A PRACTICAL IMPROVEMENT Of the Articles of Christ's descent into AND Rising again from the Dead. IN A SERMON, Preached in the Parish Church of Bridgewater, on Easter-Day, Anno Domini, 1697. By WILLIAM ALLEN, ●. ●. Vicar of Bridgewater, in Somerset.  What will this Babbler say? because he Preached unto them Jesus, and the Resurrection, Acts 17.18. Am I therefore become your Enemy, because I tell you the Truth, Gal. 4.16. 
London, Printed for J. Taylor, at the Ship in St. Paul's- Churchyard; and J. Miller Bookseller in Sherborne, and at his Shop in Yeavill, 1697.   

TO JOHN HARVEY, Of the Castle in Bridgewater, Gent.  
'tIS a Privilege that the Country Ministers are blessed with, above your great Towns Vicars or Lecturers, that their People, remembering their Catechisms, presume not to think themselves more Learned or Wiser than their Teachers; but according to Christian Primitive Modesty and Doctrine, they Learn of, and Obey, Reverence, and are Ruled by their Spiritual Pastors. But your Corporation Catechumen, your Men of Gath, are big of themselves, especially if Opulent and Thriving, and will not allow Master Parson, whether he belongs to Church or Conventicle, [for that's the diminutive word they scornfully Salute with the Levitical Order, whether in Gown, and Cassock, or in Coat and long Cloak] they will not, I say, allow them so much as to think otherwise than they think, nor to speak otherwise than they would have them speak; nor grant that their University Education, or much Study, or many years Exercise in the Ministry, gives them any ascendant above their Level. If they will not say their Paternoster the way they would have them, they shall have no Peter's Pence from them. Thus stands the Case of your Town and City Clergy. And some of the Sons of the Church, I am loath to think them Sons of Belial, but they have appeared such Sons of strife and stiffness, as indeed provoked me, against mine inclination, to publish the following Sermon; at the Preaching of which, two of your discontented Pew-Mates carried themselves (as at other times ever since the 
* Tho' they have very early taken the Oaths to K. W. and Q. M.  Revolution) with all the proud and insolent contempt imaginable: yea and in seeming great rage and wrath quitted the Congregation, as if I had been about overturning Foundations, and denied the Faith once delivered to the Saints; and were running apace to the Dissenters, and was doing their work.  
This is the Charge, and this is the Crime; and I think it a very great one too, if I should think, say, or do any thing against the Church. But I have delivered no more than what you may read in the Bishop of Worcester's Discourse against the Socinians; or in Dr. Lightfoot, Bishop Peirson, Dr. Towerson, and others of our Learned Church of England.  
The Dissenters, as the Novatians of Old, may be right in their Doctrine, except in that which causes or occasions their separation. And I hearty wish all that are Zealous for, or against Ceremonies, were as warm for Peace, and Holiness, Truth, and Concord; and that all of us, as Disciples of the humble and holy Jesus, under the Ministry of Paul, or Apollo, would as new-born-Babes desire the sincere Milk of the word, that we may grow thereby in Grace, and substantial Knowledge; which is the earnest and sincere Prayer of the Minister of the Parish, and Parish Church of Bridgewater; and therefore,  
your very Humble Servant, William Allen. From my Study, Bridgewater, April, 1697.   

THE PREFACE.  
IT was an early Custom in the Asian Church, and continues so to this very day (says Sir Paul Ricaut) for Christians to Salute each other with this Cheerful Congratulation on Easter Morning: Christ is Risen; and the Return is, Christ is Risen indeed. For 'twas a melancholy interval with Christ's first Disciples, which he foretold them of, that they should mourn, when the World did rejoice. All the while the Son of Righteousness was in an Eclipse, his poor Disciples were in a state of darkness, and fear, and trouble, and almost despondency, as we may gather from their faint hopes in their way to Emaus, Luke 24.21. We trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel. But in a farther Conference, our Saviour chides and rebukes them for their little confidence. O Fools, and slow of Heart to believe all that the Prophets have spoken; whereof this is one, Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell, neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see Corruption.  
