48. And if one consider accurately, it is
not the death of our being, but of evil, for being continues, it is
evil that perishes. That which has been rises again; would that
as it is now free from sinning, so it were without former guilt!
But this very thing is a proof that it is not the death of being, that
we shall be the same persons as we were. And so we shall either
pay the penalty of our sins, or attain to the reward of our good
deeds. For the same being will rise again, now more honourable
for having paid the tax of death. And then “the dead who
are in Christ shall rise first; then, too, we who are alive,” it
is said, “shall together with them be caught up in the clouds
into the air to meet the Lord, and so we shall always be with the
Lord.” 1 Thess. iv. 16, 17. They first,
but those that are alive second. They with Jesus, those that are
alive through Jesus. To them life will be sweeter after rest, and
though the living will have a delightful gain, yet they will be without
experience of the remedy.