familiar to us; and we so converse every night with the image of death, that every morning we find an argument of the resurrection. Sleep and death have but one mother, and they have one name in common. Soles occidere et redire possunt ; Nobis cum semel occidit brevis lux, Charnel-houses are but κoμητýpia, cemeteries or sleeping-places, and they that die are fallen asleep, and the resurrection is but an awakening and standing up from sleep: but in sleep our senses are as fast bound by nature as our joints are by the grave-clothes; and unless an angel of God awaken us every morning, we must confess ourselves as unable to converse with men, as we now are afraid to die and to converse with spirits. But however, death itself is no more; it is but darkness and a shadow, a rest and a forgetfulness. What is there more in death? what is there less in sleep? For do we not see by experience that nothing of equal loudness does awaken us sooner than a man's voice, especially if he be called by name? and thus also it shall be in the resurrection: we shall be awakened by the voice of a man, and He that called Lazarus by name from his grave shall also call us for although S. Paul affirms that the trumpet shall sound, and there shall be the voice of an archangel;' yet this is not a word of nature, but of office and ministry. Christ himself is that archangel, and He shall "descend with a mighty shout," saith the apostle, "and all that are in the grave shall hear His voice," saith S. John. So that we shall be awakened by the voice of a man, because we are only fallen asleep by the decree of God; and when the cock and the lark call us up to prayer and labour, the first thing we see is an argument of our resurrection from the dead. And when we consider what the Greek church reports, that amongst them the bodies of those that die excommunicate will not return to dust till the censure be taken off; we may with a little faith and reason believe, that the same power that keeps them from their natural dissolution, can recall them to life and union. I will not now insist upon the story y of the rising bones seen every year in Egypt, nor the pretences of the chymists, that they from the ashes of flowers can re-produce from the same materials the same beauties in colour and figure { for he that proves a certain truth from an uncertain argument, is like him that wears a wooden leg when he hath two sound legs already; it hinders his going, but helps him not; the truth of God stands not in need of such supporters, nature alone is a sufficient preacher: Quæ nunc herba fuit, lignum jacet, herba futura, Catull. [carm. v.] [1 Thess. iv. 16.] [John v. 28.] [Camerar., opp. sul cis., cent. i. cap. 73.1 Dracont. de op. Dei. [p. 400 supra.] Night and day, the sun returning to the same point of east, every change of species in the same matter, generation and corruption, the eagle renewing her youth, and the snake her skin, the silk-worm and the swallows, the care of posterity and the care of an immortal name, winter and summer, the fall and spring, the Old testament and the New, the words of Job", and the visions of the prophets, the prayer of Ezekiel for the resurrection of the men of Ephraim, and the return of Jonas from the whale's belly, the histories of the Jews and the narratives of Christians, the faith of believers and the philosophy of the reasonable; all join in the verification of this mystery. And amongst these heaps it is not of the least consideration, that there was never any good man, who having been taught this article, but if he served God, he also relied upon this. If he believed God, he believed this; and therefore S. Paule says that they who were èλída μὴ ἔχοντες, were also ἄθεοι ἐν κόσμῳ, they who had no hopes (meaning of the resurrection) were also atheists,' and without God in the world.' And it is remarkable what S. Augustine observes, that when the world saw the righteous Abel destroyed, and that the murderer outlived his crime and built up a numerous family, and grew mighty upon earth, they neglected the service of God upon that account, till God in pity of their prejudice and foolish arguings took Enoch up to heaven to recover them from their impieties by shewing them that their bodies and souls should be rewarded for ever in an eternal union. But Christ the first-fruits is gone before, and Himself did promise that when Himself was lifted up He would draw all men after Him. "Every man in His own order; FIRST CHRIST, then they that are Christ's at His coming."-And so I have done with the second particular, not Christ only, but we also shall rise in God's time and our order. But concerning this order I must speak a word or two, not only for the fuller handling the text, but because it will be matter of application of what hath been already spoken of the article of the resurrection. III. First Christ and then we: and we therefore because Christ is already risen. But you must remember that the resurrection and exaltation of Christ was the reward of His perfect obedience and purest holiness, and He calling us to an imitation of the same obedience and the same perfect holiness, prepares a way for us to the same resurrection. If we by holiness become the sons of God as Christ was, we shall also, as He was, become the sons of God in the resurrection; but upon no other terms. So said our blessed Lord himself, "Ye which have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon thrones judging the tribes of Israel." For as it was with Christ the first-fruits, so it shall be with all Christians in their own order: as with the head, so it shall be with the members. He was the Son of God by love and obedience, and then became the Son of God by resurrection from the dead to life eternal, and so shall we; but we cannot be so in any other way. To them that are Christ's, and to none else shall this be given. For we must know that God hath sent Christ into the world to be a great example and demonstration of the economy and dispensation of eternal life. As God brought Christ to glory, so He will bring us, but by no other method. He first obeyed the will of God, and patiently suffered the will of God; He died and rose again, and entered into glory; and so must we. Thus Christ is made via, veritas, et vita, 'the way, the truth, and the life;' that is, the true way to eternal life. He first trod this wine-press, and we must insist in the same steps, or we shall never partake of this blessed resurrection. He was made the Son of God in a most glorious manner, and we by Him, by His merit, by His grace, and by His example; but other than this there of salvation for us. way That's the first and great effect of is no this glorious order. IV. But there is one thing more in it yet, "Every man in his own order; first Christ, and then they that are Christ's" but what shall become of them that