Bodies he had at any Time before he was eaten, is every whit as good, and as much his own, as that which was eaten. It hath been moreover observed, that scarce the hundredth Part of what we eat is digested into the Substance of our Bodies, that all the Rest is rendered back again into the common Mass of Matter by sensible or insensible Evacuations; therefore what should hinder an Omnipotent Power from raising the Body a Cannibal hath devoured out of the ninety-nine Parts which return into the common Mass of Matter? Others, to answer this Difficulty, think it not improbable that the Original Stamina, which contain all and every one of the solid Parts and Vessels of the Body, even the minutest Nerves and Fibres, are themselves the entire Body; and that all the extraneous Matter, which, coming in by Way of Nourishment, fills up and extends the minute and insensible Vessels, of which all the visible and sensible Vessels are composed, is not strictly and properly Part of the Body; and that consequently, while all this extraneous Matter, which serves only to swell the Body to its just Magnitude, is in continual Flux, the Original Stamina may remain unchanged, and so no Confusion of Bodies will be possible in Nature. They have farther supposed, otherwise to solve the Difficulty, that in like Manner as in every Grain of Corn there is contained a minute insensible seminal Principle, which is itself the entire future Blade and Ear, and in due Season, when all the Rest of the Grain is corrupted, unfolds itself visibly into the Form; so our present mortal and corruptible Body may be but the Eruvia, as it were, of some hidden and at present insensible Principle, which at the Resurrection shall discover itself in its proper Form, by which Way also there can be no Confusion of Bodies possible in Nature. And it is not without some Weight that St. Paul made Use of the same Comparison, and that the ancient Fathers of the Church have alledged the same Similitude.

T

Q. What Considerations make the Resurrection of the Body appear to be probable?

4. If we consider the Principles of human Nature, the Parts whereof we consist, it is not conceivable that this present Life is proportionable to our Composition: the Body is framed by God as a Companion for our immaterial and immortal Souls; but by Reason of the Shortness of our Lives they are quickly separated, so that many ignobler Creatures have a much longer Duration; therefore it is very probable, that this is not the only Life that belongs to the Sons of Men, and that therefore the Soul continues so short a Time with the Body, because it shall re-assume it. Farther, if we consider ourselves as free Agents, capable of doing Good or Evil, and so thereby liable to Rewards and Punishments, it seems probable we shall rise to enjoy the one, or suffer the other; for it is not reasonable to think the Soul alone shall be happy or miserable, because the Laws that are given to us have not only a Respect to the Soul, but to the Body also, without which in this Life the Soul can neither do nor suffer any Thing. And then the Consideration of Things without us, the natural Courses of Variations in the Creatures, raise the Probability of our Resurrection. The Day dies into Night, and rises with the next Morning; the Summer dies into Winter, when the Earth becomes a general Sepulchre; but when the Spring appears, Nature revives and flourishes; the Corn lies buried in the Ground, and being corrupted, revives and multiplies; and can we think that Man, the Lord of all these Things, that die and revive for him, should be kept under the Bands of Death himself? And though this appeared impossible to many of the Heathens, yet some of the wisest of them thought it not only possible but probable; as Zoroaster among the Chaldeans, Theopompus among the Followers of Ch. Reo Aristotle, and almost all the Stoicks, as they are quoted by Grotius:

De Ver.

Rel.

Q. What Proof is there for the Resurrection of the Body from divine Revelation?

A. God hath promised it in the Holy Scriptures, and hath in several Instances exemplified it by his Power. For though we may conclude the Resurrection of the Body to be possible from that Immensity of Power inseparable from a Being infinite in all Perfections, yet the infallible Certainty of the Resurrection must be built upon the Declaration of God's Will and Pleasure to effect it.

