rection be so furnished, that we shall, with the eagle, be able to look upon the sun in his strength; we shall then, I say, see him as he is, who now is in the light, that no eye hath seen, nor any man can see it till that day, 1 Tim. vi. 16. Now we shall see into all things; there shall not be anything hid from us; there shall not be a saint, a prophet, or saved soul, small or great, but we shall then perfectly know them; also, all the works of creation, election, and redemption, and shall see and know as thoroughly al! the things of heaven, and earth, and hell, even as perfectly as now we know our A, B, C. For the Spirit, with which we shall in every cranny of soul and body be filled, I say, that searcheth "all things, yea, the deep things of God," 1 Cor. ii. 10. We see what strange things have been known by the prophets and saints of God, and that when they knew but in part.

Abraham could by it tell to a day how long his seed should be under persecution in Egypt; Elisha by it could tell what was done in the king of Assyria's bedchamber; Abijah could know by this Jeroboam's wife so soon, yea, before her feet entered within his door, though he saw her not, Gen. xv. 13; 2 Kings, vi. 12; 1 Kings, xiv. 1-6.

The prophet of Judah could tell by this what God would do to Bethel for the idolatry there committed, and could also point out the man by name that should do the execution long before he was born. What shall I say? Enoch by it could tell what should be done at the end of the world, 1 Kings, xiii. 2; Jude, 14, 15. How did the prophets to a circumstance prophesy of Christ's birth, his death, his burial, of their giving him gall and vinegar, of their parting his raiment, and piercing his hands and feet! (Isaiah, liii.; John, xii. 41;) of his riding on an ass also; all this they saw when they spake of him. Peter also, though half-asleep, could at the very first word call Moses and Elias by their names when they appeared to Christ in the holy mount, Luke, ix. 33. He is very ignorant of the operation of the Spirit of God that scrupleth these things. But now, I say, if these things have been done, seen, and known by spiritual men while their knowledge hath been but in part, how shall we know, see, and discern when that which is perfect is come, which will be at the resurrection? "It is raised a spiritual body."

Thus, in few words, have I shewed you the truth of the resurrection of the just, and also the manner of their rising. Had I judged it convenient, I might have much enlarged on each particular, and have added many more; for the doctrine of the resurrection, however questioned by heretics and erroneous persons, yet is such a truth, that almost all the holy scriptures of God point at and centre in it.

God hath from the beginning of the world shewed to us that our body must be with him, as well as our soul, in the kingdom of heaven; I say, he hath shewed-First, he hath shewed us how he will deal with those that are alive at Christ's coming by his translating of Enoch, and taking him body and soul to himself; as also, by his catching of Elias up body and soul

into heaven in a fiery chariot, Gen. v. 24; Heb. i. 5; 1 Kings, ii. 10, 11.

Secondly, He hath often put us in remembrance of the rising of those that are dead at that day. First, By the faith he gave Abraham concern. ing the offering of his son; for when he offered him, he accounted that God was able to raise him up even from the dead, "from whence also he received him in a figure," (Heb. xi. 19 ;) in a figure of the resurrection of Christ, for Abraham's justification; and of Abraham's resurrection by Christ at the last day, for his glorification.

Secondly, By the faith he gave Joseph concerning his bones; which charge the godly in Egypt did diligently observe, and to that end did keep them four hundred years; and at length carried them, I say, from Egypt to Canaan, which was a type of our being carried in our body from this world to heaven, Heb. xi. 22.

Besides, how oft did God give power to his prophets, servants, and Christ Jesus to raise some that were now dead, and some that had been long so; and all, no doubt, to put the present generations, as also the generations yet unborn, in mind of the resurrection of the dead. To this end, I say, how was the Shunamite's son raised from the dead? the man also at the touching of the bones of Elisha? (2 Kings, iv. ; xiii. 20, 21 ;) together with the body of Lazarus, with Jairus's daughter, and Tabitha, and many others, who, after their souls were departed from them, (Lazarus lying in his grave four days,) were all raised to life again, and lived with that very body out of which the soul at their death had departed, Luke, viii. 53-56; John, xi. 43—45; Acts, ix. 40, 41.

