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gentle Gales of Winds perpetually blowing from the Ocean." But, they feem not to have acknowledged the Refurrection of the Body*. The Pharifees, who were we the moft confiderable Sect among the Jews, and greatly admired for their Knowledge and feeming Piety, openly afferted the Immortality of the Soul and the Refurrection: But, according to Jofephus, who himself was one of them, their Notion was, "That under the Earth there will be "Rewards and Punishments, accordingly "as Men lived virtuously or viciously here;

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that the Souls of bad Men fhall be con

fined in Prifon, and fubject to eternal "Punishments; but that the Souls of good "Men fhall go into other Bodies, and "hall at length return and live again in "this World." So that, as a learned Perfon obferves, the Refurrection they owned was properly a Refurrection of the Soul only, by it's Tranfmigration, and being again born with it. And indeed that the Notions the Jews had were grofs enough feems plain from the Objection the Sadducees brought against it, which derived all it's Force from the Suppofition, that, at

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0 sch bebind met bangifte encher *Jofeph. de Bello Jud. Lib. ii. Cap. 8. 1

+ Ibid. & Antiquit. Lib. xviii. Cap. I.

Prideaux Connect. Part

Gg 21

c Lib.

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the Refurrection, Men would live a Life like the prefent, marrying and giving in Marriage: And fuch a Refurrection probably was that which the Jews expected, in the Age of the Meffiab

But now let us confider the Account given us by our Saviour and his Apofiles, who were infpired by his Spirit, and taught the Things which he commanded them, concerning the Nature of that future Happinefs; and we fhall find it admirably fitted to raise in us the highest Conceptions of it's Greatnefs and Excellency." Sonod Jud

There are fome general Expreffions to this Purpofe, which, though metaphorical, are very expreffive and fignificant. t 361

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Thus that future Happiness is reprefented under the Notion of a Kingdom. Fear 1519 not little Flock, faith our Saviour to bis Difciples, it is your Father's good Pleasure to give you a Kingdom: And, accordingly, it is faid, They fhall reign for ever and ever, Rev. xxii. 5. It is called a Crown, a Crown of Righteoufnefs, 2 Tim. iv. 18. a Crown of Life, Jam, i. 12. a Crown of Glory that fadeth not away, 1 Pet. v.

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R. Jeremiah commanded, * When you bury me, put Shoes on my Feet, and give me a Staff in my Hand, and lay me on one Side, that, when the Meffiah comes, I may be ready." See Lightfoot, Vol. II. p. 269.

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It is also frequently defcribed under the defeat Glory, 2 Tim. Character of Glory

ii. 1o. Glory, Honour, and Immortality, Rom. ii. 7. The Riches of Glory, to fignify the great Abundance and Exuberance

of

and

Eph. i 18. A far more exceed a

17.

eternal Weight of Glory, 2 Cor." Cofique, Where the Words in the Original are fo wonderfully fublime and emphatical, that it is fcarce poffible to tranflate them with equal Force and Beauty into any other Language,

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But, befides thefe general Reprefentations, there are many other Paffages in the facred Writings of the New Teftament, that tend to give us more diftinct Notions of f that future Happiness, what it is, and wherein it doth confift.

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And, Firft, It is reprefented as a State af perfect Reft, an abfolute Exemption from all the Evils to which we are obnoxious in this prefent World. We are affured that there remaineth a Reft for the People of God, Heb. iv. 9. And we are exhorted to labour to enter into that Reft. Bleed are the Dead which die in the Lord; yea, faith the Spirit, that they may rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them. Rev.xiv. 13. They hall hunger no more, neither thief any more, neither fall the Sun light on them, nor any Heat. Rev.

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vii. 16. God shall wipe away all Tears from their Eyes; and there shall be no more Death, ath, neither Sorrow nor Crying, neither hall there be any more Pain; for the former Things, i. e. all the former Evils, are paffed away. Rev. xxi. 4. All Caufe of Grief and Uneafinefs fhall then be removed; and efpecially Sin, which is the Ground and Foundation of all other Evils. Hence we are told, There shall be no more Curfe, Rev. xxii. 3. And how happy W müft It be on boy a perfect Tranquillity, without go to th that peaceful State, where we any Thing to disturb or annoy from without or within, for ever railed above the Temptations of Satan, the Malice of wicked Men, and the Tumult and Confufions of this diforderly Scene!

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But, though this be a most refreshing Thought to those who have a due Senfe of the Evils and Miferies to which we are now expofed, yet this is not the Whole of that future Happiness, as reprefented in the Gospel: There are feveral other Things faid concerning it, which tend to raise in us ftill higher Ideas of it's Greatness and Excellency, winged ba

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Particularly, Firft, It is fignified, that our intire Natures, Body and Soul, fhall in that future State be railed to the Degree of Perfection. The Spirits of juft i noblest

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Men fhall then be made perfect. Heb. xii. 23. Their Faculties thall be refined and enJarged, their Understandings fhall be enlightened, fo that they fhall know the most excellent Things in a far better and more perfect Manner than they are capable of here on Earth: Now we know in Part as the Apostle expreffeth it, and prophesy in Part; but, when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in Part fhall be done away. When I was a Child, I spoke as a Child, I understood as a Child, I thought a Child; but, when I became a Man, I put away childish Things, 1 Cor. xiii. 9, 10, Where he reprefents the Knowledge we now have of Things, as compared we fhall attain to in a With that which we fhall future State, to be only as the crude and imperfect Notions of a Child compared with the Knowledge of a Man, when arrived to a Maturity of Reafon and Experience. But that which feems to be efpecially fignified, when the Spirits of the fuft, in that heavenly World, are reprefented as made perfect, is, that then they fhall arrive to a bigh Degree of moral Goodness, Holinefs, and Purity; for this is the true Health and Beauty, the Excellence and Perfection of the reasonable Nature: And accordingly that heavenly Inheritance is called the Inheritance of the Saints in Light, Gg 4 Col.

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