The Saints Transfiguration

A SERMON PREACHED AT D ^r BOLTONS Funeral.

W E are here met to perform the last office of love for a worthy, reverend and godly Minister of Jesus Christ, D ^r SAMUEL BOLTON late Master of Christ's College in Cambridge. And this Text that I have chosen, will afford us many suitable and seasonable meditations and considerations for such a meeting. For here you have.

1. The Condition that the bodies of men (even the best of men) are in in this life; they are vile and contemptible: Our vile body. The Greek words are very emphatical, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the body of vileness, corpus humilitatis nostrae, or, corpus nostrum humile. The word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , signifieth, vilem & abjectam conditionem, qualis est vilium servorum, a vile and abject condition, such as is of slaves and vassals. The same word is used, Luk. 1. 48. He hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , It is is also used James 1. 10.

2. The condition that the bodies of the Saints shall be in at the glorious resurrection: They shall then be changed, and made like unto the glorious body of the Lord Jesus Christ, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , shall then be 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , The body of vildnesse shall then be a body of glory.

3. The Persons whose bodies shall be thus changed, and they are such who have their conversation in Heaven: But our conversation is in Heaven, from whence we look for a Savior who shall change our vile body. Not every vile body, but our vile body. The bodies of the wicked shall be ugly and loathsome, but the bodies of those whose dispositions and actions are heavenly, shall be beautiful and glorious.

4. The Person that shall make this great change in our bodies; and he is the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior.

5. The time when this great transfiguration shall be made, and that is at the great day of judgment, when our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ shall come from Heaven, for this very end and purpose, to fashion our vile bodies like unto his glorious body.

6. The means by which all this shall be accomplished, and that is, According to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself, and therefore able to make this glorious transfiguration and transformation of our bodies.

7. The use we are to make of all this, and that is, To wait and expect, to long and look for the coming of our Lord Jesus to judgment, for the accomplishing of this glorious Metamorphosis— From whence we look for a Savior.

By what hath been already said, you may perceive, that this Text is a precious Cabinet, full of many excellent Jewels; for here is

The doctrine 1. Of the bodies vility, fragility and mortality. 2. Of the resurrection of the just. 3. Of the bodies immortality and glorification at the resurrection. 4. Of the great and dreadful day of judgment. 5. Of the great errand and message for which Christ shall come to judgment, and that is to glorify our bodies: Now all these Doctrines are very suitable to such an Assembly as this is; the Lord make them as profitable to you as they are seasonable for you,

My purpose is to pick out only two of these Jewels, and to show you

1. What is the condition of our bodies for the present.

2, What our bodies shall be at the resurrection.

First, To speak of the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , then of the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ; first of the body of vileness, then of the body of glory.

Doct. 1. That the bodies even of the best of Saints for the present are vile bodies.

Doct. 2. That the Lord Jesus Christ at the great day of judgment, shall raise these vile bodies, and charge them into the likeness of his own glorious body.

Doct. 1. That the bodies even of th • best of Saints for the present are vile bodies.

The holy Apostle foresaw how prone men and women would be to be proud of their bodies, to pamper them, to spend all their time, and lay out all their strength to provide for their bodies, even with the neglect of their more precious souls: And therefore that he might wean people from the immoderate love of their bodies, he purposely calls them vile bodies: and 1 Cor. 15. 43, he calls them dishonorable bodies, or bodies of dishonor, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 .

Qu. But you will demand; In what respects may the body be said to be a vile body?

Ans. The body may be said to be a vile body,

1. In reference to its primitive constitution, even before it was defiled with sin; for it was made of dust of the earth, the and not of dust simply, but of dust mingled with water, of clay and muddy dust, ex pulvero limoso & lutoso: The body was not made of celestial materials, of the Sun, Moon or Stars; nor of precious materials, of gold or silver; but of the worst and lowest of the elements, ex fragili & vili materiâ, of frail and perishing, of ignoble and contemptible materials, and therefore may fitly be called a vile body.

2. Since the fall of Adam, our bodies are called vile bodies, because subject to vile diseases, there is no disease so vile, but the body of man is subject unto: Job was a man eminent in godliness, yet his body was full of soars and biles •• om the crown of his head to the sole of his foot; and he says of himself, Job 7. 5. My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust, my skin is broken and become loathsome. Who can reckon up all the diseases that man's body is liable unto? The Stone, the Govt, Leprosy, Plague, Colick, Strangury, Diabolical possession, Madness, Sciatica and small Pox, are not the tithe of them; and therefore it may fitly be called a vile body.

3. Because subject to vile abuses by Tyrants and cruel Persecutors: A Tyrant cannot hurt the soul of a child of God, but he can torture and kill his body. It is said of the blessed Martyrs, of whom the world was not worthy, Heb. 11. 37. They were stoned, they were sawed asunder, were slain with the sword; They wandered about in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins, destitute, afflicted and tormented. All these sufferings were bodily, and therefore it may well be termed a vile body.

4. Because subject to vile abominations and wickednesses. For since the fall of Adam our bodies are instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, Rom. 6. 13. they are servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity, Rom. 6. 19 In some to drunkenness, in others to adultery, theevery and murder; in others to sodomy, by which the bodies of men are made vile and dishonorable, according to the saying of the Apostle, Rom. 1. 24. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves.

5. Because even in the best of Saints, it is a great impediment and hindrance to their immortal souls, and therefore called sepulchrum animae, and vinculum animae, The sepulcher of the soul, the fetters and manacles of the soul. For the most precious soul,

1. It is hidden in the body as a man in a dark dungeon, or as a bright candle in a dark lantern, the excellent nature, beauty, and glorious operations of it cannot be seen. For it may be said of the soul (as Plato saith of virtue) that if a man could but see it he could not but love it: but it is hidden in the body as in a prison.

