rupted, revives and multiplies: and can we think that man, the lord of all these things, that die and revive for him, should be kept under the bands of death, never to rife again? which though it appeared impoffible to many of the heathens, yet some of the wifeft of them thought otherwife, as they are quoted by Grotius, in his truth of the chriftian religion. But,

If we fearch the fcriptures, we shall find plainly that the resurrection of the body from divine revelation is By the Old clear. God hath not only promised it, but in feve- Teftament. ral instances exemplified it for our fatisfaction. I know, fays Job, that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though after my fkin, worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh fhall I fee God, &c. And the prophet Daniel tells us, that many of them that fleep in the duft of the earth fhall awake, fome to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Which words of Job, by conformity to primitive antiquity, are used by our church in the burial-office, with reference to the refurrection of the dead. To which let us add that remarkable faying of Christ himself, when he put the Sadducees to filence; as touching the refurrection of the dead, have you not read, faith our Saviour, that which was fpoken unto you by God, faying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Ifaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living; which argument astonished the multitude, and filenced the Sadducees and if it does not astonish and filence the Infidels and Socinians of our days, they must be accounted more hardened in their unbelief than the Sadducees of old, who could not reply to fo cogent a proof of the refurrection. Besides, If reafon won't take place, let them harken unto fact. The ears of the Lord were open to the voice of Elijah, By fact. for the dead child of the widow of Sarepta; for when he prayed the foul of the child came into him again, and he revived. Elisha raised the child of the Shunamite from death, nor did that power he had, die together with him; for when they were burying a dead man, they caft the man into the fepulchre of Elifha, and when the man was let down and touched the body of Elisha, he revived and stood upon his feet. These are examples out of the Old Teftament. But

Teftament.

If we fearch the gofpels, we fhall find our Saviour not only fuppofing the refurrection revealed under the law, By the New in his difcourfe with the Sadducees; but he cautions his disciples to fear him that can deftroy body and foul in hell. If then the body is capable of torment in hell, it must be raised from the grave and united to it's foul again, before it can pass from the grave to that state of punishment. He promises a recompence at the refurrection of the juft, to those that relieve the poor, the maimed, the blind, and the lame. He pofitively declares in St John, that the hour is coming in which all that are in their graves fhall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the refurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the refurrection of damnation. He calls himself the refurrection and the life. And we are told in the Revelation, that the fea fhall give up the dead that are in it, and death and the grave deliver up the dead, which are in them, in order to be judged; every man according to their works. And the apostle defending himself before the Roman governor, openly profeffes his belief of the refurrection of the dead, both of the juft and unjust. To fome of the philofophers he also appeared to be a fetter forth of ftrange gods, because he preached unto them Jefus and the refurrection: and this apoftle declares, that we must all appear before the judgment-feat of Chrift, that every one may receive the things done in the body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad: and, that the Lord Jefus Christ shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body. He defcribes the manner of the refurrection to the Theffalonians, that, the dead in Christ fhall rife firft; and with the Corinthians, he argues from the certainty of Chrift's refurrection to the neceffity of ours: which texts fufficiently prove that the refurrection of the body was delivered as a neceffary article of faith from the beginning of chriftianity, and that it is ftill the expectation of the faithful; for if the dead rise not, christians are of all men most miferable.

By facts in

the gospel.

All which doctrine was confirmed, when our Saviour restored to life the ruler of the fynagogue's daughter; and raised up the widow's only fon that

was

was dead; and by restoring to life his friend Lazarus, who had been dead and buried four days: but all these instances were exceeded in our Saviour's own refurrection, which fo infinitely manifested his power and divinity.

So that there can be no doubt of the truth of a refurrection from the dead; it is certain that this refurrection will be univerfal: all mankind that have laid down It's certaintheir own bodies, and committed them to the grave, verfality. ty and unishall receive them again; there fhall be a refurrection of the dead, both of the juft and unjust.

Benefit to

the good.

The bodies of good chriftians, now liable to pains, and diseases, and death, fhall then die no more, but shall be equal unto the angels; like them they shall become immortal in their duration, and confequently freed from all thofe troublesome accidents to which they are now expofed; for the reward being eternal, the fubject of it must be eternal alfo. Therefore, fays the apoftle, it is fown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption.