But above all, that notable place in Matthew, at the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, gives us a notable foreword of the resurrection of the just. Saith the text, " And the graves were opened; and many bodies of saints which slept arose, and came out of their graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many," Matt. xxvii. 50-54.

When the author to the Hebrews had given us a catalogue of the worthies of the Old Testament, he saith at last, "These all died in faith." In the faith of what? that they should lie and rot in their graves eternally? No, verily; this is the faith of ranters, not of Christians. They all died in faith that they should rise again; and therefore counted this world not worth the living in, (upon unworthy terms,) that after death they might "obtain a better resurrection," Heb. xi. 13, 35.

It is also worth the considering that of Paul to the Philippians, where he saith that he was confident that that God that had begun a good work in them would perform it unto the day of Christ, (Phil. i. 6,) which day of Christ was not the day of their conversion, for that was past with them already, they were now the children of God; but this day of Christ, it is the same which in other places is called the day when he shall come with the sound of the last trump to raise the dead. For you must know that the work of salvation is not at an end with them that are now in heaven; no, nor never will until, as I shewed you before, their bodies be raised again.

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God, as I have told you, hath made our bodies the members of Christ, and God doth not count us thoroughly saved until our bodies be as well redeemed and ransomed out of the grave and death as our souls from the curse of the law and dominion of sin.

Though God's saints have felt the power of much of his grace, and have had many a sweet word fulfilled on them, yet one word will be unfulfilled on their particular person so long as the grave can shut her mouth upon them; but, as I said before, when the gates of death do open before them, and the bars of the grave do fall asunder, then shall be brought to pass that saying that is written, "Death is swallowed up of victory;" and then will they hear that most pleasant voice, "Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast forth her dead," Isaiah, xxvi. 19. Thus much touching the truth of the resurrection of the just, with the manner of their rising.

Now you must know that the time of the rising of these just will be at the coming of the Lord; for when they arise, nay, just before they are raised, the Lord Jesus Christ will appear in the clouds, in flaming fire, with all his mighty angels; the effect of which appearing will be the rising of the dead, &c. "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout," saith Paul, "and with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead shall rise," 1 Thess. vii. 8; 2 Thess. iv. 16; 1 Cor. xv. 52.

Now at the time of the Lord's coming there will be found in the world alive both saints and sinners. As for the saints that then shall be found alive, they shall, so soon as all the saints are raised out of their graves, not die, but be changed, and swallowed up of incorruption, immortality, and glory, and have the soul-spiritual translation, as the raised saints shall have; as he saith, "We shall not all die, or sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, for the trump shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." And again, "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first and then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." As he saith also in another place, he “shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom," 1 Cor. xv. 52; 1 Thess. iv. 15-17; 2 Tim. iv. 1.

Now when the saints that sleep shall be raised thus incorruptible, powerful, glorious, and spiritual, and also those that then shall be found alive made like them, then forthwith, before the unjust are raised, the saints shall appear before the judgment-seat of the Lord Jesus Christ, there to give an account to their Lord the Judge of all things they have done, and to receive a reward for their good according to their labour.

They shall rise, I say, before the wicked, they being themselves the proper children of the resurrection-that is, those that must have all the glory of it, both as to pre-eminency and sweet

ness; and therefore they are said when they rise to rise from the dead-that is, in their rising they leave the reprobate world behind them, Luke, xx. 35, 36; Acts, iii. 15; iv. 10; xiii. 30; John, xii. 1, 9, 17; 1 Cor. vi. 2, 3; Psa. cxxii. 5. And it must be so, because also the saints will have done their account, and be set upon the throne with Christ, as kings and princes with him, to judge the world, when the wicked world are raised. The saints shall judge the world; they shall judge angels; yea, they shall sit upon the throne of judgment to do it. But to pass that.

