surrection of the wicked, since their bodies will be raised in such a state as to bear eternal punishment. 2. There are other arguments and objections against the resurrection of the wicked, taken from various passages of scripture, as from Psal. i. 5. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in judgment; which words are rendered in the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions, Shall not rise again in judgment; but admitting these versions were agreeable to the Hebrew text, as they are not; it will not follow that the wicked shall not rise again from the dead, but shall not rise again so as to appear in the congregation of the righteous at the day of judgment, as in the next clause; for they will not rise when the righteous do, at the first resurrection, the resurrection of the just; besides, the word used does not intend the resurrection of the wicked, but their standing before God in a judicial sense, when raised; and the meaning is, they shall not stand before him with confidence, nor be able to justify themselves, and vindicate their cause, and so must fall and not stand in judgment. Another scripture made use of is in Isai. xxvi. 14. They are deceased, they shall not rise; which must be understood either of those wicked lords who had formerly dominion over the people of Israel, but now dead, and should not rise again and live on this earth to tyrannize over them; or of the people of Israel themselves, and of the death of great numbers of them; and express the prophet's complaint of their present state, and of his distrust of their revival and restoration from it; and it may be also of their future resurrection, to which there is an answer, verse 19. as has been observed; and considered either way, cannot support an argument against the resurrection of the wicked. The words of the prophet Daniel, chap. xii. 2. before observed, though a plain proof of the resurrection of the dead, both righteous and wicked, yet are improved by some against the resurrection of the wicked; since not all but many are said to awake, and those many are only a few, and those only the righteous Israelites: to which may be replied, the many may be understood universally, as in Rom. v. 19. and in other places; or in a comparitive sense with respect to the few that shall be alive when the dead are raised; or rather distributively, many shall awake to everlasting life, and many to everlasting shame and contempt; and besides may respect the different times of rising, many at the first resurrection to the former, and the rest a thousand years after the latter. Many can never design a few; as the Israelites were the fewest of all people, especially the righteous among them; and even the righteous of all nations are but few in comparison of the rest; besides the prophet speaks of some awaking to everlasting shame and contempt, which can only be understood of the wicked; so that the prophecy is a clear proof of their resurrection. Others object that passage in Eccl. vii. 1. Better is the day of death, than the day of one's birth; since if the wicked rise again, it must be worse with them at death than at their birth; but the words are not spoken of the wicked or reprobate Vid. Aug. de Civ. Dei, l. 20, c. 23. who instances in Gen. xvii. 5. compared with Gen. xxii. 18, VOL. II. a C who, it would have been better if they never had been born, or had died upon their birth, than to have lived to aggravate their condemnation by a continuance in sin, and with whom it will be worse at death, but of the righteous, who die in the Lord, and are blessed in their death, being freed from sin and sorrow, and are with Christ; which is far better than coming into, and continuing in a troublesome world. Even the words of the apostle, in 1 Thess. iv. 16. The dead in Christ shall rise first, are urged by some against the resurrection of the wicked; since such that die in Christ are only believers in him, and therefore they, and not the wicked, shall rise: the answer is, that though the apostle is speaking only of those that die in Christ, true believers in him; yet not here, nor any where else, is it said, that these only rise. Besides, the apostle says of these,, that they shall rise first; which supposes, that others shall rise afterwards who have no claim to this character; a first resurrection of believers in Christ, supposes a second resurrection of those who are not such. But that the wicked shall rise, is not only to be proved from express passages of scripture, before observed, Dan. xii. 2. John v. 28, 29. but also from reason; as from the justice of God, which requires, that sins committed in and by the body, as most sins are, should be punished in the body; that being not only an accessary, but a partner with the soul in sinning, and an instrument by which the sin is committed, and so deserving of punishment: and whereas the wicked do not receive in this life the full reward of punishment in their bodies; it seems necessary from the justice of God, that their bodies should be raised, that with their souls they may receive their full recompence of reward. Besides, it may be conclud ed from the general judgment; when some will be cast into the lake of fire, Rev. XX. 12, 15. which must be understood of the wicked; and if all must appear before the judgment-seat of Christ, to receive for what has been done in the body, then the wicked must appear there, that they may receive for the bad things they have done in the body; to which appearance and reception, there must be a resurrection