse, ascend from below, from the Earth, from the natural Soul, and from the Devil, as St, James teacheth us. All these three the Earth, the Natural Soul, and the Devil are Links in the same chain of Darkness immediately fastned one to another. The light, and breath of your life in the Spirit of this world is the smoak from the Bottomless Pit. Your Beauties, your Joys, your pleasant things are those Locusts sent forth from thence, mentioned in the Revelation, with Faces, and Hair like Women, with Crowns upon their Heads, false Shows of Sweetness, Softness, Greatness, and Glory, but stings, invenomed stings, the stings of Death are in their tails. O! Retire into your own enclosed Gardens, there within your own enclosed Grounds, your own Souls, sit under p. 448your own Fig-Tree, your own Vine, which are your own Spiritual Principle, out of which the universal Image of things both Heavenly, and Earthly springeth up into the perfection of all pure Beauties, and Joys with immortality. Delight your selves under their shadows, where you are safe from all Evil, and at rest for ever. I again testify unto you, as I have often, and alwaies testified in all my Sermons, and Discourses, that there is no Salvation to the flesh, or in the flesh. O then ye, who are yet found walking after the flesh, give no rest to your selves here. Cry night and day without ceasing to the Holy Spirit to take you up upon his Wings, and to translate you suddenly, in a moment, out of this Wilderness of fiery Serpents into the promised, and good Land flowing with Rivers of Milk, and Hony, the Milk of the Eternal Word, and the Hony of the Divine Wisdom, which both are Jesus Christ, the Fulness, Sweetness, and Glory of the God-Head. O that these words, as now you read, or hear them, in this very moment, thorow the power of the blessed Spirit might be as the hands of Angels laid upon Lot, to hasten you out of this Sodom of the flesh, while you linger here, into a place of safety, the City of the living God in the secret of the Spirit, before the Lord rain down fire from the Lord upon all Flesh.

The profit, the pleasure, the seasonableness of this discourse hath carryed me farther, & stayed me longer upon it than my method seemed to require. Let us now return to apply this distinction of a twofold sense, Carnal, and Spiritual to our present purpose, which is to set forth the Beautiful, and Blessed Sta… of a Saints Soul and Body in Death. We have heard that a Spiritual sense is Life, and Peace absolutely, universally, eternally, without mixture, confinement or change; that all things here are in the purity, and perfection of Divine Life, Beauty, and Joy. We have also heard, that the Carnal Sense is Death, as it reigns entirely here, so it it is confined hither, shut up in this Pit, and without this fleshly Principle hath no where any place.

I shall bring this Distinction home to my purpose of making Death all over, in every part lovely, and pleasant to a Saint, by two Propositions.

1. Propos. This is the first. A Saint by dying is taken entirely in his whole Person, Soul, and Body out of the Carnal, or Fleshly Principle, out of the Fleshly Sense, and so out of Death.

2. Propos. A Saint by dying is in his whole Person, Soul, and Body gathered up entirely into a Spiritual Principle, and so into the Immortality of a Divine Life, Peace, and Delight.

1. Propos. A Saint by dying is taken entirely in his whole Person, Soul, and Body out of the Carnal, or Fleshly Sense, and so out of Death. I shall open, and confirm this Proposition to you by two Scriptures.

1. The first Scripture is the 1 Epistle of St. Peter, 4. 1. Wherefore seeing Christ hath suffered in the Flesh, let us also arm our selves with the same mind. For he that hath suffered in the Flesh, hath ceased from Sin. The Holy Ghost p. 449clearly relates to the death of the Lord Jesus, and of a Saint. He speaks of the time perfectly past; he that hath suffered in the Flesh, that is, he that by dying hath compleated, and finished his sufferings in the flesh, he hath ceased from sin. He that dyeth in union with Christ in the vertue of his death, and in a conformity to it, in the first moment of death ceaseth from all the Evils of Sin, the Guilt, the Power, the Pollution, the Punishment, and so from Death itself.

