396

45.

As we have here borme the Image of the earthy: Adams, Sećt: 301. ginal State of Rectitude and Felicity, in which Adam was madé a.quicken

Man was created, he was made capable of, and ing Spirit.. 1 Cor. XV. fitted to, an animal Life here upon Earth :

Whereas the Lord Jesus Christ, who by Virtue
of the Influence he has upon all his Seed, as their
fpiritual Head, and great federal Representative,
may

well be called the second, or latter Adam, [is]
for an enlivening Spirit (b) to those who are united
to him, and will not only purify their Souls by
the Operation of his Spirit communicated to
them, but at last fpiritualize their very

Bodies.
46. Nevertheless the spiritual Adam [wwas) not firft, -46 Howbeit, that was

but the animal, and afterward the spiritual; and not first which is fpiritual,
as the first Adam exifted before Chrift was sent and afterward that which is
to become our Saviour, so must we first wear that fpiritual.
animal Body, which we derive from the one,

before we put on that spiritual Body, which we
47 derive from the other. The first Man [was] 47 The firft Man is of
from the Earth, and so earthy : He was created the Earth, earthy: The le-

cond Man is the Lord from out of the Dust of the Earth, and his Body was Heaven. only a Mass of animated Clay, in Reference to which it was said, Dust thou art : (Gen. iii. 19.) the second Man, of whom we speak, [is] the Lord from Heaven : He came originally from the heavenly World, to which he is returned ; and whatever of Earth there was in the Composition of the Body he condescended to wear, it is now

compleatly purified and refined into the most
48 glorious Form. And such as the earthy (was] 48 As is the earthy, such

[are] they also that are earthy : They all de- are they also that are earthy:
fcended from him, and have no higher Original, are they alse that are hea-
are mean, mortal, corruptible Creatures ; and venly.
such as the heavenly [was, are] they also that are
beavenly: They who are, as it were, born of

Chrift

as it more clearly expressed (1 Thes. v. 23) and is also very agreeable to the Import of 777 We, the Word whịch Mofes useș.

(b) The second an enlivening Spirit.] This is not a Quotation from Scripture,, as some have thought, but what the Apostle adds on Occasion of the Quotation brought above; as if he bad said, Chris is the last Adam, as an illustrious Antitype of the first; (Rom. v. 14.) and he hath: in, himself a. Spirit, with which be, quickeneth whom he pleases, and in what Degree he pleases, Jahon i. 4. and Verse 21, 26. The Words living and enlivening, have such a Correspondence to each other, as wear, and Sweaponar, I therefore preferred the latter of them to quickening, tho' the Senle be entirely the fame.

(!) We,

49:

wefriell hereafter bear the image of the heavenly :

397 Chrift by the regenerating Influences of his Spi- Sect. zo..

rit, and therefore afe to live witti hifti in Heaven, 49 And' as we have borne And it is delightful beyond all Expression, lo

fhall at last have such glorious Bodies, as he hath. 2 Cor. XV.. the Image of the earthy, we shall also bear the Image think of it with Self-applieation, that as we in of the heavenly.

particular have borne, and do now bear, the Image
of the eartby; as assuredly, as we are now finful,
afflicted, and mortal Men, like the firft Adam
so surely fall we also bear the Image of the hea-
venly; so surely shall we be brought to resemble

Christ in Purity, Glory, and Immortality,
50 Now this I say, Bre But i when I fpake of bearing the Image of 50
thren, that Flesh and Blood the earthy Adam in Mortality, I would not be
of God; neither doth Cor- understood as afferting, that every one of the De-
ruption inherit Incorruption. fcendents of Adam Thall, in Fact, go thro' these

Pangs of Death, and that Dissolution in the
Grave, which Adam has experienced. This I
fay, Brethren, I affirin it as a constant and im-
portant Truth, that Flesh and 'Blood, fuch weak
and crazy Systems of it, as thofe in which we
now lodge, cannot inherit the Kingdom of GOD,
neither doth a Body impregnated with the Seeds.
of Corruption inherit Incorruption : It is utterly

unfit for the pure etherial Regions of the Blessed,
$1 Behold, I shęw you a and indeed incapable of subsisting in them. This 51
Mystery; we Thall not all is univerfally true; yet behold! I tell you a My-
fleep, but we shall all be
changed,

ptery, that is, a Doctrine hitherto unknown, and
which you cannot now be able fully to compre-
hend : For we Christians shall not all peep, shall
not all submit to the Stroke of Death, so that our
Bodies should all lie mouldering in the Grave,
which is their general Doom; but we mall all,
the Living as well as the Dead, at the Appear-
ance of Christ, to the final Judgment, be changed

in a most glorious and happy Manner into the 52 In a Moment, in the Image of our descending Lord.

