5. The honour which is put upon the bodies of the saints.
[1.] They are members of Christ: 1 Cor. vi. 15, 'Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of a harlot? God forbid.' The members of Christ shall not remain in death, but certainly be raised up again. When a godly man dieth, the union between soul and body is dissolved, but not the union between him and Christ. As Christ's own natural body in the grave was not separated from his person, and the hypostatical union was not dissolved. It was the Lord of glory that was crucified, and the Lord of glory who was laid in the grave ; so the mystical union is not dissolved between Christ and his people, who are his mystical body, when they are dead ; as some read the place, Isa. xxvi. 19, ' Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise.' They are Christ's body though dead in the grave.
[2.] They are temples of the Holy Ghost ; therefore if thy body be destroyed, it shall be built up again : 1 Cor. vi. 19, ' Know ye not that your bodies are temples of the Holy Ghost ? ' As Christ redeemed not the soul only, but the whole man, so the Spirit in Christ's name taketh possession both of body and soul. The body is cleansed and sanctified by the Spirit, as well as the soul, and therefore it is quickened by the Spirit: Rorn. viii. 11, ' But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.' The Holy Ghost will not leave his mansion or dwelling-place. The dust of believers belongeth to him, who were once his temple ; so it is a pledge of the resurrection.
Use 1. Is exhortation to all holy conversation and godliness ; and that you may not carry it beyond the matter in hand —
1. Do not debase the body by making it an instrument of sin. It is sacrilege to profane and prostitute that which is holy to a common use. As Belshazzar bid defiance to the God of heaven by quaffing
176 SERMONS UPON PHILIPPIANS III. [SeR. XVII.
and carousing in the cups of the temple, so do you pollute that which is holy if you defile your bodies by uncleanness and intemperance, which are members of Christ, temples of the Holy Ghost, in covenant with God, and in time to be glorified for ever. When you make your members weapons of unrighteousness, Rom. vi. 13, it is contrary to your covenant dedication, to the honour God putteth, and meaneth further to put upon the body. Do but consider, wben lust hath spent our strength, and carnal projects and practices have wasted our spirits, how can we look for the recompense of a glorious reward, a blessed resurrection ? Do these believe such an estate that put the body to so vile an use ? What ! with these eyes to see the Redeemer, which are windows and inlets to sin ? Think you that God will put honour upon that body which they dishonour so much ? Sure they think their bodies shall never rise again, that care not to what uncleanness they do abuse them.
2. Do not offend God to gratify the body or preserve any bodily interest. Love to the body and the bodily estate proves often an. occasion of sinning. Men first mistake self, and then misplace it ; they mistake self, thinking themselves more concerned as a body than a soul ; yea, farther, prefer the conveniencies of the body before the body itself ; and they misplace self when they value these things above the conscience of their duty to God. To please the body they forfeit the comfort and happiness of the soul, as when to gratify a pleasing lust they run the hazard of eternal torments, Mat. v. 29, 30. Or to save the body, when as we should suffer the loss of life, or limb, or an estate for a good conscience. Oh, consider, whatever your loss be in this kind, it will be repaired. He that healed Malchus's ear, he can restore yourselves to yourselves again, though for his sake you suffer bodily tortures. Surely a man that believes the resurrection of the body should not fear though exposed to fight with beasts at Ephesus, 1 Cor. xv. 32, though ready to be torn in pieces by an enraged multitude : Heb. xi. 35, 'And others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.' To escape upon God's terms, they rejected the deliverance offered by the enemies, and believed the resurrection offered by God ; they might have come off body-whole, but not heart-whole. In the intermission of their tortures, being advised to yield, they did believe there was a resurrection to an immortal glorious blessed life, which would recompense their pains with eternal pleasures. Nay, if the trial should not be so high ; if for a more plentiful life, and to live at large, men should dispense with a principle of conscience. This should not be ; if you love your bodies, your bodies shall be well enough ; if you can trust the fidelity of Christ, never leave his service, nor abate anything of your strictness, to please the flesh.'