it dye it bringeth forth much fruit 1 Cor. 15.36 And the Apostle when that question was asked How are the Dead raised up Replies presently Thou Fool that which thou sowest is not quickened except it dye implying it to be nothing else but direct Folly to question that which in a thing so obvious as the sowing of Corn might be concluded not only Possible but Necessary Since Man is beyond many grains and more especially the Object ofGods care and Compassion For whose Instruction he hath scattered about the World so many Preludiums and Rudiments of a better Resurrection 2. The Resurrection is necessary because it demonstrates Gods Justice Were it not for Future Judgment nothing would be so full of Confusion and Disorder as the World This Earth in the present Polity and Frame of it is nothing else but a meer Chaos where Vice and Iniquity thrive as in their own soyl but Virtue and Piety do find neither Place nor Protection It must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That day of Reckoning to be reveal'd in Fire which must absolve Providence and scatter those Mists wherewith the beauty of it is now obscured and stained It is this that must stop men in their Carier of sin and keep them honest in the dark For in that sacred Irony of the Wise man Rejoyce Eccl. 11.9 O young man in thy youth and walk in the waies of thy heart and in the sight of thy eyes but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee to judgement which is all one as if he had said Go young man sin if thou darest for thou must hereafter come to judgement Eccl. 9.2 In this world All things come alike to all God scatters his good things with an undistinguishing hand tanquam Missilia Coeli as his Largesses and signs of his promiscuous Bounty rather than marks of his especial Love But future Judgement is Gods severing time called by the Apostle the time 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 3.21 i.e. of setting all things right of placing every thing upon its proper Basis and giving all their due Now to this the Resurrection of the body is necessary For we must all appear 2 Cor. 55.10 saith the Apostle Paul before the Judgement-Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or evill In the Law we find That the soul that sinneth must dye and it is most just that the body which did joyn in the sin should likewise partake in the punishment Those dear Allies were not separated in their good or evill doing and therefore there is no reason they should be distinct in their Reward I carry about me saith the Apostle the dying of the Lord Jesus i.e. I lead a kind of dying and Calamitous life for his sake that so the life also of Jesus might be manifested in my mortal Flesh In requital of all our Indignities 2 Joh 8. Imprisonments Fastings c. if the soul only should be glorified we should not have a full reward which it is our duty to look after And therefore this Hand this Tongue this Eye This whatever it is whereby God hath been either provoked or honoured shall be quickned again and put into the possession of a never-dying life and fitted for the enjoyment of eternal either Joy or Torment Thirdly Reason 3 The Last Argument which makes the Doctrine of the Resurrection credible is from the evidence and certainty of it since it hath been so as that withall it necessarily implies that it shall be For Christ is Risen and taken possession of glory not only for himself but for his Followers 1 Cor. 15.14 Now if Christ be preached as the Apostle argues that he rose from the Dead how say some among you that there is no Resurrection of the dead V. Garbut Remonst As if he had said If you barely considered the Resurrection in it self you might then have something to plead in the excuse of your Unbelief but since Christ is Risen there is no longer any room left for the least dispute about it For Christ is risen either as a Judge or as an Head and therefore all must rise the wicked to be condemned the faithful to be saved by him The Use of this may serve to demonstrate two things 1. The Reasonableness of Christian Faith 2. The Necessity of Christian Life Use 1 This serves to demonstrate the Reasonableness of Christian Faith As when God would convince the Heathen that their Idols were not Gods he challenges them to produce their strong Reasons and to prove their Cause by Arguments Shew Isa 41.23 saith he the things that are to come hereafter that we may know that ye are Gods yea do good or do evill that we may be dismaied i.e. If ye are indeed as your Worshippers suppose Gods then shew it by those infallible and unalterable signs of a Diety viz. Your Prescience and your Power So may a Christian say in this Case he may and ought to challenge the unbelieving World to produce their strong Reasons to declare their Cause and to see whether they have so much to say even in point of Reason for the most clear and un questioned part of their Opinion as we have for the most contradicted of ours For a Christian should not satisfie himself with a bare and naked Faith grounding himself either upon Tradition or the credit of his Teachers but he should labour for himself If to know both what and why he believes It is a general Rule the Apostle Peter gives 1 Pet. 3.15 Be ye alwaies ready to give an account of your Faith to every one that asks you And our Saviour though he did press his Followers to believe on him yet he never did require from them Orig. lib. