trine of the Pharifees as to that opinion. He produced a place out of the law of Mofes, and made it an argument to prove as much, As touching the Refur- Matt. xxii. rection of the dead, have ye not read that which was 31, 32. Spoken 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. With the force of which argument the multitude was aftonished and the Sadducees filenced. For under the name of God was understood a great benefactor, a God of promise, and to be their God was to blefs them and to reward them; as in them to be his fervants and his people was to believe in him, and to obey him. Now Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob had 3 not received the promises, which they expected, and therefore God after their death defiring ftill to be called their God, he thereby acknowledgeth that he had a bleffing and a reward for them ftill, and confequently that he will raife them to another life in which they may receive it. So that the argument of our Saviour is the fame which the Jews have drawn from another place of Mofes, (a) I appeared unto Abraham, unto Ifaac, and unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty, but by my name Jehovah was I not known unto them. Nevertheless I have eftablished my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage wherein they were frangers. It is not faid, to give their fons, but, to give them the land of Canaan; and therefore, because while they lived here they enjoyed it not, they must live again that they may receive the promise.

And as our bleifed Saviour did refute the Sadducees out of the law of Mofes, fo did St. Paul join himfelf unto the Pharifees in this particular, for being called before the Council, and perceiving that the one Acts xxi. part were Sadducees and the other Pharifees, one denying, 6. the other afferting the Refurrection, he cried out in the Council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharifee, the fon of a Pharifee; of the hope and Refurrection of the dead I am

called

20, 21.

called in queftion; and answering before Felix that they Acts xxiv. had found no evil doing in him, while he food before the Council he mentioned this particularly, except it be for this one voice, that I cried ftanding among them, Touching the Refurrection of the dead I am called in queftion by you this day.

29.

It is evident therefore that the Refurrection of the dead was revealed under the Law, that the Pharifees who fat in Mofes's chair did collect it from thence, and believe it before our Saviour came into the world; Matt, xxii. that the Sadducees who denied it, erred, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God; that our bleffed Saviour clearly delivered the fame truth, proved it out of the law of Mofes, refuted the Sadducees, confirmed the Pharifees, taught it the Apoftles, who followed him confirming it to the Jews, preaching it to the Gentiles. Thus the will of God concerning the raifing of the dead was made known unto the fons of men; and because God can do whatfoever he will, and will certainly effect whatsoever he hath foretold, therefore we are affured of a Refurrection by virtue of a clear revelation.

xvii. 22.

Befide, God hath not only foretold, or barely promised, but hath alfo given fuch teftimonies as are most proper to confirm our faith in this particular prediction and promife. For God heard the voice of EliKings jah for the dead child of the widow of Sarepta, and the Soul of the child came unto him again, and he re4 Kings iv. vived. Him did Elifha fucceed, not only in the fame fpirit, but alfo in the like power, for he raifed the child of the Shunamite from death, nor did that power die together with him; for when they were burying a dead man, they caft the man into the fepulchre of Elisha, and when the man was let down and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood upon his feet. Thefe three examples were fo many confirmations, under the Law, of a Refurrection to life after death; and we have three to equal them under the Gofpel. When the Daughter of Jairus was dead,

2 Kings

Xill. 21.

Luke vii.

12, 14, 15.

Chrift faid unto her, Talitha cumi, Damfel, arife, and her Mark v. 41, Spirit came again, and ftraightway the damfel arofe. Luke viii. When he came nigh to the gate of the city called Nain, 55. there was a dead man carried out, and he came and touched the bier, and faid, Young man, I fay unto thee, arife; and he that was dead fat up and began to speak. Thus Chrift raised the dead in the chamber and in the street, from the bed and from the bier, and not content with thefe fmaller demonftrations, proceedeth alfo to the grave. When Lazarus had been dead four days, and so buried that his Sifter faid of John xi. him, by this time he stinketh; Jefus cried with a loud 39, 43, 44, voice, Lazarus, come forth, and he that was dead came forth. These three evangelical refufcitations are fo many preambulary proofs of the laft and general Refurrection; but the three former and these alfo come far fhort of the refurrection of him who raised these. Chrift did of himself actually rife, others who had flept in their graves did come from thence, and thus he gave an actual teftimony of the Refurrection. For if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, 1 Cor. xv. faith St. Paul to the Corinthians, how fay fome among you that there is no Refurrection of the dead? If it be moft infallibly certain that one man did rise from the dead, as we have before proved that Chrift did, then it must be as certainly false to affert that there is no Refurrection. And therefore when the Gentiles did themselves confefs that fome particular perfons did return (a)to life after death, they could not rationally deny the Refurrection wholly. Now the refurrec tion of Chrift doth not only prove by way of example, as the rest who rofe, but hath a force in it to command belief of a future general Refurrection. For God hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the Acts xvii, world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, 31, whereof be bath given affurance unto all men, in that be bath raifed him from the dead. All men then are asfured that they fhall rife, because Chrift is rifen. And 1 Cor. xv, fence by man came death, by man came alfo the Refurrec-20, 21, 22,

