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received into glory," Psalm lxxiii. 24. The Captain of salvation had even then brought many souls to glory," Heb. ii. 10. The fathers lived to God after their death, Luke xx. 38. The reflex virtue of the merits of their Surety conveyed them instantly to heaven. See Rom. iii. 25, 26. Heb. ii. 10. ix. 15. Peter saith indeed that Christ precahed to the spirits in prison," 1 Peter iii. 19, but those were not the spirits of the believing fathers, but of the disobedient inhabitants of the old world, as appears from the twentieth verse: who were not in prison then, but now, to wit, in Peter's time, when the fathers were delivered out of the prison: moreover, Christ preached not to them in his own person, but by the Spirit, vrs. 18, 19, and that not while they were in prison, but while "they were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was preparing," vrs. 20. "The pit wherein there is no water," Zech ix. 11, is not the porch, but the misery, spiritual or temporal, from which the people of the Lord are delivered by the blood of the covenant.

As there is no porch of hell, so there is no purgatory, in which impure souls must be purified by a hot flame; for the word of God knows of only heaven and hell, and not of purgatory; believers are immediately taken up to Christ their Head, as we have proved : "The blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, cleanseth us from all sin," 1 John i. 7. And the soul no sooner leaves the body, than it is perfectly "justified," and therefore also purified, Rom. vi. 7.

In order that they may have a cloak for their shame, they object here what Paul saith, 1 Cor. iii. 12, 13. "If any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble: every man's work shall be made manifest; because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every man's work, of what sort it is." But we do not find one word here of a purgatory, which cleanseth souls from sin; this passage speaks of the fire of affliction, which tries, reveals and declares, not the persons, but the good and evil works of the builders, to wit, of the preachers, and not of every believer. We will not recite all the objections of the adversaries, but refute only this one, which they alledge from 1 Cor. xv. 29. "Else what shall they do which are baptised for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?" By baptism they understand the baptism of tears, and of making satisfaction by prayers, alms, &c. by which the dead are relieved in purgatory. But from what doth it appear that we must understand by baptism here the baptism of tears and of making satisfaction? that by the dead the souls in purgatory are meant ? and that they are purified by such

a baptism? of this there is neither word nor tittle in the passage alledged. But we must know, in order to understand the sense of these words, that the apostle hath not respect here to any custom. which took place in the church after his time, but to something that happened in his time. And it was this, that when the martyrs wer slain, others joined themselves to the afflicted church in their stead, and declared this by submitting unto baptism, which they would not have done, if they had not had a certain hope of a blessed resurrection, which was excited in them, when they saw that the martyrs, animated by such a hope, suffered courageously the most painful death We conceive that this is the simple and evident sense of the passage; for by the dead we must understand those who had been slain by the death of martyrdom, as appears from vrs. 30. 31, 32. Baptism denotes here water baptism, the publick token, that a person hath received the Christian doctrine: for there occurs no reason here why we should depart from the literal signification of baptism. To be baptised for the dead, in Greek uper toon nekroon, signifies in the stead of the dead; for uper signifies for, and in the stead of, and thus it denotes that for, and in the stead of the martyrs, who were taken from the church, others joined themselves to her by suffering themselves to be baptised. And so this was a powerful argument in favour of the resurrection of the dead, that these newly baptized persons appeared to be so powerfully convinced of it, in the midst of so much danger; for the hope of the resurrection, which wrought so effectually in their minds, that they professed Christianity amidst so much danger, could not be a vain hope. Therefore the apostle saith, "Else what shall they do, if the dead rise not at all?" shall they deny the profession, of which they have been well assured? this is impossible, would he say.

And thus we see that the souls of believers are immediately taken up to Christ their Head.

2. But what will become of the dead body? this must be thrust into a dark pit, the grave, or be consumed by fire, or be given to the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, or the fishes of the sea for food. But shall the bodies of the saints remain for ever in this condition? No, "this my body" saith the instructor, "being raised by the power of Christ, shall be re-united with my soul, and made like unto the glorious body of Christ." That we may have a proper apprehension of this, we will consider, 1. The nature of the resurrection of the body, 2. The universality of it, 3. The agent, 4. The qualities, 5. The time, 6. The reality and certainty of it. We will treat of each particular briefly.

1. The nature of the resurrection of the body is beautifully explained in the words of the catechism, just now quoted, to wit, (a) That this body shall be raised. The Lord God having a knowledge of, and power over all the scattered parts, even the least, will unite them all again, and produce the former system of the body anew. Thus Ezekiel saw in a vision "a shaking of the dead and dry bones, and that the bones came together, bone to his bone; and sinews and flesh came up upon them, and they were covered with skin," Ezek. xxxvii. 7, 8. (b) This body will be united again to its soul, and so be made alive: Ezekiel also saw that "the breath entered into the bodies and they lived, and stood upon their feet," vrs. 10. (c) It belongs also to the nature of the resurrection, that the dead will go forth out of their graves, as the Saviour teacheth, John v. 28, 29.