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Heathen falsly objected i.e. An unreasonable and Untried Faith but where ever he gives the Command he alleadges at the same time Reasons sufficient to convince the most obstinate gainsayer such are the heavenliness of his Language Joh. 15.22 Had I not saith he come and spoke unto them they had not had sin but now they have no cloak for their sin For his words by their own confession were such as never any man spake and carried a clear Resemblance to the body he took as being most humble in stile and most sublime in sense Joh. 3. And therefore he complains of them Why saith he do ye not know 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. discern who I am by my manner of discourse amongst you for certainly such words could not proceed from one who came to deceive the world as those replied These are not the words of him that hath a devil Joh. 10.21 Another Argument our Saviour uses to induce them to believe was his Works which Nicodemus confesseth were such as never any man did Joh. 5.36 And
thence conclude that if Providence hath a respect to any one part of the world it cannot be imagined but it should have an Influence over all for else it must either be Finite or Partial which is absurd So in the asserting of Scriptures begin with that which they all point at and which if one place be questioned thousands of the same kind will evince viz. That the Messiah was to come which is the great design of the Old Testament That the Messiah is come which is the sum of the New and then all the other parts of Scripture will be owned as suited to the Divine and Heavenly Nature of our Messiah who took a body not only that he might dye our Price but that he might live our Pattern And almost each Line of Scripture especially in the New Testament describes either his Life or his Language 2. Here the Doubter must begin because this is the readiest way to ascertain himself whether he be guided by the Spirit of God or not So the Apostle Paul 2 Cor. 12.3 None can call Jesus the Lord but by the Holy Spirit and John 1 Joh. 4.2 Every Spirit that confesseth Jesus the Messiah to be come in the flesh is of God They do not mean that saying this in words is a sign of the Spirit for what is more easie but the owning it in heart this whoever doth may be sure he hath the Spirit And the reason is plain because where the Object proposed doth exceed any natural power there must be a new power given by which that Object is to be received Thus the Apostle John argues concerning future glory Hereafter 1 Joh. 3.3 saith he we shall be like him i. e. Christ because we shall see him as he is There will be a proportion and similitude between Christs body and ours because our visive Faculty shall be so exceedingly advanced as that we shall be able to perceive him in his utmost radiance of Glory So in belief since the soul when it doth it is heightned beyond any native Virtue of its own it is a sign that Gods Spirit hath illuminated and enlarged its Capacity Thus the Apostle We are saved by Grace through Faith Eph. 2.8 and that not of our selves it is the gift of God i. e. that very Faith by which we apprehend Christ is as much the gift of God as Christ himself that is apprehended by it I know very well this seems harsh to many who are willing to boast in themselves but if ever you come to believe indeed you will find the Difficulties your Natural Reason doth urge and vex you with to be insuperable untill the Spirit of God by infusing new light doth explain and solve them Lastly Begin with enquiring whether Jesus be the Christ because upon this depends the whole course of your future Obedience Our Saviour required no more of any that came unto him but to believe that he was the Son of God not that he did exclude good works but he knew that this was the only way to facilitate and expedite them All the while we are either uncertain that our past sins are pardoned or our present services accepted how lamely how untowardly do we set about our duty But when once we believe on Christ all that care is over and the firmer our Faith is the higher and more ardent will our Love be which like a flame shoots through the soul and carries it out with an heavenly quickness and ardency Therefore saith the Apostle Rom. 10.9 10. If thou confess with thy mouth that Jesus is the Lord i.e. If thou obeyest him and believest in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead i.e. that he is the true Messiah of which his Resurrection is an infallible proof thou shalt be saved For with the heart men believe unto righteousness i.e. unto the justification of their Persons and with the mouth is confession made unto Salvation But to think of making confession or doing any act of Religion without Faith desire at least and the desire of Faith is Faith this is only to mock God and to undo our selves by our foolish and hypocritical presumptions in presenting unto him a Sacrifice which he abhors For without