of the Almighty shall overwhelm and swallow it up. The soul is, in a peculiar manner, the subject of misery, as it is made uneasy by its own thoughts; which are compared to the worm that dieth not. While it looks backwards, and calls to mind the actions of his past life, and all his sins are charged upon him, this fills it with such a sense of guilt and confusion as is inexpressibly tormenting; and when he looks forward, there is nothing but what administers despair, which increases his misery to the highest degree. These torments the soul endures before it is reunited to the body, and thereby rendered receptive of others, which we generally call the punishment of sense, that are conveyed by it.

The place of punishment is the same that is allotted for soul and body, viz. hell; and this is called utter darkness; which is an expression used to signify the greatest degree of misery. As for their bodies, they dread the thoughts of being united to them again; inasmuch as that will bring with it new accessions of torment. These are considered as liable to a double dishonour; not only that which arises from their being in a state of corruption in common with all mankind; but in their being detained in the grave, as prisoners to the justice of God, from whence they shall not be released as persons acquitted or discharged, but remanded from that prison to another, from whence there is no deliverance. But more of this under a following answer.

QUEST. LXXXVII. What are we to believe concerning the

resurrection?

ANSW. We are to believe, that at the last day there shall be a general resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust; when they that are then found alive, shall, in a moment, be changed; and the self-same bodies of the dead which were laid in the grave, being then again united to their souls for ever, shall be raised up by the power of Christ; the bodies of the just, by the Spirit of Christ, and by virtue of his resurrection, as their head, shall be raised in power, spiritual, incorruptible, and made like to his glorious body; and the bodies of the wicked shall be raised up in dishonour, by him, as an offended Judge.

N the foregoing answers, we have considered the soul and

and the soul immediately entering into a state of happiness or onisery; and are now led to insist on the doctrine of the resur

rection, when these two constituent parts of man shall be reunited. And accordingly we shall endeavour,

I. To explain what we are to understand by the resurrection of the dead.

II. We shall prove that there is nothing in this doctrine contrary to reason, at least, if we consider it as a supernatural and divine work.

III. We shall farther observe, that this doctrine could not be known by the light of nature; and therefore we believe it as founded in divine revelation.

IV. What arguments are contained in scripture for the proof thereof; some of which might be taken from the Old Testament, and others from the New, in which it is more clearly revealed.

V. We shall answer some of the most material objections brought against it.

VI. We shall consider it as universal, as it is here styled a general resurrection of the dead, from the beginning of time to Christ's second coming; yet with this exception, that they who are found alive shall be changed. And,

VII. The condition in which the body shall be raised; and those circumstances of honour and glory, which respect, more especially, the resurrection of the just. And, on the other hand, we shall consider the resurrection of the wicked, as being in dishonour, by Christ, as an offended Judge.

I. What are we to understand by the resurrection of the dead. We sometimes find the word taken, in scripture, in a metaphorical sense, for God's doing those things for his church, which could not be brought about any otherwise than by his extraordinary and supernatural power. Sometimes the work of regeneration is set forth by this figurative way of speaking; whereby they who are dead in trespasses and sins, are said to be quickened; and our Saviour speaks of this when he says, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live, John v. 25. But we are to understand it in a proper sense, as denoting that change which shall pass upon the body, when it shall be delivered from the state of corruption, into which it was brought at death, and reunited to the soul; which is distinguished in a following verse, from this metaphorical sense of it, when he says, All that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth, they that have done good unto the resurrec tion of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation, ver. 28. This includes in it not barely the repairing, but the rebuilding the frame of nature; which was not only decayed, but dissolved in death; or the gathering together those particles of matter, of which the body was before constituted;

which was not only turned into corruption, but common dust; whereby a new body, as to the form and qualities thereof, is erected out of its old materials; otherwise it could not be called a resurrection. It is said, indeed, that the body shall not, in all respects, be the same that it was when separated from the soul; as the apostle compares it to a grain of wheat sown in the ground, which, when it springs up, is not altogether the same as it was before; for God giveth it a body, (a) as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body, 1 Cor. xv. 37, 38. It is the same for substance, as it consists of the same materials, but very different as to its qualities; as will be farther considered, when we speak concerning the condition of the body when raised from the dead; and as it is raised with a design that it should be re-united to the soul, which will immediately follow upon it; and this union shall be indissoluble and eternal.

II. We shall now consider that there is nothing contrary to reason, or impossible, from the nature of the thing, which might have a tendency to overthrow this doctrine; especially if we consider it as a supernatural and divine work, brought about by the almighty power of God.

If we look no farther than the power of natural causes, we may conclude it to be impossible for a creature to effect, as much as it was at first to produce the body of man out of the dust of the ground; but this is not impossible with God: He that gave life and being to all things; and, by his sovereign will, puts a period to that life, which had been, for some time continued by his power and providence, can give a new life to it; especially if there be nothing in this work that renders it unmeet for it to be performed by him.