See the inseparable connexion between the Flesh, Sufferings, Sin, and Death. All these continue together, and cease together. O you, that hear or read, understand these things, and lay them to heart! This Flesh, which is so dear to us, which we are so loath, and unwilling to part with, which we tender as our nearest, and dearest self, is our only division from our self, a bed of Snakes, and Enmity. It is the root, the seat, the food, the fewel, the fruit of Sin, and suffering, and death. This Fleshly Principle, and Sense, this worldly Light, and Image, which we account Life, and the Sweetness of Life, in which we think all the dear Treasures and Joys of Life are comprehended, is no other, than a deep, dark, and miery Dungeon, where we lie in the midst of the hissings, stings, and poysons of innumerable Toads, and Serpents. This Sin, which so easily besetteth us, and winds itself into our bosoms, is that weight, which presseth us, and sinketh us down, that chain of Darkness, which tyeth us down, and fastneth us here below in the horrible Pit, and Dungeon of this Fleshly Principle, and Sense, this Fleshly, this worldly Spirit, and Image. This Death which seemeth so dreadful to us, which we so tremble at, and fly from, is that dearest Friend come down from Heaven, from the bosom of God, that beautiful hand put forth from the secret of Eternal Life, Love, and Glory, which taketh off this weight, which knocketh off this chain of Darkness, and restoreth to us our silver Wings, and golden Feathers, by which in a moment we fly forth from this Cage of unclean Spirits, this Dungeon of the Fleshly Principle, and Sense never to return into them any more.

O Believers, fear not, fly not from Sufferings! Be willing to sacrifice and offer up this Flesh, as a whole Burnt-Offering in the Flame of Sufferings unto Death. Kiss Death as a lovely Bride, as those perfumed Flowers, those Beds of Spices, the Cheeks of the Heavenly Bride-groom, mentioned in the Canticles: For the Flesh, the fleshly Principle, and Sense, the Spirit and Image of this Flesh, of this World, together with the Sufferings, Sin, and Death, end all at once in the Death of a Saint, in the very first moment of his Death.

A Holy Divine, when he was dying, lay upon his Death-Bed, singing this often over; Now I shall sin no more. We read Isaiah 59. 2. That our Iniquities separate between us and our God, our Sins hide his face from us. Death is indeed a separation, but it is not the separation of the Soul from the Body. The separation of the Soul or the Body from God, this is Death indeed, this alone p. 450is Death. This world, this worldly Spirit, and Image is the Curtain, or Vail, the Partition wall between us and the Face, or Bosom of our Heavenly Bridegroom our Lord Jesus. So saith St. Paul: Our Gospel is hid to those, whose Eyes the God of this world hath blinded, that they should not behold the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face, or Person of Christ. The Fleshly Principle, or Sense is the unpassable gulf between us, and the unsearchable Treasures of the Divine Nature, of the Blessed Persons in the Divine Nature, the Father, the Eternal Word, the Holy Spirit. Sin digs up, and keeps open this Gulf, sin builds up this Partition wall. Sin draws this Curtain between us, and the Divine Beauties, the Divine Blessedness. O dying Saints, break forth into singings! O all ye Saints rejoice, and triumph at every thought, at every approach of Death! Abraham saw the day of Christ, and rejoyced to see it, saith our Lord Jesus in the Gospel. The word rejoyce in Greek is foreign, that is, he danced a Galliard. When the Virgin Mary, with Christ in her Womb, came to the Mother of John the Baptist, the Babe within her sprung for joy. Thus O Believers let your hearts spring for joy within you at the approach, and presence of Death. So Death coming to you as a beautiful, and a heavenly Virgin with Jesus Christ in its Womb, not after the Flesh, but in the Glory of the Spirit, to be delivered of him immediately into your Bosoms, as a Bridegroom that at once in the same moment appears to you in Glory, makes you worthy of himself, by being like himself, and one Glory with himself, makes all things Life, Immortality, & Glory round about you. Behold the day of your Death both afar off, & near at hand as the day of Christ, as a day, which the Lord Jesus makes, rising himself, as the true Sun upon you, & so iurning this Sun into Darkness, before the brightness of his own appearance, enlightning all within you, and, without you with another Light infinitely greater, infinitely sweeter. At the sight of this day, as Abraham did, so let your hearts spring with a pleasant lightness, and dance Galliards in your Bosom. Now sing of Death, and say in your songs every one of you, as you lie upon your Death-beds: I shall sin no more, I shall be in Flesh no more, no more for ever in this Fleshly Principle, and sense, which hath so long bewitched me, and held me by their …orceries in the House of Whoredoms, and of Death. I shall be in this world so loathsome, and so hateful to me, I shall see this world, and this Image of things, which hath been so long so tempting, and tormenting to me, no more for ever. Farewel for ever all distances, all divisions between me, and my Jesus, my God. Henceforth shall I with open face in my Soul, and my Body behold the open, and unvailed Face of God. Henceforth shall I with my naked Soul, and Body lie for ever in the naked Bosom of my Glorified Saviour, my King, and Husband, giving him of my Loves, drinking in abundantly his Loves, and bringing forth continually by him all the Spiritual, and Heavenly fruits of Life, and Immortality.

