mortal as they are, consisting of this corruptible flesh, are the subject of this Article, in which we profess to be-, lieve the resurrection of the body.

When we treated concerning the resurrection of Christ, we delivered the proper notion and nature of the resurrection in general, that from thence we might conclude that our Saviour did truly rise from the dead. Being now to explain the resurrection to come, we shall not need to repeat what we then delivered, or make any addition as to that particular; but, referring the reader to that which is there explained, it will be necessary for us only to consider what is the resurrection to come, who are they which shall be raised, how we are assured they shall rise, and in what manner all shall be performed. And this resurrection hath some peculiar difficulties different from those which might seem to obstruct the belief of Christ's resurrection. For the body of the Son of God did never see corruption; all the parts thereof continued in the same condition in which they were after his most precious soul had left them; they were only deposited in a sepulchre, otherwise the grave had no power over them. But other mortal bodies, after the soul hath deserted them, are left to all the sad effects of their mortality: we may say to corruption, "Thou art my father;" to the worm, "Thou art my mother and my sister;" our corpses go "down to the bars of the pit, and rest together in the dust," Job xvii. 14. Our death is not a simple dissolution, not 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. 7. 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 show that the bodies of men, howsoever corrupted, wheresoever in their parts dispersed, how long soever dead, shall hereafter be 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 show 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 Stoicks, 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 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 former 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 who 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, armed 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;" his understanding is infinite, he knoweth all the men who 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," Ps. cxxxix. 15. Thus every particle of our bodies, every dust and atom which belongeth to us, is known to him that made us. The generation of our flesh is clearly seen by the Father of spirits, the augmentation of the same is known to him

"in whom we live, move, and have our being;" 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 who 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 recomposed; he knoweth how every bone should be brought to its old neighbour-bone, how every sinew may be reembroidered 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 unlimited; 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 who was, and now is not, should hereafter be what before he was. It is 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 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 be 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. 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 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