Secondly, What shall be raised? The bodies of mankind. A man is said to die when the soul is separated from the body, and returns unto God who gave it, Eccles. xii 7. B•t it is the body only which is laid in the grave, and can be properly said to be rai•ed: wherefore the resurrection is, strictly speaking, competent to the body only. Moreover, it is the same body that dies. which shall rise again. At the resurrection, men shall not appear with other b•d•es for substance, than these which they now have, and which are said down in the grave: but with the self-same bodies endowed with other qualities. The very notion of a resurrection implies thi•; ⟨p. 256⟩since nothing can be said to rise again, but that which falls. But to illustrate it a little, First. it is plain from scripture-testimony. The Apostle tells, it is this mortal which must put on immortality, 1 Cor. xv. 5• and that Christ shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, Philip. iii. 21. Death in scripture language, is a sleep, and the resurrection an awaking out of that sleep, Job xiv. 12. which shows the b• rising up, to be the self same that died. Secondly, The equity of the divine procedure, both with respect to the godly and the wicked, evinces this. It is not reckoned equal among men, that one do the work, and another get the reward. Though the glorifying of the body of saints, is not, properly speaking, and in a strict •ense, the reward of their services or sufferings on earth: yet this is evident, that it is not at all agreeable to the manner of the divine dispensation, that one body serve him, and another be glorified: that one fight, and another receive the crown. How can it be imagined that the temples of the Holy Ghost (as these bodies of believers are termed, 1 C•r. vi. 19.) should always lie in rubbish; and others be reared up in their stead; That these members of Christ (ver. 15.) shall perish utterly, and other bodies come in their room? Nay, surely as these bodies of the saints now be•r a part in glorifying God, and some of them suffer in his cause: so they shall partake of the glory that is to be revealed. And these bodies of the wicked, which are laid in the dust, shall be raised again; that the same body, which sinned, may suffer. Shall one body sin here, and another suffer in hell for that sin?
Secondly, What shall be raised? The bodies of mankind. A man is said to die when the soul is separated from the body, and returns unto God who gave it, Eccles. xii 7. B•t it is the body only which is laid in the grave, and can be properly said to be rai•ed: wherefore the resurrection is, st•ictly speaking, competent to the body only. Moreover, it is the same body that dies. which shall rise again. At the resurrection, men shall not appear with other b•d•es for substance, than these which they now have, and which are said down in the grave: but with the self-same bodies endowed with other qualities. The very notion of a resurrection implies thi•; ⟨p. 256⟩since nothing can be said to rise again, but that which falls. But to illustrate it a little, First. it is plain from scripture-testimony. The Apostle tells, it is this mortal which must put on immortality, 1 Cor. xv. 5• and that Christ shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, Philip. iii. 21. Death in scripture language, is a sleep, and the resurrection an awaking out of that sle•p, Job xiv. 12. which shews the b• rising up, to be the self same that died. Secondly, The equity of the divine procedure, both with respect to the godly and the wicked, evinces this. It is not reckoned equal among men, that one do the work, and another get the reward. Though the glorifying of the body of saints, is not, properly speaki•g, and in a strict •ense, the reward of their services or sufferings on earth: yet this is evident, that it is not at all agreeable to the manner of the divine dispensation, that one body serve him, and another be glorified: that one fight, and another receive the crown. How can it be imagined that the temples of the Holy Ghost (as these bodies of believers are termed, 1 C•r. vi. 19.) should always ly in rubbish; and others be rear•d up in their stead; That these members of Christ (ver. 15.) shall persh utterly, and other bodies come in their room? Nay, surely as these bodies of the saints now ber a part in glorifyng God, and some of them suffer in his cause: so they shall partake of the glory that is to be revealed. And these bodies of the wicked, which are laid in the dust, shall be raised again; that the same body, which sinned, may suffer. Shall one body sin here, and another suffer in hell for that sin?