He descended into Hell, is one of the Articles of that which we call the Apostle's Creed. Not that I believe it is (in totidem verbis) any more the Apostle's-Creed, than it is yours, or mine. Indeed there was a certain Writer tells us a Story; That the Apostles, before their parting from Jerusalem, into the several parts of the World to Preach the Gospel, agreed upon a form of Christian Faith; and that every one cast in his Symbolum, or Article, which made just Twelve. But for this, we have only this one Man's word, but all the other Ancients know nothing of this Matter. Or that the present Creed, commonly called the Apostle's-Creed, was, as Ruffinus reports, theirs. All the Learned now a-days, in Church-History, are agreed it was never composed by them. Not but that there was a form of sound words, but not as now. Some were derived from the Apostles, or from their days. As, I Believe in God the Father; Or, as the Greeks read it, in One God the Father, in opposition to the Polytheism of the Heathens; And in Jesus Christ his only begotten Son our Lord; I Believe in the Holy Ghost, the Resurrection of the Body, and the Life Everlasting. These are all we can call Primitive from the Apostles. Tho' all the other are true, yet the others were added since in opposition to Heresies, as they sprang up in the Church. As, was Conceived by the Holy Ghost, was put in in opposition to the Carpocratians, Ebonites, and Corinthians, who taught that Christ was born in the ordinary and common way as other Men and Women are. Was Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was placed in the Creed in contradiction to the Docetae, Simonians, and others; who affirmed Christ to be a Man, not really, but fantastically, and in appearance. I believe the Remission of Sins was added to the form of words against the Basilidians, and Novatians. They only held that not all Sins, but only involuntary ones would be remitted. The other denied remission to the lapsed. But to come more immediately to my Theme, and to trace no longer the rest. The Article of the descent into Hell, was brought in toward the latter end of the Fourth Century. From this account of the Creed, I may again assume my assertion; that, that we commonly call the Apostles, as it stands in our Liturgy, is no more their Creed, than it is mine, or yours. That is, you and I believe all these Articles, because they are in the Scriptures, and may be proved from them; which is our Rule to prove that called the Apostle's-Creed by; and particularly that of Christ's descent into Hell, which is founded upon this Text,  
Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell, neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see Corruption.   
ACTS II. 27. 
Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell, neither wilt thou suffer thy Holy One to see Corruption.  
SAint Peter, in a short but notable Sermon, demonstrates Jesus to be the Messiah. The Holy One of God. The Lord, the Christ. First, From the Miracles he did in his Life-time; they being witnesses of the same, v. 22. Secondly, By the fulfilling of Prophecy; in being not only rejected by his own, but Crucified by them, according to the determinate Counsel of God, ver. 23. Thirdly, From the Wonders he did, not in Life only, but in Death; he broke through the bonds of it; the Grave could not detain his Body, nor Hades his Soul. And this according to Prophecy, and Promise, Psal. 16. v. 10. Which is the Apostle's Quotation, and my Text. And the Doctrine or Article of Faith grounded upon it, is this. That Jesus, the Christ and Saviour of the World made a Sacrifice for Sin, and, actually dead and buried, went into the Region of Spirits, but returned speedily from thence, and reassuming his Body, risen victoriously from the Grave.  
In discussing this Doctrine, I will show,  
(1.) What is the meaning of Christ's Soul being in Hell.  
(2.) The Reason and Occasion of this Article boing inserted in our Creed.  
(3.) The Incorruptibility of his Body, it did not see Corruption. Tho' the Jews gave its Death-wounds; yet the wounds putrified not. Together with the Use we ought to make of these Considerations.  
I shall not mention the various Opinions about this Article; they rather disgrace than instruct; but speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and that as concisely and clearly as I can.  
(1.) What is the meaning of Christ's Soul being in Hell For, with respect to his Godhead, we may say of him in the words of the Psalmist, Psal. 139.7, 8. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into Heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in Hell, behold thou art there. But our Discourse is of the Soul of the Messiah, and that was for a while in Hell. Not in the sense the Damned are, who are in a State of Torment, in a Region of Woe and Misery, which is full of Flame and Fire; as the Rich Man roars out in the Text, Luke 16.24. Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. But the Soul of the Messiah, when he gave up his Ghost, passed into the Receptacle of Blessed Souls, into that Paradise where the Redeemed and Pardoned are Lodged, and where with him went the Repenting Thief on the Cross, Luke 23.43. This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.  
'Tis this Receptacle of good Souls, this Paradise for those that die in Christ, that is called Hades; that is, an invisible State, a Being, tho' in a remote Region, which Eye cannot reach or penetrate.  