2. It is hindered by the body in three respects.

1. It is hindered from Heaven: For whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. This earthly house must first be dissolved, before we can come to the house made without hands, eternal in the Heavens.

2. It is hindered from heavenly operations; for the body takes up all the time from the soul. As the lean kine of Pharaoh devoured the fat, so doth the body devour the time that should be spent about the soul. It is with the soul and body as it was with Abraham and Lot, Abraham had his servants and cattle, and Lot his, and the country was too little for them. So the soul hath her work, and the body his work, and there is hardly time enough for both, so that the one must needs hinder the other, and they will never be right till separated. Now this must needs be a great bondage, when the handmaid shall have more attendance then the Mistress, Hagar preferred before Sarah.

3. It is hindered in all its heavenly operations; As a bird that hath a stone tied to its leg, is weighed down and cannot fly aloft: so is the heavenly soul in the best of Saints, depressed and weighed down with the body, that it cannot fly aloft in Prayer and heavenly meditations. The body is quickly tired in holy services, As Saul's armor was a burden to David, so is the body to the soul. Therefore the Apostle saith. 2 Cor. 5. 4. We that are in this Tabernacle do groan, being burdened. The spirit is willing▪ but the flesh is weak; like a strong man riding upon a dull horse.

3. It is defiled and made more sinful by the body. God gave man at first a heavenly soul and an earthly body, that the heavenly soul might lift up the earthly body: But it proves quite contrary; our earthly bodies have weighed down our heavenly souls, and made them earthly and sensual. Tamdiu versata est anima in Tabernaculo, ut ipsa versa est in Tabernaculum. As clothes when they are died lose their Names, and are called scarlet or stammell: so the souls of men have received such an ill tincture from their bodies, that they may fitly be called worldly, sensual and carnal. The soul is diverted by the body from its true end: The true end of the soul is to love God and to live to God, but the body turns the stream, and engrosseth all for back and belly, and therefore may very justly be termed a vile body.

6. The body may be said to be vile, in reference to its dissolution and separation, For when it once dies, it is then evident to an eye of flesh, that it is nothing but a rotten, stinking, putrifying carcass; that body which while united to the soul seemed very lovely and beautiful, when once the soul leaves it, it becomes an ugly, deformed, gastly carcass, mouldering quickly into dust, That saith to corruption Thou art my Father, and to the Worm Thou art my Mother and my Sister, Job 17. 14.

7. It is called a vile body, in comparison of the precious soul. The body is the worst half of man; it is half, but it is the worst half: it is vilissima pars hominis: it is the box, the shell, the house of man; but it is the soul that is the kernel, the Jewel, the inhabitant. The soul of man is the man of man, Intus est quod homo est. The soul is as an Angel dwelling in the body as in an house of Clay. Plato tells us, that is is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , an heavenly plant, and of a divine offspring. The Scripture tells us, that it was not made of the dust of the earth as the body was, but ex ore Dei, by the breath of God: made a Deo though not de Deo, by God immediately, though not of the essence of God. And when a man dies, the soul is not turned to dust as the body is: The soul doth not die with the body. Stephens soul was not stoned when his body was stoned. When the body returns to the earth as it was, the soul returns to God who gave it, Eccl. 12. 7. And therefore in comparison of the soul, the body may be said to be a vile body.

8. Lastly, It is called a vile body, in comparison of what it shall be at the great day of the r •• urrection: for then it shall changed and metamorphized, and made like unto the glorious body of Jesus Christ, and therefore in comparison of what it shall be hereafter, it may well be styled for the present a vile body.

Let us often meditate upon this appellation and Epithet that is given unto the body: it is called a vile body, or a body of vileness: Vile, when separated from the soul, vile whilst united to the soul: Vile before defiled with sin, but especially vile since it was defiled with sin▪ Vile because subject to vile diseases, to vile abuses by wicked persecutors, to vile abominations: Vile, because it is an impediment of the soul: Vile in comparison of the precious soul, and in respect to what it shall be at the glorious appearing of Jesus Christ. Let this Meditation teach us these Lessons.

1. A lesson of humility. The body we carry about us is but a vile body, and therefore let us not be proud of it: It is corpus humile (as Beza translates this Text) or corpus humilitatis, a body of humility, and therefore let it teach us humility. God on purpose hath made the body of man of the worst and lowest element, that he might not be lifted up with pride, but have a mean and low esteem of himself. Hence it is also that in Scripture it is compared to things that are very mean and contemptible; To the grass of the field, to dry stubble, to a leaf driven to and fro, to a thing that is rotten, and to a garment that is moth-eaten. It is compared to such mean things, that we might learn to have a mean esteem of it. Why art thou proud oh dust and ashes? What is Man but handsome mudd and guilded rottenness? What are Riches but brighter dust? And what are Honors but heaps of dung? dust you are, and God will lay your honors in the dust. Why art thou proud O dust and ashes? The birds make their nests of that which thou art made of: Every beast treads under his feet that which thou wert made of: every crceping thing disposeth at pleasure of that which thou wert made of: every blast of wind scattereth that which thou wert made of, and why art thou proud oh dust and ashes? Bernard in three expressions sets out the vileness of the body, It is (saith he) sperma faetidum, saccus stercorum, esca vermium, it is worms-meat, it is a sack of dung, &c.