Faith i. e. reliance upon him for mercy and out of Christ God is nothing else but Justice it is impossible to please him When the Doubter hath gone thus far as to find that if he will be satisfied here he must begin his next course will be to run over in his mind those Arguments which our Saviour useth to evince his being the Messiah such are the heavenliness of his Language Joh. 8.43 Why do you not saith our Saviour know my speech i.e. Why do you not perceive even by my manner of discourse that I am come from heaven full of that God in whose Name I speak Joh. 10.21 For as some of the Jews said these are not the words of him that hath a devil These are not the words of one that came to deceive the world and to boast of himself to be that which he was not Another Argument our Saviour urges is the holiness of his Life Joh 8.46 Joh. 10.32 Which of you saith he doth convince me of sin and many good works have I done amongst you for which of them do you stone me An holy humble self-denying man who forbad even his Miracles to be published cannot without intolerable malice be supposed to assume a title which did not belong to him Add to this the God-like Patience and Resolution of his Death dying in defence of this very Tenet unprovoked with injuries breathing out his soul in charity to men Father forgive them Luk. 23.34 for they know not what they do at the same time both praying and pleading for his bitterest Enemies and then giving up himself unto his Father with perfect Affiance Father Ibid. v. 46. into thy hands do I commend my Spirit Add yet farther the Testimony of his Followers who saw him after he was risen the success of his Doctrine in spite of Persecution and above all the fulfilling of Prophesies as I have already mentioned Truly then if he that doubted be not satisfied if he that was almost doth not become altogether a Christian he is strangely wanting to himself for God is not wanting to assist those who do but begin to enquire after him every doubt that ariseth being nothing else but a Motion of Gods Spirit whereby he would draw us unto himself Having thus cleared that to believe is not unreasonable as the Unbeliever supposeth the next thing I shall propose is this That 2. To obey is not dangerous for though we may lose our Lives yet sure we shall be sufficient gainers if we save our souls And therefore let the Doubter strengthen himself with representing Heaven in its fulness of Joy alwaies before his eyes That Doctrine which teacheth that we are not to have an eye to the
the dead for as it follows of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question Again when he was convened before Felix the Roman Deputy he insists upon the same Argument for whereas he was charged by Tertullus with being an Heretick which word is still continued Act. 24.5 as that name of Obloquy whereby men are wont to disgrace all new Discoveries of old Truths Paul doth in despight of that opprobrious Name own that which they called Heresie Ver. 14. and aloud proclaimes that he believed as all the Jews either did or else had reason to do from their writings there should be a Resurrection of the dead Ver. 15. both of the just and of the unjust And now again being brought forth before a mixt Auditory both of Jews and Romans he doth not only assert the Doctrine but likewise in these words offers to dispute the Case and to prove the Resurrection by the dint of Reason The words themselves which are proposed by way of question contain three parts 1. A Proposition that God will raise the Dead for these words Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you that God should raise the Dead Imply that God will certainly raise them 2. An Opposition that this is judged very incredible for these words Why is it judged incredible with you that God should raise the Dead Implies that this is ordinarily esteemed and reputed as a thing incredible 3. A Demonstration or a Conviction that though this was judged incredible yet indeed in it self it was not so For this question Why is it judged incredible c. implies that in the opinion of the Questioner there was no sufficient Reason why it should be so esteemed And these three Parts afford us three Doctrinal Conclusions 1. That God will raise the Dead 2. That this Doctrine concerning the Resurrection of the Dead seems to natural men very incredible and very unreasonable 3. That the Resurrection of the Dead however it be judged incredible by natural men yet is in it self highly credible highly rational Doct. 1 The first Conclusion is That God will raise the Dead By Dead here I mean that part of man which dies viz. his Body for the soul dies not but when the body returns to its dust the soul returns to him that gave it And fear not them saith our Saviour Eccl. 12.7 Mat. 10.28 which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul with this part of our selves as soon as ever we dislodge from the Body in the Apostle Pauls Language we do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. 