I confess 'tis a hard matter to beat out of the vulgar Heads the gross conception of the word Hell, which sounds to them no other than horror, and blackness of darkness, and fire and brimstone. The word Hell in our English is harsh and dreadful, and speaks to us the place of the Damned: A 
* D. Lightfoot.  place very improper to look for the Soul of Christ, when departed out of his Body, for Him and His Betrayer Judas to meet in the same place. He that had by Death purchased Heaven for others, himself after death to descend into Hell.  
This therefore cannot be; no, is not the meaning of the word Hell where Christ went; he came not near that Abyss, nor was at all among those Reprobated Crew. The word Hell, is a word of Latitude, and hath a larger signification, as all that understand Greek know: And I could wish, for the sake of the People, we could find a softer and more expressive word to speak in: for the true, easy, and natural sense of Hades, is an invisible Region, the Mansion of blessed Souls, which in Scripture is called Paradise, Heaven, Abraham's-bosom.  
Object. If Hades means Paradise, why should Christ pray against his being left in Hades, and hope that his Soul shall not be left in Hades, as he hopes his Body shall not see Corruption?  
Answ. He doth not pray thus, as if it were not well with his Soul in Hades, as to what he enjoyed: For his Soul was the Soul of the Messiah, the Soul of a Redeemer, a Soul that was to Conquer Death, and not to stay any considerable time from his Body born of the Virgin Mary. He had work to do which other Souls had not; he was to rise for others justification. He was to ascend into the Holy of Holiest, as the great Highpriest of our Souls; and therefore he must return to his Body, that he may as God-Man in Humane flesh for ever enter into the Vale. As if he should say, thou wilt not leave me under Death; that is, my Soul in separation: This would be the triumph of the Devil. But tho' the Messias' Soul, when in its separation, was in Bliss; and all Holy Souls departed are so; yet Christ's Soul had an undertaking that surmounted that of all Humane Souls; and therefore, to accomplish that, he prays for the fulfilling of the Promise: That tho' his Soul, as others of Humane Kind, were really separated, yet that his might speedily be reunited, for the perfecting of the work he took upon him the form of a Servant, and came into the Body at first.  
Secondly, The Occasion and Reason of this Article being inserted in our Creed. Not that it was there at first, but it came in afterward, and that occasioned by a new Heresy that started up in the Church; and therefore to obviate that, this Article was added as a Truth provable from Scripture, that Christ went into Hades.  
The Error was this, that Christ had no proper Intellectual, or Rational Soul. Which Heresy was begun and propagated by one Appolonius, and his Followers. That the Word, or the Divinity, supplied the place of a Soul, and that therefore he was not properly dead when his Body was in the Grave. But in opposition to this Error, the Christians assert that Christ had a humane Soul, that it underwent all the Offices of one in the Body, and out of the Body, of a humane Soul: that first it was infused as other Souls are, when a Body was prepared; and when in the Body, it actuated as other Souls, by opening and enlarging its faculties, as the Body grew in stature, and the Man in years; and he hungered and thirsted as other Men did, the Union of his Soul and Body being to be preserved by the same aliment that others were: And when he was Crucified, and by the pains of that disposed for a resignation of his Spirit, he gave it up to God, and waited upon his disposal of it. For all Souls are to return to the Father of Spirits, to be consigned to the state or place they are meet for: And the Soul of the Messiah went to the Apartment of separated Souls, that is of Good and Righteous ones.  
The improvement we make of this Article, and Doctrine of Faith, is as follows.  
