Bodies fhall Evaporate, in the Heavenly Paradife. Nor can I here be determined by the Authority even of Gregory the Great, (in his Dialogues, 1. 4. c 14.) concerning the Virgin Tarfilla, Looking up, and feeing Jefus defcend; when prefently, the Sweetest Fragrancy was diffufed all abroad the Air: To fhew that the Heavenly Author of all Sweetnefs was coming and alfo to intimate, That the Bodies of all Glorify'd Saints will be Conform'd to their Heavenly Head, in Sweetness, as well as Brightnefs. "We need none of thefe Stories, to raise

our Apprehenfions of the Saints Fruitions,

Tho' we have ground enough to per'fuade our felves, That where there fhall 'be true Living Bodies in their perfection, None of their Senfes fhall be want

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ing, but more Compleat than ever: 'And then, we need not doubt, but that there fhall be Objects on every fide, of the Beft, to entertain each particular Senfe, with the fweeteft Delight: And that this Senfe alfo, (among the reft,) 'fhall be much more Pleas'd than ever it was, or could be here. So that they who are delighted with Aromatic Odours, fweet Scents, and rich Perfumes, have the liberty here to raise their Thoughts as high as ever they are able, and conceive, if they can, with what infinite Variety of Sweets, they shall be I

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Refresh'd and fill'd; when in that fupreme Garden of all Delights, they fhall be furrounded with innumerable forts of Heavenly Flowers and ravifhing Odours, and the most precious Perfumes; which will fill and Transport the Senfe with an ever Grateful, but Inexpreffible Delight.

CHAP. VIII.

Of the Joy of Tafting and Feeling.

HO' there shall be no Eating and Drinking in Paradife, of the • Meat that periff eth, or any common Liquors, agreeable to Mortals here; yet the facred Writings tell us of Festivity there, and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb; and alfo of the Water of Life, and that Fruit of the Vine, which our Lord will drink New, (or Renew'd, and of a finer, nobler, and Better fort,) with his Difciples, in his Father's Kingdom. Mat. 26. 29. So that the Tafte fhall not be Superfluous there; but ferve to the higheff purposes; When without the Feeding on corruptible Viands, There fhall be on the Palate a perpetual Senfe of the sweetest Relish, far beyond that of

the

'the most delicious Banquet, and all the C richest Junkets in this World. In a word, It fhall be a pure Refined Delight, adapted to the Place and State of the Bleffed and Immortal.

Nor fhall the Bodies of Glorify'd Saints lofe their Feeling in Paradife. For being true Living Bodies, They may be Touch'd. As our Lord faid, Luk. 24. 29. Handle me and fee: For a Spirit has not Flesh and Bones, as ye fee me bave. For certain, There will never be any Impure Touches there ; Where all Propagation is quite at an End: And not the leaft Inclination to it fhall remain. For in the Refurrection, they neither Marry, nor are given in Marriage; But are as the Angels of God. Mat. 22. 30. They are all difpos'd of another, and infinitely Better way, in the fpiritual and Eter'nal Wedlock; to fuch a Glorious Bridegroom, in whom they have conftant and uninterrupted Transports of heavenly Delight; unfpeakably exceeding all the forry Fading Comforts of any other Marriage: Even Fulness of Joy in his Prefence, and Pleasures for evermore.

But no fmall Delight is that which will accrue to the Bleffed Saints from the conftant happy Tone and Habit of the Glori ous Body: When, (as the Apoftle tells us, 1 Cor. 15. 42.) It fhall be rais'd in Incor ruption, in Glory, in Power, and a Spiritual Body.

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Body. Of which high Endowments and Privileges, the Glory or Splendor of the Beatify'd Body, relates to the Senfe of Seeing; But all the reft, to that of Feeling. For when a Body is Difabled and pull'd down with the Preffure of Difeafes, Wounds, or any heavy Difafters, which are the common Harbingers of Death, How does it fink and Grieve under the grating Oppreffion? As when it is found and Athletic, Hail and Well, It is no lefs Eafy, Pleas'd and Joyful, in the feeling of its Eucrafy and happy State. But when (after the Refurrection,) the Saints Bodies fhall be quite above the reach of all Ailments and Dangers, and endued with Immortality and Impaffibility, and fuch a Crafis as is all Hail, and full of Life and Vigor: O how highly Pleas'd will it be, to feel it felf fo Well, and Perfect all over? And how sweetly alfo will the Glorify'd Soul Rejoice in fuch an Agreeable Part

ner?

O what would not men give, (Princes and Nobles especially,) could they but buy Health and Integrity of Body, free from Gout and Stone, Pains of Head and Stomach, Limbs and Bones, all their Lives? How high then will be the Gladnefs in Heaven, from whence not only Death, but every Difeafe, and Hurt, and Ach, and Malady, will be for ever Ba

nifh'd away? But befides the Removal of all Uneafinefs, Those Qualifications, whereby the Corruptible Body rifes Incorruptible, and the Feeble rifes Impaffible; as also the Advantages of Agility and Subtilty, whereby the Animal rifes Spiritual; What grateful Appurtenances will thefe be to the Senfe of Feeling? How joyful the News, to hear that it's become Spiritual, and a Glorious. Body! Tho' it ceafes not to have Flesh and Bones; Yet fo Tractable is it made to the Spirit, that (at its beck) without a ny manner of Reluctance or Trouble, It can move about with the greatest Celerity: Can Afcend and Defcend, Go and come,. any where; even as if it were not a Body, but a Spirit.

Therefore, like as the Senfe of Feeling is Ill-affected and aggreived, when the heavy Body (as now we have it,) is forced to move Upwards, or over fwiftly to be Hurried from place to place: So will it be as Eafy, and highly Pleas'd, to feel a Liberty and Ability of going Up or Down, and Transferring it felf hither and thither, any where, even as quick as it pleases. Here then, Behold, from what a Servi tude and Drudgery of Corruption, the Bleffed fhall be Freed: When they fhall no more ftand in need of Horfes or Chariots, Guards or Arms, Porters or any Borrowed Affiftance: But the Bleffed Bodies

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them