Now when the saints are raised, as ye have heard, they must give an account of all things in general that they have done while they were in the world; of all things, I say, whether they be good or bad.

First, Of all their bad-but mark, not under the consideration of vagabonds, slaves, and sinners, but as sons, stewards, and servants of the Lord Jesus. That this shall be, it is evident from divers places of the holy Scriptures-First, Paul saith, "We must all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ"- -we saints-" for it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So, then, every one of us shall give an account of himself to God." Again, "Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ; that every one of us may receive the things done in his body, according to what he hath done, whether it be good or whether it be evil," Romans, xiv. 10-12; 2 Cor. v. 9, 10.

It is true, God loveth his people, but yet he loveth not their sins, nor anything they do, though with the greatest zeal for him, if it be contrary to his word; wherefore, as truly as God will give a reward to his saints and children for all that they have indeed well done, so truly will he at this day distinguish their good and bad; and when both are manifest by the righteous judgment of Christ, he will burn up their bad, with all their labour, travel, and pains in it for ever. He can tell how to save his people, and yet take vengeance on their inventions, Psalm xcix. 8.

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That is an observable place in the first epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, and the third chapter "If any man build," saith he, "upon this foundation" (Christ) gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man's work shall be manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work shall abide that he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's works shall be burnt, that man shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire," 1 Cor. iii. 11-16.

Now observe, first, as I said before, the foundation is Christ.

2. The gold, silver, and precious stones that here are said to be built upon him, are all the actings in faith and love, according to the word, that the saints are found doing for his sake in the world, 2 Pet. 1, 7; Rev. iii. 18.

3. To build on him wood, hay, and stubble, it

is to build, together with what is right in itself, human inventions and carnal ordinances, fathering them still on God and his allowance.

4. The fire that here you read of, it is the pure word and law of God, Jeremiah, xxiii. 29; John,

xii. 48.

5. The day that here you read of, it is the day of Christ's coming to judgment, to reveal the hidden things of darkness, and to make manifest the counsels of the heart, 1 Cor. iv. 5.

6. At this day, the gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and stubble, and that of every man, shall be tried by this fire, that it may be manifest of what sort it is; the wind, the rain, and floods, beat now as vehemently against the house upon the rock as against that on the sand, Luke, vi. 48, 49.

Observe again,

1. That the apostle speaks here of the saved, not of the reprobate- "He himself shall be saved."

2. That this saved man may have wood, hay, and stubble—that is, things that will not abide the trial.

3. That neither this man's goodness nor yet God's love to him shall hinder all his wood, hay, or stubble for coming on the stage-" Every man's work shall be manifest: the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is."

4. Thus, a good man shall see all his wood, hay, and stubble burnt up in the trial before his face.

5. That good man then shall suffer loss, or, the loss of all things that are not then according to the word of God-" If any man's work shall be burnt (or any of them) he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire" -that is, yet so as that all that ever he hath done shall be tried and squared by the word of God.

From all which it must be unavoidably concluded that the whole body of the elect must count with their Lord for all things they have done, whether good or bad, and that he will destroy all their bad with the purity of his word, yea, and all their pains, travel, and labour that they have spent about it. I am persuaded that there are now many things done by the best of saints that then they will gladly disown and be ashamed of; yea, which they have and do still do with great devotion. Alas, what gross things do some of the saints in their devotion father upon God, and do reckon him the author thereof, and so he also prompts them forward to the doing thereof, and doth give them his presence in the performance of them! Yea, and as they father many superstitions and scriptureless things upon him, so they die in the same opinion, and never come in this world to the sight of their evil and ignorance herein. But now the judgment-day is the principal time wherein everything shall be set in its proper place; that which is of God in its place, and that which is not shall now be discovered and made manifest. In many things now we offend all; and then we shall see the many offences we have committed, and shall ourselves judge them as they are. The Christian is in this world so candid a creature, that take him when he is not under some great temptations,