I have read a story of a certain stone that was brought to Alexander the Great, which being put into one part of a pair of Scales, weighed down whatsoever was put into the other part: but if a little dust had been cast upon the stone, then everything weighed down the stone. The Moral is t • ue though the History prove a fable; as one of his Wisemen told him; This stone (said he) showeth what thou art oh Alexander. Whilest thou livest thou weighest down all that oppose thee, the whole World cannot new content thee, when a little dust is cast upon thee, that is, when thou art dead, then every man will outweigh thee, & minor eris quam quicquid mundi, thou wilt be lesser then any man in the world. Such another story is reported of the Father of Alexander, that he kept a boy on purpose, to come to him every morning and to bid him Remember he was a man. Let us be always mindful that we are but dust, dust we are and to dust we must return: Let us cast dust upon our silks and velvets, upon our gold and silver, upon our beautiful faces: Let the great Ladies make this Doctrine their Lookingglasses to dress themselves by every morning: Remember thy body is a vile body, and therefore be not proud of it.

2. A Lesson of Mortification: This vile body of ours is subject to be abused by the devil to vile abominations, and therefore let us go to Jesus Christ, to get power to mortify and crucify the flesh with the affections and lusts. There is a body of sin in all men, and this is that which makes this body of ours to be so vile. Let us by a lively faith make application of the death of Christ, that the old man being crucified, with him the body of sin may be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. Excelledt is that expression of the Apostle, 1 Cor. 9. 27. But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, least that by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. Upon which words Austin hath this saying, Si aries de grege, quid tener agnus, &c, If the great Ram of the flock hath need to beat down his body and to bring it under subjection, how much more should we tender Lambs use all means for the keeping of it under? The body is called by Jerome, jumentum animae the beast of the soul, and when this beast begins to kick against the soul, we must labor to subdue it by fasting and prayer, and say as Hilarion did, Faciam Asine ut non calcitres.

3. A Lesson of Contentation: Let us be contented with our condition though never so Poor: Though thy apparel be mean, and thy diet mean: mean things become a vile body. And if for a good conscience thou be put into a vile prison, into a dark and stinking dungeon as the Martyrs have been, let us be contented with it, for our bodies for the present are vile bodies: Thou canst not be poorer then thou wert at first, and wilt be at last; for naked we came into the world, and naked we must return again. And though thou hast a diseased and sickly body, and hast met with many losses and crosses, yet be contented; remember that the bodies of the best of Saints in this life are vile bodies. I have read of Themistocles, that he invited many Philosophers to dinner, and that he borrowed divers dishes of one Amyntas; in the midst of dinner Amyntas comes and fetches away half his dishes; the Philosophers asked Themistocles how he was able to bear this affront? He answered mildly, He might have took away all. If God hath taken away half thy children, half thy estate, be contented, all is his, and he might have taken away all.

4. Let this Epithet teach us a lesson of heavenly courage and fortitude; let us not fear what the worst of men can do unto us, for they can but kill this vile body. This our Savior teacheth Matth. 10. Fear not them that can kill the body, and after that can do no more. If a Tyrant could kill the soul, then indeed he might be feared, but he cannot reach that, he can but hurt the body, ths vile body, a body subject to a thousand diseases, and to innumerable abominations; a body that will shortly die of its own accord; and why then should we fear what vile man can do against this vile body? especially if we consider, that when he hath done his worst against it, it shall in spite of him rise again, and of a vile body, become a most glorious body. Oh let us not make shipwreck of a good conscience to preserve this vile body; let us not destroy our precious souls to save this vile carcass!

5. If the body be vile in comparison of the soul, then let us be encouraged unto soul-diligence. Let us not set the servant on horseback, and suffer the Master to go on foot; let us not prefer the handmaid before the Mistress, the box before the Jewel, the vile body before our precious and immortal souls. The body is made of dust, and whoever advanced dust? we use to sweep away dust from off our clothes, and out of our houses. The body is but a lump of earth, a rotten carcass without the soul, oh let us not prefer it before the soul! let us not bestow that time, that heart, those affections and endeavors upon the body, which are due unto the soul!

It is a sad thing to consider, how most people, even those that believe the Doctrine of the souls Immortality, do Jacob-like, (though upon a different occasion) put their right hand upon the youngest Son, and their left hand upon the eldest, spending the best of their days, and strength, and affections upon these vile bodies, and in the mean time neglecting to provide for their eternal souls. Give me leave to illustrate this by a similitude: Suppose a man should invite a Nobleman to his house, and only provide provender for the Noblemans horses, without any provision at all for himself, only such as his horses feed on, would not this be a course entertainment? and yet so do most men deal with their immortal souls. The soul is as this Nobleman, lodging in a body of clay as in a poor cottage; the body is (as you have heard) jumentum animae, the souls beast; and when you consume your days in pampering and clothing your bodies, taking no care for your noble souls, this is but (as it were) providing provender for the horses, without any provision for the Nobleman: for the soul is never the richer for all our worldly wealth, never the fatter for our delicate fare, nor ever the finer for our silken clothes. I read that S ^t John in 3 Joh. 2. prayeth for Gaius, That his body might prosper and be in health even as his soul prospered. But if we should make such a prayer for many of our people, we should rather curse them then pray for them; for if they had no better bodies then they have souls, they would have very poor, lean and naked bodies. Let Christians labor so to live that this prayer may be fit for them, that we may cheerfully put up this petition for them, That their bodies may prosper even as their souls prosper: Let the chiefest part have the chiefest care, the best part the best of our strength and days.

