is possible, and often cometh to pass, that one man may conmit such sins as all the punishments in this world can no way equalize them.* It is just, that he who sheddeth man's blood, by man his blood should be shed; but what death can sufficiently retaliate the many murders committed by one notorious pirate, who may cast many thousands over board; or the rapines or assassinations of one rebel or tyrant, who may destroy whole nations? It is fit that he who blasphemeth God should die; but what equivalent punishment can he receive in this life, who shall constantly blaspheme the name of God, destroy his priests and temples, abolish his worship, and extirpate his servants? What is then more proper, considering the providence of a most just God, than to believe that man shall suffer in another life such torments as will be proportionable to his demerits? Nor can we with reason think, that the soul alone shall undergo those sufferings, because the laws which were given to us are not made in respect of that alone, but have most frequent reflection on the body, without which in this life the soul can neither do nor suffer any thing. It is therefore highly probable, from the general consideration of human actions and divine retributions, that there shall be a "resurrection of the flesh, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." (2 Cor. v. 10.) Furthermore, Beside the principles of which we consist, and the actions which flow from us, the consideration of the things without us, and the natural course of variations in the creature, will render the resurrection yet more highly probable. Every space of twenty-four hours teacheth thus much, in which there is always a revolution amounting to a resurrection. The day dies into night, and is buried in silence and in darkness; * Παρίημι γὰρ λέγειν ὅτι σωζομένης τῆς φύσεως, ἐν ᾗ νῦν ἔσμεν, οὔθ ̓ ἡ θνητὴ φύσις ἐνεγκεῖν οἷά τε ἦν τὴν σύμμετρον δίκην πλειόνων ἢ βαρυτέρων φερομένων πλημμελημάτων. Athenagoras, de Resurrect. Mort. p. 62. Quod congruet judicari, hoc_competit etiam resuscitari.' Tertull. de Resurrectione carnis, c. 14. Negent operarum societatem, ut merito possint mercedem negare. Non sit particeps in sententia caro, si non fuerit et in causa. Sola anima revocetur, si sola decedit. At enim non magis sola decedit, quam sola decucurrit illud unde decedit; vitam hanc dico.' Ibid. c. 15. 'Cum omnis vitæ nostræ usus in corporis animæque consortio sit, resurrectio autem aut boni actus præmium habeat aut pœnam improbi, necesse est corpus resurgere cujus actus expenditur. Quomodo enim in judicium vocabitur sine corpore, cum de suo et corporis contubernio ratio præstanda sit?' S. Ambros. de fide Resur. † Κατανόησον τὴν τῶν καιρῶν καὶ ἡμερῶν καὶ νυκτῶν τελευτὴν, πῶς καὶ αὐτὰ τελευτῇ nal aviotarai. S. Theophil. Antioch, ad Autol. I. i. p. 77. 'Dies moritur in noctem et tenebris usquequaque sepelitur. Funestatur mundi honor; omnis substantia denigratur. Sordent, silent, stupent cuncta; ubique justitium est, quies rerum: ita lux amissa lugetur, et tamen rursus cum suo cultu, cum dote, cum sole, eadem et integra et tota universo orbi reviviscit, interficiens mortem suam noctem, rescindens sepulturam suam tenebras, hæres sibimet exsistens, donec et nox reviviscat, cum suo et illa suggestu. Redaccenduntur enim et stellarum radii, quos matutina succensio exstinxerat. Reducuntur et siderum absentiæ, quas temporalis distinctio exemerat. Redornantur et specula lunæ, quæ menstruus numerus attriverat.' Tertull. de Resur. carn. c. 12. Lux quotidie interfecta resplendet, et tenebræ pari vice decedendo succedunt; sidera defuncta vivescunt; tempora ubi finiuntur incipiunt; fructus consummantur in the next morning it appeareth again and reviveth, opening the grave of darkness, rising from the dead of night: this is a diurnal resurrection. As the day dies into the night, so doth the summer into winter; the sap is said to descend into the root, and there it lies buried in the ground; the earth is covered with snow, or crusted with frost, and becomes a general sepulchre when the spring appeareth, all begin to rise; the plants and flowers peep out of their graves, revive, and grow, and flourish: this is the annual resurrection.* The corn by which we live, and for want of which we perish with famine, is notwithstanding cast upon the earth, and buried in the ground, with a design that it may corrupt, and being corrupted may revive and multiply; our bodies are fed with this constant experiment, and we continue this present life by succession of resurrections. Thus all things are repaired by corrupting, are preserved by perishing, and revive by dying; and can we think that man, the lord of all these things which thus die and revive for him, should be detained in death as never to live again? Is it imaginable that God should thus restore all things to man, and not restore man to himself? If there were no other consideration, but of the principles of human nature, of the liberty and