and he will ingenuously confess to his God before all men how he hath sinned and transgressed against his Father, and will fall down at the feet of God, and cry, Thou art righteous, for I have sinned; and thou art gracious, that, notwithstanding my sin, thou shouldst save me. Now, I say, if the Christian is so simple and plain-hearted with God in the days of his imperfection, when he is accompanied with many infirmities and temptations, how freely will he confess and acknowledge his miscarriages when he comes before his Lord and Saviour, absolutely stript of all temptation and imperfection. "As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God," Rom. xiv. 11; Phil. ii. 10, 11. Every knee shall bow and reverence God the Creator, and Christ the Redeemer of the world; and every tongue shall confess that his will alone ought by them to have been obeyed in all things, and shall confess also, and that most naturally and freely-I mean, the saints shallin how many things they were deceived, mistaken, deluded, and drawn aside in their intended devotion and honour to God.

But yet take notice that in this day, when the saints are thus counting for their evil before their Saviour and Judge, they shall not then, as now, at the remembrance and confession of sin be filled with that guilt, confusion, and shame that now through the weakness of faith attendeth their souls; neither shall they in the least be grieved or offended that God hath before the angels and the rest of their holy brethren laid open to a tittle their infirmities, from the least and first to the biggest and last.

For, first, The God to whom they confess all, they will now more perfectly than ever see he doth love them, and free them from all, even when and before they confess and acknowledge them to him; and they shall, I say, have their soul so full of the ravishing raptures of the life and glory that now they are in, that they shall be of it swallowed up in that measure and manner, that neither fear, nor guilt, nor confusion can come near them or touch them. Their Judge is their Saviour, their Husband, and Head, who, though he will bring every one of them for all things to judgment, yet he will keep them for ever out of condemnation, and anything that tendeth that way. "Perfect love casts out fear," even while we are here; much more, then, when we are with our Saviour, our Jesus, being passed from death to life, John, v. 24; 1 John, iv. 18.

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Secondly, The saints at this day shall have their hearts and souls so wrapped up in the pleasure of God their Saviour, that it shall be their delight to see all things, though once never so near and dear unto them, yet now to perish, if not according to his word and will. Thy will be done," is to be always our language here; but to delight to see it done in all things, though it tend never so much to the destruction of what we love; to delight, I say, to see it done in the height and perfection of delight, it will be when we come to heaven, or when the Lord shall come to judge the world, Matt. vi. 10.

But, thirdly, The sole end of the counting of the saints at the day of God, it will be, not only for the vindication of the righteousness, holiness, and

purity of the word, neither will it centre only in the manifestation of the knowledge and heartdiscerning nature of Christ, though both these will be in it, (Rev. ii. 22, 23;) but their very remembrances and sight of the sin and vanity that they have done while here, it shall both set off and heighten the tender affections of their God unto them, and also increase their joy, and sweetness of soul, and clinging of heart to their God. Saints while here are sweetly sensible that the sense of sin and the assurance of pardon will make famous work in their poor hearts. Ah, what meltings without guilt, what humility without casting down, and what a sight of the creature's nothingness, yet without fear, will this sense of sin work in the soul! The sweetest frame, the most heart-endearing frame, that possibly a Christian can get into while in this world is to have a warm sight of sin and of a Saviour upon the heart at one time. Now it weeps not for fear and through torment, but by virtue of constraining grace and mercy, and is at this very time so far off of disquietness of heart by reason of the sight of its wickedness, that it is driven into an ecstasy by reason of the love and mercy that is mingled with the sense of sin in the soul. The heart never sees so much of the power of mercy as now, nor of the virtue, value, and excellency of Christ in all his offices as now, and the tongue so sweetly enlarged to proclaim and cry up grace as now; now will Christ come to be "glorified in his saints, and admired in them that believe," 2 Thess. i. 10, 11.

