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Col. i. 12. And we are told, They shall be prefented faultless before the Prefence of bis Glory with exceeding Fays Jude 249

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Nor fhall the Souls only of goods Men be raifed to a high Degree of Excellency and Perfection in that future State, but even their Bodies too, And indeed this is neceffary to the complete Happiness and Pert fection of our Natures: For, as I obferved, in entering upon this Subject, the Body of Man is one effential Conflituent of the human Frame, and the whole Man there fore could not be properly faid to be per fect in Bliss, while one Part of his Nature continues under the Power of Death and Corruption. The Jews, at the Time of our Saviour's Coming, feem, as I have al ready hinted, to have entertained grofs Notions of the Refurrection, as if our Bodies were then to be in all Refpects fuch as they now are, and we were to rife to a Life and World like this in which we live. Our bleed Lord, in order to rectify their Notions, and raise them to more just and fublime Conceptions of it, in Antwer to the Objection of the Sadducees, declares, that the Children of this World marry and are given in Marriage: But they which fhall be accounted worthy to obtain that World, and the Refurrection from the Dead, neither marry nor are given in Marriage; neither

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neither can they die any more; for they are equal unto the Angels, and are the Children of God, being the Children of the Refur rection. Luke **. 34, 35, 36. And he elsewhere declares, that then the Righteous shall shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father, Matt. xiii. 43, to thew the wonderful Splendor with which their glorified Bodies thall then be invefted and arrayed. In like Manner the Apoftle Paul, fpeaking of the Difference between our Bodies as they now are, and what they hall be at the Refurrection of the Dead, faith, that the Body which was fown in Corruption fhall be raised in Incorruption; it was fown in Dishonour, it shall be raised in Glory; it was fown in Weakness, it shall be raifed in Power; it was fown a natural, or animal, Body, it shall be raised a spiritual Body 1 Cor. xv. 42, 43, 44. And, again, Ver. 53, 54, he faith, that this Corruptible must put on Incorruption, and this Mortal must put on Immortality. So, when this Corruptible shall have put on Incorruption, and this Mortal fhall have put on Immor tality, then fhall be brought to pass the Say ing that is written, Death is fwallowed up in Victory. But that which gives the nobleft Idea of the Glory with which the Bodies of the Saints thall be invefted in the beavenly World is, that we are affured, that

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Chrift

Chrift fhall change our vile Body, that it may be fashioned like unto his own glorious Body, according to the Working whereby he is able even to fubdue all Things unto himself. Phil. ill. 21. Whath the Glory of Chrift's Body now is we may form fome imperfect Notion from what it appeared to be at his Transfiguration, when, we are told, his Face did fhine as the Sun, and his Raiment was white as the Light Matt. xvii. 2. And we have great Reason to suppose that bis Body is arrayed with a much brighter, as well as more lafting Glory, in his exalted State.

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had. to Secondly, Another Thing declared to us in the Gospel, relating to the Happiness prepared for good Men in a future State, is, that, as their intire Natures fhall be raifed to a high Degree of Glory and Perfection, fo the Place of their Refidence fhall be tranfcendently beautiful and glorious. This is fignified in the metaphorical Defcription that is given of the heavenly Jerufalem, which is reprefented as faining with the Glory of God, and as having it's Walls of Fafper, it's Gates of Pearl, and it's Pavement of pure Gold. Rev. xxi. II, 18, 21. It is alfo called Paradife, in Allufion to the Garden of Eden, the delightful Habitation of our firft Parents in their State of Innocence, and the future Happiness of the

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Saints is figuratively reprefented by their Eating of the Tree of Life, which is in the Midst of the Paradife of God. Rev. in 7. But the Name by which it is commonly defcribed is Heaven, and the Kingdom of Heaven. That incorruptible Inheritance is faid to be referved in Heaven for us, 1 Pet. i. 4. Hence it is called a better "Country, that is, an heavenly, Heb. xi. 16. And this Heaven is reprefented as the glorious Habitation of the blessed Angels thus we read of the Angels of God in Heaven, Matt. xxii. 30. Yea, it is called the Throne of God, and his Dwelling-place, Mat. v. 34. "If. vii.pg, because there he makes the 5, moft illuftrious Difplays, and gives forth the fullest Exhibitions of his Glory and Majefty. Our Saviour calls it his Father's Houfe, John xiv. 2. In ·In my Father's House, faith he to his Difciples, are many Manfions: I go to prepare a Place for you. It is as "it were the beautiful and magnificent Palace, which his almighty and magnificent Hand hath prepared, for the Manifeftation of his own Glory, and for the Entertainment of his Chofen, whom he delighteth to love and honour; which therefore we may juftly fuppofe thall be furnished and adorned with a Profufion of Blifs and Glory: It hath no Need of the Sun, neither of the Moon, to fine in it; for the Glory of God

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doth

doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the Light thereof. Rev. xxi. 23.

Thirdly, As their Natures fhall be made perfect, and they shall be placed in delightful Habitations; fo they fhall be engaged in the happiest Exercifes and Enjoyments, such as shall tend highly to their Satiffaction and Delight, and fhall be every Way fuited to their perfected Natures. They fhall then be admitted to the immediate Vifion and Enjoyment of God himself: Bleffed are the Pure in Heart, faith our Saviour, for they fhall fee God. Matt. v. 8. or, as it is expreffed, Rev. xxii. 4, They fball fee his Face, and his Name fhall be in their Foreheads. They fhall bear fuch Impref fions of bis Glory upon them, as shall manifeft to all that behold them their near Relation and Conformity to him. What is the full Extent of this Expreffion of Seeing God, we cannot now pretend dif tinctly to explain; but it certainly fignifies a far more intimate, a more fatisfying and immediate, Knowledge and Intuition of the Divine Glory and Perfections, than we can poffibly attain to here upon Earth: Now we fee through a Glass darkly, faith St Paul, but then Face to Face; now I know in Part, but then fall I know, even as alfo I am known. 1 Cor. xiii. 12. And, as the Saints fhall then be admitted to the

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