5. Fifthly, They shall be spiritual bodies. Now they are natural bodies, but then they shall be spiritual ; as it is 1 Cor. xv. 44, * It is sown a natural, and is raised a spiritual body.' Now, it shall not be a spiritual body in regard of substance, for it shall have , breadth, and length, and thickness, parts and dimensions, as our bodies now have. So Christ told the disciples, Luke xxiv. 39, when entering the house, they supposed to have seen a spirit, but he says, ' Behold my hands and my feet, and handle me, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones.' Now, in two respects, our bodies are said then to be made spiritual.
(1.) First, Because then they shall be upheld and maintained by the Spirit. Now our bodies are upheld by meat and drink, sleep and physic ; but then the Spirit of God shall quicken them, and they shall have no need of these helps. We know that Moses was forty days in the mount, where he was so filled with the glory of God, that he was neither thirsty nor hungry, nor desired to rest or sleep. Now if Moses was thus upheld with the glory of God in the estate of mortality,* without the use of meat and drink, much more shall the bodies of the saints be upheld in the state of glory, where God shall be all in all unto them (j).
(2.) Secondly, Because the body shall attend the spirit in all good duties, and shall be subject unto it ; as Augustine speaks, * It is not called a spiritual body, because, as some think, the substance of the body is turned into a spirit, but,' saith he, ' it is called a spiritual body, because it shall be subject to the spirit, and attend it' (h). The schoolmen, as Thomas Aquinas, confess thus much. It is a plain case that in glory the spirit shall not depend on the body, but the body shall be led by the spirit and attend it. For in the best there is now such reluctation betwixt the flesh and the spirit, as Gal. v. 17, that they being contrary to one another, we cannot do the things that we would ; so Mat. xxvi. 40, when the disciples should have watched and prayed, Christ found them asleep ; so Rom. vii. 22, * For I delight in the law of God as touching my inward man: but I see another law in my members rebelling against the law of my mind, and leading me captive unto the law of sin which is in my members ; ' so Ezek. iii. 14, * I went,' saith he, * but it was in the bitterness of my spirit.' Thus the wrestling is great in us betwixt the flesh and the spirit, but one * Qu. 'immortality'? — Ed.
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day it is our comfort, the spirit shall have a final victory, and we shall be led by the spirit. When Rebecca had conceived. Gen. xxv. 22, she felt so great striving and struggling in her, that she was much perplexed, until she went to God, and had this answer, that two nations were in her, and that the elder should serve the younger. So must this be our comfort, that though now we be troubled with the flesh, which is the elder, yet that the time shall shortly come that the flesh shall submit, attend, and be sub- ject to the younger, which is the spirit, last bred in us, in all things. If one bring a little spark of fire to a great heap of gunpowder, the fii-e will dissolve it and bring it to nothing ; so, although there be a great heap of sin and corruption in us, yet if a man get but a little spark of the Spirit of God into us, it will dissolve our sins, and bring those purposes to nothing. Therefore now we must comfort ourselves with this, that though now our bodies be not ruled by the spirit, yet that one day they shall be subject unto it.
6. Sixthly, In that it shall he a powerful body ; as 1 Cor. xv. 43. Now this power of the body appears in two things.
(1.) First, That it shall have power to perform the actions of the body without defatigation or weariness. Now we cannot do any action but in time we shall be weary of it, weary of going, sitting, standing ; as it is said of Christ, John iv. 6, that being weary, he sat down vipon the well ; so Exod. xvii. 12, Moses's hands waxed weary in holding them up for Israel. So the best Christians are weary in the best duties, but at that day all duties shall be performed without any show of weariness, which should comfort us now amidst our imperfections, making us long for that day when we shall be enabled to serve God without ceasing.
(2.) Secondly, In that the body shall then move any way with ease, being able to walk in the air, on the water, even as now we can walk on the ground. Though now our bodies be heavy, yet then they shall have strength, as they shall be able to mount upwards, downwards, or forward or backward with as much ease as a man lifts up his hand ; which should stir us up to live a holy life, that we may one day be partakers of these excellent privileges. Pliny reports of the little bees, that in a great wind or tempest, they fetch up little stones in their claws, to ballast themselves against the wind, that they be not carried away in it (?). So should we do in the time of temptation or trouble ; ballast ourselves with the promises of God and hope of blessedness, that so we be not carried away with the wind of temptation and trouble. Thus far of the godly.