Wherefore, though the saints receive by faith the forgiveness of sins in this life, and so are passed from death to life, yet again, Christ Jesus, and God his Father, will have every one of these sins reckoned up again, and brought fresh upon the stage in the day of judgment, that they may see and be sensible for ever what grace and mercy hath laid hold upon them. And this I take to be the reason of that remarkable saying of the Apostle Peter, "Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus Christ, who before was preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive till the restitution of all things, spoken of by the mouth of all the holy prophets since the world began," Acts, iii. 19-21; Psalm xix. 12.

If a sense of some sin, (for who sees all?) and a sight of the love of God, will here so work upon the spirit of the godly, what will a sight of all sin do, when together with it they are personally present with their Lord and Saviour?

Yea, if a sight of some sins, with a possibility of pardon, will make the heart love, reverence, and fear with guiltless and heart-affecting fears, what will a general sight of all sin, and together with them an eternal acquittance from them, work on the heart of a saint for ever?

Yea, I say again, if a sight of sin and the love of God will make such work in that soul where yet there is unbelief, blindness, mistrust, and forgetfulness, what will a sight of sin do in that soul who is swallowed up of love, who is sinless and temptationless, who hath all the faculties of soul and body strained by love and grace to the

highest pin of perfection that is possible to be in glory enjoyed and possessed? O the wisdom and goodness of God, that he at this day should so cast about the worst of our things, even those that naturally tend to sink us and damn us, for our great advantage! All things shall work together for good, indeed, to them that love God, Rom. viii. 28. Those sins that brought a curse upon the whole world, that spilt the heart-blood of our dearest Saviour, and that laid his tender soul under the flaming wrath of God, shall by his wisdom and love tend to the exaltation of his grace, and the inflaming of our affections to him for ever and ever, Rev. v. 9—15.

It will not be thus with devils; it will not be thus with reprobates; the saved only have this privilege peculiar to themselves. Wherefore, to vary a little from the matter in hand. Will God make that use of sin, even in our counting for it, that shall in this manner work for our advantage? Why, then, let saints also make that advantage of their sin as to glorify God thereby, which is to be done, not by saying, "Let us do evil, that good may come ;" or, "Let us sin, that grace may abound;" but by taking occasion by the sin that is past to set the crown upon the head of Christ for our justification, continually looking upon it so as to press us to cleave close to the Lord Jesus, to grace and mercy through him, and to the keeping of us humble for ever, under all his dispensations and carriages to us.

Now, having counted for all their evil, and confessed, to God's glory, how they fell short and did not the truth in this, or that, or other particulars, and having received their eternal acquittance from the Lord and Judge in the sight of both angels and saints, forthwith the Lord Jesus will make inquiry into all the good and holy actions and deeds they did do in the world. Now here shall all things be reckoned up, from the very first good thing that was done by Adam or Abel to the last that will fall out to be done in the world; the good of all the holy prophets, of all apostles, pastors, teachers, and helps in the church; here also will be brought forth and to light all the good carriages of masters of families, of parents, of children, of servants, of neighbours, or whatever good thing any man doth.

But to be general and short-first, here will be a recompence for all that have sincerely laboured in the word and doctrine-I say, a recompence for all the souls they have saved by their word, and watered by the same.

Now shall Paul the planter, and Apollos the waterer, with every one of their companions, receive the reward that is according to their works, 1 Cor. iii. 6-8.

Now, all the preaching, praying, watching, and labour thou hast been at in thy endeavouring to catch men from Satan to God shall be rewarded with spangling glory. Not a soul thou hast converted to the Lord Jesus, nor a soul thou hast comforted, strengthened, or helped by thy wholesome counsel, admonition, and comfortable speech, but it shall stick as a pearl in "that crown which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give thee at that day," (2 Tim. iv. 7, 8,)—that is, if thou dost it willingly, delighting to lift up the