Now for the wicked, in what estate they shall rise in ; it consists in two things.
1. First, They shall rise in an estate of shame and disgrace. ' And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me : for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched ; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh,' Isa. Ixvi. 24. We see in sickness and pain, or a great fear, how our countenances alter and change ; much more shall they then, in so great vexation and anguish of spirit.
2. Secondly, As the godly shall be free from hunger, cold, thirst, and all diseases and pains, so the wicked shall be subject unto all these in much extremity for ever, insomuch as if they should but, like the rich glutton, desire a drop of comfort to refresh them, they shall not have it. Where- fore seeing all the necessities and pains of nature, yea, and all the vengeance that the anger of an angry incensed God can inflict upon them, shall tor-
332 THE GENERAL RESURRECTION.
mcnt them for ever, let us now stir np ourselves to strive more than ever to shun this woeful miserable condition which the wicked shall then be in, and hearken unto the good counsel and advice of God's word, of the ministers, and of our godly friends to help us on in the good ways of God, which leads to heaven and happiness.
Thus I have done with the doctrine of the resurrection of the body ; yet there remains some questions to be answered, which for mine own part I could be contented to pass over ; because as David says, Ps. cxxxi. 1, ' I have not walked in great matters and hid from me.' And in the law, Exod. xix. 23, the priests as well as the people had their bounds set them, which they might not pass beyond. Yet, notwithstanding, because some are desirous to hear what further may be said, I will answer your desires, and make a further supply of them as far as the light of God's truth will lead me.
1. The first question is. Whether such as wers born monsters and mis- shapen shall rise so at the last day ?
Augustine answers, that they shall not rise monstrous deformed bodies at the last day, but corrected and amended in all parts. The reason he shews in another place is this, * Because if a workman cast an ill favoured piece of work at first, he takes it and melts it again, until he make it an excellent piece ; therefore much more God can and will melt these deformed bodies by death, and make them glorious, entire, and perfect' {m). Now to this judgment I assent thus far, that all the deformed bodies of the godly shall rise, melted by death, glorious and perfect in all parts ; but that they who be wicked shall have the same deformities upon them at the day of judgment. My reason is, deformedness and mis-shapen- ness is a punishment of sin ; but at the day of judgment the punishment of sin shall not be repealed unto the wicked, but shall be further increased. But the Schoolmen say, unto which I assent, that if a wicked man lose an eye or a hand for his offence, by the command of the magistrate, they shall be restored unto them at the day of judgment, to their further increase of torment. Lo, then the way to shun deformity, if thou be mis-shapen any way, live in the fear of God, believe in Christ, repent thee of thy sins, and then at that day all thy deformities shall be done away, and thy body made like unto Christ's glorious body for ever.
2. The second is, In what sex we shall rise, whether men shall rise men, and women women, or not ?
I answer, They shall rise in the same sex ; as Mat. xxii. 8, we see by the Sadducees' question propounded to Christ, of a woman who had seven husbands, whose wife she should be in the resurrection ? Christ doth not say there shall be no women in the resurrection, but he says they shall not marry ; so that the sexes shall not cease, but they shall be as the angels of God in heaven. And Saint Jerome upon that place affirms, that ' Christ gives us thereby to understand, where he says they shall not then marry, nor give in marriage, that both shall rise again in their proper sex, men shall rise men, and women shall rise women ;' and the Greek text bears so much, though the Latin do not (»). So 1 Peter iii. 7, the apostle exhorts both men and women to live together as heirs of the grace of life. And Mat. xii. 42, there it is said that ' the queen of the south shall rise up in judgment against this generation, and shall condemn it,' &c. ; so it is clear that both sexes shall rise again.
3. The third question is. In what age we shall rise, whether children shall rise children, and old men rise old men ?
THE GENERAL EESUERECTION. 333
Augustine, unto whom the Schoolmen agree, answers, ' That all shall rise at the age of Christ, of thirty-three years of age' (o). But I dare not assent unto this opinion, because there is no warrant for it out of the Scriptures ; for whatsoever is not of faith is sin ; and that which hath not its warrant from the word cannot be of faith, which must be grounded on the Scripture. There is one place which seems to confirm the former opinion, that of Eph. iv. 13, ' Till we all meet together in the unity of the faith, and knowledge of the Son of God, into a perfect man, and into the age of the fulness of Christ.' Now by a consent of most of the fathers, they understand this place in another sense. Chrysostom saith, that in this place ' by the fulness of the age of Christ,' is meant not the full age of Christ, but the gifts and graces of Christ (o). So some others say to the same sense. St Jerome says, that ' by the age of Christ is not meant the grounds of the bodies of the godly, but the inward man, of the gifts and graces of the soul' (o). Again TertuUian diflers from his judgment another way ; saith he, ' Let Christians remember that our souls shall receive the same bodies from the which they departed ; and therefore look in what stature and in what age they departed, in the same they shall rise again' (j)). And in my judgment there be some reasons to prove the contrary.