now we are fo apt to dote upon, is one of the
greatest and most dangerous Enemies we have,
and therefore is defied and renounced by all
Chriftians in their Baptifm, as well as the
World and the Devil. It continually tempts
and follicits us to Evil; every Sense is a Snare
to us, and all its Lufts and Appetites are inor-
dinate and infatiable; it is impatient of Chriff's
Yoke, and refuseth Difcipline; it is ungover-
nable, and often rebelleth against Reason; and
the Law in our Members warreth against the
Law of our Minds, and brings us into Capti-
vity to the Law of Sin which is in our Mem-
bers and when the Spirit is willing, the
Flefb is weak; fo that the best Men are forc'd
to keep it under, and use it hardly, left it
should betray them into Folly and Mifery.
We are now in a State of Warfare, and muft
always be upon our Guard and Watch, conti-
nually arming and defending our felves against
the Affaults of the Flefh, and all its violent
and impetuous Motions. How doth it hinder
us in all our religious Devotions? How foon
doth it jade our Minds, when employed in any
divine or fpiritual Meditations; or how eafily
by its bewitching and enchanting Pleasure doth
it divert them from fuch noble Exercises? So
that St. Paul breaks forth into this fad and
mournful Complaint, Rom. 7. 24. O wretched
Man that I am! who shall deliver me from
the Body of this Death? Who fhall? Death
fhall; that fhall give us a full and final Delive-
rance, When once we have obtained the Re-
X 4
furrection

furrection unto Life, we fhall not any more feel those Luftings of the Flesh against the Spirit, which are here fo troublefom and uneafy to us; our Flefh fhall then cease to vex our Souls with its evil Inclinations, immoderate Defires, and unreasonable Paffions: But being it felf fpiritualized, purified, exalted, and freed from this earthly Groffnefs, and all manner of Pollution, fhall become a moft fit and proper Inftrument of the Soul in all her divine and heavenly Employments. It fhall not be weary of finging Praises to God Almighty thro infinite Ages: It fhall want no Refpite or Refreshment, but its Meat and Drink fhall be to do the Will of God.

In these things chiefly confifts the difference between those Bodies which we shall have at the Refurrection, and this mortal Flesh; which we can but very imperfectly, either conceive or exprefs: but yet from what hath been difcourfed on this Subject, it doth fufficiently appear that a glorified Body is infinitely more excellent and defirable than this vile and contemptible Flesh which we now carry about with us. The only thing remaining, is,

III. And lastly; To draw fome practical Inferences from all I have faid on this Subject. I fhall but just mention these five, and leave the Improvement of them to your own private Meditations.

1. From what I have faid, we may learn the best way of fitting and preparing our felves

to

to live in those heavenly and fpiritual Bodies which shall be bestowed upon us at the Refurrection; which is, by cleansing and purifying our Souls still more and more from all fleshly Filthiness, and weaning our felves by degrees from this earthly Body, and all fenfual Pleafures and Delights. We fhould begin in this Life to loofen and unty the Knot between our Souls and this mortal Flesh; to refine our Affections, and raise them from things below to things above; to take off our Hearts, and leifurely to difengage them from things prefent and fenfible, and to use and accuftom our selves to think of and converse with things fpiritual and invisible; that fo our Souls, when they are separated from this earthly Body, may be prepared and difpofed to actuate and inform a pure and fpiritual one, as having before-hand tafted and relished fpiritual Delights and Pleafures, and been in fome degree acquainted with those Objects which fhall then be prefented to us. A Soul wholly immerfed and buried in this earthly Body, is not at all fit and qualified for those celestial and glorious Mansions which God hath provided for us: An earthly fenfual Mind is fo much wedded to bodily Pleasures, as that it cannot enjoy it felf without them; and is incapable of tasting or relishing any other, tho really greater, and infinitely to be preferred before them. Nay, fuch Perfons that mind only the Concerns of the Body, and are wholly led by its Motions and Inclinations, as do at Tv Juy, as it were embo

dy

dy their Souls, would esteem it a great Unhappiness to be clothed with a spiritual and heavenly Body: It would be like clothing a Beggar in princely Apparel. Such glorious Bodies would be unealy to them; they would not know how to behave themselves in them; they would e'en be glad to retire, and put on their Rags again. But now, by denying the Sollicitations of our Flesh, and contradicting its Lufts and Appetites, by weaning our felves from bodily Pleasures, and fubduing and mortifying our carnal Lufts, we fit and difpofe our felves for another State: and when our Souls are thus fpiritualized, they will foon grow weary of this Flesh, and long for their Departure; they will be always ready to take wing, and fly away into the other World, where at last they will meet with a Body fuited to their rational and spiritual Appetites.

2. From hence we may give fome account of the different Degrees of Glory in the other State. For tho all good Men fhall have glorious Bodies, yet the Glory of them all shall not be equal: they fhall all fhine as Stars; and yet one Star differeth from another Star in Glory: there is one Glory of the Sun, and another Glory of the Moon, and another Glory of the Stars. So alfo is the Refurrection of the Dead. Some will have Bodies more bright and refplendent than others. Those who have done fome extraordinary Service to their Lord, who have fuffered bravely and courageously for his Name, or those who by the conftant exercise of Severity and Mortification

tification have arrived to a higher pitch, and attained to a greater measure of Purity and Holiness than others, shall shine as Stars of the first Magnitude. Dan. 12. 3. And they that be wife, fhall fhine as the Brightness of the Firmament; and they that turn many to Righteousness, as the Stars for ever and ever. It is certain that the purest and most spiritual Bodies fhall be given to those who are most fitted for them, to the moft heavenly and fpiritual Souls: So that this is no little encou ragement to us to make the greatest proficiency we can poffible in the ways of Virtue and Piety, fince the more we wean our felves from these present things and fenfible Objects, the more glorious and heavenly will our Bodies be at the Refurrection.

3. Let this Confideration engage us patiently to bear those Afflictions, Sickness, and bodily Pains which we are exercised with in this Life. The time of our Redemption drawsnigh: Let us but hold out a while longer, and all Tears fhall be wip'd from our Eyes, and we fhall never figh nor forrow any more. And how foon fhall we forget all the Misery and Uneafinefs we endur'd in this earthly Tabernacle, when once we are clothed with that House which is from above? We are now but in our Journy towards the heavenly Canaan, are Pilgrims and Strangers here, and therefore must expect to ftruggle with many Straits and Difficulties; but it will not be long before we shall come to our Journy's end, and that will make amends for all: We fhall then be in a quiet and