(1.) That we are assured that we Are, when we go hence: And the Disciples of Christ go to Paradise, as he did: I do not say they go into the Heaven of Heavens, for that Christ did not himself, till he reassumed his Body. But when they are not as to mortal Eye, they shall Bebritia So our Saviour told the repenting Thief, This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise; thy Soul and mine shall go together to the Assembly of the firstborn: The dissolution of our Bodies shall not break off our Being; the Soul, the better part, Is; even in the state of separation. The dust must return to dust, but the Soul returns to God, to be disposed of to its appointed Mansion. The Soul of the Messiah went to Hades, the Congregation of the Just, the Receptacle of Blessed Spirits, the Rest that remains for the People of God, till they are recalled to take up their Bodies. They enter into rest, not a cessation of Being, or a rest of sleep, till the awaking at the sound of the last Trump, the dream of some. But they rest in hope, they live in a joyful expectation of a more glorious appearance. They are clothed upon from above, as soon as they go out of the Body. But they await under that clothing, be it what it will, for their first Bodies to be made like Christ's glorious Body. They rest from sin and sorrow, and all the ill Concomitants of a mortal Body; but yet are vigorous and lively, and in possession of a happiness that deserves the name of Heaven and Paradise; tho' even in that state it may be said, what St. John says of the Sons of God here, that it doth not so fully appear, even there, what they shall be: But yet there, as here, they have this assurance, that when Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall they and we appear with him in Glory. Our Saviour's return to reassume his Body, gave an Ocular demonstration of the Immortality both of Body and Soul. The Immortality of the Soul was not so much questioned; but that of the Body, and the Resurrection of that, was ridiculed. Acts 17.18. And so in after times, 
Minutius Felix.  as I find in an Ancient Christian Writer. But Christ's Soul came into his Body, and by that he gave us assurance of the whole Man's appearing again in Body and Soul. The Body shall not always be in the Grave, nor the Soul be without its old Companion; with these Eyes shall we again see our Redeemer. This Doctrine is peculiarly the Revelation of the Gospel. The Philosophy of the Gentiles could not reach it. A thousand difficulties they raise against the possibility of it: but what Christ did for himself, he will do for his followers. He followed the Spirits of Just Men into their state, after their separation from the Body, and he will bring them and their Souls back again to their Bodies, and he will give them again their former Tabernacles or Abodes; and the Organs of those of them that sleep in Jesus shall be awakened, and their scattered Atoms shall be recalled to make up the whole Compositum, Body and Soul; and as Men in Bodies they shall ever be with the Lord.  
Thirdly, A God Incarnate takes actual care both of our Bodies and Souls, in every state after we come into the Body; in Life, in Death, and after Death.  
A God Incarnate, I say; for so was the Lord of Glory that was Crucified for us, that Died, and risen again from the Dead. Not that God could die, but the Nature he was Hypostatically united to, suffered a separation; and he himself re-assumed his Body, and by the power of his Divinity returned from Hades.  
Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up, Joh. 2.19. He spoke of the Temple of his Body. v. 21. Therefore doth the Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself: I have power to take it again, John 10.17, 18. And this Power he exerts not only for himself, but all his Followers; he is with them in Life, in Death; in the Body, and out of the Body. He dwells with them by his Spirit, while in the Tabernacle of the Flesh; and when out of the Body, they are with the Lord. He beams his Light of Glory into the Regions they are in, for a while, as separate from the Body; he never leaves them nor forsakes them. James, and John, and Peter, saw his transfiguration on the Mount, and were transported into ecstasy; in so much that St. Peter cries out, 'tis good to be here. He was so ravished as not to think of any other after-glory, he was so well contented with that, Matth. 17.2. St. Stephen, under a shower of Stones, looked up steadfastly into Heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. Acts 7.55. And some such like manifestations separate Souls have of their glorified Saviour, which makes them wait with joy for a farther Salvation.  
Fourthly, That a Separation hereafter will be ever made, betwixt the Righteous and Unrighteous. Our Saviour in the state of Separation had nothing to do with the Damned; he gave them no visit, he was none of their Company, he made not up one of their number; he went not into Hell in this sense. They that are inclinable to take the Doctrine in the grosser sense, yet do not understand it of his being pained or punished with the Damned. But rather that he consigned them the more firmly in their state of horror and darkness; and that he triumphed over Devils, only as upbraiding them of their Apostasy, and falling from their station; and reproaching all Spirits in their Apostasy, for the same Rebellion, and binding them up in Chains of Darkness till the judgement of the great Day. But the true and brighter side of the Article, is to encourage, comfort, and confirm the Spirits of the Righteous with the hopes of a greater and farther glorification, and of a nearer approach to the Eternal Majesty, when he shall come again to give up the Kingdom unto the Father, when he and they shall ever be with the Lord.  
Fifthly, Nothing shall withhold us from returning unto the Body, when the time of reunion comes. Nothing hinders the good Soul from entering into Paradise. The Angels, that pitch their Tents about them that fear God in their life time, while in their Bodies, and who are Ministering Spirits to those that are Heirs of Salvation; do at the moment of their separation from their Bodies, await the good Soul's coming forth, and immediately guard it through the Region of the Air, the Principality of Daemons, into those Blessed Abodes, where good Souls await the redemption of the Body, by a Resurrection and Reunion. Thus we read of Lazarus' Soul being carried by Angels into Abraham's bosom, Luke 16.22. I need urge no more on this Head, with reference to the Followers of Jesus in the Regeneration, for their assurance of following him in Life, in Death, and after Death; than the great and triumphant Challenge and Conclusion of the Apostle, Rom. 8.34, 39 Wherefore let us comfort one another with these words, Christ is Risen; or rather with these of the Apostle, apposite to my Sermon, 1 Thes. 4.15, 16, 17, 18. For if we believe that Jesus died, and rose again: even so them also which believe in Jesus, will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive, and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. 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. 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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.  
