corpses "go down to the bars of the pit, and rest together in the dust." (Job xvii. 14. 16.) Our death is not a simple dissolution, nor a bare separation of soul and body, as Christ's was, but our whole tabernacle is fully dissolved, and every part thereof crumbled into dust and ashes, scattered, mingled, and confounded with the dust of the earth. There is a description of a kind of resurrection in the prophet Ezekiel, in which there is supposed a "valley full of bones, and there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them above, and their breath came into them, and they lived and stood upon their feet." (Ezek. xxxvii. 1. 7, 8. 10.) But in the resurrection to come we cannot suppose the bones in the valley, for they are dissolved into dust as well as the other parts. We must therefore undertake to shew that the bodies of men, howsoever corrupted, wheresoever in their parts dispersed, how long soever dead, shall hereafterbe recollected in themselves, and united to their own souls. And for the more facile and familiar proceeding in this so highly concerning truth, I shall make use of this method: First, To prove that such a resurrection is not in itself impossible: Secondly, To shew that it is upon general considerations highly probable: Thirdly, To demonstrate that it is upon Christian principles infallibly certain. It is not in itself impossible, therefore no man can absolutely deny it; it is upon natural and moral grounds highly probable, therefore all men may rationally expect it; it is upon evangelical principles infallibly certain, therefore all Christians must firmly believe it.

First, I confess philosophers of old did look upon the resurrection of the body as impossible,* and though some of them thought the souls of the dead did live again, yet they never conceived that they were united to the same bodies, and that their flesh should rise out of the dust that it might be conjoined to the spirit of a man. We read of" certain philosophers of the Epicureans and of the Stoics, who encountered St. Paul; and when they heard of the resurrection they mocked him, some saying, that he seemed to be a setter-forth of strange gods, because he preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection." (Acts xvii. 18.) But as the ancient philosophers thought a creation impossible, because they looked only upon the constant works of nature, among which they never find any thing produced out of nothing, and yet we have already proved a

Pliny, reckoning up those things which he thought not to be in the power of God, mentions these two: Mortales æternitate donare, aut revocare defunctos.' 1. ii. cap. 7. And schylus, though a Pythagorean, yet absolutely denies it to be in the power of God, for so he makes Apollo speak to the Eumenides:

Πέδας μὲν ἂν λύσειεν, ἔστι τοῦδ ̓ ἄκος,
Καὶ κάρτα πολλὴ μηχανὴ λυτήριος.

̓Ανδρὸς δ ̓ ἐπειδὰν αἷμ ̓ ἀνασπάσῃ κόνις
*Απαξ θανόντος, οὔτις ἐστ ̓ ἀνάστασις.
Τούτων ἐπῳδὰς οὐκ ἐποίησεν πατὴς
Οὐμὸς, τὰ δ ̓ ἄλλα πάντ ̓ ἄνω τε καὶ κάτω
Στρέφων τίθησιν, οὐδὲν ἀσθμαίνων, μένει.

Eschyl. Eumenid. 635.
'Uti anima interire dicatur, ab Epicureis
observatur. Et carnis restitutio negetur,
de una omnium Philosophorum schola su-
mitur.' Tertull. de Præscr. adv. Hæret. c. 7.

creation not only possible, but performed; so did they think a resurrection of corrupted, dissolved, and dissipated bodies to be as impossible, because they could never observe any action or operation in nature, which did or could produce any such effect; and yet we being not tied to the consideration of nature only, but estimating things possible and impossible by the power of God, will easily demonstrate that there is no impossibility that the dead should rise.

For, if the resurrection of the dead be impossible, it must be so in one of these respects; either in reference to the agent, or in relation to the patient; either because it is a work of so much difficulty, that there neither is nor can be any agent of wisdom, power, and activity, sufficient to effect it; or else because the soul of man is so far separated by death from the body, and the parts of the body so much dissolved from themselves, and altered from their nature, that they are absolutely incapable by any power to be united as they were. Either both or one of these two must be the reason of the impossibility, if the resurrection be impossible; for if the body be capable of being raised, and there be any agent of sufficient ability to raise it, the resurrection of it must be possible.

Now, if the resurrection were impossible in respect of the agent which should effect it, the impossibility must arise either from an insufficiency of knowledge or of power;* for if either the agent know not what is to be done, or if he know it but hath no power to do it, either he will not attempt it, or if he do, must fail in the attempt; but that, of which he hath perfect knowledge, and full power to effect, cannot be impossible in relation to the agent endued with such knowledge, and with such power.