The morning is called Rosy-fingred, because the morning Beams, as Rosy-fingers p. 451seem to open the Curtains of the night, and let in day upon us. Death is to a Saint of a truth this Rosy fingered morning, which by sweet beams breaking forth from on high, draws aside the Curtains of this night of Flesh, and lets in upon us the Eternal day, which at once in a moment overspreads our Souls, and Bodies, and fills all things to us with its blessed Light, making us, and all things new in the newness of its own Heavenly, and Immortal Beauties.

The second Scripture is, 2 Corin. 5. 6, 8. Therefore we are alwaies confident, knowing, that whilst we are at home in the Body, we are absent from the Lord. We are confident I say being willing rather to be absent from the Body, and present with the Lord. Of what Body speaketh the Apostle here? What Body is this, which thus divideth between the Spiritual Bride, and her Heavenly Bridegroom, that a Saint cannot be present with both at once? If he be at home in this Body, he must be absent from Christ, and a banished Person from his Bosom. If he will be present with Christ, and enjoy him, he must cast off this Body, and be absent from it.

Is this the true, and proper Body of a Saint? How can that be? The true Body of a Saint is as much himself, as his Soul is himself. He can be no more absent from his own Body, than he can be absent from his Soul, or from himself.

We read in the same Chapter, 1 Corin. 6. Towards the latter end, that the Body of a Saint is the Member of Christ, and the Temple of the Holy Ghost. When St. Paul speaketh of a Body, from which we must be absent, that we may be present with the Lord Jesus; sure he cannot mean this Body, which is a Member of Christ, which is united to Christ, and implanted into him. Can I be absent from Christ by being present with that Body, which is a Member of him, a Member in him? Can I be absent from this Body, which is a Member of Christ, while I am present with Christ? O Believers, be not weary of living in the Body, only know your true selves, and your own Bodies! while you live in these, you live in Heaven, and are ever with the Lord Jesus. For your-Bodies are his Members, and so the fulness of him, who filleth all in all. O Believers fear not to die, you part not with any thing, that is truly your selves, truly your own. You part not with your Bodies, nor with any thing, in which they have any true propriety, or which hath any dear Relation to them. For your Bodies are the Members of Christ, Baptized into one Body with him by that one, and the same Spirit, which gathereth up all things together unto him, and into one in him.

Thy Body, O Believer, is the Temple of the Holy Ghost. When the Spirit of God, and of Glory rests upon this Temple, he never removeth off from it any more. When he enters into this Temple of his, he never goeth forth, nor leaves it empty. This is his true Temple upon the true Mount Sion, the Soul, and Body of a Saint, which he hath chosen for a resting place p. 452for ever. O Saints have patience, and peace in life. For by being at, home in your Bodies, you are in the Temple of the Holy Ghost, which he fills with his Glory, where every thing utters Glory. O Saints have pleasure in Death. For Death cannot divide your Bodies from you, nor the Holy Ghost from your Bodies, which are his Temple. Can you ever be absent from Christ, while you are present in your own proper Bodies, which are the Temples of the Spirit of Christ? Can you by being present with the Lord Jesus be absent from these Bodies of yours, which are the Temple of the Holy Spirit, which is the highest band of Unity; the dwelling place of that Spirit, which is one with the Lord Jesus? No certainly, this can never be. Thy Body O Saint is ever, in life, and in death, filled, and overshadowed by the Holy Ghost. When it seems to fall into the Dust, and Darkness of Death according to the Carnal sense; then doth thy Heavenly Dove give to it according to the Spiritual sense its own silver Wings, and golden Feathers.