You shall, as your Redeemer's Soul, go into Paradise; but that is not your Eternal Rest. It is a Mansion, but not the Everlasting Kingdom that is yet to come; and Christ will come to carry all and every of you, both Body and Soul, into the Kingdom prepared for you. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.  
Thirdly, The incorruptibility of his Body; it was not to see Corruption. Tho' the Jews [or Soldiers] gave him his death-wounds, yet they did not fester, nor his Body see Corruption. The immaculate Lamb was without spot, he was pierced, but he was not putrified; he was butchered, but not blemished; his Body was cast into the Grave, but it did not see Corruption. Worms were neither his Brothers or Sisters; his Body was of a purer make, and had none of that taint that could attract such Vermin. But tho' this may look plausibly, yet it is not powerful without proof. I shall therefore, besides my Text, represent to you some Considerations why Christ's Body was not to see Corruption.  
First, Because he was in three days to reassume it, according to Promise, and his own Prediction: He that laid it down, had power, and time prescribed by himself to take it up; and that he limited according to the Laws of Nature: I mean of material Nature; because after such a Season of Stagnation, and Incirculation of Animal Spirits, according to the Laws of motion, the Body would Corrupt: A piece of Philosophy we read a Woman's Capacity reached to; as in the instance of Lazarus' Body being in the Grave. Martha, the Sister of him that was dead, said unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh, for he hath been dead four days. Joh. 11.33. The time of our Saviour's Body's being in the Grave was therefore prefixed. And as a Bone of him was not to be broken, according to the Text: So neither was his Body to see Corruption. This he often intimated to his Disciples, tho' they were dull of hearing, or understood not his Say.  
They would not believe that he must die, that he must be Crucified, and the third day rise again; though he had very seriously and solemnly Preached this Doctrine to them, and that too as an Evidence of his being the Messiah, delivered in the Scriptures. But, as he upbraids them after his Resurrection, They were slow of heart to believe what the Prophets had said of him, and what he had said unto them, Luke 21.25. Which is proof to us, that his Body was not to see Corruption. For why should he chide them for their distrust and their unbelief, but that it was a thing they ought to have believed, that the Body of the Messiah was not to see Corruption? His Body, in this sense, was not to be a Mortal Body, as ours, to return to Dust. That was the melancholy Sentence passed on the Posterity of Adam, but not to reach him that is the second Adam; who was tho' the Son of Adam, as says St. Luke; yet not according to an ordinary Generation. His Mother knew not Joseph, nor was he Conceived after the manner of Men; and whatever the Virgin Mary was, he was not born in Original Sin. But of this more under the subsequent Consideration.  
He that laid down his Earthly Tabernacle, had power to raise it up again; and he would stay no longer in the Region of Spirits, when he saw it was time for him to return to his Body, from the beginning prepared for him; which he was in every sense to keep immaculate.  