6. Lastly, Let us from this Epithet learn a lesson of thankfulness: Our bodies are bodies of vileness, and therefore if God hath given thee a body more handsome and more healthful then others have; if God hath made any of us ex meliore luto, of better earth; if he hath made us golden vessels in regard of our outward condition; if he hath raised any of us from the dust, and set us in high places; especially if God hath made us elect vessels, vessels of mercy in regard of our eternal condition, as I doubt not but there are many such here, oh give God a great deal of glory, and give him all the glory. If he hath made thy vile body an instrument of righteousness unto holiness; if he hath sanctified it, and made it a Temple fit for the holy Ghost to dwell in, then let me speak to you in the language of the holy Ghost; Know you not that your bodies are the members of Christ? will you take the members of Christ, and make them members of an harlot? God forbid. Know you not that your body is the Temple of the holy Ghost which is in you, &c. And If any man defile the Temple of God, him will God destroy. Will you abuse that body that is the Temple of the holy Ghost to sin and iniquity? God forbid,

I shall now pass from the first Observation to the second, with which our worthy and dear brother was much refreshed, and did often repeat in my hearing, and upon that account I made made choice of this Text at this time. The Observation is,

That the Lord Jesus Christ at the great day of judgment, shall raise these vile bodies, and change them into the likeness of his own glorious body.

This Doctrine is an Alablaster box full of precious consolation: It was a great comfort and support to our dear brother when he was going out of this world, and oh that it might be a like precious Cordial to us when we shall be in his condition.

For the better understanding of the Doctrine, I shall propound these five Questions,

1. What is that change that Christ shall make in our vile bodies at the resurrection?

The bodies of the Saints when dead, and separated from their souls, are not separated from Jesus Christ, and therefore are said to be dead in Christ; while dead they are united to Christ, and by virtue of this union Christ as their Head will raise them at the last day, and at their resurrection they shall be changed, non quoad substantiam sed quoad proprietates, the substance of their bodies shall not be altered, but only the qualities, As wool when it is died into a purple or scarlet die, is the same wool for substance though it be made more glorious; so the bodies of the Saints at the resurrection, shall be the same for substance though made more excellent and more glorious. This was Jobs comfort, that with those very eyes of his he should see his Redeemer, and that he himself should see him and not another. The Apostle tells us, That this mortal body must put on immortality, and this corrupt • ble body must put on incorruption. The ancient Christians when they rehearsed that article of the Creed, Credo resurrectioneme carnis, I believe the resurrection of the flesh, were wont to add, Etiam hujus carnis, even of this my flesh. It cannot stand with God's justice (saith Jerome) that one body should sin and another body be damned, that one body should serve him and another be crowned; this is contrary to the justice of God, and to the very nature of the resurrection; for a resurrection is, when the same body that dieth riseth again, otherwise, it is rather a new creation then a resurrection. As the body of Christ after his resurrection, was the same for substance though much more excellent and glorious, so shall the bodies of the Saints be at their resurrection. As a Goldsmith (saith Chrysostom) takes a little gold and puts it into a refining pot and melts it, and then out of that gold forms a golden vessel fit to be set before Kings: so the Lord Jesus Christ melts the bodies of his Saints by death, and out of their dead ashes and cinders will form a vessel of gold, a glorious body, fit to live with God and sing Hallelujahs in Heaven to all enternity.

2. What are those transfigurations and transformations that Christ shall make in our bodies at this day? what is this metamorphosis, wherein doth it consist?

It is impossible to set out all the glorious excellencies with which Christ will adorn our bodies in the great day of the resurrection. Quae sit & quam magna spiritualis corporis gloria quoniam nondum venit in experimentum, vereor ne temerarium sit omne quod de illâ profertur eloquium, How great the glory of our spiritual bodies shall be, because we have no experience of it, I fear it will be rashness for any man (saith Austin) to speak peremptorily about it: It will be the marriage day between Christ and his Saints, and he will endow their bodies with glorious qualities as well as their souls, for he assumed their bodies as well as their souls, suffered in body as well as in soul, died for their bodies as well as for their souls, and therefore will glorify their bodies as well as their souls.

Give me leave to mention some of those glorious perfections with which our vile bodies shall be beautified at that day.

1. The bodies of the Saints at the resurrection shall be free from all sin, Paul shall not then complain of a law in his members rebelling against the law of his mind, nor cry out, Oh miserable man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? we shall at that day not only have a posse non peccare, a possibility not to sin, as Adam had in innocence, but a non posse peccare, an impossibility of sinning.

2. Our bodies shall be made immortal and incorruptible, 1 Cor. 15. 53, 54. This mortal shall put on immortality, as a garment never to be put off again; Death shall be swallowed up in victory Adam in innocence, as he had a power not to sin, so also not to die; but the Saints at the resurrection shall have an impossibility of sinning and of dying. Not but that our bodies are naturally corruptible even at the resurrection, but by the presence of God filling them, they shall be made like the Angels, immortal. And if embalming the body can preserve it from putrefaction for many years, much more will the presence of God preserve it from death forever.

3. The third endowment is brightness and splendor, It is sown in dishonor, but it is raised in glory, 1 Cor. 15. 43. The body is not so miserable under the curse, as it is blessed in the promise. As in the state of corruption it is abased lower then all created bodies, so in the state of glory it is exalted higher then all other bodies; For the righteous shall shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Not that they shall not out-shine the Sun, but because there is no more shining body visible to us, therefore are the bodies of the Saints in glory compared thereunto. The glory of the body (saith one) will exceed all the beauty and splendor of Gems, Pearls, Heavens, Sun, Moon and Stars, yea even the Heaven of Heavens, though all were put together. This Text tells us, that our vile bodies shall be made 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , conformable to the glorious body of Christ. This is abundantly sufficient to set out the glory of our body at that day: for the body of Christ now in Heaven is inexpressibly glorious. We have a specimen of this in the transfiguration, Matth. 17. 2. Peter, James and John were not able to bear the sight of the glory there manifested, which yet was but a glimpse of that glory which he now hath in Heaven. Some Divines are of opinion, that the brightness which Paul saw when he was struck blind and fell to the earth, was the brightness of the body of Jesus Christ. Sure I am, that Christ's body is the light of Heaven: And if Stephens face in this life was seen as the face of an Angel; if Moses his face did so shine in being forty days with God, that the people could not behold it, how glorious shall our bodies be when we shall be forever with the Lord, and when our bodies of vileness shall be fashioned like unto the glorious body of Jesus Christ?