What then is this Body of which St. Paul speaks to the Corinthians, which gives him a triumphant confidence in the face of Death, while it is his greatest desire to be absent from this Body, that he may be present with Christ? Is it not that Body of Death against which he cryeth out, Rom. 8. l. O wretched Man that I am, who shall deliver me from this Body of Death? This he calls also a little before in the same Chapter that flesh of his, that self, in which there dwels no good. This is the Fleshly Principle, and Sense, the Spirit, and Image of this world, which is sprung up out of the Fall, which lies as a disguise, and a cloud upon the true Person, the Soul and Body of a Saint. What is not this the Body, which is the partition-wall between these two Spiritual Lovers, Christ, and a Saint, while he lives here, which being cast off in Death, they find themselves in the pure, beautiful, and naked Arms of each other. What is Death now to a Saint? Is it not the power of the Divine life, and love in a Saint breaking forth, and as it breaks forth, tearing off, and burning up this disguise of Flesh? Is it not the power of a Divine Light, and Glory breaking forth, and as it breaks forth, scattering, and blotting out the cloud of this Body of Death for ever? How beautifully does the Body of a Believer shine forth now in Death, as a naked Member of our glorified Jesus cleansed from all its dust, and defilement, when it is taken up entirely out of the fleshly Principle, and Sense? How beautiful, and glorious a Temple on every side of it doth the Body of a Believer now appear in Death, when it cometh entirely out of its Cloud by being entirely taken out of the Spirit, and Image of this world? The true Body of a Saint lieth while this life lasteth, as in a Dungeon, or Grave. It stands here like the glorious Tabernacle composed of the most precious materials, Silks, Silver, Gold, the choicest Woods; wrought with all the richest colours, and the most curious Figures in Needle-work, and Carvings of a Divine Workmanship, which stood in a vast, and howling. Wilderness, covered with a Tent of Badgers Skins. O! how p. 453pure, how precious, how beautiful, how divine a thing is the Body of a Saint in Death, when it casts off this Body of Death, the corrupt, the carnal Image, and Principle entirely, and is seen now no more for ever in any appearance, besides that alone of a naked Member in the most lovely, & shining Body of the Lord Jesus? With what sweetness, and beauty doth it break forth now as a most amiable, and admirable Tabernacle of the Eternal Spirit, when by death it casts off the Tent of Badgers Skins, with all the darkning, and deforming impressions of Dust, and heat, and at once passeth out of the Wilderness of this worldly Spirit, and form of things unto the good Land of rest, and promise, by passing in a dry, and flowry path thorow the River Jordan, that sweet, and blessed bound of Death, between the dreadful desart, and heavenly Canaan.

Give me leave here to drop upon your hearts four brief exhortations.

1. O that all Men would love the King of Saints, the Lord Jesus. It is he alone, who subdues the King of Terror, that is, Death, and is more, than a conqueror over him, making him the King of delights. He changeth the Region, and Kingdom of Death, which is the Principality of the Devil, into the Kingdom of God, which is Righteousness, Peace, and Joy in the Holy Ghost.

2. Set a value upon the union with the Lord Jesus by faith. Ask, seek, dig for this by day, and by night, in Prayer, in the Word, in the Society of the Saints, in every ordinance, in every creature, that you may believe in the Lord Jesus, and that you may be united to him by believing. Let nothing discourage you in this pursuit, and expectation. The Lord Jesus hath given himself for you, even unto Death, that you may be his in the sweetest, and most intimate union. He giveth himself to you in his life of Glory, that he may be yours by an immediate, and entire union. He giveth his Spirit to you, to be the Maker, and the band of this union, to work faith in you, and make you Believers. He is now with you, now in you in the fulness of his merits, righteousness, glory, love, and Spirit. Now this moment open the Eyes of your minds, and behold him in the midst of you, open your hearts, and take him in, cast your selves into his open arms, and heart, cleave to him by believing. So even this moment shall your Souls, and Bodies both, which are naturally the Members of this Harlot, the Flesh, and the World; which are naturally Dens of Thieves, and Devils, become the Members of the Lord Jesus, and the Temples of the Holy Ghost. The Lord Jesus shall be in your Body itself, as in a Member of himself, a Fountain of living waters even in Death, and in the Grave, making it there a Paradise, a Garden for God, and for all blessed Spirits. The Holy Ghost shall be, not only in your Souls, but in your Bodies also as in his Holy. Temple, even in the darkness of Death itself, filling it with his Glory, and moving over it with his Doves Wings, the Wings of Eternal Love.

3. Make it your chief work, and end to grow in the knowledge of the p. 454Lord Jesus. What care, and pains do we take to grow in riches? yet riches profit not in the day of Wrath. To know him is eternal life. With what diligence do we pursue the wisdom of this world? Yet saith Solomon, as dyeth the Fool, so dyeth the wise Man. If thou gain, and grow in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, this is a wisdom, which will make thy Soul, and Body both shine with a Light of Glory, and Immortality, even in Death itself. Solomon saith, that when understanding enters into our Souls, wisdom will be sweeter, than hony to our tast. O what new tast, and rellishes of new, and unexpressible sweetnesses doth the Soul still meet with, which is still growing in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus? What a sweet tast, and rellish of Death beyond all the delights of Life doth the knowledge of Jesus Christ give unto us, representing it as a Feast of pleasant things to our Bodies also, as well as to our Souls? When thou understandest the fellowship, and vertue of Christs Death in thy Death, thou shalt see Death in thy Soul, and in thy Body, as the Carkass of a dead Lyon torn in pieces by that true Samson, the Lord Jesus, whither the Father himself, and Christ, and the Holy Spirit, with all the blessed Angels resort, as Bees to their Hive; laying there their Hony, and their Hony-comb for thee to eat.