Q. What Notices of this Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Dead appear in the Old Testament? A. It may fairly be concluded from the Book of Job, and it is plainly asserted by the Prophet Daniel. I know, saith Job, that my Redeemer liveth, and that Job xix. he shall stand at the latter Day upon the Earth; and 25, 26. though after my Skin, Worms destroy this Body, yet in my Flesh shall I see God, &c. And the Prophet Daniel tells us, That many of them that sleep in the Dust Dan. xii. 2. of the Earth shall awake, some to everlasting Life, and some to Shame and everlasting Contempt. The Jews indeed interpret the Words of Job to relate to the Happiness of the next Life, without any Reference to the Resurrection, because they will not here discern the promised Redeemer: Though this Doctrine of the Resurrection was agreeable to an ancient Tradition that was current among them, as appears from all their Writings, and particularly from the Translation of the last Verse of the very Book of Job itself, which according to the Seventy runs thus; So Job died, being old and full of Days; but it is written, that he shall rise again with those whom the Lord raises up. Some modern Commentators understand them of Job's Expectation to be restored to his former temporal Felicity; but he expresses himself with too much Assurance and Certainty for a Matter of that Nature, and of which he was so far from having any Expectation, that towards the latter End of the Book he seems to despair concerning it. The Words, therefore, being introduced with

Mat. xxii. 31, 32. Exod. iii.

6.

such a remarkable Preface, Ver. 23, 24, and being such a pertinent Answer to the Objections of his Friends who accused him as a Sinner, upon which Account he pleads a Redeemer, whom he describe's standing on the Earth, as the Judge of Quick and Dead at the last Day; it is most reasonable to apply them to the Resurrection, in which Sense Clemens Romanus, Contemporary with the Apostles, understood them, as did many of the Fathers after him and by Conformity to primitive Antiquity, they are so used by our Church in the Burial Office. The Testimony from Daniel is constantly by the Jews themselves applied to the Resurrection; and though Heathens and Socinians refer it wholly to the Deliverance from Antiochus, yet that can have no Affinity with the everlasting Life and everlasting Contempt in the latter Part of the Verse.

Q. How did our Saviour himself refute the Sadducees from the Old Testament, who did not believe the Resurrection?

A. From a remarkable Passage in Exodus: As touching the Resurrection of the Dead, have you not read, saith our Saviour, that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the Dead, but of the Living. Which Argument astonished the Multitude, and silenced the Sadducees ; for under the Name of God was understood a great Benefactor: and to be their God, was to bless them and reward them in an extraordinary Manner. Now Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, had not received the Promises they expected, and therefore God, after their Death, still desiring to be called their God, thereby acknowledges that he had a Blessing and a Reward for them still, and consequently that he would raise them to another Life, in which they might receive it. By which it is evident, that the Resurrection of the Dead was revealed under the Law; that the Pharisees did collect it thence, and

that the Sadducees, who denied it, erred, not know- Mat. xxii. ing the Scriptures, nor the Power of God.

Q. What Instances in the Old Testament exemplify this Truth?

29.

A. There are three Examples in Fact, which are proper to confirm our Faith in this Particular. God heard the Voice of Elijah for the dead Child of the Widow of Sarepta, and the Soul of the Child came 1 Kings into him again, and he revived. As Elisha succeeded xvii. 22. in the same Spirit, so in the same Power, for he raised the Child of the Shunamite from Death; nor 2 Kings iv. did that Power he had die together with him; for when they were burying a dead Man, they cast the Kings Man into the Sepulchre of Elisha, and when the Manxiii. 21. was let down and touched the Body of Elisha, he revived and stood upon his Feet.

Q. What Declarations of the Resurrection of the Body appear in the Gospel?

A. Our Saviour supposes the Resurrection re-Mat. xxii, vealed under the Law, in his Discourse with the Sad-31, 32. ducees. He cautions his Disciples to fear him that Ch. x. 18. can destroy Body and Soul in Hell. Now the Body, as long as it is dead, is devoid of Sense, and so incapable of Torment, till it be raised to Life again. He promises a Recompense at the Resurrection of the Just, to those that relieve the Poor, the Maimed, Luke xiv. the Lame, and the Blind. He positively declares 14. in St. John, that the Hour is coming, in which allch. v. 28, that are in their Graves shall hear his Voice, and29. shall come forth; they that have done Good unto the Resurrection of Life, and they that have done Evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation. He calls him-John xi. 25. self the Resurrection and the Life. And we are told in the Revelation, that the Sea shall give up the Rev. xx. 13. Dead that are in it, and Death and the Grave deliver up the Dead which are in them, in order to be judged, every Man according to their Works. St. Paul discourses before the Sanhedrim of the Resurrection of the Dead. In his Defence before Felix, the Go-Acts xxiii. vernor, he openly professes his Belief of the Resur-6 rection of the Dead, both of the Just and Unjust.

Ch. xxiv. 15.