4. The fourth endowment is beauty and comeliness: The bodies of the Saints shall be perfectly complete in all their parts; if maimed and defective here, it shall be supp • ied at that day, which is a day of restitution of all things, Acts 3. 21. And not only so, but all crookedness, lameness and ill-favouredness, which are the fruits of sin, shall be removed, Jacob shall halt no more, nor Mephibosheth complain of lameness, nor Isaac of dimness. As the body of Adam in innocence was lovely and beautiful, complete in all its parts, so shall ours be at the resurrection.

5. The fifth is majesty: Great shall be the majesty of the body at the resurrection. If a good man in this life hath such a majesty in his countenance, as to cause men to fear to sin in his company; If Valens the Emperor said of Basil, That he never looked upon him, but his countenance strock an awe and terror into him: oh what majesty will be in the faces and countenances of the Saints in that day?

6. The sixth is spirituality: It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body, 1 Cot. 15. 44. Not spiritual for substance but for qualities: For 1. It shall have no need of meat or sleep, &c. but shall be as the Angels of God, Matth. 22. 30. Non quoad Angelicam essentiam, sed Angelicas proprietates. Tertullian saith, That the Saints shall have corpora reformata & Angelificata. If Moses was forty days upon the mount without meat and without sleep, upheld by the power of God in the state of mortality, much more shall we be upheld forever in the state of immortality. 2. It shall be a spiritual body, because it shall be absolutely subject to the spirit. In the state of glory, the soul shall not depend upon the body, but the body upon the soul. In this life the soul is as it were carnal because so serviceable to the flesh, but then the body shall be spiritual because so serviceable to the spirit.

7. The seventh is Agility and nimbleness: It shall be able to move upwards and downwards, like a bird in the air; Luther saith, That the body shall be able to move up and down like a thought. Austin saith, It shall move to any place it will as soon as it will. The Scripture saith some such thing, 1 Thes. 4. 17. We shall be caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, as so many AEgles flying up to their blessed Carcass. Upon this account also it is said, That we shall be as the Angels, because we shall be able to move as they do: If the Saints shall be like the Sun in its brightness, why not (saith one) in its motion also, which the Learned allow to move a Million, and one hundred sixty thousand miles in an hour: If so swift may be the motion of natural, how swift the motion of glorified bodies shall be, we shall know when we come to make use of it.

The eighth endowment is Powerfulnes: It is sown in weakness, but it shall rise in power, 1 Cor. 15. 43. The power that the body shall have will be wonderful: Luther saith, That it shall have a power to be able to tess the greatest mountains in the world like a ball: Anselm saith, They shall be able to shake the whole earth at pleasure; How true this is we shall know hereafter: Sure I am for the present, That the weakest in glory shall be stronger then Sampson in his greatest strength: and that the bodies power shall be so great, as to be able to be the souls instrument in the enjoyment of God in all the highest operations without intermission. In this life when the soul is busied about high and sublime matters, the body presently faints, Dan. 8. 27. but then it shall attend without any faintness or weariness. In this life the eye is dazzled at the brightness of the Sun; but then it shall be strengthened to behold glorious sights and not be dazzled at it: the body shall be elevated and strengthened by God, to bear that exceeding eternal weight of glory that shall be put upon it.

Unto all these glorious perfections and excellent endowments, I might add An admission to behold with our bodily eyes the sight of Christ as man. That we shall see Christ as man with these eyes, Job manifestly testifieth, Job 19. 25, 26, 27. And that this sight will add much to our happiness is easily evinced: For the sight of Christ as man is the next object unto the beatifical vision itself: For the fullness of the Godhead dwells in him bodily, and this doth as it were radiate through his body; hence there must needs arise (as one saith) great joy unto the beholder, both from the eminency of, and our interest in this object. Christ in glory, and Christ in glory ours; As much of the Creator as is possibly visible in the nature of man, will be to be seen in Christ; as much contentation as the creature can be made partakers of by the sight of any one visible object, will be the portion of the beholders of Christ, as he is man. All this is in answer to the second Question.

3. How is it possible that ever these bodies of ours should rise again, and these vile bodies be made like unto the glorious body of Christ?

With man this is impossible, but with God nothing is impossible. My text tells you how this shall be done, even according to the mighty working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself. The Lord Jesus Christ is almighty, and therefore he is able to do it. He that can make a man being nothing, out of the dust of the earth, can certainly repair him out of that dust when he is something. It is as easy to God to give a body to a soul at the resurrection, as to breathe a soul into a body at the first creation. Both Philosophers and Divines write of the Phoenix, that first she is consumed to ashes by the heat of the Sun, and that afterwards of her ashes ariseth a young one, which is the same Phoenix risen from the dead. The Apostle tells us, That the corn must first be cast into the ground, and there die and rot before it will spring up; which showeth, that a resurrection from the dead is possible even in nature. What is every night, but the grave (as it were) of the days light? What is the morning, but the resurrection of the day? What is winter, but the death (as it were) of fruits? and what the spring, but the resurrection of them? What is death, but a pulling down of the house of our bodies? and what is the resurrection, but the building up of the same house more gloriously? And cannot the Almighty God do this? We see by experience, that our most curious glasses, are made by art even of ashes; and cannot the omnipotent and everliving God, raise men's dead bodies out of ashes? The earth and sea are God's stewards, with whom he hath betrusted the bodies of men; and when God shall call them to give an account of their stewardship, they will faithfully discharge their trust, and will not keep back one dead body. The grave is but the bodies withdrawing-room or sleepi • g-place, and the time will come, when they that are asleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, &c. Dan. 12. 2. And it is as easy for God to distinguish between dust and dust, and to give to every man his own dust, as it is for a gardener that hath divers seeds in his hand to sever them, and know them one from another. A curious Watch-maker can undo his Watch, and put it together again. A skillful Alchemist can extract one metal out of another: much more can Almighty God distinguish one dust from another, as well as one man from another. In a word: It is as easy for God to make our vile bodies glorious, as it is for a beggar to put off his rags, and to put on the apparel of a King. Our dear and Reverend Brother did fully believe this, and therefore he three times in my hearing repeated these words; According to his mighty power, his mighty power, even his mighty power, he is able to change this vile body of mine, and make it like unto his glorious body.