4. O you, that are Christs, love Death, Death is now become but a shadow of Death. True life with all the joys of life, vails itself beneath that shadow. If you knew the love of the Father, the Glory of the Lord Jesus, the joys of the Holy Ghost in Death; if you knew what the Death of a Saint were, how precious, you would ask it continually of God, that he would hasten it in the time thereof. You would cry out continually, as Sisera's Mother did, why doth his Chariot stay? Death is not now a shadow of Death, but a living, delightful, and divine shadow cast from the glorious face of our Lord Jesus, under which our Souls, and Bodies lie together, as in a sweet, and divine sleep in his Bosom, in which sleep all the joys, and glories of Heaven, and Eternity are present with us, as a divine Dream, out of which we wake at the Resurrection, finding all to be true, eternally true, and the sweet shadow, and dream themselves swallowed up into a bright, clear, and full enjoyment. Thus, according to St. Pauls Language, doth the very Body of a Saint, when he dies, sleep in the Lord. Thus is death to the Soul, and Body of a Saint, as the Curtains of Purple round about Solomons Bed, where the Saint lies now in the embraces of the true Solomon himself, the King of Righteousness, and King of Peace, or round about the Chariot of Solomon, which had within it a Throne of Gold, and was paved with Love. As the Sun by its influence forms a precious Mine of Gold in the bowels of the Earth, which afterward being taken out, and separated from its dross, becomes pure and incorruptible, and is made a Crown for the Head of a great King: so the Lord Jesus by his Spirit frames a new, a heavenly Soul, and Body in a Saint, which are both his precious Members, his Temples of Gold. But while this life lasts, they p. 455are in this Body of Sin, and Death, as Gold in the Oar. In the moment of Death the Lord Jesus takes them both out, separates them entirely from the dross of all earthliness, and carnality, makes them pure, and shining Diadems in the hand of God.

2. Propos. The whole Person of a Saint in Soul and Body at the moment of Death, is gathered up entirely into a Spiritual Principle, and so into a Spiritual Sense, and so into a Divine Life, and Peace. This followeth of necessity upon the former Proposition, which I have already proved by the Scripture. For, if a Saint in Death be gathered up entirely out of a Carnal Principle; he is gathered up entirely into a Spiritual Principle. There is now no middle between these two.

We read in Scripture of the divided state of a Saint between freedom, and bondage, liberty, and captivity; the War between the Spirit, and the Flesh, while he lives on Earth. Accordingly we meet with exhortations to abide in Christ, to walk in the Spirit, if we live in the Spirit. But, when a Saint dies, we read of him, and that with a peculiar relation to his Body, that he sleeps in the Lord, that he sleeps in Christ. O sweet, and full expression! O beautiful and blessed State! Now is a Saint with his Body, as well as his Soul alone in Christ, entirely in Christ, for ever in Christ, in Christ risen from the Dead, a quickning Spirit, in the Glory of the Father, with the fulness of the God-Head, and all fulness dwelling in him. Now is the Body also of a Saint at rest in a sweet rest, in a living rest. For such is the rest of sleep. It is in an immortal, and glorious rest, in a rest of Divine Love, and Joys, which, though it bears the similitude of Death to Carnal Sense, yet in truth is above all the degrees, and delights of life here. For such is the sleep in Christ.

But I will open this Proposition to you more clearly, and fully by that twofold relation, which the Scriptures attribute to the Body of a Believer. 1. Of a Member of Christ. 2. The Temple of the Holy Ghost. Both these are affirmed by the Holy Apostle, and the Blessed Spirit, with an assured confidence, as truths known to all, and undeniable by any, 1 Corin. 6. 15. Know ye not, that your Bodies are the Members of Christ? 19. Know ye not, that your Bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost?

1. The Body of a Saint is the Member of Christ. This relation of Membership implyeth three things. 1. Union. 2. Communion. 3. Proportion, or Suitableness.

