Reflections on our Refurrection from the Dead.

391

nefs, and fin not; for fome thefe; and fin not in fupporting or countenancing Sect. 29. have not the Knowledge of Doctrines, fo fubverfive of the Chriftian Faith

GOD: I speak this to your

Shame.

WELL

and Hope; for fome

34.

and Hope; for fome are still ignorant of GOD, 1 Cor. XV.
and with the abufed Light of Christianity know
lefs of him, than well-improved Reafon might
teach them. I fay this to your Shame, confider-
ing how much you boaft of your Knowledge,
which in this plain and important Branch of it,
appears fo wretchedly deficient; while you cul-
tivate fo many vain Subtleties, which tend rather
to corrupt, than to exalt and perfect your Minds.

IMPROVEMENT.

ELL may we rejoice, to fee the Doctrine of our own Refurrection fo closely connected, in the Sacred Writings, and especially in this excellent Difcourfe of St. Paul, with that of our blessed Ver. 12,-16. Redeemer; as that they should be declared to stand, or to fall together.

For Chrift is affuredly rifen from the Dead, and become the Firft-fruits of Ver. 20. them that fleep. He hath repaired, to all his fpiritual Seed, the Damage

that Adam brought upon his Defcendants; yea, he is become to them the Ver. 21,-23. Author of a far nobler Life, than the Pofterity of Adam loft by him.

Let us meditate with unutterable Joy on the Exaltation of our glori- Ver. 24, 26. fied Head, of our gracious Sovereign, who has conquered Death himfelf, and will make us Partakers of his Victory. He hath received from his Father, Glory, Honour, and Dominion; and he shall reign till his Conqueft be univerfal, and compleat, and till Death be not only ftripped of its Trophies, but rendered fubfervient to his Triumphs; fhall reign, till all his Purposes for his Father's Glory, and his own, be finally accomplished.

But oh, who can exprefs the Joy and Glory of that Day! when Chrift Ver. 27. fhall give up the Kingdom to the Father, and prefent unto him all its faithful Subjects transformed into his own Image; a beautiful and fplendid Church indeed, for ever to be the Object of the Divine Complacence, for ever to dwell in the Divine Prefence, in a State of the greatest Nearnefs to God, who fhall then be all in all. Well may may the Expectation of Ver. 28. this illuftrious Period chear the Chriftian under his greatest Extremities, and make him of all Men the most happy, when otherwife, on Account of his Sufferings in the Flesh, he might feem of all Men the most mifera- Ver. 29. ble. Well may this his rejoicing in Christ Jefus, that facred Oath, which this perfecuted and diftreffed Apostle, with fo fublime a Spirit, here

uses, encourage him to go on, tho' he be daily dying; tho' he were daily Ver. 31.

392

Sect. 29.

Ver. 32, 34

Ver. 33.

But fome will fay, How are the Dead raised up?

to encounter the most favage of Mankind, and Death itself in its moft dreadful Forms. Well may this Knowledge of GOD, of his gracious Purposes, and of his exalted Son, awaken us to Righteousness; well may it deliver us from the Bondage of Sin.

Let us retain these noble Principles of Doctrine and Action, and guard against thofe evil Communications, thofe fceptical and licentious Notions, which would corrupt our Spirits, which would. enervate every generous Spark which the Gofpel kindles up into a Flame, and by bounding our Views within the narrow Circle of Mortal Life, would degrade us from the Anticipations of Angelical Felicity, to the Purfuits of brutal Gratification..

gect. 30..

*Cor. XV. 35.

36

The Apoftle anfwers Objections against the Refurrection, drawn from our not being able to conceive of the particular Manner in which it shall be effected; and concludes with urging it, as a noble Incentive to the greatest Steadiness and Zeal in Religion. 1 Cor. XV. 35, to the End.

I

I CORINTHIANS XV. 35.

HAVE thus endeavoured to confirm your Faith, and establish your Hope, in the great and glorious Doctrine of a Refurrection; but fome one will perhaps be ready petulantly to object, and Jay, How are the Dead railed up, when their Bodies are quite diffolved, and the Particles, of which they confifted, fcattered abroad, and per-haps become Parts of other Bodies; and if they are raised, with what [Kind of] Bodies do they come out of their Graves, and what Alteration is. made in their Conftitution, and Organization, to fit them for a future Life, in fo many Refpects different from this?

I CORINTHIANS XV. 35-
BUT fome Man will
raifed up? And with what
Body do they come?