are not Christ's? Why there is an order for them too: first, "they that are Christ's;" and then they that are not His.' "Blessed and holy is he that hath his part in the first resurrection":" there is a first and a second resurrection even after this life, "The dead in Christ shall rise firsts" now blessed are they that have their portion here, for "upon these the second death shall have no power." As for the recalling the wicked from their graves, it is no otherwise in the sense of the Spirit to be called a resurrection, than taking a criminal from the prison to the bar is a giving of liberty. When poor Acilius Aviola had been seized on by an apoplexy, his friends supposing him dead carried him to his funeral pile; but when the fire began to approach, and the heat to warm the body, he revived, and seeing himself encircled with funeral flames, called out aloud to his friends to rescue, not the dead, but the living Aviola from that horrid burning but it could not be, he only was restored from his sickness to fall into death, and from his dull disease to a sharp and intolerable torment. Just so shall the wicked live again; they shall receive their souls, that they may be a portion for devils; they shall receive their bodies that they may feel the everlasting burning: they shall see Christ, that they may "look on Him whom they have pierced':" and they shall hear the voice of God passing upon them the intolerable [Rev. xx. 6.] i. 8. 12.] [1 Thess. iv. 16.] [Plin., nat. hist. vii. 52.-Val. Max. i [Zech. xii. 10.], sentence; they shall come from their graves that they may go into hell; and live again, that they may die for ever. So have we seen a poor condemned criminal, the weight of whose sorrows sitting heavily upon his soul, hath benumbed him into a deep sleep, till he hath forgotten his groans, and laid aside his deep sighings; but on a sudden comes the messenger of death, and unbinds the poppy garland, scatters the heavy cloud that encircled his miserable head, and makes him return to acts of life, that he may quickly descend into death and be no more. So is every sinner that lies down in shame, and makes his grave with the wicked; he shall indeed rise again, and be called by the voice of the archangel; but then he shall descend into sorrows greater than the reason and the patience of a man, weeping and shrieking louder than the groans of the miserable children in the valley of Hinnomk. upon These indeed are sad stories, but true as the voice of God, and the sermons of the holy Jesus. They are God's words, and God's decrees; and I wish that all who profess the belief of these, would consider sadly what they mean. If ye believe the article of the resurrection, then you know that in your body you shall receive what you did in the body, .. whether it be good or bad'.' It matters not now very much whether our bodies be beauteous or deformed; for if we glorify God in our bodies, God shall make our bodies glorious. It matters not much whether we live in ease and pleasure, or eat nothing but bitter herbs; the body that lies in dust and ashes"," 'that goes stooping and feeble",' that lodges at the foot of the cross, and dwells in discipline, shall be feasted at the eternal supper of the Lamb. And ever remember this, that beastly pleasures, and lying lips, and a deceitful tongue, and a heart that sendeth forth proud things, are no good dispositions to a blessed resurrection. Οὐ καλὸν ἁρμονίην ἀναλύεμεν ἀνθρώποιο. It is not good that in the body we live a life of dissolution, for that's no good harmony with that purpose of glory which God designs the body. Καὶ τάχα δ ̓ ἐκ γαίης ἐλπίζομεν εἰς φάος ἐλθεῖν, said Phocylides; for we hope that from our beds of darkness we shall rise into regions of light, and shall become like unto God. They shall partake of a resurrection to life; and what this can infer is very obvious: for if it be so hard to believe a resurrection from one death, let us not be dead in trespasses and sins; for a resurrection from two deaths will be harder to be believed, and harder to be effected. But if any of you have lost the life of grace, and so forfeited all your title to a life of glory, betake yourselves to an early and an entire piety, that when by this first resurrection you have made this way plain before your face, you may with confidence expect a happy resurrection from your graves. For if it be possible that the spirit, when it is dead in sin, can arise to a life of righteousness; much more it is easy to suppose that the body after death is capable of being restored again: and this is a consequent of S. Paul's arguments, "If when ye were enemies ye were reconciled by His death, much more being reconciled we shall be saved by His life;" plainly declaring, that it is a harder and more wonderful thing for a wicked man to become the friend of God, than for one that is so to be carried up to heaven and partake of His glory. The first resurrection is certainly the greater miracle: but he that hath risen once, may rise again; and this is as sure as that he that dies once may die again, and die for ever. But he who partakes of the death of Christ by mortification, and of His resurrection by holiness of life. and a holy faith, shall, according to the expression of the prophet Isaiah', 'enter into his chamber of death;' when nature and God's decree shall shut the doors upon him, and there he shall be hidden for a little moment:' but then shall they that dwell in dust awake and sing, with Christ's dead body shall they arise;' all shall rise, "but every man in his own order; Christ the first-fruits, then they that are Christ's, at His coming." Amen. I have now done with my meditation of the resurrection; but we have a new and a sadder subject to consider. It is glorious and brave when a Christian contemplates those glories which stand at the foot of the account of all God's servants; but when we consider that before all or any thing of this happens, every Christian must twice exuere hominems, 'put off the old man,' and then lie down in dust, and the dishonours of the grave, it is vinum myrrhatumt, 'there is myrrh put into our wine;' it is wholesome, but it will allay all our pleasures of that glorious expectation: but no man can escape it. After that the great Cyrus had ruled long in a mighty empire, yet there came a message from heaven, not so sad it may be, yet as decretory as the hand-writing on the wall that arrested his successor Darius. Evσκευάζου, ὦ Κῦρε, ἤδη γὰρ εἰς θεοὺς ἄπει", prepare thyself, Ο Cyrus, and then go unto the gods; he laid aside his tire and his beauteous diadem, and covered his face with a cloth, and in a single linen laid his honoured head in a poor humble grave. And none of us all can avoid this sentence; for if wit and learning, great fame and great experience; if wise notices of things, and an honourable fortune; if |