1. There is an union between the Body of a Believer, and Jesus Christ, an Union of Membership. But to what Christ is the Body of a Believer united? To Christ risen from the Dead, to Christ in Glory. So you shall read, Rom. 7. 4. You are dead by the dead Body of Christ, that you might be Married to another, to him who is risen from the Dead. Marriage, and Membership are two distinct expressions of the same union between Christ and a Saint, which for its dearness, nearness, entireness, and inseparableness is unexpressible, in as p. 456much as it comprehends the sweetness, and vertue of all unions among the Creatures, either Men, or Angels, and transcendeth them all. But you, have these two unions of Membership, and Marriage between the Body of a Saint singly and expresly, and the Lord Jesus, joyned together by St. Paul, who founds that of Membership, upon that of Marriage, 1 Corin. 6. 15. Know ye not, that your Bodies are the Members of Christ Then he makes good that, thus, v. 16. 17. It is said those two shall be one Flesh, But he that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit. The days of Christs life on Earth are called the days of his Flesh. He hath the name of a Spirit given to him, as he is risen from the Dead, as he is in the Heavenly Image, and in Glory. So St. Paul calls him in one place the Lord that Spirit, in another place, the quickning Spirit. St. Peter saith of him; he was put to death in the Flesh, and quickned in the Spirit. Thus the Body of a Saint is married to Christ, is a Member of Christ. By this union it becomes a Spiritual Body, a Spirit, one Spirit with Christ.

There is a threefold band of this union of Membership, the same Spirit, the same Life, the same Image.

1. The first band of Union in this Membership between the Body of a Believer, and Jesus Christ, is the same Spirit, St. Paul saith, 1 Corin. 12. 13. We all by one Spirit are Baptized into one Body. The Unity of the ever-blessed Spirit is the sure, and sweet band which tyeth one to another, the glorious Head, and all the blessed Members in the Body of Christ. But what sweetness lies in the universality of that expression; we all are Baptized by one Spirit into one Body? As the Soul of Man is all in the whole Body, and all in every part of it; so is that ever-blessed Spirit, which is in the whole Heavenly Body, of which the Holy Angels, Glorified Saints, Christ, and the Father are Fellow-members, one and the same, whole, and entire in every part of this Body of thine, O Believer, which in its lowest, and most broken State is a Member of Christ. This union is so much more close, full, and sweet between the Members, by how much more Spiritual the Body is; by how much the more high, and divine the Unity is in this Body; by how much the more high, and divine the unity of that blessed Spirit is, in which the Father of Lights, the Heavenly Bride-groom, Glorified Saints, all the Elect Angels dwell together in one,

2. The same Life flowing from this one Spirit is the second band of this Union. We read from St. Paul, Rom. 8. 11. If the Spirit of him; which raised Christ from the Dead, dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the Dead, shall also quicken your mortal Bodies by his Spirit dwelling in you. This expression, shall quicken, signifieth not only an effect at a distance, at the last day, but a present effect immediately flowing from the indwelling of the Spirit in us. For the union between the Spirit, and our Bodies, by which he dwelleth in them also, as well, as in our Souls, is a vital union, an union, p. 457from which Membership springs. This expression then, shall quicken your mortal Bodies, is like that of St. Paul in the same Epistle; Sin shall not have dominion over you, if you be not under the Law, but under Grace, Shall, there expresseth an effect immediately, and inseparably flowing from its cause, a freedom from the dominion of Sin by being under Grace, not under the Law. The Spirit of Christ findeth our Bodies Natural, and Mortal; but by its enterance into them, and inhabitation in them, maketh them, immediately Spiritual, and Immortal by their union with Christ, and by the pouring forth of his Life, and Immortality into them.

3. The band of union in this Membership is the same Image. All the Members of every Body make up one Image, in which each several Member bears a part. As we have born the Image of the Earthly Man, so shall we also bear the Image of the Heavenly. So far, O Saint, as thy Body is a Member of the Heavenly Body of Christ, it bears the same Heavenly Image. This is the first thing in Membership, the union.

2. There is in Membership a Communion. We read the 1 Corin. 12. 24, 25, 26. God hath tempered the Body together, having given the more abundant honour to that part, which lacked, that there should be no Schism in the Body, but that the Members should have the same care one for another, and whether one Members suffer, all the Members suffer with it, or one Member be honoured, all the Members rejoice with it. There is a threefold Communion in the Body of Christ. A Communion of Cares, a Communion of Sufferings, a Communion of Joy and Glory.

1. There is a Communion of Cares. All the Members have the same care one for another. As it is in the Natural Body, the Head, the Heart, the Eye, the Hand, all are set on work for every other part, for the little Toes, as for themselves, to defend, or cherish it upon every occasion: so is it in the Body of Christ. O Saint! with what quietness, and security mayest thou lye down to rest, and sleep in the midst of all wants, enemies, and dangers? Thy Body itself is a Fellow-Member in the Body of Christ with all the glorious Angels, and Blessed Spirits, with Christ the head of all, and the Father the Head of Christ. All these have the same care of thy Body for every part, of it in every State, as for themselves. For it is themselves, a Member, and part of themselves. They all are present with it, they encompass it, they minister unto it all things seasonable for its defence, and comfort.