4. Shall all bodies be made thus glorious?

No: The bodies of the wicked shall rise at the last day, but it shall be to their everlasting shame, ruin and confusion. They shall be immortal, but they shall be immortal fuel to immortal flames. The bodies of the wicked shall come out of their gravos as out of their prisons, and as so many malefactors to appear before an angry Judge. They shall come out of their graves as the chief Baker did out of prison, to be hung in chains in hell forever, where they shall endure all kind of extremities figured out unto us by the sad condition of Dives, who could not get a drop of water to cool his tongue. The bodies of the wicked shall be as ugly, loathsome carcasses to look upon, and their faces shall gather blackness and darkness, Isa. 66. 24. They shall arise with great fear and trembling, and shall call to the hills and mountains to cover and hide them from the presence of the Lamb. Oh the horror and astonishment that shall be at that day, when the foul of a wicked man shall come out of hell, and be again united to the body: How will the body curse the soul, and the soul the body? How will they befool one another? Certainly this greeting will be very terrible; the Lord grant we may never come to have experience of it.

5. What are the Characters of those men and women, whose vile bodies shall be made like unto the glorious body of Christ?

1. There is one Character of them in the text: If thou art one that hast thy conversation in Heaven, then thy body shall be made glorious: For our conversation is in Heaven, from whence also we look for a Savior the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile bodies, and make them like to his glorious body, &c. If thou beest a man that mindest earthly things; if ambitious, covetous or voluptuous; if given over to fulfill the lusts of the flesh, thy body shall rise, but it shall rise to everlasting condemnation: But if heavenly-minded; if thy disposition and conversation be heavenly, when Christ comes from Heaven, he will make thy body heavenly and glorious.

2. If a real member of Christ's mystical body, thou shalt be made partakers of the glory of Christ's natural body. Christ hath a double body, a body mystical, and a body natural: If thou beest a real member of Christ's mystical body, I say a real member, not only a member by outward profession, but by a holy conversation; if truly united by a heart-purifying faith unto Christ's mystical body, thou shalt be conformable in glory to Christ's natural body: And therefore it is said, That at the day of judgment Christ shall be glorified in his Saints. Here he is glarified by his Saints, but then he shall be glorified in his Saints, that is, in the glory that the members of his mystical body shall have at that day. For Christ shall then have a double glory; 1. A personal glory; for he shall come with power and great glory, Matth. 24. 30. 2. A social glory, a glory which he communicates to his Saints, and by which glory he shall be glorified. For when Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall we appear with him in glory. And the glory of the members shall redound to the glory of the head: Therefore the Saints are called, the glory of Christ, 2 Cor. 8. 23. If a member of Christ, though but as the toe in his body, thou shalt be filled brim full of glory at the resurrection.

3. If thy soul be gracious here, thy body shall be glorious hereafter: If clothed with Christ's righteousness, if enriched with the jewels of the Spirit, thy body shall be everlastingly beautiful and glorious; for the happiness of the body depends upon the souls happiness. If when thou diest thy soul goeth to hell, thy body at the resurrection must go thither also: If to Heaven, thy body will follow it thither also: according as thy soul is, beautiful or deformed, so shall thy body be happy or miserable. So much in answer to the five Questions.

Use 1. To you that are the Saints of the most high God, who have your conversation in Heaven while you are upon earth, who are real members of Christ's mystical body, whose souls are adorned with the robe of Christ's righteousness; To beseech you to consider the blessed and happy condition that your bodies shall be in at the resurrestion, for then your vile bodies shall be made like unto the glorious body of Christ, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , shall be 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ; then shall you shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of your Father: All sin, and all sorrow, and all bodily deformities shall be utterly removed; you shall be as the Angels of God in heaven, your bodies shall be honorable, glorious, powerful, spiritual, perfectly beautiful, lovely and majestical, and (as Aquinas saith) transparent like glass. Let the consideration of this

1. Comfort you against the fear of death: As God said to Jacob, Gen. 46. 3, 4. Fear not to go down into Egypt, for I will go down with thee, and I will also surely bring theo up again, &c. So let me say to you, Feat not to go down to the house of rottenness, fear not to lay down your heads in the dust, for God will certainly bring you out again, and you shall come out in a most glorious manner: Fear not to have this house of your body pulled down, for God will rear it up again, and make of it a most glorious structure.

2. Let this comfort you against the death of your godly friends; for when a godly man dies, nothing dies totally and finally in him but sin: Death to a Saint is nothing else but sepultura vitiorum, a burying of his sin. Non homo sed peccatum hominis moritur, the man dies not but his sin; for the soul doth not die at all, but is immediately taken up into the bosom of God; and the body, though it be turned into dust, yet even this dust is precious in God's sight; this dust is part of God's elestion, this dust is united to Jesus Christ, (and therefore when a Saint dies, he is said to fall asleep in Christ, 1 Cor. 15. 18. and to be dead in Christ, 1 Thes. 4. 16.) and at the last day it shall be raised up again. It is sown in corruption, but it shall be raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonor, it shall be raised in glory: it is sown in weakness, it shall be raised in power: it is sown a natural body, it shall be raised a spiritual body,

There is a Text in Job, which our Reverend Brother did mention often in his sickness, and with which he did seem to be much refreshed, it is Job 21. 33. The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him. Which words, though spoken of the wicked, yet are in a more eminent manner applicable to the true Saint, who sleeps quietly and sweetly in his grave as in his bed, free from all trouble and molestation.