Thou thoughtless Creature, who perhaps prideft 36 Thou Fool, that thyfelf in the Sagacity of this Objection, as if it

were fome mighty Effort of Penetration, how

eafily mightest thou find an Anfwer to it from

what

which

which thou foweft is not quickened, except it die.

37 And that which thou foweft, thou fowest not that Body that fhall be, but bare Grain, it may chance of Wheat, or of fome other

Grain.

ap

Sect.

393

30.

Cor. XV. 36.*

The Apostle illuftrates this by Seed fown in the Earth.
what paffes every Day in the Works of Nature?
That Seed which thou foweft in thy Field, is not
quickened to new Life and Verdure, except it
pear to die (a): Before it fprings up to the future
Vegetable, whatever it be, it is macerated, de-
cayed, and at Length confumed in the Earth.
And [as for] that which thou fowest, thour fowest 37
not the Body, which shall be produced from that
Seed which is committed to the Ground, but bare
Grain, perhaps of Wheat, or of any other Kind
of [Grain,] in which there is no Appearance of
Root, or of Stalk, or Blade, or of Ear. But 38
GOD, in the Courfe of his natural Operations,
by certain Laws of Vegetation, with which thou
art entirely unacquainted, gives it a Body as he
pleafes, and fuch a Variety of Parts, as he hath
thought fit to determine for that particular Spe-
cies, and to each of the Seeds its own proper Bo-
dy (b) Not only a Body of the fame Sort, but
that which by Virtue of fome Connection it had
with this or that individual Grain, may properly
be called its own, tho' in its Form much diffe-
rent, and much more beautiful.

38 But God giveth it a Body as it hath pleafed him, and to every Seed his own Body.

39 All Flefh is not the fame Flesh: but there is one Kind of Flesh of Men, another Flesh of Beasts, another of Fishes, and another

of Birds.

There is an immense Variety in the Works of GOD, even in those, which fall under the Infpection of our Senfes, feeble and limited as they are, while we dwell in Flesh and Blood. All Flesh, you know, is not the fame Kind of Flesh, but the Flefh of Men, and of Cattle (c), of Fishes and of Fowls, is different each from the other, in its Form,

(a) Except it die.] To this it hath been objected, "that if the Seed, die, it never bears. "Fruit." But it is certain, that the Seed in general does confume away in the Ground, tho' a little Germen, or Bud, which makes a Part of it, fprings up into new Life, and is fed by the Death and Corruption of the reft. So that these wife Philofophers of our own talk juft as foolishly as the Corinthian Freethinkers, whom they vindicate. See John xii. 24

(b) Its own proper Body.] The Apoftle feems more directly to speak of that, as its proper Body, which is peculiar to that Species of Grain; yet undoubtedly each Ear has a peculiar Reference to one Individual, as its proper Seed, in fuch a Manner, as another of the fame Species has not; and what follows plainly fuits fuch a View.GOD is faid to give it this Body as he pleafes, becaufe we know not how it is produced; and the Apostle's leading Thought is," that it is abfurd to argue against a Refurrection on a Principle, which is fo "palpably falfe, as that must be, which fuppofes us to understand all the Procefs of the "Divine Works."

(c) Cattle.] So now fignifies; but it seems to be put for Beasts in general. Ddd

VOL. IV.

(d) And

399

394

There will be different Degrees of Glory at the Refurrection:

Sect. 30. Form, Qualities, and Manner of being fubfifted. [There are] alfo celeftial Bodies, and terreftrial Bo

40.

41 There is one Glory of the Sun, and another GloGlory of the Stars; for one ry of the Moon, and another Star, differeth from another Star in Glory.

Cor. XV. dies; but the Glory of the celeftial, and the terrestrial: But the Glory of the trial, are apparently different, and the brighteft celeftial is one, and the Luftre the latter can have, is but a faint Reflec- Glory of the terrestrial is antion of what is received from the former. And even in the Glory of the celeftial Bodies there is 41 alfo a wonderful Variety: There is one fuperior and incomparable Glory of the Sun, which often fhines with a Luftre fcarce to be endured; and another reflected and milder Glory of the Moon; and another Glory of the Stars, which, as they appear to us, are far inferior to either of the two great Luminaries. And again, [one] Star differeth from [another] Star in Glory (d), according to their respective Magnitudes, in Reference to which they are ranged by Aftronomers under different Claffes.