And this 52
I winkling of an Eye, at
the last Ťrump (For" the Change, great and illustrious as it is, the Divine
Trumpet Thall sound) and Power shall effect in less Time, than we have

the been speaking of it: For it shall pass in a Mo

ment, in an imperceptible Point of Time, and
even in the Twinkling of an Eye, just at the In-
ftant, when the last Trumpet is blown by the Di-

vine

1

398

52.

' ;

For this Corruptible must put on Incorruprion. Sect. 30.

vine Command, to awaken all the Millions of the Dead shall be raised in.'

Saints, who are leeping in the Duft: For the corruptible, and we Shall be 1 Cor. XV. Trumpet shall then found, the Voice of the Arch

changed.
angel, and attending celestial Legions, thall fill
the whole Earth and Heaven with an astonishing
Noise, and the Dead shall immediately, as upon
its Summons, be raised incorruptible, and we,
that is, those of us Christians who are living,
shall be changed (i), as Enoch and Elijah were in
the Day of their Translation: That Body, which
but a Moment before appeared just as ours now
do, shall quick as Thought, be transformed into
an Image of that, worn by our triumphant Lord,
and fitted for all the most active Services, and all

the purest Sensations and Delights, of the ce-
53 lestial State. For in order to that, as I have 53 For this Corruptible
just observed, it is necessary, that this Corruptible and this Mortal must put on

must put on Incorruption, put on. Incorruption, and that this Mortal put on Immortality.

Immortality, so as to be no longer subject to Dif-
54
eases or Death. But when this glorious and

54 So when this Corruplong expected Event shall be accomplished, wben tible thall have put on Inthis corruptible Part of our Frame mall bave put thall have put on Immortaon Incorruption, and this mortal Mall have put on lity, then thall be broughe Immortality, then shall the Saying be brought to to pass the Saying that is

written, Death is Iwallowed pass, which is written, (Ifai. xxv. 8.) Death is

up in Victory:
swallowed up in Victory, and perfectly subdued
and destroyed, and so happy a State introduced,
that it would not be known, that Death had

any Place of Power among Christ's Sub-
55 jects at all;
And in the assured View of this, may

55 O Death, where is the Christian, even now, with the greatest Plea- thy Sting? O Grave, where

is thy Victory?
sure, take up his Song of Triumph; Where [is]
tby pointed and destructive Sting, Ob Death
výbere [is] tby Victory, Ob Grave (k)? How little

Hurt

ever had

(i) We, that is, those of us Christians who are living, shall be changed.] As thie Phrafe will admit of the looser Sense the Paraphrase gives, I cannot allow of the Argument, draws from hence, to prove, either that the Apostlé expected' he thould livet tilt Chrifl'appeared to Judgment, or that he should be raised from the Dead; and continue upon Earth sometime be-. fore that great Eyent happened: Tho' I confefs the Argument, which Mr. Fleming draws from hence, in favour of the last of these Opinions, is very plausible. Compare 1 Thefe (k) Where is tby. Sting, *&c.]: The Original-has a Kind of poetical. Turn, which seeme

in

iv. 15.

hath taken away

Christians should be stedfast, their Labour not being in vain. 399 Hurt canst thou do me? For how little awhile Sect.

30. 56 The Sting of Death shalt thou be able to triumph over me?

Tbe is Sin; and the Strength of Sin is the Law. very Sting and Torture of Death, that which arms 1 Cor. XV.

