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ARTICLES XI.-XII.

PART II.

THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY, AND THE LIFE EVERLASTING.

UNDER the two last Articles of the Creed, as I have already observed to you, are comprehended four points of doctrine:

:

I. That the souls of all men continue after death.

II. That their bodies shall, at the last day, be raised up and re-united to them.

III. That both souls and bodies of good persons shall enjoy everlasting happiness.

IV. That those of the wicked shall undergo everlasting punishment.

The first of these, being the foundation of all the rest, I chose to enlarge on the proof and explanation of it. Now I proceed to show—

II. That the bodies of all men shall be raised up again and re-united to their souls. This reason alone cannot prove, and accordingly the heathen were ignorant of it; but it carries with it no contradiction to reason in the least. For God is infinite both in power and knowledge; and it is unquestionably as possible to bring together and enliven the scattered parts of our body again, as it was to make them out of nothing, and give them life at first. And therefore, since we must acknowledge the original formation of our bodies to have been of God, we have abundant cause to be assured that He can, after death, form them anew whenever He pleases. And that this will be done was probably implied in that general promise made to

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our first parents, that "the seed of the woman (our blessed Lord) should bruise the serpent's head1; destroy his power, and, consequently, take away the curse under which he had brought mankind. For as part of that curse consists in the death of the body, it cannot be completely taken away but by the resurrection of the body. In aftertimes Abraham, we find, had so strong a belief of the possibility of this Article, that he was willing, on the divine command, to sacrifice his son, reasoning," as the Epistle to the Hebrews teaches us, "that God was able to raise him up even from the dead." And, indeed, he could not have been induced to this by any other reasoning. God had promised him that by his son Isaac he should have a numerous posterity; and this promise he firmly believed. Now, he must know it could never be fulfilled if Isaac was to be sacrificed, but by his rising again; and therefore he must be persuaded that he would rise again for that purpose. On proceeding somewhat further in the sacred history, we find Job expressing himself on this head-if we at all understand his words-in very strong terms: "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And though, after my skin, this body be destroyed, yet in my flesh shall I see God." Again, when Elijah was taken up alive into heaven, this must surely give an expectation that the body as well as the soul was to partake of future happiness. And when the several persons mentioned in the Old Testament were raised up to life in this world, it could not but increase the probability of a general resurrection in the next. Then, in the book of Daniel, we have an express declaration, that a time should come when "they who slept in the dust of the

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*Job xix. 25, 26.

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earth should awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt1." And, indeed, when those whom we commonly call the three children in the former part of that book, tell the king that even though it were not the pleasure of God to deliver them from the fiery furnace, "yet they would not serve his god 2; on what other principle could they so rationally, or did they so probably, say this, as on that which the brethren in the book of Maccabees explicitly profess? There one of them, stretching forth his hands to the torment, saith, "These I had from heaven : and for his laws I despise them and from him I hope to receive them again." Another: "It is good, being put to death by men, to look for hope from God, to be raised up again by him." lastly, the mother declares to her children: "I neither gave you birth nor life, nor was it I that formed your members; but, doubtless, the Creator of the world, who formed the generation of man, and found out the beginning of all things, will also, of his mercy, give you breath and life again; as you now regard not yourselves for his laws' sake In the latter times, indeed, of the Jewish Church, not a few denied this doctrine, but much the greater number held it; "allowing," as St. Paul acquainted Felix, "that there shall be a resurrection both of the just and unjust.4"

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Yet, still the full confirmation of it was reserved for our Saviour to give; who having in His lifetime raised up three several persons- as you may read at large in the Evangelists-raised up Himself from the dead, in the last place, to afford us the strongest demonstration possible that He both can and will raise us all at the day of judgment.

This great event will, doubtless, when it comes

'Dan. xii. 2.

2 Dan. iii. 17, 18.

32 Mac. vii. 10-23.

4 Acts xxiv. 15.

to pass, exhibit to the whole universe an astonishing evidence of the power and truth of God, who may easily have many reasons for restoring our bodies which we apprehend not, besides those which, in some measure, we do apprehend; that the soul of man being originally, and in the state of innocence, united to a body, is, probably, capable of completer perception and action, and, consequently, of higher degrees of reward or punishment in that state than a separate one, or, at least, will be so with such a body as in the next life shall be allotted to it; and likewise, our belief of enjoying happiness or suffering misery in both parts of our frame hereafter, must naturally incline us to preserve the purity of both here, abstaining or "cleansing ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and perfecting holiness in the fear of God1."

The truth and reasonableness of the doctrine being thus established, it ought to be no objection that several particulars relating to it exceed our comprehension. How the dead are raised, it is sufficient that God knows, and by no means wonderful that we do not; for we scarce know how any one part of the course of nature is carried on. And as to the inquiry that follows this in St. Paul,

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With what bodies do they come ?2" we are taught, they shall be so far the same bodies that every one shall have properly his own, and be truly the same person he was before; but so far different, that those of good persons will be subject to none of the sufferings, none of the infirmities, none of the necessities of this life; for, to use the same Apostle's words, "What is sown in corruption, shall be raised in incorruption: what is sown in dishonour, shall be raised in glory: what is sown a natural body, shall be raised a spiritual body3." But the

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2 Cor. vii. I. 21 Cor. xv. 35.

I Cor. xv. 42, 43, 44.

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particular nature of spiritual bodies, or the distinction that shall be made in them, between the more eminent in goodness and their inferiors, as one star differeth from another star in glory1; these things we are not qualified, in our present state, to understand. And it is some degree of weakness even to ask questions about them, but would be much greater to attempt giving answers. I shall, therefore, only add, that such of the good as "are (found) alive at the coming of the Lord2, shall not sleep," or die, and therefore cannot rise again, but "shall be changed" into the same likeness with those who do, as the Scripture hath plainly taught us. But what the appearance and condition of the bodies of wicked persons will be at the resurrection, it hath not, I think, afforded us the least knowledge, further than is implied in the description of their punishment, of which I shall treat before I conclude: and let us be so wise as to dread the terrors that are thus concealed from us.

Concerning the general judgment, which is to come immediately after the resurrection, I have spoken under the Article of the Creed which relates to it; and therefore proceed now to the consequences of that judgment, by shewing you

III. That both the souls and bodies of the pious and virtuous will enjoy "everlasting life:" that is, in their case, happiness. For a happy life, being the only one that is a blessing, life in Scripture very commonly signifies felicity; and death, misery.

Now, that good persons will, sooner or later, be recompensed by a good God, is an undoubted truth. But then, as no one is perfectly good, and many have been very bad, there is room for much doubt, who hath a right to apply this comfort to himself and not. But what reason might be at a loss to determine the Scripture hath cleared up,

11 Cor. xv. 41. 21 Thess. iv. 15.

3 I Cor. xv. 51.

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