2. There is a Communion of sufferings. Whether one Member suffer, all the Members suffer with it. O Christians! what a sweetning is this to the bitterest affliction? How doth this take away the solitude, the sadness, the sting from Poverty, a Prison, a Sickness, the Grave? You are in the heart of all Angels, and Saints of Christ, and of the Father to suffer, to live, and to die together with you. All the Heavenly company, that are by one Spirit gathered together into that one glorious Body of Christ, lye down with you in p. 458the Dust, in a Dungeon, on a sick Bed, in the Grave. How is the Spouse of Christ now in its most solitary, and afflicted State indeed, as two Heavenly Companies, according to the expression in the Canticles?

3. The Fellow-members in the Body of Christ have a Communion of Joy, and Glory. Whether one Member be honoured, all the Members rejoice with it, A Believer is ever glorious, ever blessed. St. Peter saith, that when we suffer for the name of Christ, the Spirit of Glory, and of God resteth upon us. Every suffering of a Saint, so far as he is a Saint, is for Christ. Why art thou ever melancholy, why is thy Heart heavy within thee, O Believer? Open thine Eyes to see them, open thine Heart to take them in. Behold the Joys, and Glories of all the blessed in Heaven are thine, are present with thee, and ever rest upon thee. I will conclude this Communion with that most remarkable expression: God hath tempered the Body together. The word is hath mingled the Body together. How full an expression is this? How doth this mixture sweeten all our sufferings, and make all our Joys far more pleasant? Thou, O Believer, with all thy shame, and sufferings art tempered, and mingled together with all the Saints, and Angels above, with Christ, and the Father, with all their Joys, and Glories. All the same Heavenly Company, with all the same Joys, and Glories, are tempered, and mingled together with thee, with thy shames, and sufferings here below. Thus are all one piece, and that one piece whole, and entire in every one. Thus is the greater, the greatest comeliness put upon the most indigent. Thus is there no Schism in the Body. As in many Spirits tempered into one Spirit, many Liquors tempered into one Liquor, many Spices beaten into the smallest Powder, mingled into one costly Ointment, every portion of this Spirit, this Liquor, this Ointment hath all the Spirits, all the Liquors, all the Ointments of the whole in it: so is the Body of Christ in general, and every Member in particular.

3. The proportion, or suitableness. There is no Schism in the Body of Christ. If this be pure, precious, living, immortal, heavenly, and glorious, then is thy Body also, O Believer, so far as it is a Member of this Body, pure, precious, living, immortal, heavenly, & glorious. How living, how immortal, how beautiful, how glorious, how divine a thing is that Body of a Saint, which is a Member of Christ in Glory? What Life, what Joys are those of this Body, which is in so dear, so inseparable, so intimate an Union, and Communion of the same Life, Joys, Beauties, and Spirit with all the glorious Angels, blessed Spirits, Christ himself, the Head of all, & the Father in Christ? This is the State of the Body of a Saint, as it is a Member of Christ. But while a Saint lives in this world, his Body is partly the Member of this Heavenly Husband, the Lord Jesus, and partly the Member of a Harlot, this World, and the Flesh; in as much as a Saint here below hath his life, and conversation divided between the pure Spirit of Christ, and the Whorish Spirit of this world. O sweet, O beautiful, O precious, and blessed Death! By Death is the joyful, and glorious p. 459separation made in the Body of a Saint, between the precious, and the vile, between the heavenly Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus, and the Hellish Adulterer, this World. Now it ceaseth for ever to be in any degree any more the Member of the Harlot, to be in a Carnal, or worldly Spirit. Now it's for ever singly, entirely gathered up into the Spirit, Body, and Bosom of Jesus Christ. O! how pure, how shining, in what Angelical, in what Spiritual, in what Divine a form, and fulness of unexpressible rest, beauty, and delight is the Body of a Saint in the very moment of Death, when, like fine Gold purged from its dross, or a Heavenly Sun, that hath cast up its cloud, it now comes forth out of the Whorish Spirit of the Flesh, and this World, a single, and pure Member in the pure, and divine Body of our Lord Jesus? These are the three things contained in this Membership of the Body of a Believer in Christ; Union, Communion, and proportion.

From this I shall raise a threefold short exhortation.

1. Set a value upon the new Birth, upon the Regeneration. Content not your selves with being once born. By your first Birth you have Souls, and Bodies Members of this world. By the Spirit of this world they are Baptized into the Body, and Society of Darkness, Corruption, Death, Wrath, the whole Company of wicked Spirits, and Devils. Give your selves no rest till you are born again. By the new Birth, which is from above, you have new Souls, and new Bodies, which are Members one of another, Fellow-members of Christ. Your Souls, and your Bodies both are by that one, Eternal Spirit Baptized into one Spiritual, Immortal, and glorious Body with the Spirits of all just men made evangelically perfect by the Blood, and Spirit of Christ; with all the Holy Angels, with Christ, and the Father. Press into the Fellowship of this mystery. Here you shall see it indeed to be true, that Grace is Glory begun in your Souls, and Bodies both; that when you believe, a Spirit of Glory rests upon your whole Person by your Union with Christ.