of them from the dead. The scriptural account of the punishments and torments of the wicked, manifestly supposes a resurrection of ther bodies, signified by outer darkness, weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth; by a furnace and lake of fire and brimstone, and by being cast into it, with two eyes, hands, and feet; and be these metaphorical and proverbial speeches, there must be something literally true, to which they refer. Besides, Christ exhorts his disciples, to fear him who is able to destroy body and soul in hell, Matt. x. 28. To which may be added, that this notion that the wicked rise not, must have a tendency to licentiousness, to take off all restraints from wicked men, and embolden them in a vicious course of life, according to 1 Cor. xv. 32. From all which it may be concluded, there will be a resurrection of the wicked, as well as of the righteous; indeed, there will be a difference between the resurrection of the one and of the other; the righteous will rise first, at the appearance of Christ; the wicked not till a thousand years after: saints will rise by virtue of union to Christ; the wicked merely by his power: their resurrection will differ in their adjuncts; though the bodies of the wicked will be raised immortal, and in such a state as to bear perpetual punishment, yet will not be clothed with glory; whereas the bodies of the saints will not only be raised immortal and incorruptible, but powerful, spiritual, and glorious, even fashioned like to the glorious body of Christ. The end will be different also; the one will rise to everlasting life; the other to everlasting shame and contempt; hence the one is called the resurrection of life, and the other the resurrection of damnation. II. To enquire, what of men shall be raised? Man consists of two parts, soul and body. It is not the soul that is raised, for that dies not. There were soce christians in Arabia, who held, that the soul dies with the body, and at the resurrection revives, and returns to its own body; but that is an immaterial and immortal substance, as has been proved in a former chapter; but it is the body which dies, that shall be raised from the dead; it is that only that is moital, and shall be quickened, it is that only which is laid in the grave, and shall come forth from thence; it is that which sleeps in the dust of the earth, and shall be awakened from thence; for, 1. The body is not annihilated, or reduced to nothing at death, which is contrary to reason and scripture; at death there is a disunion of soul and body; but neither are reduced to nothing; the body returns to the earth, and the soul to God that gave it; and though the body after death passes under many changes and alterations; yet the matter and substance of it will remain in some form or another death is sometimes expressed by returning to dust; but then dust is something: and by seeing corruption; but that supposes something in being, which is corrupted, matter and substance still remaining; but annihilation leaves nothing and by sowing seed in the earth, which rots; by pulling down a house; and putting off a tabernacle. But seed sown, though it dies and rot, it does not lose its being, nor its nature; but being quickened, in due time, it buds, and puts forth its seminal virtue; and so a house pulled down, and a tabernacle unpinned, the matter and substance, and the several parts of them remain. And if the body was reduced to nothing at death, Carist would lose part of his purchase, and the Spirit his dwelling place, i Cor. vi. 15, 19, 20. To which may be added, if this was the case, the resurrection would not be a resurrection, but the creation of a new body. As for those scriptures which speak of the dead body as not, Jer. xxxi. 15. the meaning is, not that they do not exist, but they are not where they formerly dwelt, having their former possessions and friends; but they are somewhere; their souls are either in heaven or in hell; and thei bodies in the grave: and when the apostle says, Meats for the belly, and the billy for meats; but God shall destroy both it and them: the sense is, not that the body, or any part of it, as the belly, should be destroyed, as to its substance, but as to its use, in receiving food to supply the natural wants of the body, as now; though it will be necessary as a constituent part, and for the ornament of it. Euseb. Eccl. Hist. 1. 6. c. 37. Aug. de Hæres. c. 83. Isidor. Orig. 1. 8. c. 5. so Hobbes's Leviathan, c. 39. 41. 2. The body, at the resurrection, will not be a new, aerial, and celestial body, as Origen and others thought; or a spiritual one, as to its nature and substance. It will be different from what it is now, as to its qualities, but not as to its substance: when the apostle compares it to seed sown in the earth, which is not the body that shall be, 1 Cor. xv, 37, 38. he designs not a difference of substance, but of qualities; such as is between the seed sown, and the plant that springs from it; which differ not in their specific nature, but in some circumstances and accidents; as the difference in the risen body lies in incorrup tion, glory, power, and spirituality. The same comparison is made of Christ's body, John xii. 24. and yet it was not a spiritual body, when raised, as to substance, but consisted of flesh and bones, as before, Luke xxiv. 39. and such will be the bodies of the saints; and though the body will be raised a spiritual one, as the apostle affirms, yet it will not be changed into a spirit, and lose its former nature; but will be subject