56. it with the greatest Terrors, [is] the Confideration of its being the Punishment of Sin, and consequently its foreboding future Misery, as the Effect of the Divine Displeasure; and the Power of Sin, that which constitutes its Malignity and

gives it these killing Weapons, [is,] that it is 57 But Thanks be. to a Transgreflion of the Divinė Law : But 57 God, which giveth us the Thanks [be] to GOD, who in his infinite Mercy Victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ.

the Sting and Terror of Death, and giveth us the Prospects and the Joys of a compleat Victory over it, by the Displays of his pardoning Grace, through our Lord Jesus Christ. May we ever remain under those grateful Im

pressions, that suit so important an Obligation! 58 Therefore, 'my be

Therefore, my beloved Brethren, be ye fixed on 58 loved Brethren, be ye stedfaft, unmoveable, always a

this as the great Foundation of your Souls, and bounding in the Work of the immoveable in your Regards to it, tho' strongly Lord, forasmuch as ye know borne and pressed upon, by a Variety of Tempthat your Labour is not in tations and Dangers; be abounding always in the vain in the Lord.

Work of the Lord, in every Service you are capa-
ble of performing, which may be acceptable to
this

your great and compassionate Redeemer; as
well knowing, that your Labour in the Service of
such a Lord is not, on the whole, in vain ; but
that whatsoever you .may at present suffer for
his Sake, you shall receive a most glorious Re-
ward, in that happy Day of the Resurrection, con-
cerning which I have been speaking so largely.

in fome Measure to suit the Sublimity of the Sentiment; for the first of the Clauses is an Ionick, and the second a Trochaick Verse, Ily 04, bavati, to xuvlpov; * 08, adn, To vix@; and Mr. Pope has only transposed them to make them, as they stand in our Verfion, the Conclufion of one of his Stanzas ; Ob Grave, where is thy Victóry? Ob Death, where is thy Sting? It is generally thought that these Words are borrowed from Hof. xii. 10, 14, which we render, “ Oh Death, I will be thy Plague, &c." and some urge that y8 has been read for

; but I do not see there is any certain Evidence, that the Apostle intended any Quotation at all.

IMPROVE

Ver. 35.

Ver. 31.

Ver.' 53:

.
LE

ET us learn from this incomparable Discourse of the Apostle; to

curb that vain Curiosity, which is fo ready in Matters of Divine Revelation, to break out into an unbecoming Petulance; and where we are sure, that God declares the Tbing, let us leave it to him to overcome every Difficulty, that

may

seem to attend the Manner, in which it shall be effected. Nothing may be more useful, in Order to the conqgering fuch a Weakness, than to observe the Operations of God in the Works of Nature, where he gives to every Seed, whether animal or vegetable, such a Body as all please bim. Each is proper for its Sphere, and beau

tiful in its Connection and Order, tho' the Degree of their Glory be difVer. 39, 40, ferent. And thus all the Diversity of Glory, which shall at last he appa

rent, among the Children of. GOD, even the Children of the Rèfurrrection, shall serve to illustrate the Divine Wisdom, and Goodness, and Faithfulness,

The Alterations made in every Instance, will indeed be wonderful, when this Mortal puts, on immortality, and this Corruptible pits, an Incor

ruption. Let us for ever adore the Divine Goodness that when.,:by our Ver. 47, &c. Relation to the first Adam, we were under a Sentence of Condecătration

and Death, he was pleased in his infinite Mercy to appoint; that we should stand related to Christ, as the second Adam, in so happy a Bond; that by him we might recover, what we had loft in the former : yea and far more: So that, as we have. Borne the Image of the Earthy, we might as furely bear the Image of the Heavenly Oh. lof us earnestly aspire after this Blessedness; and remember, that our bearing the Image of his Holiness is inseparably connected with the Hope of fo glorious a Priviledge !

Let us endeavour therefoce,by cultivating Holiness in all its Branches, to maintain this Hope in all its Spirit and Energy; longing for that glosious Day, when in the utmost Extent of the prophetick Expression, Death shall be swallowed up:in Kitórys and Millions of Voicesy, after the tong Silence of the Grave, shall burst out at once into that triumphärit.

Şong, O Death, where is thy Sting? O Grave, wéibere is zbý Victory ? Ana Ver. 56.

when we see Death disaraned, and the Terrors of the Law filenced, let #s blejs

. Gdp fot. Jesus Chrift, by whom the Précepts of the Law were perfe&tly fulfilled, and its Pénaltý endured';' that fo we might not only be delivered from the Curse, but called to inherit the Blessing. Let it be con

sidered, as an Engagement to.universal Obedience; and in the Affurance, Vera 58.. that whatever other Labours may be frustrated, those in the Lord shall never

be vain, let Gratitude and Interest, concur to render us Redfaj, immoveable, and continually active in his Service:

Ver. 49

Ver. 54

Ver. 55.

Ver. 57