3. Let this comfort those that have diseased or deformed bodies, that are troubled with the Stone, Gout, Strangury, disiness in the head, or any other disease whereby they are made unserviceable, or at least not able to do that good they would: there will a day come wherein they shall be perfectly healed and cured: The Resurrection is the Saints best Physician.

4. Let this encourage you to be willing (if God call you to it) to part with your ears, eyes, legs, hands, or head itself, for the keeping of a good conscience; for you shall have all your limbs restored to you again at the great day of restitution of all things. Famous is the story that Josephus tells of one of the seven Children in the Maccabees, who when he was to have his tongue cut out and his ears cut off, he said to his Mother, These members I have received from Heaven, and for the Law of my God I despise them, and trust that I shall receive them again: I shall have a better tongue at the resurrection of the just.

5. Let this exhort you especially that are true Saints, whose bodies by grace are become the Temples of the holy Ghost; to labor to glorify God in your bodies as well as in your spirits, for they are God's, and they are bought with a price as well as your souls. To labor to keep under your bodies, and to bring them into subjection: To yield your members as instruments of righteousness unto God, and as servants of righteousness unto holiness. Let me beseech you by the mercies of Jesus Christ who hath redeemed your bodies, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Think not any service too much for God with those bodies which shall one day be made so beautiful and glorious. Let godly Ministers be encouraged to wear out their bodies in their Ministerial employments, for they that turn many unto righteousness, shall shine as stars forever and ever.

Use 2. To you that are wicked, that is, who are members of the devil, whose souls are beleapred with sin, who mind earthly things, whose God is your belly, whose glory is your shame; To beseech you to consider the sad and miserable condition you shall bn in at that day. Your bodies indeed shall rise, but they shall rise unto everlasting cindemnation, Joh. 5. 24. and unto everlasting shame and contempt, Dan. 12. 2. your vile bodies shall then be cursed bodies, and your sinful bodies shall be tormented for ever with the worm that never dieth, and the fire that never goeth out.

Use 3. A divine project how to make your bodies beautiful and glorious. If there were a Physician here upon earth that could cure all your bodily diseases and deformities, and make them immortal, how would you prize him? I have told you this day of such a Physician, even the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall one day come from Heaven on purpose to make our vile bodies like unto his glorious body. Oh that this word were mingled with faith! Methinks if any Motive could prevail with you that are Gentlewomen and great Ladies, this should, Behold a way how to make your bodies eternally beautiful! What trouble and pain do many women that are crooked endure, by wearing Iron bodies to make themselves strait? What vast expenses are many at for the beautifying of their rotten carcasses? Hearken unto me thou proud dust and ashes, thou guilded mud, that laborest to beautify thy body by vain, foolish and sinful deckings and trimmings, and thinkest thyself decked in the want of decking, that pamperest thy body in all voluptuousness, and makest thyself by thy strange fashions so unlike thyself, as that if our civil forefathers were alive again, they would wonder what strange monster thou wert. Hearken unto me I say, and consider thy madness and folly: by laboring so much to adorn thy body with the neglect of thy soul, thou undoest both body and soul. The only way to make thy body forever beautiful, is (as I have said)

1. To have thy conversation in Heaven while thou art upon earth, and when Christ comes from Heaven, he will change thy vile body and make it like his gloriom body.

2. To labor to be a real member of Christ's mystical body, and then thou shalt partake of the glory of his natural body.

3. To get a gracious soul here, and thou shalt be sure to have a glorious body and soul hereafter.

There is a saying of Bernard worthy to be written in letters of gold: Christ hath a treble coming: Once he came in the flesh for the good of our souls and bodies: Now he comes in the spirit (by the preaching of his Ministers) for the good of our souls. At the last day he shall come for the good of our bodies to beautify them and glorify them. Noli oh homo praeripore tempora, do not oh man mistake thy time! This present life is not the time for thy body: It is appointed for the beautifying of thy soul, and adorning it with grace and holiness. The resurrection is the time wherein Christ will come from Heaven to make thy body glorious. How quite contrary to this do most people live? Let it be our wisdom (with the children of Issachar) to have understanding of the times. Study in this your day to get good and gracious souls, and you shall be sure at the great day to have blessed and most glorious bodies. Labor to get your souls beautified by Christ's second coming with justification and sanctification, and Christ at his third coming will make thy body glorious above expression.

