(substance, but state and condition.1 Spiritual in the text is not op- posed to visible, but to natural ; for their bodies, though in a sense they are spiritual, yet they shall be as visible as the glorious body of Christ. When I say their bodies shall be spiritual, you must not think that I mean that their bodies shall be turned into spirits. Oh no ! for they shall keep their bodily dimensions, and be true bodies still. Look, as in change of old and broken vessels, the matter is the same, only the colour is fresher and brighter, and the fashion newer and better, so in the day of glory, our bodies shall be the same for substance that now they are ; they shall retain the same flesh, blood, and bones, and the same figure and members, that now is, only they shall be overlaid or clothed with spiritual and heavenly qualities and prerogatives ; their bodies shall be glorious, of a due and comely proportion, of an exquisite feature and stature, of a lively colour, of cheerful aspect, and full of beauty and glory, splendour and favour. Now the bodies of the saints shall be spiritual, first, in respect of their full, perfect, and perpetual freedom from all heats, colds, hungerings, thirstings, sickness, weak- ness, ivants. Here one cries out, Oh my back, my back ! another. Oh my belly, my belly ! with the prophet, Hab. iii. 16 ; another, Oh my head, my head ! with the Shunamite's son, 2 Kings iv. 19 ; another, Oh my son, my son ! as David for Absalom, 2 Sam. xviii. 33 ; another, Oh my father, my father ! with Elisha, 2 Kings ii. 12. Every one here hath some ailment or other, some want or other, some grief or other, which fills his eyes with tears and his heart with sorrow ; but when these natural bodies, these animal or soully bodies, shall be made glorious, then they shall be fully and perpetually freed from all manner of miseries and calamities; they shall be as the angels, not subject to any sickness, weakness, or wants : Rev. vii. 16, 17, ' They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more ; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of water ; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.' Rev. xxi. 4, ' God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes ; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain : for the former things are passed away ;' and in this respect their bodies may be said to be spiritual. But, secondly, they may be said to be spiritual in respect of their spiritual agility and nimbleness. Now, our bodies are gross, dull, and heavy in their motion: and by this the soul is many times hindered in its lively operations ; for when the soul would mount up on high, and busy herself about eternal objects, the body, like a lump of lead, keeps it down ; but now, in this glorious state, the body shall put off all grossness, dulness, and heaviness, and be exceeding agile, light, and apt to motion, far beyond the swiftest bird that flies, Isa. xl. 31 ; 1 Thes. iv. ] 7.
I know not by what to set forth the agility of glorified bodies ; a post, a bird, a torrent, are too short to set forth their agility.
Luther saith, that a glorified body shall move up and down like a thought.
1 auficc -^ixix-ov, an animal or soully body, that is, actuated and animated by the soul after a natural way and manner, by the intervention of natural helps, such as eating, drinking, sleeping, and the like.
434- A STRING OF PEARLS. [1 PETER I. 4.
And Austin saith, The body will presently be here and there, where the soul would have it.1 Certainly the speed and motion of glorified bodies will be extraordinary and incredible. A glorified saint desiring to be in such or such a place a thousand miles off or more, he will be there in such an incredible short time, that one calls it imperceptible, hardly to be discerned : in which respect their bodies may be said to be spiritual. But, thirdly and lastly, they may be said to be spiritual, because of that perfect, full, absolute, and complete subjection that they shall delightfully and perpetually yield to the Spirit of God. Now they often vex and grieve, affront and fight against the Spirit of God. The members of our bodies, as well as the faculties of our souls, do often make war upon the Spirit of grace, as the apostle fully shews in that Rom. vi. ' The spirit often lusts against the flesh, and tin? flesh against the spirit,' Gal. v. 17. Now the body says to the soul, ' Be not righteous over-much ; neither make thyself over-wise : why shouldest thou destroy thyself V Eccles. vii. 16. Cyprian readeth this verse thus, Noli esse mult um Justus, et noli argumentari plus qvam, oportet, be not just over-much, and do not argue and dispute more than is meet. The body is often apt to say to the soul, Thou art just over-much, O soul ; and thou dost argue and dispute against this sin and that way, and this comfort and that enjoyment, more than is meet ; and the soul seems to answer, ver. 17, 'Be not over-much wicked, neither be thou foolish : why shouldest thou die before thy time V
But now in heaven the bodies of the saints shall be fully, perfectly, and delightfully, under the command, conduct, and guidance of the spirit ; and therefore may truly be said to be spiritual. As the spirit serving the flesh may not unfitly be called carnal, saith one,2 so the body obedient to the soul may rightly be termed spiritual. Glorified bodies are spiritual, not in their esseuce, but in condition and quality, as being fully and perpetually under the government of the Spirit. Now the tongue grieves the Spirit, and now the deaf ear is turned to the voice of the Spirit, and now the eye is rolling, when it should be reading the things of the Spirit ; and now the feet are wandering when they should be walking in the ways of the Spirit ; and now the hand is idle that should be diligent in the work of the Spirit, Eph. iv. 29-31, Isa, lxiii. 10. Oh ! but now in heaven, the tongue, the eye, the ear, the hands, the feet, shall be all brought into an angelical, willing, and delightful obedience to the Spirit; upon which account glorified bodies may truly be termed spiritual. But,
(3.) Thirdly, and lastly, As their bodies shall be spiritual, so they slmJI be immortal, tiny shall be incorruptible, 1 Cor. xv. 42, 54. Here these elementary bodies of ours, by reason of their earthly and dreggish com- position, are subject to mortality and corruption; and indeed man is so poor a piece, that he no sooner begins to live, but he begins to die ; his whole life is but a lingering death. Death every hour lies at the door ; tli is sergeant3 constantly attends all men, in all places, companies, changes, and conditions. Petrarch telleth of one, who being invited to