2. Possess this Vessel of your Bodies in holiness. For so you shall possess it in honour. Possess it, converse with it in a Spiritual Principle. So you shall enjoy it, and your selves in it, as a Member of Christ. You shall see, feel, enjoy within your selves in this Body, the Spirit, the Life, the Immortality, the Joy, the Glory of the whole Body of Christ, the society of all things Heavenly, Blessed and Eternal, to wake, and to sleep, to walk, and lie down, to live, and to dye with you. This is the true Church-fellowship, a Fellowship in our Souls, and in our Bodies by a Spiritual Principle, and Life with the Church, and Assembly of the first-born, with all things in their first born State, in one Spiritual, and Heavenly Body in Christ.

3. How amiable, and lovely doth this make death to the Saints? This is the chief end I aim at in my discourse, and the point to which I bring it. With what a beautiful, and smiling Face doth Death now look forth even in the Body of a Saint, in which he hath been wont generally to appear so grim to p. 460the holiest Persons? Thy Body, O Believer, so far as thou standest in a Spiritual Principle, is a Fellow-member with thy Soul in the Body of Christ: It is a Jewel, the work of a faithful, and curious workman the most holy Spirit; as Solomon in the Canticles speaketh of the Spouse of Christ. But here the mixture of the fleshly, and carnal Principle is as Dust, and Dirt, which covereth, and fullyeth this costly Jewel. With what a sweet, pure lustre of Immortality, and of Heavenly Glory doth it sparkle, and shine forth, ravishing thine own, and all spiritual Eyes, and Hearts in the moment of Death, when the blessed hand of Death clean wipes off the dust, and stain of the carnal Principle, and brings it forth entirely into its Spiritual Principle, that now it stands singly, as a Spiritual Member in the Spiritual Body of Christ?

The Lord Jesus saith; if thine Eye be single, thine whole Body shall be light, as when a Candle enlightens a Room. In this life O Saints, we have a double Eye, and have a double sight. The mixture of the Spiritual, and Carnal Principle is the double, and divided Eye. O welcome Death, receive it with open embraces. Now is your Eye single. Now is the carnal Principle cast out for ever. Now you look forth with the open, and single Eye of the single Principle of the Eternal Spirit. Now is your whole Body, nay, now is the whole body of things filled to you with a Heavenly light of Immortality, & Glory. This single Eye pours forth from the Unity of the Spirit, as from the Fountain of blessed Light thorow your whole Souls, and Bodies, thorow all things round about them a Light of Glory, as when a Candle enlightneth a Room.

A way of cleansing Pearls, when they have any spot, or cloud upon them is to thrust them down the throat of a Pigeon into its Crop, where the heat of the Pigeon takes off the stain, and makes them perfectly white. This is the mystery of a Saints Death. The Heavenly Dove, the Holy Spirit in the same moment takes a Saint entirely in Soul, and Body out of this Life, out of the Carnal Principle into himself, into his Bosom of Love, by the Divine heat of that Love takes off every spot, or cloud of the flesh by consuming it both in the Soul, and in the Body, and makes them both purely white, and shining. Pearls in the Heavenly Body of that one great, and only Pearl the Lord Jesus.

2. The second relation, into which the Body of a Believer is taken at the new birth, is that of a Temple to the Holy Ghost. There are 4 things proper to a Temple. 1. The Figure. 2. The Glory. 3. The Communion. 4. The Defence.

1. Every thing in the Tabernacle, and so in the Temple to the least things, and lowest actions were divine Types of Spiritual Truths, and Heavenly Excellencies in the Person of the Lord Jesus. So it is said, that all things were made, and ordered according to the pattern in the Mount, which pattern in the Mount was Christ in Glory. O Saints! This Tabernacle, and Temple were Types first of Christ, then of you, whose Souls, and Bodies both are the true, and living Temples of God. The Body of a Saint is a p. 461more excellent Temple, in as much as Solomons Temple was a shadow only of this. It is a Living, Divine, and Immortal Temple. It is therefore in the whole a far more excellent, more rich, more glorious, and delightful Image of the God-Head in its entire form. It is in every part, and point of it a most lively, a most beautiful, a most pleasant figure of some particular Mystery, and Glory in the God Head.