12.

9.

32.

tion of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even fo in Chrift fhall all be made alive.

This confequence of a future Refurrection of the dead from that of Chrift already paft, either hath a general or a particular confideration. In a general reference it concerneth all; in a more peculiar way it belongeth to the elect alone. First, it belongeth generally unto all men in respect of that dominion of which Chrift at his refurrection did obtain the full Rom. xiv. poffeffion and execution. For to this end Chrift both died and rofe and revived, that he might be Lord both of Matt. xxii. the dead and living. Now as God is not the God of the dead, but of the living, fo Chrift is not the Lord of the dead, as dead, but as by his power he can revive them and rule them, when and in what they live. By virtue of this dominion entered upon at his reCor. xv. furrection he must reign till he hath put all his enemies under his feet, and the last enemy that shall be deftroyed is death, and there is no deftruction of death but by a general Refurrection. By virtue of this did he deRev. i. 18. clare himfelf after this manner to St. John, I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore, Amen, and have the keys of Hell and of Death. Thus are we affured of a general Refurrection, in that Chrift is rifen to become the Lord of the dead, and to deftroy death.

25, 26.

Secondly, Chrift rifing from the dead affureth us of a general Refurrection in refpect of the judgment Heb. ix. 27. which is to follow. For as it is appointed for all men once to die, fo after death cometh judgment, and as Chrift was raised that he might be Judge, so shall the dead be raised that they may be judged. As therefore God Acts xvii. gave an affurance to all men, that he would judge the world by that man, in that he raised him from the dead, fo by the fame act did he alfo give an affurance of the Refurrection of the world to judgment.

31.

Now as the general Refurrection is evidenced by the rifing of Chrift, fo in a more fpecial and peculiar manner the refurrection of the chofen Saints and Ser

I

vants of God is demonftrated thereby. For he is rifen not only as their Lord and Judge, but as their Head, to which they are united as members of his Body (for He is the head of the body, the Church, col. i. 18, who is the beginning, the firft-born from the dead); as the firft-fruits, by which all the lump is fanctified and accepted, for now is Chrift rifen from the dead, and be- 1 Cor. xv. come the firft-fruits of them that flept. The Saints of 20. God are endued with the Spirit of Chrift, and thereby their bodies become the temples of the Holy Ghoft; now as the promise of the Spirit was upon the Refurrection of Christ, so the gift and poffeffion of the Spirit is an affurance of the Refurrection of a Christian. For if the Spirit of him that raised up Jefus from Rom. viii. the dead, dwell in us, he that raised up Chrift from the dead 11. Shall alfo quicken our mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in us.

Thus God hath determined, and revealed that determination, to raise the dead, and confirmed that revelation by the actual raifing of feveral perfons as examples, and of Chrift as the higheft affurance which could be given unto man, that the doctrine of the Refurrection might be established beyond all poffibility of contradiction. Wherefore I conclude that the Refurrection of the body, is, in itself confidered, poffible, upon general confiderations highly probable, upon Chriftian principles infallibly certain.

But as it is neceffàry to a Refurrection that the flesh should rife, neither will the life of the Soul alone continuing amount to the revivifcence of the whole man, fo it is alfo neceffary that the fame Flefly fhould be raised again; for if either the fame Body should be joined to another Soul, or the fame Soul united to another Body, it would not be the resurrection of the fame Man. Now the Soul is fo eminent a part of Man, and by our Saviour's teftimony not fubject to mortality, that it never entered into the thoughts of any man to conceive that men fhould rife again with other Souls. If the Spirits of men VOL. I.

Pp

de