2. Not only this and that person will rise again in this manner, but all the dead. Enoch and Elijah, since they never saw death, need not rise again. Those who remain alive at the end of the world will not die, and therefore will not rise; but "they will be changed in a moment," or very quickly, 1 Cor. xv. 51, 52, which will be to them instead of death and the resurrection, and will render them immortal and incorruptible. But these excepted, all men will rise, both the wicked and the godly. This some of the Jews and of the Socinians deny. But the word of God teacheth us that all will arise: "Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake," Dan. xii 2. We may not say that many are not all, because these many comprehend not only those who "awake to everlasting life," but also those who "awake to shame, and everlasting contempt." Our Saviour teacheth us the same thing, saying, John v. 28, 29, "All that are in the graves," &c. How shall all else "appear before the judgment seat of Christ ?" 2 Cor. v. 10. Yea, how else shou the justice of God be exercised in punishing the wicked, according to 2 Thess. i. 6, if they rise not to everlasting condemnation? The blessed resurrection of the body is indeed a benefit, and the hope of the church, but it doth not exclude the resurrection of the ungodly, since that is also a benefit and hope of the church, because she will see God glorified thereby in her enemies. Therefore Paul saith, Acts. xxiv. 15. "I have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust."

3. We will not busy ourselves with the silly notions of the Jews, who fancy that there is an incorruptible joint in the back-bone, which will be moistened with the dew of heaven, and will extend and dilate like leaven, and thus restore the whole man. We believe with the

instructor, the word of God, which informs us, "that we shall be raised by the power of Christ." The Father hath committed this work to his Son, as his dispensation. "This," saith he, John vi- 30, "is the will of the Father which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day." And thus he quickeneth whom he will, as the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them," John v. 21. And so "God will raise us up by Jesus" 2 Cor. iv. 14. -For which purpose Christ will exert his power and influence upon the dead bodies, that they may be quickened; and this power will be manifested by his penetrating "voice, which the dead will hear," John v. 28, and which will perhaps be "the great sound of the last trumpet that shall sound, in order to raise the dead up incorruptible,” Mat. xxiv. 31. 1 Cor. xv. 52, and the shout and voice of the archangel, with which the Lord himself shall descend from heaven," 1 Thess. iv. 16. And with this voice he will send forth his Spirit, the power from on high, as Paul saith, Rom. viii. 11. "He shall quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." Would ye see a figure of the resurrection, behold the resurrection of Lazarus: Jesus cried with a loud voice, Lazarus come forth, and the dead came forth.”’ John xi. 43, 44.

4. “But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?" Thus speaks the apostle, 1 Cor. xv. 45, and he answers in a twofold manner: (a) That the body will have different qualifications from what it had before its death; which he shows vrs 36-52, informing us that the body is not glorified, except it first die, by which it becomes m the resurrection a totally different body from what it was before, not in substance, but in qualities, of which he notices four: (1) "It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption," vrs. 42. It will always alike vigorous and healthful, and incapable of any disease; Leah will not be tendereyed, Bartimeus, will not be blind, Jacob will not be halt, Mephibosheth, will not be a cripple, and Barzillai will not be old. (2) "It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory," vrs. 43. It will be adorned with a wonderful lustre, "like the glorious body of Christ," Phil. iii. 21. "It will bear the image of the heavenly," vrs. 49, and "shine like the sun," Matt. xiii. 43. (3) “It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power." vrs. 43. It will be able to endure the immediate revelation of the glory of God, which would dissolve and rend it in its mortal state, like the most brittle substance. (4)" It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body," vrs. 44. It will not employ itself any longer with natural things, and it will not subsist by natural food, but will subsist and

act immediately by the Spirit of God, and influenced by the Spirit. (b) The other part of his answer to the question, which was proposed, is, that the same body, which we have borne about with us here, even the same with respect to substance, will rise; for he saith, vrs. 53, pointing, as it were with his finger, to his own body, "This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." It is indeed "our vile body, which Christ will fashion like his glorious body," Phil. iii. 21. Christ had in his resurrection his own body, we must therefore, if "we bear the image of the heavenly," also have our own bodies in the resurrection; those who remain alive, will then also have their own bodies. The justice of God requireth that each one should receive in his own body, according to what he hath done, whether it be good or bad," 2 Cor. v. 17. The belevers of old also believed and expected the resurrection of the same body, which they bore about with them here, Job xix. 25, 26, 27. Isaiah xxvi. 19. Dan. xii. 2. And so the wicked will likewise arise with their own bodies, which will also have other qualities, immortality and power, that they may be tormented for ever; but their bodies will not partake of the excellency of the godly.

The Socinians, who deny the resurrection of the same body, do in effect deny the resurrection itself: for if the dead body itself arise not, but another, it is not a resurrection, but a creation. They offer indeed reasons, which appear plausible, in order to subvert this truth, but they are not of any force. They say it is impossible that the dust, which hath been long since scattered abroad, should be gathered and united again in a body; that maneaters convert the flesh of others into their own, and that if the same bodies arise, those who have been eaten cannot arise with their own flesh, because that is become the flesh of the maneaters. We need not reply otherwise to this, than our Saviour did to the Saducees, Matt. xxii. 29, “Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God." But we add over and above this, that God being allknowing and almighty, both sees the scattered dust of men, and can also gather it again. Maneaters convert only a small part of the flesh of another person into their own flesh, and God can in the resurrection restore it very easily to the flesh of the person, from whom it was taken; and that which is thus taken from the maneater can be recompensed again from that which had perspired from him, and which he must supply repeatedly by new food: "God will indeed destroy the belly and meats," 1 Cor. vi. 13. and" flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God," 1 Cor. xv. 50. But by the belly and meats we must