and subservient to the soul, or spirit; be employed in spiritual services, and delight in spiritual objects; and will not be supported in a natural way, and by natural means, but be like the angels, Luke xx. 36. and though it will consist of flesh and blood, yet be neither sinful, nor frail and mortal; which is the sense of 1 Cor. xv. 50. but pure and holy, incorruptible and immortal, verse 53. If the body was new, aerial, celestial body different in substance from what it is, it would not be a resurtection, but a creation; nor would it be consistent with the justice of God, that such new, created bodies, which never sinned, should be everlastingly punished; nor can such be said to be truly human bodies, that are without flesh and blood; nor such to be men, who are incorporeal; nor can the same persons who have sinned, be said to be punished; nor the same who are redeemed be glorified, unless the same body is raised. 3. It may be proved, that the same body that now is, will be raised from the dead; this is fully expressed by Job, chap. xix. 26, 27, who firmly believed› that this body of his, which would be destroyed by worms, should be raised again; and in that very flesh of his he should see God incarnate, and that with the self-same eyes he had, and not another's; and which is as strongly asserted by the apostle Paul, 1 Cor. xv. 53, 54. This mortal must put on immortality; this corruption, must put on incorruption; pointing to the present mortal and corruptible body he then had; and which is confirmed by what follows; So when this corruption, &c which would not be true if another, and not the same body was raised and elsewhere he says, that Christ will change our vile body; but if not the same body, but another, it will not be our vile body that will be fashioned like to the body of Christ. For the further confirmation of this, let the following things be observed. 1. The notation of the word resurrection; which signifies a raising up again that which is fallen; by death the body falls, 2 Sam. iii. 38. John xii. 24. now if another, and not the same body, is raised, which "Sic & resurrectionis vocabulum non aliam rem vindicat, quam quæ cecidit, Tertull. adv. Marc. 1. 5. c. 9. fell, it will not be a resurrection; but a creation. 1. The figurative phrases, by which it is expressed, shew it; as by quickening seed sown; and by awakening out of sleep: now as it is the same seed that is sown and dies, which springs up, and appears in stalk, blade, and ear, as to nature and substance though with some additional circumstances; so it is the same body that dies, is quickened and raised, though with additional glories and excellencies; the same IT that is sown in corruption; the same IT that is sown in dishonour; the same IT that is sown in weakness; the same IT that is sown in a natural body, is raised in incorruption, in glory, in power, and a spiritual body; or there is no meaning in the apostle's words, 1 Cor. xv. 42--44. and as it is the same body that sleeps that is awakened out of it in a literal sense; it is the same body that falls asleep by death, which will be awakened and rise at the resurrection, not. 3. The places from whence the dead will be raised, and be summoned to deliver them, prove the same; our Lord says, All that are in the graves shall come forth. Now what of men are laid in the grave but their bodies? and what else can be thought to come forth from thence? and what but the same bodies that were laid there? the sea, death, and the grave, are said to deliver up the dead in them, which must be the same that are buried in the earth and sea; for what else can such expressions design? — 4. The translations of Enoch and Elijah, were in the very same bodies they had when on earth; the bodies of the saints, which arose out of their graves, when opened at Christ's resurrection, were the same that were laid in them; the bodies of the living saints, at Christ's coming, which will then be changed, will be the same they had before that change; now it is not reasonable to suppose, that some of the saints in heaven should have the same bodies they had on earth, and others 5. The resurrection of Christ's body is a proof of this truth; since he rose from the dead with the same body he suffered on the cross, and was laid in the grave; as appears from the print of the nails in his hands and feet, seen by Thomas after his resurrection: nor was it an aerial nor spiritual body, as to its substance, since it consisted of flesh and bones, which a spirit does not, and might be felt and handled, John xx. 25, 27. Now Christ's resurrection is the exemplar of the saints; according to which their vile bodies, and so surely noɩ new, spiritual, and celestial ones, will be fashioned. Nor can it be reasonably thought that Christ, who partook of the same flesh and blood with the children, should be raised and glorified in the same body, and not they in theirs, for whose sake he assumed his. 6. It seems quite necessary from the justice of God that not others, but the same bodies Christ has purchased, the Spirit has sanctified, and which have suffered for the sake of Christ, should be glorified; and that those, and not others, should be punished, that have sinned against God blasphemed the name of Christ, and persecuted his saints. 7. This may be concluded from the veracity of God, in his purposes, promises, and threatenings; for if the good things he has appointed for, and promised to his people, are not bestowed upon the same persons; and the punishment threatened is not infhcted - |