1 Cor. 5.8 dwell and cohabite with the Lord as in our proper Fathers house for Heaven is the Souls Native and Original home and therefore the re-union of that at last with the Body is rather a return than a Resurrection To speak properly the Body only rises thus our Saviour The hour is coming saith he Joh. 5.25 when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they who hear shall live where that we might not be mistaken who he meant by dead he adds by way of Explication the houre is coming when all who are Ver. 28. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Tombes or Monuments shall hear his voice Now what else are Monuments but as one calls them Tertul. Cadaverum stabula The stalls or receptacles of our corrupt and perishing bodies And therefore when our Saviour envites all to come unto him he uses this by way of motive that whoever came to him he would not lose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. any thing that belonged to him For saith he Joh. 6.39 I will raise him up at the last day And again He that believes on the Son he shall have Eternal Life and I will raise him up at the last day Implying not only that if the body were not raised something which did essentially belong to man would be lost and perish but likewise that without this raising of the body Eternal Life would not be a state of happiness because it would be nothing else but an Eternal separation from that part unto which the soul alwaies desires to be joyned and from which it is unwillingly severed as the Apostle argues 1 Cor. 5.1 and following verses But doth our Saviour do his Apostles say this only Say not the Prophets the same Is not this Article of our Faith as well as all the rest to be proved out of the Old Testament Volkol l. 2◠It will concern us a little to enquire into it that we may stop those mens mouths who traduce our Religion when they tell us that it is wholly new for if our Saviour had taught any thing which was either contrary to or not eminently contained in the Writings of Moses and the Prophets the Jews would have had juster Reason to disbelieve his Doctrine than as yet they can pretend For to insist only upon this of the Resurrection which of all other Divine Discoveries seems to have least footing in the Old Testament It is plain that the Sadduces who denied the Resurrection are charged by our Saviour with Ignorance of the Scriptures Ye erre saith he not knowing the Scriptures i. e. not reflecting upon those places of Scripture wherein the Resurrection is though not directly spoken of yet plainly and by good consequence implied And thereupon he interprets one place which though not minded by them yet did verifie his Assertion The Place is Exod 3. that stile which God in his Apparition to Moses did assume Mat. 22 31 32. when he calls himself The God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob this saith our Saviour doth demonstrate the Resurrection For God is not God of the dead but of the living which words conclude two things 1. That the fouls of Abraham Isaac and Jacob were then living with God 2. That the living of their souls did necessarily infer that their bodies should live too since God is not God of this or that part only but of the whole man Another place in the Old Testament which did imply the Resurrection is the promise God made to Abraham Gen. 12.1 that he would bring him to a Land flowing with Milk and Honey But by this Land as the Apostle excellently argues Heb. 11.8 16. was not meant Canaan for there Abraham had no possession but confessed of himself that he was a Pilgrim and stranger in it which manifestly shews that he desired a Country not that which he left but a better even a heavenly one and that he looked after it as a Place of Happiness not only for his Soul but likewise for his Body is plain from what the Apostle saith afterwards concerning the undaunted Constancy of the Primitive Martyrs i.e. such as died in bearing their witness for the Truths of God before the coming of our Saviour in the flesh They would not Ver. 35. saith he accept of
what they had seen untill the Son of man were risen from the dead The Evangelist adds that they kept the matter private to themselves but questioned or disputed with one another what the rising from the dead should mean at which time it seems they were so utterly ignorant of the thing that they scarce understood the meaning of the word Hence was it that even then when the Resurrection of our Saviour had cleared the Point 1 Cor. 15.12 and left scarce room for the least umbrage of suspition to enter yet there were some in the Church of Corinth who utterly denied it and other 2 Tim. 2.18 of the Sect of Hymenaeus and Philetus who affirmed that it was past already So hard a matter was it for this Doctrine to get ground in the world 1 Tim. 13.6 and therefore the Apostle when he sums up the Mystery of Godliness i.e. as it is revealed by our Saviour he makes this to be one great part of it that Christ was not only risen from the dead but believed on in the World The subduing of the world unto the perswasion and credence of our Saviours Resurrection being every whit as miraculous as the raising him The Reasons why this appears so to incredible to natural men are 1. Because naturally men do doubt the Immortality of the Soul I know very well that there are many excellent Discourses about this in the Heathen Writers