The bodies of good men, tho' now vile and corruptible, fubject to filth and deformity by nature, fhall be raised glorious, fplendid, and bright; they shall shine like the fun, and shall be fashioned like to the glorious body of our blessed Saviour: though now fubject to weariness, to impotency, and to decays, fhall be raised nimble, ftrong, and active; they fhall be able to follow the Lamb wherever he goeth; they fhall be endowed with such strength and vigour, as fhall fupport them for ever in the same state, without any decay or change. It is fown in weakness, it is raised in power. Though now acted by vital fpirits, fhall then be poffeffed and acted by the holy Spirit; fhall be refined, and become proper inftruments for the operations of our minds, upon whom they must serve and depend. It is fown a natural body, but it is raised a spiritual body. But

pu

Mifery to

The bodies of the wicked will be fitted to that eternal nishment they have drawn upon themselves, wherein they will always fuffer without confuming under that dreadful fentence, depart ye curfed into everlafting fire. Therefore,

I 2

the wicked.

This

How it ought to inAuence us.

This doctrine of the refurrection of the body should make us reverence ourselves, and not pollute our bodies, with fenfual and brutish lufts, but by purity and fobriety, to prepare them for that honour and happinefs they are defigned for: it should fupport us under thofe miferies and infirmities our bodies are fubject to in this life; fince when we take them up again, they shall be no more liable to pains or diseases, or to diffolution; for death will be swallowed up in victory. By this we are taught to mortify all our fenfual fatisfactions, that our bodies may become obedient and tractable to the motions of the holy Spirit of God. By this we are comforted upon the death of our religious friends and relations, who are not perished, but fallen afleep, and fhall awake again in greater perfection and glory at the last day. This should influence us to promote not only our own, but the improvement of faving knowledge as far as lies in our power, to curb vice and encourage virtue, efpecially amongst those with whom we have any friendship or authority. This should arm us against the fear of our own death, fince we are affured that after our bodies are crumbled into duft, and become the food of worms, they shall be quickened at the general refurrection, and be changed, and made glorified bodies, by the promise and mighty power of God. And efpecially this fhould make us exercise ourselves to keep confciences void of offence, both to God and man, that we may not forfeit that bleffed immortality of our whole man, body and foul, which our bleffed Saviour hath promised to all thofe that perfevere in his fervice all the days of their mortal life. And,

In fine, in profeffing our belief of this article, let us reflect on the wonderful work of our redemption, let us learn to trust in him who has the keys of hell, and of death, who by dying has abolished death, and will at last destroy it, and swallow it up in victory. For, if we so live in Christ, that we can affure ourselves that when we die, we shall die in Chrift; the king of terrors will lofe all power to affright us; we fhall repose our felves in our graves, as in our beds, and our last, will be our most pleasant fleep.

VI. The life everlasting comprehends the everlasting duration of that life, to which all shall be raised after death, the

The wicked

pain.

wicked as well as the righteous. When we read that the wicked shall be destroyed, and perish, and for ever die, we are to understand not that they fhall be turned fhall live in into nothing, but that they fhall for ever lofe the everlafting prefence and favour of God, be condemned to a wretched, hopeless state of anguish, remorfe, and despair, and be tortured with the worm that never dies, and in the fire that shall never be put out. But the righteous fhall receive the utmost perfection of which their nature is capable; they shall partake of the glory which the Father hath given to the Son, and shall be one as the Father and Chrift are one; their bodies fhall be raised in glory, and shall be fashioned like unto Chrift's glorious body; and, to complete the whole, we are affured that the inheritance we expect, is incorruptable, and fadeth not away; that our house in heaven is eternal; and that death shall have no more power over us.

The good

in eternal

glory.

There is no difpute concerning the everlasting happiness of the righteous; it being evident, that God in his infinite bounty may reward the fincere obedience of his creatures, as much beyond the merit of their own weak and imperfect works, as he fees proper. Yet, the everlasting punishment threatened to the wicked, has feemed to many, a great difficulty; fince 'tis certain from our natural notions of the attributes of God, that no man shall be punished beyond the just demerit of his tranfgreffion.

wicked

Why the

VII. Let it therefore be obferved, firft, that no man can fay it is unreasonable, that they who by wilful and stubborn difobedience to their almighty Creator, and most merciful Benefactor, and by the habitual should fuffer practice of unrepented wickedness, have, during eternal puthe state of tryal, made themselves unfit for the enjoyment of that happiness, which God has prepared for them that love and obey him, fhould be eternally rejected and excluded therefrom. The wickedeft of men will grant fo much: and if bare deprivation of happiness was all the punishment they had reason to fear, they would be well content to fit ftill in their wicked courfe of life. But, it is nowife agreeable to reason to believe, that the punishment to be inflicted by the fiI 3

nal