318 THE GENERAL RESURRECTION.
dead whicli were in it ; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them : and they were judged every man according to their works.' And, therefore, seeing all things are come to pass which the Scripture hath foretold, and shall come ; and seeing God is true, faithful, and almighty in power to do whatsoever he will : we may then also he sure of this, that God will raise again the dead at the last day.
Secondly, Thus much is proved hy reasons of divers sorts, five in number.
1. From the power of God. 2. From the justice of God. 3. From the mercy of God. 4. From the end of Christ's coming. 5. From the resur- rection of Christ.
(1.) [Power of God.] For the first TertuUian says well, ' It was a harder matter for God to make a man, being nothing, out of the dust of the earth, than now, being something, to raise him up and repair him again' (a). And he who spake the word, and made this great frame of heaven and earth, is able also, by his power, to raise up the dead at the resurrection ; which made Christ, in that disputation with the Sadducees, Mat. xxii. 29, reprove their ignorance in this point : * Ye do err, not knowing the Scrip- tures, nor the power of God.' Now of this, when we are once soundly convinced, then we can believe, and say with Job, * I know thou canst do everything, that no thought can be withholden from thee ; who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge ?' &c., Job xlii. 3.
(2.) The second is drawn from his justice; for it is agreeable with his justice, that those who have been partakers in good and evil actions should participate in suitable rewards and punishments ; but the bodies of men are partners in good and evil actions with the soul ; therefore the Lord will raise up both, to reward and punish them, according as they have done good or evil. TertuUian saith, ' "We must not think that God is slothful or unjust; 1, We may not think that God is unjust to reward the soul and destroy the body, or punish the one, and not the other; but he will raise up both, to reward both together, according to their sufferings and misdeeds. Again, we must not think him slothful, that he will not take pains to raise up dead bodies; no; he is indefatigable, not subject to any weariness. It is but for him to speak the word, think the thought, will it to be, and all shall be done,' {b). So, in regard of his justice, the body must rise also.
(3.) The third is drawn from the nie)-cij of God, which is infinitely more in him than in us, extending itself in a large measure unto all. Now this mercy is in men, that, if they could raise all the dead bodies of their friends, they would do it. But the mercy of God being infinitely more than all our compassion can be, extends therefore itself to all the souls and bodies of men, to raise them up again, and perpetuate them ; wherein, if the wicked had not forsaken their own mercy, they might have had joy and comfort with the rest. For this cause Christ tells us, Mat. xxii. 82, * that he is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,' not the God of the dead ; for if it were so, then he should be only a God of one part of Abraham, and not of the other; but he is the God of both, therefore he will raise both soul and body at the last day, and the dead shall rise.
(4.) Fourthly, From the end of Christ's coming, as it is 1 John iii. 8,
' For this purpose appeared the Son of God, that he might loose* the works
of the devil ;' for the devil first brought in sin, and sin brought death.
This was the great work the devil aimed at, to bring in sin and death ; and
* The Greek word is Xiw. — G.
THE GENERAL RESURRECTION. 319
therefore Christ coming to dissolve this great work, amongst the rest, which ia not done unless there be a resurrection of the dead. Therefore the dead shall rise again.
(5.) The fifth is drawn /ra??2 the resurrection of Christ; for Christ did not rise as a private person, like unto the widow's son, and as Lazarus did, but he rose as the public head of the church. St Paul says, * that he was the first fruits of them that slept,' 1 Cor. xv. 20. So, in the rising of Christ, all the people of God rise, and that which went before in the head shall follow in the members, as Augustine speaks. And Cja-il saith well, ' that Christ entered into heaven by the narrow passage of his sufterings and death; by his death and resurrection to make a wide passage for us unto heaven' (c). So in Christ's rising we rise. Hero one may object, Oh, it was an easy matter for Christ to rise, because he was God. I answer, true ; but as God-man, sustaining the burden and weight of all our sins, it was not so easy; for when we are laid in the grave, we have but the weight of our own sins to keep us down. Christ, he had the sins of all the elect people of God upon him, and therefore it was a harder matter for Christ to rise again than we suppose ; and yet he broke through all, and rose again ; therefore do not thou doubt but that he will at length raise thee again. So Christ's promise is, • When I am lifted up, I will draw all men after me,' John xii. 32; only our care must be to have communion with Christ in our life and death ; to live as he lived, die with him, lie in the grave with him, be as near in life, and lay our dead bodies as near his as may be, and then, when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, as it is in Col. iii. 1, * then shall we likewise be raised up, and appear with him in glory.' Otherwise, we shall be raised, but unto all sorrow and misery in eternal torments, not as unto a head, but unto a terrible judge ; where, when one hath lived a thousand years, they are as new to begin again ; and so be tormented world without end. Now divers objections are made by atheis- tical persons against this main point of faith.