HAving finished my discourse upon the Text, I know it is expected that I should speak something of our Dear and Reverend Brother, whose sad funerals we now celebrate. It hath pleased God within a little space to take to himself many godly and able Ministers, which without doubt is a very great judgment; and the greater, because most people are so little sensible of it. And not only a great judgment in itself, but a presage of greater to come; For the righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart, and merciful men are taken away, none cinsidering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. The Rabbins have a saying, Quando Luminaria patiuntur Eclipsim malum signum est mundo, It is an ill sign to the world when the Luminaries of Heaven are eclipsed. God hath extinguished many glorious Lights of late, I need not put you of this City in mind of D ^r Gouge, M ^r Walker, M ^r Whitaker, M ^r Gataker, M ^r Strong, &c. nor you of the University of D ^r Hill, and now of this godly Minister D ^r Samuel Bolton late Master of Christ's College in Cambridge. If I should enter upon his commendation, I may truly say what Gregory Nazianzen doth of his Sister Gorgonia, that there is more fear least I should speak too little, then that I should speak too much. He was a burning and shining light in this our Israel, an interpreter one of a thousand: a man of excellent Ministerial abilities, a workman that needed not to be ashamed, dividing aright the word of truth. He was one that did study not only 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , not only to preach well, but to live well: His life was an excellent commentary upon his Sermons. As Nazianzen saith of John Baptist (who is called The voice of the crier,) that he was all voice: a voice in his habit, a voice in his diet, a voice in his dwelling, a voice in his conversation, as well as in his preaching: So may I truly say of our Reverend Brother, he was tota vox, all voice; a voice in his life as well as in his Doctrine; he lived his own Sermons, and preached louder by his good conversation then by his heavenly doctrine. Nam Vita Praedicatorum est vocalissima. What Ruffinus saith of Gregory Nazianzen, may fitly be applied unto our dear Brother; He did those things himself which he taught to others, neither did he condemn himself by practicing contrary to what he preached. He had not only dona honoraria, but dona salutifera: not only gifts for the good of others, but graces for the good of his own soul. There are many Ministers that have rare gifts, but they are like a Pearl in a Toads-head, because their lives give a lie to their Doctrines: But this our Reverend Brother had not only gratias gratis datas, but gratias gratum facientes, he was not only learned but religious, and (which is his highest commendation) he was an humble Saint.

There are four things (saith Luther) that make a Minister, Prayer, Reading, Meditation and Temptation: Our Christian Brother was not only a man of Prayer, Reading and Meditation, but a man assaulted with many Temptations, with more I believe then many hundred of Ministers are. He was often buffeted by Satan, and therefore more able to comfort them that were in trouble, by the comfort wherewith he himself was comforted of God. And let me take the boldness to tell you, that he hath left a writing behind him, wherein he hath recorded all the outgoings of God towards him, and all the experiences of God's shining with the light of his countenance upon him, and also of his withdrawings and hiding his face from him: He hath written down both the Apogaeum's and Perigaeum's (as I may so speak) both those times wherein God was at a distance from him, and when he approached nearer to him.

His desire to win souls to Christ by preaching was so great, that though he was head of a College in Cambridge, and had no Ministerial charge of his own, yet notwithstanding he preached gratis once every Lord's day for many years together. The like is said in print of that Reverend and godly Minister D ^r Hill late Master of Trinity College.

Here I must not forget what hath been told me since the preaching of this Sermon; That our dear Brother, in the ordinary course of his Ministry, had preached over the third Chapter to the Philippians, to the latter end of the verse immediately before my Text: and behold how by the overruling Providence of God (unknown to me) it hath happened, that the last verse of the same Chapter (which he left unfinished) was chosen for his Funeral Sermon. But though he lived not to preach of this verse, yet he now lives in Heaven, waiting for that blessed time, when his vile body shall be raised out of the grave, and be made like unto the glorious body of Jesus Christ.

Before he was Master of Christ's College, he preached three or four years in this place, six or seven years at Savior's Southwark, and for some time at Andrew's in Holburn, to the great satisfaction of all the godly that waited upon his Ministry. And though he be now dead, yet he still speaks, not only by the holiness of his life and graciousness of his doctrine, but also by the many Books he hath left in print, in which you may behold a fair character of his piety and Ministerial abilities. He was very orthodox, and sound in judgment, he had no spiritual Leprosy in his head, witness those two Books of his, The Arraignment of Error, and A Vindication of the Rights of the Law, and Liberties of Grace. He was of a public spirit; witness that Book of his A word in season to a sinking Kingdom. He was very careful in admitting men and women to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper; witness that Book of his called, The Wedding Garment.

The time of his sickness was long, tedious and costly; his diseases many, very many, but his patience was exceeding great: he would usually say, That though the providences of God were dark towards him, yet he had light within. A little before he died, he said to one that was lifting him up, Let me alone, let me lie quietly, for I have as much comfort as heart can hold. The last time I was with him, I found him wonderfully desirous to be dissolved and to be with Christ: I heard him say, Oh this vile carcass of mine, when will it give way that my soul may get out and go to my God? When will this rotten carcass be consumed, that I may mount up to Heaven? And when he saw any probable symptoms of death (which he called the little crevices at which his soul did peep out) he was exceedingly joyful.

It was his desire to be buried without any Funeral pomp; which puts me in mind of a saying recorded in the life of Pelican, of an Uncle of his who would not be buried in his Scholastic habit (as the custom then was) testamento cavit ne aliter sepeliretur quam simplex alius Christianus, He ordered it in his Will, to be buried as a private Christian, and not as a Doctor; and the reason he gives is, because he hoped resurrecturum se ad judicium, non ut Sacerdotem & Doctorem, sed ut humilem Christianum, That he should rise at the day of judgment, and appear before God, not as a Priest or Doctor, but as an humble Christian. This was the desire and hope of our Reverend Brother, and this text that I have preached on, was matter of great rejoicing unto him whilst he thought of that day when his vile body, subject to so many diseases, should be made like unto the glorious body of Christ, according to the working, the mighty working (as he three times repeated it) whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. And so I leave him in the arms of his blessed Savior, beseeching God to make up this great loss of him to the Church of Christ in general, and to the University of Cambridge in particular.

TO THE Memory of the Right Worshipful SAMUEL BOLTON, D. D. late Master of Chr. Coll. in Cambridge.

An Epitaph on the truly Religious and Learned Doctor BOLTON Master of Christ's College in Cambridge.

Upon the Death of the Pious and Learned SAMUEL BOLTON, Doctor of Divinity and Master of Christ's College in Cambridge.

On the deplored Death of the Reverend Doctor SAMUEL BOLTON Master of Christ's College in Cambridge.

Upon the Death of the Reverend, his never to be forgotten Friend, D ^r BOLTON Master of Christ's College in Cambridge.