He had said, destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up again; and he spoke, says the Text, of the Temple his Body, John 2.21. All the whole stress of his Undertaking lay upon this, of his raising his Body. No body would have believed him, had he not raised his Body. This was the main Point that kept such a stir in Jerusalem, that raised the Scribes and Pharisees all in an uproar, that the Body they Crucified was risen again. They took all the pains, and made use of all the craft imaginable to suppress the Report. They persecute the Disciples at a grievous rate, for their preaching and publishing the truth of his Resurrection. They own that he had said so, that he would raise his Body again. We remember what that Deceiver said while he was yet alive, after three days will I rise again, Matth. 27.63. And they would fain make him a Liar, and his Disciples too; and to that end they tamper with the Soldiers. They gave large money unto the Soldiers, saying, say ye his Disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. Matth. 28.12, 13. But he that was the Truth, was the Life, the Life to his own Body; he came back with his Spirit, and quickened it again. And according to Promise, and Prediction, made good his word of both, and rose the third day. But we go on to Consider,  
Secondly, His Body was not to see Corruption; because he was the second Adam, and was not under the guilt of the first. He was the Lord from Heaven, and the Lord of Glory; and his Body was to be a glorious Body. His Body was never stained by Sin or Sickness, and his Death-wounds only opened a passage for his Spirit; but the Cabinet, tho' broken or bruised, was not disjointed; the Temple was destroyed without dislocation of any part, or fracture of any joint, and the whole compages remained sound and safe, till the good Soul returned to put the Organs again in tune. The first Adam brought in Sin and Death into the World; the second, Life, and Immortality: An Argument which the Apostle pursues, in 1 Cor. 15.47. The first Man is of the Earth, Earthy; the second Man is the Lord from Heaven. Our Bodies must to Dust, or Earth; because they were made of Dust. They must moulder, because they are Mortal. Our Natures, as derivative from a Sinner, are decreed to death and dissolution, and must sink into the same Principle of which they are compounded; but the second Man is the Lord from Heaven; the Lord of Life and Immortality. He doth not bring Death, but Life to Body and Soul. And therefore, in v. 45. the Apostle styles him a quickening Spirit; keeping his Body tenantable, tho' he went out of it; and not only so, but he was Lord of his own Body, and none other had Power and Dominion over it. None, nor any thing, could assault his Body laid up as in a Repository for his returning.  
It seems by what we read in the History of the Gospel, he put a Lifeguard of Angels upon it, or about it, while he went into a far Country; which frighted both the Soldiers, and Devout Women that came to his Sepulchre to look after him, Luke 24.4.  
The Socinians here banter and batter this Bulwark of our Faith, by asserting that Christ had no power of his Body; that, when dead, and in the Grave, was out of his Care or Concern. That 'twas God kept his Body incorruptible, and raised it such. It was God the Father that took care of the Body and Soul of God the Son. We yield this; but he was such a Son of God as dwelled in Flesh, not after the manner of the first Adam's Progeny. His Body was of a finer make, and purer mould; conceived of the Holy Ghost, and born of the Virgin, and so had the Seeds of Immortality in it; and was not to corrupt, tho' the Inmate was for a while to remove. God the Father did indeed raise Christ from the dead, as we read, Gal. 1.1. But it's also written, that Christ also did raise himself. Joh. 2.21. Destroy this Temple, and I will raise it again. Where he speaks of the Temple of his Body: Which he might very properly call a Temple, because the fullness of the Godhead dwelled in him bodily. And in Scripture we are informed, That when he was risen from the dead, his Disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the Scripture, and the word that Jesus had said: That Christ took care of his own Body, and raised himself: For 'tis written, Joh. 5.21. As the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. He then which quickeneth the dead Bodies of others, when he raiseth them; he also quickened his own Body, when he raised that.  
Thirdly, and lastly. His body was not to see Corruption; because he was, as the Christian Highpriest, to enter into the Holy of Holiest, as the first-fruits of the Dead. So our Apologist St. Peter, v. 29, etc. of this Chapter, Men and Brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the Patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his Sepulchre is with us unto this day; therefore being a Prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an Oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his Throne: He seeing this before, spoke of the Resurrection of Christ, that his Soul was not left in Hell, neither his flesh did see Corruption.  
This Spiritual Highpriest must enter into the Holy of Holiest, with all his Pontificalibus; his Body and Soul Clean, and Clear, Pure, and Perfect, Radiant, and Glorious; the true Regalia that adorned the Investiture of this Highpriest. He was also to rise as the first fruits, the Cause and Pledge of all others Resurrection. Afterwards they that are Christ's; even Holy and Pious Men shall be raised up, but not immediately, for their Bodies must remain in the Grave, and their Souls in Hades, till he calls them. They must see Corruption, and pay the debt of a corrupt Nature, and undergo the Penance of the Grave, and Hades. Not that they feel pain in the one, or the other; but they willingly resign to the Divine Decree, and for a while rest in hope of a glorious Redemption. For the bonds of Death were unloosed by the Captain of our Salvation, but they were such bonds as did not fetter; they were willingly put on, and easily put off. The Christian Highpriest was to be a Freeman, not a Prisoner; he was not to enter with Shackles, but rather with the Armature of a glorious Victor, Eph. 6.13. etc. With the whole Armour of God, with the Breastplate of Righteousness, with the Shield of Faith, with the Helmet of Salvation, with the Sword of the Spirit, by which he stood in the day of trial, and withstood the fiery Darts of the Wicked, and cut in sunder the bonds of Death.  