remunerability of human actions, and of the natural revolutions and resurrections of other creatures, it were abundantly sufficient to render the resurrection of our bodies highly probable. We must not rest in this school of nature, nor settle our persuasions upon likelihoods; but as we passed from an apparent possibility, unto a high presumption and probability, so must we pass from thence unto a full assurance of an infallible certainty. And of this indeed we cannot be assured but by the revelation of the will of God; upon his power we must conclude that we may, from his will that we shall, rise from et redeunt.' Idem, Apol. c. 48. Dúvɛih hμéga, Omnia pereundo servantur, omnia de interitu reformantur. Tu homo, tantum nomen, si intelligas te, vel de titulo Pythiæ discens, dominus omnium morientium et resurgentium, ad hoc morieris ut pereas?' Tertull. Apol. c. 48. 'Revolvuntur hyemes et æstates, et verna aut autumna. cum suis viribus, moribus, fructibus. Quippe etiam terræ de cœlo disciplina est arbores vestire post spolia, flores denuo colorare, herbas rursus imponere, exhibere eadem quæ absumpta sunt semina; nec prius exhibere quam absumpta. Mira ratio, de fraudatrice servatrix, ut reddat intercipit, ut custodiat perdit, ut integret vitiat, ut etiam ampliet prius decoquit. Siquidem uberiora et cuitiora restituit, quam exterminavit : re vera fœnore interitu, et injuria usura, et lucro damno. Semel dixerim, universa conditio recidiva est. Quodcunque conveneris, fuit; quodcunque amiseris, nihil non iterum est. Omnia in statum redeunt, cum abscesserint; omnia incipiunt, cum desierint: ideo finiuntur ut fiant; nihil deperit nisi in salutem. Totus igitur hic ordo revolubilis rerum testatio est resurrectionis mortuorum. Operibus eam præscripsit Deus antequam literis, viribus prædicavit antequam vocibus. Præmisit tibi naturam magistram, submissurus et prophetiam, quo facilius credas prophetiæ discipulus naturæ ; quo statim admittas cum audieris, quod ubique jam videris, nec dubites Deum carnis etiam resuscitatorem, quem omnium noris restitutorem. Et utique si omnia homini resurgunt, cui procurata sunt: porro non homini, nisi et carni, quale est ut ipsa depereat in totum, propter quam et cui nihil deperit?' Idem, de Resurrect. carn.c. 12. the dead. Now the power of God is known unto all men, and therefore all men may infer from thence a possibility; but the will of God is not revealed unto all men, and therefore all have not an infallible certainty of the resurrection. For the grounding of which assurance, I shall shew that God hath revealed the determination of his will to raise the dead, and that he hath not only delivered that intention in his word, but hath also several ways confirmed the same. Many of the places produced out of the Old Testament to this purpose will scarce amount to a revelation of this truth. The Jews insist upon such weak inferences out of the Law, as shew that the resurrection was not clearly delivered by Moses;* and in the Book of Job, where it is most evidently expressed, they acknowledge it not, because they will not understand the true notion of a Redeemer properly belonging to Christ. The words of Job are very express, "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth, and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God." (Job xix. 25, 26.) Against the evidence of this truth there are two interpretations: one very new of some late opinionists, who understand this of a sudden restitution to his former temporal condition; the other more ancient of the Jews, who make him speak of the happiness of another life, without any reference to a resurrection. But that Job spake not concerning any sudden restitution, or any alteration of his temporal condition, is apparent out of the remarkable preface ushering in this expression, "O that my words were now written! O that they were printed in a book! That they were graven with an iron pen and lead, in the rock for ever!" (Ibid. 23, 24.) He desires that his words may continue as his expectation, that they may remain in the rock, together with his hope so long as the rock shall endure, even to the day of his resurrection. The same appeareth from the objection of his friends, who urged against him that he was a sinner, and concluded from thence that he should never rise again; for his sins he pleaded a Redeemer, and for his resurrection he sheweth expectation and assurance through the same Redeemer.