Now, when we say the resurrection is possible, we say not it is so to men or angels, or any creature of a limited knowledge or finite power, but we attribute it to God, with whom nothing is impossible; (Luke i. 37.) his understanding is infinite, he knoweth all the men which ever lived since the foundation, or shall live unto the dissolution of the world, he knoweth whereof all things were made, from what dust we came, into what dust we shall return. "Our substance was not hid from thee, O Lord, when we were made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth; thine eyes did see our substance, yet being imperfect, and in thy book were all our members written, which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them." (Psal. cxxxix. 15, 16.) Thus every particle in our bodies, every dust and atom which belongeth

* Τὸ ἀδύνατόν τινι γιγνώσκεται κατ' ἀλή θειαν τοιοῦτον, ἡ ἐκ τοῦ μὴ γιγνώσκειν τὸ γενησόμενον, ἡ ἐκ τοῦ δύναμιν ἀρκοῦσαν μὴ ἔχειν πρὸς τὸ ποιῆσαι καλῶς τὸ ἐγνωσμένον. Ὁ γὰρ ἀγνοῶν τι τῶν γενέσθαι δείντων οὐκ ἂν οὔτ ̓ ἐγε χειρῆσαι, οὔτε ποιῆσαι τὸ παράπαν δυνηθείη ὅπες ἀγνοεῖ· ὅ τε γιγνώσκων καλῶς τὸ ποιηθη

σόμενον, καὶ πόθεν γένοιτ ̓ ἂν καὶ πῶς, δύναμι δὲ ἡ μηδ' ὅλως ἔχων πρὸς τὸ ποιῆσαι τὸ yiyimσκόμενον ἢ μὴ ἀρκοῦσαν ἔχων, οὐκ ἂν ἐγχειρήσειε τὴν ἀρχὴν, εἰ σωφρονοίη καὶ τὴν ἰδίαν ἐπισκέψηται δύναμιν, ἐγχειρήσας δὲ ἀπερισκέπτως οὐκ ἂν ἐπιτελέσειε τὸ δόξαν. Athenagoras de Resurrectione, p. 42.

to us, is known to him that made us. The generation of our flesh is clearly seen by " the Father of spirits," (Heb. xii. 9.) the augmentation of the same is known to him "in whom we live, move, and have our being;" (Acts xvii. 28.) the dissolution of our tabernacles is perceived by that God by whom the "very hairs of our head are all numbered, and without whom one sparrow shall not fall to the ground." (Matt. x. 29, 30.) He which numbereth the sands of the sea, knoweth all the scattered bones, seeth into all the graves and tombs, searcheth all the repositories and dormitories in the earth, knoweth what dust belongeth to each body, what body to each soul. Again, as his all-seeing eye observeth every particle of dissolved and corrupted man, so doth he also see and know all ways and means by which these scattered parts should be united, by which this ruined fabric should be recompacted; he knoweth how every bone should be brought to its old neighbour-bone, how every sinew may be re-embroidered on it; he understandeth what are the proper parts to be conjoined, what is the proper gluten by which they may become united. The resurrection therefore cannot be impossible in relation to the Agent upon any deficiency of knowledge how to effect it.

And as the wisdom is infinite, so the power of this Agent is illimited; for God is as much omnipotent as omniscient. There can be no opposition made against him, because all power is his; nor can he receive a check against whom there is no resistance: all creatures must not only suffer, but do what he will have them; they are not only passively, but actively obediential. There is no atom of the dust or ashes but must be where it pleaseth God, and be applied and make up what and how it seemeth good to him. The resurrection therefore cannot be impossible in relation unto God upon any disability to effect it, and consequently there is no impossibility in reference to the agent, or him who is to raise us.

Secondly, The resurrection is not impossible in relation to the patient, because where we look upon the power of God, nothing can be impossible but that which involveth a contradiction, as we before have proved; and there can be no contradiction in this, that he which was, and now is not, should hereafter be what before he was. It was so far from a repugnancy, that it rather containeth a rational and apparent possibility, that man who was once dust, becoming dust, should become man again. Whatsoever we lose in death, is not lost to God; as no creature could be made out of nothing but by him, so can it not be reduced into nothing but by the same: though therefore the parts of the body of man be dissolved, yet they perish not; they lose not their own entity when they part with their relation to humanity; they are laid up in the

* Non sola anima seponitur : habet et caro suos sinus interim, in aquis, in alitibus, in ignibus, in bestiis; cum in hæc

tur.'

dissolvi videtur, velut in vasa transfundiTertull. de Resurrec. carnis, c. 63. Tu perire et Deo credis, si quid oculis

secret places, and lodged in the chambers of nature, and it is no more a contradiction that they should become the parts of the same body of man to which they did belong, than that after his death they should become the parts of any other body, as we see they do. Howsoever they are scattered, or wheresoever lodged, they are within the knowledge and power of God, and can have no repugnancy by their separation to be reunited when and how he pleaseth. The first dust of which man was made, was as far from being flesh as any ashes now or dust can be; it was only an omnipotent power which could mould that into a human body, and breathe into the nostrils of it the breath of life. The same power therefore, which must always be, can still make of the dust returning from the bodies of men unto the earth, human bones and flesh, as well as of the dust which first came from the earth: for if it be not easier, it is most certainly as easy to make that to be again which once hath been, as to make that to be which before was not.t When there was no man, God made him of the earth: and therefore when he returns to earth, the same God can make him man again. The resurrection therefore cannot be impossible, which is our first conclusion.