That there is nothing in the nature of the thing that renders a resurrection impossible, appears, in that death, though it be a dissolution of the frame of nature, does not annihilate the

(a) "By affirming, that the grain produced from the seed sown, is not the very body which is sown, the apostle I think insinuates, that the body to be raised is not numerically the same with the body deposited at death, but something of the same kind formed by the energy of God. Having such an example of the divine power before our eyes, we cannot think the reproduction of the body impossible, though its parts be utterly dissipated. Farther, although the very numerical body is not raised, yet the body is truly raised, because what is raised, being united to the soul, there will arise in the man thus completed, a consciousness of his identity, by which he will be sensible of the justice of the retribution which is made to him for his deeds. Besides, this new body, will more than supply the place of the old, by serving every purpose necessary to the perfection and happiness of the man in his new state. According to this view of the subject, the objection taken from the scattering of the particles of the body that dies, has no place; because it does not seem necessary, that the body to be raised, should be composed of them. For the scripture no where affirms, that the same numeri cal body is to be raised. What it teaches is, that the dead shall be raised." DR. MACKNIGHT,

body. If the body, indeed, were annihilated at death, then it would be impossible, or contrary to the nature of things, that there should be a resurrection thereof; since the bringing it again into a state of existence would be a new creation; which, though it would not be too great a work for omnipotency, yet it could not be styled a resurrection, or restoring the same body to life that was separated from the soul, to which it was once united. But when we suppose that the matter of which the body consisted is still in being, and nothing is necessary to the raising it from the dead but the recollecting the various particles thereof, and forming it again into a body, fitted to receive the soul: this is not in its own nature impossible; nor does it infer a contradiction, so as that we should argue from thence, that it cannot be brought about by divine power.

That this may more fully appear, let it be considered, that nothing which God has brought into being, can be annihilated, but by an act of his will; since nothing can defeat or disannul his providence, which upholdeth all things that were brought into being by the word of his power. It is also certain, that God has given us no ground to conclude that any part of his material creation has been, or shall be turned into nothing; from whence it follows, that the particles of all the bodies of men, that once lived in this world, though turned to corruption or dust, are as much in being as ever they were, though not in the same form.

Again, it is certain that God, who made and upholdeth all things, has a perfect knowledge of that which is the object of his power, since his understanding is infinite: therefore he knows where the scattered dust, or the smallest particles of matter that once constituted the bodies of men, are reserved: and when we speak of a resurrection from the dead, we understand hereby the gathering them together, and disposing them in such a way as that new bodies shall be framed out of them: therefore, though this could not be done by any but God, it is not impossible, from the nature of the thing, for him to do it; and that he will do it will be considered, when we come more directly to the proof of this doctrine. We shall therefore proceed,

III. To consider it as a matter of pure revelation, such as we could not have known by the light of nature, without the assistance of scripture-light. Something, indeed, might be known by reason concerning the immortality of the soul, and its being not only capable of happiness or misery in a future state, but dealt with therein according to its behaviour in this world: nevertheless, when we enquire into that part, which the body shall bear therein; whether it shall be raised and reunited to the soul, to be for ever a partner with it in what reVOL. III.

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spects its state in another world, or shall remain for ever in a state of corruption; this cannot be known by the light of

nature.

There are, indeed, many things which we find in the writings of the Heathen, that discover them to have had some notion of what bears a resemblance to a resurrection: as when they speak concerning the transmigration of souls, or their living in other bodies, when separated from those which they formerly were united to. And others of them speak concerning the general conflagration, and the restoration of all things, immediately after, to their former state, as well as give some hints which are contained in their writings, concerning particular persons that have been raised from the dead, at least, pretended to have been so. What we find of this nature therein, very much re sembles the fabulous account we have in the Popish legends of miracles, said to have been wrought, though without proof: thus we are told of one Aristeas, the Proconnesian, who had a power of expiring and returning to life at pleasure, and rela ting what he had seen in a separate state. The same is reported of one Hermotimus of Clazomena. But the most fa mous story of this kind, is what is related by Plato,+ and transcribed from him by Eusebius, concerning one Er, the son of Armenius; who, after he was slain in battle, and had continued ten days among other dead bodies, was brought home to his house; and two days after, being laid on his funeral pile, came to life again: this Plato, while he is relating it, calls little better than a fable. And it was treated by others with ridicule, how much soever believed by some who regarded reports more than solid evidence of the truth thereof.

I might also mention others, who are said, by Heathen wri ters to have been translated into heaven in their bodies and

This is reported in a very fabulous manner, and is reckoned no more than an idle tale by Pliny, who mentions it among other stories of the like nature. Vid. Plin. Nat. Hist. Lib. vii. Cap. lii. Animam Aristæi etiam visam evolentem ex ore, in Proconneso, corvi effigie, magna que sequitur fabulositate. This is also mentioned as a fable by Origen. Vid. Origin. Lab. iii. Contr. Cels.

↑ Vid. Plin. Nat. Hist. Cap. lii. Reperimus inter exempla Hermotimi Clazomenii animam relicto corpore, errare solitam, vagamq; e loginquo multa annunciare, quæ nisi a præsenti nosci non possent; but by the following words he speaks of him as not dead, but in a kind of deliquium; corpore interim senianimi; but yet it was given out by many, that he died and rose again very often. This Lucian himself laughs at as a foolish tale. Vid. Lucian. Enc. Musc.

Vid. Plat. de Repub. Lib. x.

Vid. Euseb. Præparat. Evang. Lib, xi. Cap. xxxv. It is mentioned by Plutarch, Symp. Lib. ix. Cap. v.

Macrobius speaking concerning it, in Somn. Scip. Lib. 1. Cap. 1. represents Cicero as being under a great concern, that this story of Er was ridiculed, by many who did not stick to say, Visum fuisse Erem, vitam effundere, animamq; recipere, quam revera non amiserat. See more to this purpose in Huet. Demonst. Evang, Prop. ix. Cap. cxlii