To allude to the Apostle's Phrase.  
From these Considerations, we may conclude his Body could not see Corruption. (1.) Because in three days, according to Promise and Prediction, he was to assume his Body. (2.) Because he was the second Adam, and so he was not under the guilt or the penalty of the first. (3.) Because he as the Highpriest, was to enter Body and Soul pure as the Aether, into the Everlasting Kingdom, the Regions of Light and Glory.  
The Doctrinal part of this Sermon speaks Comfort to us all, words of great Consolation, that should enliven us, and fill us with joy in believing.  
For First, The same Lord Jesus that raised and reassumed his own Body, shall raise ours, and make them like his Glorious Body, Phil. 3.21. It is the Faith of all Orthodox Divines, that had the first Adam stood, we had stood in him, in his integrity, in a perfect and holy Nature, and in the favour of God. And that after the expiration of a determinate time, our Bodies and Souls had been translated as Enoches and Elias', without seeing Death, into a state of Immortality. But what we lost by the first Man's prevarication, will be beyond our deserts, restored by the second Adam. And as in Adam all died, so in Christ shall all be made alive. All are to live, but some to the Resurrection of the Just, whose Bodies shall be made like Christ's glorious Body. The second Adam, say you, who is he? Why the seed of the Woman, that should bruise the Serpent's head, Gen. 3. That Seed in whom all the Nations of the Earth are blessed. The second Adam, in whom, and by whom, a new Covenant of Grace is made for blessings in this World, and far greater in another, that now we might have life, and that more abundantly; the life of Grace, and hereafter the life of Glory. This is the Christ whose Body did not see Corruption, nor his Soul remain among the Dead; of whom all the Prophets spoke, of whom the World hath from all Ages rung to all Nations. Tho' indeed the great expectation of him was eminently and more explicitly kept alive amongst God's own People the Jews, before his coming into the World. And they did look for such a one; and tho' when he did come, they rejected him, yet such a one they did and do still expect.  
But we are convinced that Christ is that second Adam, and he hath fulfilled all Prophecies, and all Righteousness; and that very same Jesus that was Crucified at Jerusalem, under Pontius Pilate (being then the Roman Procurator) is the Christ, the promised Seed; and is, as himself says, the Resurrection from the Dead, or He that shall raise the Dead. And therefore we are assured that our Bodies shall be raised, and that more especially,  
Secondly, Because Christ is our Lord, he hath Redeemed our Bodies by his precious blood, and he Sacrificed his Body for ours, and we have dedicated our Bodies to him, and he is Lord of our Bodies. And as Lord of them he will appear again in the Body he appeared in on Earth, in the Body he ascended up into Heaven; in that Body shall he come again to judge the quick and the dead, and therefore in our Bodies shall we arise to meet our Lord, yea our Redeemer, and mighty Saviour. For he will command the Sea to give up its dead, and the Earth to give up its. Not only our Souls, but our Bodies are Redeemed by him from the Grave, and here is the state of the Dead.  
He had not assumed a Body, nor suffered in his Body, nor risen again with his Body, but for the benefit of us, otherwise Eternally Mortal and lost Creatures in Body and Soul; That our Bodies may be made like his glorious Body, and that both Bodies and Souls may ever be with the Lord. And for a confirmation of this, we consider farther,  
Thirdly, That Christ raised his own Body. But how know we this, say you? But then, say I, would it be satisfactory if you had seen it? Would you have believed, if you had conversed with him after he did rise from the Dead: So fancied the Rich Man in Hell; but you remember what our Saviour returned to his Request, Luke 16.31. If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded tho' one risen from the Dead. You have Moses and the Prophets, the Scriptures are your Light and Lantern, the Relation of the Evangelists and the Apostles are your Credentials; what hath in this matter been transmitted down from Age to Age for these Sixteen Hundred Years and upwards are your Testimonials. And if after all the Witnesses of the Church of God, and the Minds of Martyrs, we will not yet believe, tho' we saw before our Eyes a present Resurrection. The Jews did not in the Case of Lazarus. But I am not Preaching to Infidels, but Believers; and we know that because Christ is risen, we also shall arise, and our Bodies shall be made like Christ's Body. For,  
Fourthly, Christ will do this great Work, by taking away all those Corruptible Qualities and Infirmities to which our Bodies are liable, both living and dead. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, That this vile Body may be refined, and freed from decay, being made like the Glorified Body of Jesus after the Resurrection. Hence some have Critically, if not too curiously, affirmed, That the Infant, and the Aged, and all others, shall at the Resurrection appear in their Bodies, of the same youthfulness with that which Christ laid down, and rose again in. I can't be positive in that, but we may say more to the purpose, when we say that our Bodies shall be like Christ's glorious Body. i e. Bodies freed from the corruption of Matter, the blemishes of Age, and the greater stain of Sin; Bodies that shall be made capable of mounting aloft. And this will be easily effected, if we consider,  
Fifthly, The Instrument by which our Lord shall effect this Wonder, even by his Omnipotence.  