Secondly, The resurrection is not only in itself possible, so that no man with any reason can absolutely deny it; but it is also upon many general considerations highly probable, so that all men may very rationally expect it. If we consider the principles of humanity, the parts of which we all consist, we cannot conceive this present life to be proportionable to our composition. The souls of men, as they are immaterial, so they

nostris hebetibus subtrahitur? Corpus omne, sive arescit in pulverem, sive in humorem solvitur, vel in cinerem comprimitur, vel in nidorem tenuatur, subducitur nobis, sed Deo elementorum custodi reservatur.' Minutius Felix in Octavio, c. 34.

Omnia quæ discerpuntur, et in favillas quasdam putrescunt, integra Deo sunt; in illa enim elementa mundi eunt, unde primo venerunt.' S. August. in Psal. enarrat. 62. §. 6.

" Absit autem ut ad resuscitanda corpora vitæque reddenda non possit omnipotentia Creatoris omnia revocare quæ vel bestia vel ignis absumpsit, vel in pulverem cineremque collapsum, vel in humorem solutum, vel in auras est exhalatum. Absit ut sinus ullus, secretumque naturæ ita recipiat aliquid subtractum sensibus nostris, ut omnium Creatoris aut latest cognitionem, aut effugiat potestatem.' S. August. de Civitate Dei, 1. xxii.

c. 20.

nihilo, ejusdem Auctoris voluntate, qui te voluit esse de nihilo? Quid novi tibi eveniet? Qui non eras, factus es; cum iterum non eris, fies. Redde, si potes, rationem qua factus es, et tunc require qua fies. Et tamen facilius utique fies, quod fuisti aliquando, quia æque non difficile factus es, quod nunquam fuisti aliquando.' Tertull. Apol. c. 48. I'tique idoneus est reficere, qui fecit. Quanto plus est fecisse quam refecisse, initium dedisse quam reddidisse; ita restitutionem carnis faciliorem credas institutione.' Idem, de Resur. carn. c. 11. Difficilius est id quod non sit incipere, quam id quod fuerit iterare.' Minutius Felix in Octavio, c. 34. Utique plus est facere quod nunquam fuit, quam reparare quod fuerit. Quomodo ergo impossibile esse dicis, ut Deus, qui hominem formavit ex nihilo, reformet? Quomodo nos suscitare non potest conversos in pulverem, qui etiamsi in nihilum rediremus, facere poterat ut essemus, sicut et fecit nos esse, cum antea nunquam fuissemus?' S. August. de verbis Apost. Serm. 34. al. 109. append. §. 3. To the same purpose the Jews, 1877

הוו דווו לא כל שכן:

are immortal; and being once created by the Father of spirits, they receive a subsistence for eternity; the body is framed by the same God to be a companion for his spirit, and a man born into the world consisteth of these two. Now the life of the most aged person is but short, and many far ignobler creatures of a longer duration. Some of the fowls of the air, several of the fishes of the sea, many of the beasts of the field, divers of the plants of the earth, are of a more durable constitution, and outlive the sons of men. And can we think that such material and mortal, that such inunderstanding souls should by God and nature be furnished with bodies of so long permansion, and that our spirits should be joined unto flesh so subject to corruption, so suddenly dissolvable, were it not that they lived but once, and so enjoyed that life for a longer season, and then went soul and body to the same destruction, never to be restored to the same subsistence? but when the soul of man, which is immortal, is forced from its body in a shorter time, nor can by any means continue with it half the years which many other creatures live, it is because this is not the only life belonging to the sons of men, and so the soul may at a shorter warning leave the body which it shall resume again.

Again, If we look upon ourselves as men, we are free agents, and therefore capable of doing good or evil, and consequently ordinable unto reward or punishment. The angels who are above us, and did sin, received their punishment without a death, because being only spirits they were subject to no other dissolution than annihilation, which cannot consist with longer suffering punishment; those who continued in their station were rewarded and confirmed for all eternity: and thus all the angels are incapable of a resurrection. The creatures which are below us, and for want of freedom cannot sin, or act any thing morally either good or evil, they cannot deserve after this life either to be punished or rewarded, and therefore when they die they continue in the state of death for ever. Thus those who are above us shall not rise from the dead, because they are punished or rewarded without dying; and where no death is, there can be no resurrection from the dead. Those which are below us, are neither capable of reward nor punishment for any thing acted in this life, and therefore though they die yet shall they never rise, because there is no reason for their resurrection. But man by the nobleness of his better part being free to do what is good or evil while he liveth, and by the frailty of his body being subject to death, and yet after that, being capable in another world to receive a reward for what he hath done well, and a punishment for what he hath done ill in the flesh, it is necessary that he should rise from the dead to enjoy the one, or suffer the other. For there is not only no just retribution rendered in this life to man, but considering the ordinary condition of things, it cannot be. For it