hell and of death;' he having said, 'I am he, and there is no God beside me; I kill, and I make alive."1

There could also particularly be no more proper way of confirming our religion to come from God, whether we consider the persons whom it was designed for, or the doctrines it propounded. The Jews were incapable of conviction by any other way than by miracle; no other reason would have been apprehended by them, or would have had any force upon them. The Jews (saith St. Paul) require a sign;' and, except ye see signs and wonders ye will not believe,' said our Saviour to them. The Gentiles also had been so used to the winding off and on the subtleties and the plausibilities of disputation, that nothing probably in that kind would have sufficed to persuade them; and therefore, somewhat miraculous in the highest kind might be needful to convert them: also the most peculiar and eminent doctrines of our religion (such as are, our Lord Jesus being the Messias, the Son of God and Saviour of the world, the future resurrection, general judgment, and dispensation of rewards, answerable to men's practice in this life) cannot more immediately and directly be assured, than by the resurrection from the dead of him, who principally did reveal them.

Wherefore, Almighty God, in confirmation of our religion, did perform this great work in raising Jesus our Lord from the dead; and withal (for the conviction of the world, for rendering our faith reasonable, and our infidelity inexcusable) he did

20.

1

Apoc. i. 18; Deut. xxxii. 39; 1 Sam. ii. 6; Psalm 1xviii.

21 Cor. i. 22; John, iv. 48.

take especial care, that the fact should by very sufficient testimony be conveyed unto us; to which purpose he did (as St. Peter said) πрoxεɩporovεiv, predesign, pick out, and appoint a competent number of persons, in all respects capable and fit to assert it: this is that which St. Luke in our text doth in way of historical narration affirm. And because the truth thereof is in its kind the principal argument, whereby the truth of our religion in gross may be evinced, we shall, for the confirmation of our faith, against all impressions of this incredulous (and therefore impious) age, endeavour by God's assistance now to declare and maintain it. That Jesus truly died, all the world could testify; no death was ever more solemn or remarkable; nor do any adversaries contest it; that he after that death was by Divine power raised again to life is that which we believe and assert. Now, whoever with reason shall doubt thereof or deny it, must do it, either because of some repugnance in the fact itself, implying that it could not well be done; or from deficiency of the testimony proving it, as to its authors or circumstances; but neither of these exceptions may reasonably be admitted.

As for the fact itself, or the notion of a resurrection in general, there cannot, (admitting that, which as capable of antecedaneous proof, and as acknowledged by all persons owning any religion, may be presupposed, the power and providence of God, together with his chief attributes of wisdom and goodness incomprehensible,) there cannot be any repugnance therein, or any incredibility. For it was neither in its nature impossible to God, nor in

1 Acts, x. 41.

its design unworthy of him; it contained nothing apparently either beyond the power of God, or presumable to be against his will.

1. To raise a dead man to life, is indeed, we confess and avow, a work surpassing the power of any creature, not assisted by God; but no reason can be assigned, why it should go beyond the Divine power. The doing it doth not involve contradiction, and is therefore an object of power, and at least is achievable by Omnipotence: let the soul be what it will, and in whatever life may be supposed to consist, nothing can hinder that God may reduce the parts of a man into the same state they sometime before were in. And very easily it is conceivable that he, who (according to the general notions and current traditions of mankind) did first inspire the soul of man into his body, may reinfuse it being separated; that he who after death keepeth it in his hand, may thence restore it; who also (according to histories, received in all the principal religions that have been in the world) hath often actually performed it. Pliny, indeed, doth reckon this among instances of things absolutely impossible. It is,' saith he, a great solace of our imperfect nature, that even God cannot do all things; for neither can he bring death upon himself, if he would, nor bestow eternity on mortals, nor recall the dead to life.' But it is no wonder, that he, who thought the soul quite to perish by death, should conceive the restitution thereof im

Imperfectæ vero in homine naturæ præcipua solatia sunt, nè Deum quidem posse omnia; nam neque sibi potest mortem consciscere si velit (quod homini dedit optimum in tantis vitæ malis) nec mortales æternitate donare, nec revocare defunctos.Plin. ii. 7.

possible; although, even supposing that, his opinion was not reasonable; for even any thing, how corruptible soever, by dissolution of its ingredients, or alteration of its temperament, may, by re-collecting and rejoining those ingredients, or by re-establishing the causes of such a temperament, be restored, (as a house whose materials are dispersed may be re-edified, or as a liquor by a new fermentation may be revived,) which to effect may not be deemed hard to him that made the whole world:1 however, to such as him we may say as our Saviour did to the Sadducees, 'Ye err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.' Especially to those who acknowledge the immortality of the soul, or its permanence in a separate state, and who admit the truth of the ancient histories among the Jews, it is not only most evidently possible, but very credible, that God upon any considerable occasion should perform it; with such St. Paul might well thus expostulate: What? doth it seem incredible to you that God should raise the dead?' to you that have such previous notions and persuasions about God's omnipotency; (such as the prophet Jeremy expresseth when he saith, Ah, Lord God, behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched-out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee;') to you who avow God to be the Father of Spirits, who formeth the spirit of man within him, and that when man dieth, his spirit returneth to God who gave it; to you who believe that our souls are spiritual substances, like unto angels, subsisting after death, and destined to future rewards; to you, in fine, who

3 Acts, xxvi. 8.

D

may, in your holy records, find so many experiments of this power exerted by God in his prophets; such as that of Elijah's restoring the widow of Sarepta's son; of Elisha raising the son of the Shunamite; that of the dead man reviving when his body touched the prophet's bones; to you, therefore, this fact cannot be in itself incredible; nor indeed can it, for the reason suggested, to any man reasonably seem impossible.

2. Nor was it apparently in its design unworthy of God, or inconsistent with his holy will: for the ends thereof (such as were pretended by the attesters of it) were as very great and important, so most good and reasonable; it aimed at no slight or trifling matter, but such as in appearance highly concerned the glory of God, and conduced to the welfare of mankind, it professing itself to be a credential of the greatest embassy that ever came down from heaven to men, importing the complete revelation of God's will, and procurement of salvation to the world; and did therefore, in that respect, well become the wisdom and goodness of God to use it. It pretended to confirm a doctrine containing most true and worthy representations of God, the best that could be; declaring most gracious intentions in God of mercy and kindness toward men; no less proper for him than grateful and needful for us; prescribing most excellent rules and patterns of life, (wherein the most genuine piety and virtue, most exact justice and hearty charity, most strict purity and sobriety are prescribed,) yielding the

Jer. xxxii. 17; Zech. viii. 6; Job. xlii. 2; Heb. xii. 9; Numb. xvi. 22; Ibid. xxvii. 16; Zech. xii. 1; Isaiah, xlviii. 16; Eccles. xii. 1.

2 1 Kings, xvii. 21; 2 Kings, iv. 35, xiii. 21.