+ They produce several places out of Moses, which when the resurrection is believed, may in some kind serve to illustrate it, but can in no degree be thought to reveal so great a mystery. As because in the formation of man Moses useth the word y with two jods, and in the forination of beasts with but one; therefore the beasts are made but once, but man twice; once in his generation, and again in his resurrection. They strangely apprehend a promise of the resurrection, even in the malediction, "Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return;" Gen. it is not תלך לא נאמר אלא תשוב .19 .iii thou shalt go to the dust, but thou shalt return. As if he had said, thou art now it is not said, he sang, but he shall sing, viz. after the resurrection in the life to come. With these and the like arguments did the Rabbins satisfy themselves; which was the reason that they gave so small satisfaction to the Sadducees, while they omitted that pregnant place in Job. + This place is urged by St. Clemens Romanus, the immediate successor of the apostles, in his epistle to the Corinthians, where instead of these words of the It is farther confirmed by the expressions themselves, which are no way proper for his temporal restitution: the first words, I also know* denote a certainty and community, whereas the blessings of this life are under no such certainty, nor did Job pretend to it, and the particular condition of Job admitted no community, there being none partaker with him of the same calamity; I know certainly and infallibly, whatsoever shall become of my body at this time, which I know not, but this I know, that I shall rise; this is the hope of all which believe in God, and therefore this I also know. The title which he gives to him on whom he depends, the Redeemer,† sheweth that he understands it of Christ; the time expressed denotes the futurition at the latter day; the description of that Redeemer, standing on the earth, representeth the Judge of the quick and the dead; and seeing God with his eyes, declares his belief in the incarnation. The Jewish exposition of future happiness to be conferred by God, fails only in this, that they will not see in this place the promised Messias; from whence this future happy condition which they allow, would clearly involve a resurrection. Howsoever, they acknowledge the words of Daniel to declare as much, "and many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." (Dan. xii. 2.)§ If these and other places of the Old Testament shew that God had then revealed his will to raise the dead, we are sure those of the New fully declare the same. Christ who called himself" the resurrection and the life," (John xi. 25.) refuted the Sadducees, and confirmed the doctrine of the Pharisees as to that opinion. He produced a place out of the Law of Moses, and made it an argument to prove as much, "As touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read 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 LXX. ἀναστῆσαι τὸ δέρμα μου τὸ ἀναντλοῦν ταῦτα, he reads, Καὶ ἀναστήσεις τὴν σάρκα μου ταύτην τὴν ἀναντλήσασαν ταῦτα πάντα. §. 26. ואני ידעתי נאלי + א־רון + The Jews collect from hence the resurrection, as Rabina in Sanhedrin, and in the Midrash Tillim. Psal. xciii. 3. " in sepulcris miseriarum reconditi, ad insperatam victoriam de terræ pulvere resurrexerunt, et de humo elevaverunt caput, custodes legis resurgentes vitam æternam, et prævaricatores in opprobrium sempiternum:' ad loc. where it is to be observed, that he gives a probable gloss of the former part of the verse, but none at all of the latter, because it is no way consistent with his exposition of the former for they which did rise from the burden of the pressures under Antiochus, did neither rise from thence to an eternal life, nor to an everlasting contempt. Thus, I say, only the Gentiles did interpret it, but now the Socinians are joined to them. So Volkelius urges : ' Quod in præcedentibus de Antiochi tempore agatur, et resurrectio illa ad tempora quæ jam præcesserunt spectet.' De ver. Relig. 1. iii. c. 11. רחמון ישני עפר הם המתים שנ' ורבים מישני ,Rabbi Rachman said אדמת עפר יקיצו וגו': that the sleepers in the dust are the dead, as it is written, Dan. xii. 2. Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, &c. And this is only denied by the Gentiles; for Porphyrius referreth it only and wholly to the times of Antiochus, whose words are thus left unto us translated by St. Jerome: Tunc hi qui quasi in terræ pulvere dormiebant, et operti erant malorum pondere, et quasi 202 the God of the dead but of the living." (Matt. xxii. 31, 32.) With the force of which argument the multitude was astonished, and the Sadducees silenced. For under the name of God was understood a great benefactor, a God of promise, and to be their God, was to bless them and to reward them; as in them to be his servants and his people, was to believe in him, and to obey him. Now Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had not received the promise which they expected, and therefore God after their death desiring 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." (Exod. vi. 3, 4.) 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 unto 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. 6.) 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, 21.) 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 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;" (Matt. xxii. 29.) 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 Exod. vi. 4. And |