By the word _redemption_, we are to understand, not only a compleat deliverance from all evil, but also a full enjoyment of all good both in body and soul: I say, both in body and soul; for the LORD is also for the body; the bodies of the saints in this life are temples of the Holy Ghost; GOD makes a covenant with the dust of believers; after death, though worms destroy them, yet, even in their flesh shall they see GOD. I fear, indeed, there are some _Sadducees_ in our days, or at least heretics, who say, either, that there is no resurrection of the body, or that the resurrection is past already, namely, in our regeneration: Hence it is, that our LORD’s coming in the flesh, at the day of judgment, is denied; and consequently, we must throw aside the sacrament of the LORD’s supper. For why should we remember the LORD’s death until he comes to judgment, when he is already come to judge our hearts, and will not come a second time? but all this is only the reasoning of unlearned, unstable men, who certainly know not what they say, nor whereof they affirm. That we must follow our LORD in the regeneration, be partakers of a new birth, and that CHRIST must come into our hearts, we freely confess; and we hope, when speaking of these things, we speak no more than what we know and feel: but then it is plain, that JESUS CHRIST will come, hereafter, to judgment, and that he ascended into heaven with the body which he had here on earth; for says he, after his resurrection, “Handle me, and see; a spirit has not flesh and bones, as you see me have.” And it is plain, that CHRIST’s resurrection was an earnest of ours: for says the apostle, “CHRIST is risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that sleep;” and as in _Adam_ all die, and are subject to mortality; so all that are in CHRIST, the second _Adam_, who represented believers as their fœderal head, shall certainly be made alive, or rise again with their bodies at the last day.
Here then, O believers! is one, though the lowest, degree of that redemption which you are to be partakers of hereafter; I mean, the redemption of your bodies: for this corruptible must put on incorruption, this mortal must put on immortality. Your bodies, as well as souls, were given to JESUS CHRIST by the Father; they have been companions in watching, and fasting, and praying: your bodies therefore, as well as souls, shall JESUS CHRIST raise up at the last day. Fear not, therefore, O believers, to look into the grave; for to you it is no other than a consecrated dormitory, where your bodies shall sleep quietly until the morning of the resurrection; when the voice of the archangel shall sound, and the trump of GOD give the general alarm, “Arise ye dead, and come to judgment;” earth, air, fire, water, shall give up your scattered atoms, and both in body and soul shall you be ever with the LORD. I doubt not, but many of you are groaning under crazy bodies, and complain often that the mortal body weighs down the immortal soul; at least this is my case; but let us have a little patience, and we shall be delivered from our earthly prisons; ere long, these tabernacles of clay shall be dissolved, and we shall be clothed with our house which is from heaven; hereafter, our bodies shall be spiritualized, and shall be so far from hindering our souls through weakness, that they shall become strong; so strong, as to bear up under an exceeding and eternal weight of glory; others again may have deformed bodies, emaciated also with sickness, and worn out with labour and age; but wait a little, until your blessed change by death comes; then your bodies shall be renewed and made glorious, like unto CHRIST’s glorious body: of which we may form some faint idea, from the account given us of our LORD’s transfiguration on the mount, when it is said, “His raiment became bright and glistering, and his face brighter than the sun.” Well then may a believer break out in the apostle’s triumphant language, “O death, where is thy sting! O grave, where is thy victory!”