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siring still to be called their God, he thereby acknowledgeth that he had a blessing and a reward for them still, and consequently that he will raise them to another life, in which they may receive it. So that the argument of our Saviour is the same which the Jews have drawn from another place of Moses, "I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name Jehovah was I not known unto them. Nevertheless I have established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage wherein they were strangers." It is not said, "to give their sons," 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 blessed Saviour did refute the Sadducees out of the law of Moses, so did St. Paul join himself unto the Pharisees in this particular; for being called before the council, and "perceiving that the one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees," one denying, the other asserting, the resurrection, he cried out in the council, "Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee; of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question," Acts xxiii; and answering before Felix that they had found no evil doing in him, while he stood before the council," he mentioned this particularly, "Except it be for this one voice, that I cried standing among them, touching the resurrection of the dead I am called in question by you this day," Acts xxiv. 20.

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It is evident therefore that the resurrection of the dead was revealed under the law, that the Pharisees who sat in Moses's chair did collect it from thence, and believe it before our Saviour came into the world; that the Sadducees who denied it, "erred, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God;" that our blessed Saviour clearly delivered the same truth, proved it out of the law of Moses, refuted the Sadducees, confirmed the Pharisees, taught it the apostles who followed him, confirming it to the Jews, preaching it to the Gentiles. Thus the will of God concerning the raising of the dead was made known unto the sons of men; and because God can do whatsoever Div. No. XV.

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he will, and will certainly effect whatsoever he hath foretold, therefore we are assured of a resurrection by virtue of a clear revelation.

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Besides, God hath not only foretold, or barely promised, but hath also given such testimonies as are most proper to confirm our faith in this particular prediction and promise. For God heard the voice of Elijah for the dead child of the widow of Sarepta, "and the soul of the child came unto him again, and he revived." Him did Elisha succeed, not only in the same spirit, but also in the like power, for he raised the child of the Shunamite from death: nor did that power die together with him; for when they were burying a dead man, they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha, and when the man was let down and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood upon his feet," 2 Kings xiii. 21. These three examples were so many confirmations, under the law, of a resurrection to life after death; and we have three to equal them under the gospel. When the daughter of Jairus was dead, "Christ said unto her, Talitha cumi, Damsel, arise; and her spirit came again, and straightway the damsel arose," Mark v. 41, 42. When he came "nigh to the gate of the city called Nain, there was a dead man carried out; and he came and touched the bier, and said, Young man, I say unto thee, arise; and he that was dead sat up and began to speak,” Luke vii. 12. Thus Christ raised the dead in the chamber and in the street, from the bed and from the bier, and not content with these smaller demonstrations, proceedeth also to the grave. When Lazarus had been dead four days, and so buried that his sister said of him, “by this time he stinketh;" Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth;" and he that was dead came forth, John xi. 39. These three evangelical resuscitations are so many preambulary proofs of the last and generál resurrection; but the three former and these also come far short of the resurrection of him who raised these.

Christ did of himself actually rise, others who had slept in their graves did come from thence, and thus he gave an actual testimony of the resurrection. For" if

Christ be preached that he rose from the dead," saith St. Paul to the Corinthians, "how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?" 1 Cor. xv. 12. If it be most infallibly certain that one man did rise from the dead, as we have before proved that Christ did, then it must be as certainly false to assert that there is no resurrection. And therefore when the Gentiles did themselves confess that some particular persons did return to life after death, they could not rationally deny the resurrection wholly. Now the resurrection of Christ doth not only prove by way of example, as the rest who rose, but hath a force in it to command belief of a future general resurrection. For God "hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assuance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead," Acts xvii. 31. All men then are assured that they shall rise, because Christ is risen. And "since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." 1 Cor. xv. 20.

This consequence of a future resurrection of the dead from that of Christ already past, either hath a general or a particular consideration. 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 Christ at his resurrection did obtain the full possession and execution. "For to this end Christ both died and rose and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living," Rom. xiv. 9. Now as "God is not the God of the dead, but of the living," so Christ 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 resurrection, "he must reign till he hath put all his enemies under his feet," and "the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death," and there is no destruction of death but by a general resurrection. By virtue of this did he declare himself 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," Rev. i. 18. Thus are we assured of a general resurrection, in that Christ is risen to become the Lord of the dead, and to destroy death.

Secondly; Christ rising from the dead assureth us of a general resurrection in respect of the judgment which is to follow. For as "it is appointed for all men once to die, so after death cometh judgment;" and as Christ was raised that he might be Judge, so shall the dead be raised that they may be judged. As therefore God gave an assurance to all men, that he would judge the world by that man, in that he raised him from the dead, so by the same act did he also give an assurance of the resurreetion of the world to judgment.

Now as the general resurrection is evidenced by the rising of Christ, so in a more special and peculiar manner the resurrection of the chosen saints and servants of God is demonstrated thereby. For he is risen 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, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead;") as the first-fruits, by which all the lump is sanctified and accepted, for "now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept," 1 Cor. xv. 20. The saints of God are endued with the Spirit of Christ, and thereby their bodies become the temples of the Holy Ghost; now as the promise of the Spirit was upon the resurrection of Christ, so the gift and possession of the Spirit is an assurance of the resurrection of a Christian. For "if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead, dwell in us, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken our mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in us," Rom. viii. 11.

Thus God hath determined, and revealed that determination, to raise the dead, and confirmed that revelation by the actual raising of several persons as examples, and of Christ as the highest assurance which could be given unto man, that the doctrine of the resurrection might be established beyond all possibility of contradiction. Wherefore I conclude that the resurrection of the body is, in

itself considered, possible, upon general considerations highly probable, upon Christian principles infallibly cer

tain.

But as it is necessary to a resurrection that the flesh should rise, neither will the life of the soul alone continuing amount to the reviviscence of the whole man, so it is also necessary that the same flesh should be raised again; for if either the same body should be joined to another soul, or the same soul united to another body, it would not be the resurrection of the same man. Now the soul is so eminent a part of man, and by our Saviour's testimony not subject to mortality, that it never entered into the thoughts of any man to conceive that men should rise again with other souls. If the spirits of men departed live, as certainly they do, and when the resurrection should be performed, the bodies should be informed with other souls; neither they who lived before then should revive, and those who live after the resurrection should have never been before. Wherefore seeing at the latter day we expect not a new creation but a restitution, not a propagation but a renovation, not a production of new souls, but a reunion of such as before were separated, there is no question but the same souls should live the second life which have lived the first. Nor is this only true of our souls, but must be also made good of our bodies, those houses of clay, those habitations of flesh. As our bodies while we live are really distinguished from all other creatures, as the body of every particular man is different from the bodies of all other men, as no other substance whatsoever is vitally united to the soul of that man whose body it is while he liveth, so no substance of any other creature, no body of any other man, shall be vitally reunited unto the soul at the resurrection.

That the same body which died, not any other, shall be raised to life; that the same flesh which was separated from the soul at the day of death shall be united to the soul at the last day; that the same tabernacle which was dissolved shall be reared up again, that the same temple which was destroyed shall be rebuilt, is most apparent out of the same word, most evident upon the same grounds, upon which we believe there shall be any resur

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