Why, says the same Apostle, should it be thought impossible that God should raise the Dead?  
The Chemists tell us for certain, that the Particles of a resolved Body may retain their own Nature under various alterations, and disguises, of which it is possible they may be stripped, and that without making a Humane Body cease to be the same; it may be repaired, and augmented, by the adaption of congruously disposed Matter: Which Philosophy solves the difficulty of the loss of Body into Earth, and from thence to Grass, and from Grass, to Chyle in the Ox or the Sheep's Belly, and from thence into food again for Man; so that through a successive Transmigration, the Body of Man becomes that of another. But why should it be thought impossible that a most intelligent Agent, whose Omnipotence extends to all that is not contradictory to the nature of things, or of his own, should be able so to order and watch the Particles of a Humane Body, as that a complete number may be preserved, and retrieved; so that stripping them of their disguises, or extricating them from other parts of Matter, to which they may happen to be conjoined, he may reunite them betwixt themselves, and if need be, with Particles of Matter fit to be contexted with them; which being united with the former Soul, may in a sense consonant to the Expressions of Scripture, re-compose the same Man whose Soul and Body were formerly dejoyned by Death. But if you inquire as Nicodemus, How can these things be? I can answer no other than what is already said, unless it be in the words of our Saviour, to Peter's impertinent enquiry: What's that to thee, and I? Let us believe in God, believe also in Christ, and be followers of him in the Regeneration, and we need not doubt of coming again, and appear at the Resurrection of the Just.  
For Lastly, We conclude that a Spiritual Resurrection in this Life, must precede the blessed and glorious Resurrection to Eternal Life. 'Tis for the sake of a raised Mind, that the Body shall be like Christ's glorious Body; for we must not expect to have a part in the Resurrection of the Just, unless in this Life we commense such Men.  
The pure in Heart and the pure in Life shall only see God as their Redeemer with their bodily Eyes, or their intellectual ones.  
If any are so wretched as to go out of this World with corrupt Affections, and an Earthy Heart, with brutish Minds, and sordid Desires, happy would it be if they could perish as the Beasts do. But, ah Lord! there is a lower descent for such Men. They shall not be blessed with the refuge and silence of a Grave. The Earth must give up its Dead, and after a while Earth must be no longer Earth, but Earth must to Hell, in the most dreadful sense and sound of the word. And without all question, at the great Conflagration, Bodies and Souls will be tumbled down into the devouring Fire, and the then Everlasting Flames. A corrupt Mind not only breeds a Worm that will continually gnaw, and that never dies, as our Saviour teaches, but it causes and leaves a sinful putrefaction in the Flesh, which remains after the Soul is fled, and will continue when the Soul returns; the torment of which will outlast the Corruption of the Grave, or the Doom-Days Fire, which neither the one or the other can consume or destroy.  
Wherefore it concerns us all now to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit. There's no Purgatory after this Life; that's a Dream, or a Doctrine rather [if you will] of some Crafty Priests, that make Gain their Godliness; and would persuade Men that they are Redeemed with Gold and Silver; against the express Dogma of St. Peter. As the Tree falls, so it will lie. And if we sow to the Flesh, we shall of the Flesh reap Corruption. But let us from the Considerations before offered, be provoked, as the Philosopher, to bespeak our Souls after this manner. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  
It becomes us, having a Glorious Hope for our Bodies and our Souls, to purify ourselves, as God is pure; to set our Affections on Things Above, and not on Things on Earth; to mortify the deeds of the Body, and to mount and raise our Minds to the Celestial Regions, the pure Aether, the proper Mansions for all that are made meet to be Inheritors with the Saints in Light.  
FINIS.