and Plato Phade in a certain Dialogue of his brings in his Master Socrates disputing about it with as much strength of Reason and clearness of Expression as the wit of man can possibly invent but after all his fine sayings he concludes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But expresly to affirm that the matter is indeed so as I have discoursed of doth by no means become an understanding man And so makes it at the best only a probable opinion without daring to think as our modern Demonstrators do that he had fully and satisfactorily cleared it And therefore his so much magnified Socrates when he was now to be led unto execution takes his farewell of the Judges in these words which discover nothing but his uncertainty Apol. I go to dye and you to live and which of us do go unto the best estate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De Senect none knows but God alone So Tully the most Learned of the Romans calls Immortality an Errour which he will by no means part with because he is pleased and delighted with it Wherein he discovers his Wishes De Animâ rather than his Hopes For as Tertullian excellently argues to suppose the soul Immortal it was in the Heathen nothing else but a bold and vain presumption since it alwaies lay in his power to destroy the Soule who made it and whether he would or not he had not as to them revealed his pleasure And indeed the words of Job in his despair are the highest reasoning of most Philosophers c. 14.10 Man saith he dieth and wasteth away yea man giveth up the Ghost and where is he And Solomon in the person of a natural man asks a question which he challengeth the World to answer Eccl. 3.21 Who knoweth the spirit of a man that goeth upward and the spirit of a beast that goeth downward to the Earth Who knoweth i.e. upon the principles of meer Reason and Research of Natural Causes who is able to resolve it Whereupon among the Jews Act 23.8 the Sadduces who denied the Resurrection denied likewise both Angel and Spirit i. e. the surviving of the soul as well as the restoring of the body So that since men do naturally doubt of the less it is no wonder if they despair of the greater They who are apt to give the soul it self for lost how can they imagine that the body should ever be recovered 2. The second Reason why natural men are so apt to disbelieve the Resurrection is because they make a wrong estimate of Gods Power We see in this World nothing better and therefore we are ready to measure God by our selves and believe no more of his Power than what falls within the compass of Humane probability which is the true and fixed ground of all that Atheistical Distrust which in all times doth so much abound among men Who is the Lord said Pharaoh Exod. 5.2 that I should let Israel go And Who is Jehova saies Insulting Senacherib 2 Reg 18.35 that he should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand Nay not only these wicked men but the Saints of old have most stumbled when they have been put to Act Faith upon Gods Omnipotency Gen. 18.11 Thus Sarah when she heard the promise of a Son she laughed What saith she now I am old shall I have pleasure my Husband being old also Wherein she musters up Arguments to make her Distrust seem Rational So Moses finds out many excuses to avoid being sent upon Gods Errand I am not Eloquent faith he Exod. 4.10 but slow of speech and slow of Tongue And at last in plain terms he entreats that God would find out a fitter Messenger to go upon his Embassie And whence did this proceed Ver. 13. but from his distrust of Gods Power to Qualifie him first and to Protect him afterwards Thus David Jeremy Zachary nay almost all when a stress or difficulty hath been laid upon their Faith they have been ready to cry out with Nicodemus How can these things be Thus it fares in the Case of the Resurrection Men do first confine the Omnipotence of God to their own Notions and then deny what otherwise they would never have doubted of Mat. 22.29 Our Saviour therefore tells the unbelieving and gainsaying Sadduces Ye erre not knowing the Scriptures nor the Power of God not knowing the Scriptures which declare the Resurrection nor the Power of God which is able to effect it 3. The third Reason of this Unbelief is because Natural men are guided only by sensible Impressions what they see that they believe and are not without a great deal of difficulty carried one jot farther Hence were the Jews so importunate with our Saviour to shew them a sign from Heaven Mat. 16.1 And when our Saviour told fome of his Followers in answer to their Demand that it was the work of God i.e. well-pleasing to Joh. 6.30 31. and required by him to believe on him whom he had sent They presently reply upon him What sign shewst thou then that we may see and believe thee So those Scoffers in Isaiah when the Propher had denounced terrible things against them Let him make speed say they and hasten his work that we may see it That is you speak much to us of what shall come hereafter but we see no danger near and therefore we will not believe you Thus those wretched Pharisees when they had nailed our Saviour to the Cross Let him now say they come down from the Cross and we