42

So [fhall be] alfo the Refurrection of the pious Dead (e) Another Kind of Glory fhall appear, than human Nature has known in its pureft State, in any Beauty of Form, or Ornaments of Drefs. There fhall indeed, as I intimated but now, be fome Difference in the Degree of that Glory, correfpondent to the different Excellencies in the Characters of good Men, on whom it is to pass But all shall experience a moft illuftrious and happy Change; fo that it may be faid concerning the Body of them all in general, it is fown, or committed, like Seed, to the Ground in Corruption, just ready to putrify, and thro' various Forms of Putrefaction to be reduced to the Duft: But it is raifed in Incorruption, fo that no Accident, or Disorder

42 So alfo is the Refur

fown in Corruption, it is raifed in Incorruption :

rection of the Dead. It is

(d) And one Star differeth, &c.] It is in the Original yap, that is, for; but I conclude that Particle is here ufed only as a Copulative; elfe we muft fuppofe the Apoftle to argue more philofophically, than he probably intended, and to affert that the Sun and Moon were Stars. He plainly fpeaks of the Luftre which thefe celeftial Luminaries exhibit to us, not of what they have in themfelves, without any Regard to their Afpects on us.

(e) The Refurrection of the pious Dead.] Of them it is evident the Apoftle here fpeaks, and not of the Dead in general. Compare Verfes, 23, 43, 49 and 57, with 1 Thef. iv. 16, 17, and Verfe 54 St. Paul, (Phil. iii. 2.) and our Lord, (Matt. xxii. 30. Luke xx. 35.) mean the fame Thing bythe Refurrection.

I

All infinitely transcending the present State of human Nature. 395 Disorder whatfoever shall be able to diffolve it Sect. 30. again, or to threaten it in the least Degree. is fown in Dishonour in a poor contemptible State, 1 Cor. XV.

43 It is fown in Difhohour, it is raifed in Glory

It is fown in Weakness, it is raised in Power :

44 It is fown a natural Body, it is raised a spiritual Body. There is a natural Body, and there is a fpiritual Body.

45 And fo it is written, The first Man Adam was made a living Soul, the last Adam

43.

and under a Kind of Infamy, put upon it by the
Execution of GoD's firft Sentence against Sin:
But it is raised in Glory (f), every Part and Trace
of the Curfe being abolished, and itself being
formed in fuch a Manner, as to make it appear
that the King of Heaven delights to honour the
happy Spirit, on which he bestows fuch a Drefs.
It is fown in Weakness, abfolutely incapable of
any, even the lowest Degree of Action, or Sen-
fation, and deprived of thofe limited Abilities
which it poffeffed in this its mortal Life: But
it is raised in Power, endowed with almost
ange-
lick Degrees of Strength, Vigour, and Activity.
It is fown an animal Body, formed to the Pur- 44
pofes of animal Life in this prefent World: But
it is raised a fpiritual Body, formed to a noble
Superiority to the mean Gratifications of this im-
perfect State, and fitted to be the Inftrument of
the Soul, in the moft exalted Services of the Spi-
ritual and Divine Life. For it is certain, that as
there is an animal Body, with which we are now
by daily, and frequently, by unhappy Experience,
acquainted; fo there is alfo a fpiritual Body: GOD.
can exalt and refine Matter to a Degree of Pu-
rity and Excellence to us unknown; and there
are many Bodies now existing so pure and active,
as that in Comparison they may be called Spirits.
And fo it is written with Refpect to the former, 45
(Gen. ii. 7.) that the first Man Adam, when GOD
had breathed into his Noftrils the Breath of Life,
was made a living Soul (g); fo that even in the ori

ginal

(f) It is raised in Glory.] Some think this refers to the Garment of Light, which the Body fhall put on at the Refurrection; on which Dr. Whitby has a remarkable Note here; (Compare Mat. xvii. 2. Acts ix. 3. Rev. i. 14, 15. Dan. xii. 3. Wifd. iii. 7. Mat. xiii. 43. and Mark ix. 3.) and which he thinks remarkable to illuftrate the Matter ex adverfo.

(g) Made a living Soul.] This is a Quotation from Moses; and there feems to be a peculiar Emphasis in the Original, which I know not how to preferve in the Tranflation, in the Preference of to, uxor, in the former Verfe, as diftinguished from uμalinov; and refers to fuch a Difference between x, the animal Soul, and up, the rational 'Spirit,