oyev, fpeak after the Manner of Men, in handling abftrufer Points: And, if I am not mistaken, both the Scene of the general Judgment, and that of the general Refurrection, is represented after the Manner of Men in its first Appearance, and its external Ornaments; but if you look more narrowly into the Thing, the Thing itself, indeed, will appear the fame, but will appear in a Form of a great deal more Simplicity: But fome of the Antients, by not diftinguishing between this double Hypothefis, have render'd the Doctrine of the Resurrection almost unintelligible.

BUT we ought to observe, that there is ftill another Thing which occafion'd Obfcurity or Confufion in the handling this Point; and that is, from not fufficiently diftinguishing between the first Refurrection and the fecond, according to the Sentiments of the Antients: For many of the Antient Fathers greatly diftinguish'd between these, and were of Opinion, that we fhould have one Kind of Body upon the first Resurrection, and another upon the fecond: That upon the first Refurrection we fhould have a Body compos'd of Flesh and Bones, and Blood, like that which we have at present, but yet more pure and more perfect, fuch as the Body of Adam in Paradife is believ'd to have been; but that upon the fecond Refurrection we should have a Celestial and Spiritual Body, without Flesh and without

Blood,

Blood, like unto the glorious Body of Christ, the fecond Adam; fuch a one as is defcrib'd by St. Paul in his Difcourfe to the Corinthians, concerning the Refurrection. And as many of the Fathers as defended the millennial Kingdom of Christ, who were neither few nor inglorious, diftinguish'd between the two Kinds of Bodies which we are to have after this Life. And this Diftinction being once admitted, there are two different Ways of anfwering the Questions above propos'd, concerning the Nature and the Identity of Bodies upon the Refurrection, which Anfwer is to be made according as the Question is understood concerning the first or the fecond Refurrection. If the Question is, What the Body will be upon the first Resurrection? the Answer is, That it will be of Flesh, but not the fame numerical Body with that which we have at prefent. If the Question is concerning the fecond Refurrection, the Anfwer is, That it will be the fame numerical Body with that of its immediate Predeceffor, but neither carnal nor terrestrial; fo that 'tis plain, that in this Debate nothing certain can be determin'd till the Parties are come to an Agreement concerning the State of the Cafe; that is, whether the Question is concerning one only Refurrection, or concerning a dou ble one. But whatever we have faid above, from the facred Characters or Marks concerning the Refurrection, regards the last and universal Refurrection, and the Celestial

Bodie's

Bodies which the Saints will then have: For this is the most noted and the most celebrated Refurrection in all the facred Writings; upon which alone, if I am not mistaken, the Apoftle St. Paul founded his Differtation. But concerning the first Resurrection in the millennial Kingdom of Chrift, and the Renovation of all things, we fhall treat in the following Chapter; and that being explain'd, it will be more manifeft and more perfpicuous what Judgment we are to form concerning this whole Matter.

In the mean Time 'tis rightly affirmed by Tertullian, that the great Dependance of Christians is upon the Refurrection of the Dead; which Affertion is true concerning either Refurrection, and that Author has more than one made Mention of that first Refurrection; for he was a Chiliaft: And, therefore, we are to understand that Treatife of the Refurrection of the Flesh, (in which there is more Wit than Judgment, (to be meant of the first Resurrection; when we are again to put on the Flesh, or a carnal Body, and that here upon earth. But the fecond Refurrection is rather a total Change, than a Refurrection, and a Tranfition to an Angelical Life, or, that I may ufe his own Words, a * Mutation into an Angelical Substance, and

* We acknowledge we have a Kingdom promifed us upon Earth: And this, before we come to Heaven, but

yet

and a Tranflation into the Celestial Kingdom. In the like Manner when Justin Martyr treats of the first Resurrection, he calls it, the Refurrection of the Flesh, viz. in the Millennium, (p. 307) and Ireneus proves that that first Refurrection will be a Refurrection of the Flesh, Lib. v. c. 33.

BUT to return to that Saying of Tertullian, The Refurrection of the Dead makes the great Confidence and the Dependance of Chriftians. Chrift is our Hope, Chrift is our Life, who by his own powerful Word shall call the Dead into Life, he himself being the Head, and the first Fruits of the Refurrection. But that Day of the Lord is the Day of Retribution to the Juft, and the Reftitution of all Things. The Coming of Christ, or of the Meffiah, was the Hope and Expectation

yet in another State, that is, after the Refurrection, to continue for a thousand Years in the divine Jerufalem, a City brought down from Heaven, which the Apoítle calls our Mother which is above, &c This, I fay, is provided by God for the Reception of the Saints at the Refurrection, for the Refreshment of all the Good and Spiritual-minded, and to make Amends for thofe Things which we have neglected or loft in this prefent Life. This is the Defign of this earthly Kingdom; and after this has lafted a thousand Years, within which Space the Refurrection of all the Saints fhall be compleated, fame rifing fooner, fome later, according to their Merits, then fhall follow the Deftruction of the World, and the Fiery Judgment; and then we fhall be chang'd in a Moment into Angelical Subftances, by purting on that incorruptible Body, and be remov'd into the heavenly Kingdom. Tertul. 1. 3. contra Mare. cap. ult.

Expectation of all good Men. Armies of Angels celebrated his Birth, crying Glory be to God on High, Peace upon Earth. But how much greater will be the Glory in Heaven, how much greater will be the Peace upon Earth, upon the second Coming of Christ, attended with a Guard of ten thousand Angels. If Luke i. John, when he was scarce alive, leapt in the

Womb of his Mother, at the Voice of Mary faluting Elizabeth; if the Virtue and Influence of Jefus was fo great, of Jefus yet a little Infant, of Jefus hardly conceiv'd, nay, hardly formed, and latent in the Bowels of his Mother, that John felt him approaching whom he was not able to fee; how much a quicker and more powerful Senfe fhall the Souls of the Dead, in which State foever they lie reposed, have of the Coming of the fame Chrift in Triumph, have of the Approach of their God, while the Juft lift up their Heads with Joy, the Time of their Redemption being at hand? God has in a great Measure concealed from us the Conditions of the middle World, or of the intermediate State, between the Day of Death, and the Refurrection, and afflicts us with the Evils and Miseries of this present Life, that we should be the more intent upon the Hope of the Refurrection to come, and should at a mighty Distance, with erected Countenances, and, as it were, with ftretched out Necks, expect the fecond Coming of Christ, that glorious paveav. Since

then