ftrain'd to any thing Actually performed at the time, when God fpake unto Mofes; it hence appears, that by these words, in the Affumption of the Argument, God is not the God of the dead, nothing is meant but this, That God Almighty cannot Properly be called the God of thofe, who shall never be Reftored to the Perfection of their Being, by the Re-union of Body and Soul: From which it is the Direct and Immediate confequence, that those Dead men, whofe God he declares himfelf to be, fhall be fo Reftored. And therefore the other part of the Affumption, that God is the God of the living, as it is here applied to the Deceafed Patriarchs, does denote, that though their Souls be at present Separated from their Bodies, yet God hath not Finally abandon'd them to that ftate of Imperfection, but will certainly Restore them to their Entire nature, and by the conjunction of Body and Soul conftitute them Living men. And upon this account, even those, who are Dead, are faid to live unto God; for he is their God, as he is called the God of the living, in refpect of that life, which ; he he will hereafter vouchfafe unto them; and that with the fame propriety of Speech, which Chrift himself makes ufe of, when he says of himself, * I am the Refurrection; which cannot be understood of his having effected the Refurrection, when this was spoken, but must fignify, that he would afterwards Raise the dead. The Doctrine thus proved by our Blef fed Saviour, may be confirmed by the concurrent Teftimony of other Texts. St. Paul affures us, that our Bodies will be made Immortal; † We know, that if our earthly boufe of this tabernacle were diffolved, we have a building of God, an houfe not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens; for it seems very plain from what follows, that by the house not made with hands, is meant the Immortal state of our-Bodies: ‡ In this we groan earnestly, defiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven; which cannot be understood of the Heavenly mansions, but of the Body. And this is ftill more *Joh. xi. 25. † 2 Cor. v. 1. ‡. z. clear clear from a further observation made by the Apofile, *not that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, i. e. according to the true fenfe of the text, given by + St. Chryfoftom, not that we would be Deprived of our Bodies, but Clothed with them in their state of Immortality; for it is added, that Mortality might be fwallowed up of life. And though this paffage be understood of thofe, who will be found alive, when Chrift fhall come to Judge the world; yet 'tis at the same time a very good Argument for the Refurrection of other mens Bodies from the Grave; because it is not to be imagined, that the Soul of one man fhould either remain without a Body, or be United to a Different Body from that, in which it lived before, when another shall fubfift in the fame Body render'd Immortal. However, we are not left under Uncertainty and Conjecture in this matter; for St. Paul hath af fured us, that they ‡ which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall * . 4. . 16. y. 17. Homil. 10, in 2 Cor. Theff. iv. v. 15. not not prevent them which are afleep; but the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then they which are alive and remain fhall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. And the fame Apostle affirms, that as certainly as Christ himself is rifen, fo certainly fhall our Bodies be raised: * If we believe, that Jefus died and rofe again; even so them alfo which fleep in Jesus will God bring with him. But these Testimonies may feem to prove no more than the Refurrection of the Juft alone: And 'tis no wonder, that the fame obfervation may be made upon many other Texts; becaufe the Refurrection is fo frequently propofed as a Benefit and an encouragement to Virtue and Piety. But God's Holy Spirit hath in feveral other places deliver'd this Article in more General terms, as 2 Cor. v. 10. We must all appear before the Judgement Seat of Chrift, that every one may receive the things done in his Body, according to that he hath done, whether * . 14. F 3 it be good or bad. The fame Apostle declaring his Belief of this Article, in his defence of himself before Felix, calls it a * Refurrection both of the Juft and Unjuft. And our Blessed Saviour thus fully reprefents the Universality of the Refurrection; + The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves fhall hear his voice and fhall come forth; they that have done good unto the Refurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the Refurrection of Damnation; which words are fo expreffive of a Proper and General Refurrection, that it seems Impoffible to evade the force of them; and yet, befides the mifapplication of them to a Spiritual Refurrection from fin, another evafion hath been framed, which below will be taken notice of. Hence therefore I proceed to the other general Head of Difcourfe, viz. II. SECONDLY, The Solution of fome objections that have been formed against this Article: Which hath been by some Acts. xxiv. 15. . John. v. 28, 29. represented |