Thirdly, The third point is, that in the other world ' mortality is swallowed up of life.'
1. To open the meaning of this expression, ' swallowed up.' It is not swallowed up as a gulf or fire swalloweth up that which is cast into it ; no, but as Theodoret well expresseth it, as darkness is swallowed up by light, or as perfection swalloweth up imperfection, or as the rude draught is swallowed up by the perfecting of the i^icture, as childhood by manhood, &c. Such a perfective alteration is there of our state.
2. To show you what kind of life this is. (1.) It is an eternal life ; there you live, and never die ; you need not be perplexed with any thoughts and fears of change ; the soul shall no more flit out of the body, and the body itself shall remain in an eternal spring of youth. There was a way out of our earthly paradise, but none, that ever we could find, in again. But in our eternal paradise there is a way in, but no way out again : Luke xvi. 26, ' They that would pass from hence to you cannot.' Upon supposal they would, they cannot. God's grant will never be reversed. (2.) This life is life indeed, for it is a blessed life, always spent in the presence of God, the fountain of all blessedness ; and we ever love him, and are ever beloved by him 1 Thes. iv. 17. Not an hour nor a minute absent from God, praising
474 SERMONS UPON 2 CORINTHIANS V. [SeR. VI.
and lauding him for evermore. (3.) Tliis life is a glorious life. The sight is glorious ; there we shall see God face to face, 1 Coi-. xiii. 12. The place is glorious, 2 Cor. xii. 4, the upper paradi.-ie. The company is glorious, all the glorified saints and angels, Heb. xii. 22, 23. Our souls and bodies glorious, Phil. iii. 21. Our daily exercise shall be glorious ; for we shall always praise God without any vain thoughts, or distraction, or worldly encumbrances, or weariness of the flesh. (4.) It is a joyful life — ' Enter into thy master's joy,' Mat. xxv. 21 ; and Ps. xvi. 11, ' Thou wilt show me thy path of lite ; in thy presence there is fulness of joy, and at thy right hand pleasures for evermore.' The pleasures of tlie world are poor, empty things, suddenly pass away as a dream ; but these remain for ever, and are full and unmixed. There is continual matter of rejoicing, none of sorrow. (5.) It is a most lioly, pure, and perfect life. The body shall be united to a soul fully sanctified, from which it shall never again be separated, and both together shall be the eternal temple of the Holy Ghost ; and the whole man shall be firmly established in righteousness and holiness, never to sin, never to be in. danger to sin again. Well then, we learn two things hence.
First, That when a christian dieth, he is not extinguished; he is but unclothed, and his mortality is swallowed up of life. That which we call death is hut a dissolution, not a destruction; a separating of the soul from the body for a while : neither soul nor body is anni- hilated. It is a journey to a better world, called also a sleep in scripture. The death of the beasts is not called a sleep. Your flesh resteth in hope, Ps. xvi. 10. While the soul enjoyeth God, Christ is the guardian of your dust, and must see it forthcoming at the last day, which is a comfort to us in a dying hour. A christian can see life in death ; when his friends about him are waiting for the last gasp, he is waiting for eternity ; when they are crying out, Oh, he dieth 1 yet he can say. Yet I know that my Kedeemer liveth, and with these eyes shall I see him at the last day.
Secondly, It may quicken us to a contempt of this life, and a desire of that which is eternal. Mortality is the disgrace of all sublunary com- forts ; and the present life is of little value, were it not for the reference it hath to God and eternity, because we must soon lay it down. But then we shall be for ever with our Saviour, and behold his glory ; enjoy the clear vision of God, and be ravished with his beauty, and be filled with eternal joy and delights, and be secure of our eternal blessedness ; all tears shall be wiped from our faces, and we shall never sorrow any more. No evil that can be feared shall come near us ; all good shall abound there ; the light of God's eternal favour shall shine upon us in its full strength, and the streams of eternal goodness shall ever flow from God and the Lamb. These things we believe now, but the enjoyment will exceed all that man can conceive.
Fourthli/, The fourth proposition is —
That in this life we shall be clothed again with our bodies, and our bodies with everlasting glory.
For therefore the saints would not be wholly unclothed, but clothed upon. And the expression of mortality being swallowed up of life doth mainly concern the body, that is, our to dvr}Tov ; the soul is an