herbs, and the earth shall cast forth her dead."

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Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake; some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.""

2. That it is one of the principles of the Christian system, and one of its fundamental principles, will not be denied by any who have read the New Testament. Persons may consider it an absurdity, and may entirely reject the divine revelation, of which others deem it to constitute a part. But whatever may be the sentiments entertained relative to the doctrine itself, all must concur in allowing that the doctrine is here, and that the writers of this book have represented the resurrection of the body as an event unquestionably destined to come to pass. It is readily granted, that the original word employed by the evangelists and apostles, and which is almost invariably translated RESURRECTION, is often translated erroneously. The term itself does not necessarily involve the idea of any corporeal resuscitation, but merely denotes the renewal of life, and refers to a future state of existence generally; and undoubtedly several portions of holy writ would have been more intelligible, and the thoughts conveyed by them would have been more just and impressive, had it been rendered agreeably to its real import. But, at the same time, it cannot be denied, that

Job xix 25-27. Isaiah xxvi. 19. Dan.xii. 2.

there are multitudes of passages, in which the fact of a resurrection of the dead is expressly and positively asserted; and, from many of the narratives and discussions preserved in these hallowed pages, nothing can be more evident, than that, according to the tenets held by the first ministers of Christianity, a future existence of the body is to be associated with the future existence of the soul.

3. And, not only do the revelations of scripture comprehend a clear development of the fact; but they likewise inform us of several interesting particulars relating to it. They point out the event as intended to be universal. They ascribe its accomplishment to the three persons in the Godhead. They specify the means to be employed for producing it. And with regard to believers, they instruct us to view it as the completion of their redemption, and the perfecting of their meetness for a celestial inheritance. That these statements are correct will appear obvious, we conceive, to any person who shall examine and collate the following passages:"And have hope towards God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and of the unjust." "I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them." “As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself. Marvel not

at this; for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation." "God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power." "We believe and therefore speak, knowing that He which raised up the Lord Jesus, shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.' "As the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he will." "Our conversation is in Heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself." If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you."

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Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." "We know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now; and not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we

ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body."

4. The records of the New Testament also bring this subject before us in its connections and dependencies. They not merely announce it as a part of revelation, but they show us why it comes to be so. They not merely state the fact as resting simply upon divine testimony, but they enable us to perceive how the admission of such a fact must necessarily follow from the admission of other facts involved in the Christian system, and direct us into trains of reasoning concerning it, which, if the premises. be true, must conduct us to it as an inevitable conclusion. The arguments with which they furnish us are derived chiefly from the resurrection of Christ, and from the extent and duration of his mediatorial dominion.

The argument derived from the resurrection of Christ, is twofold,-bearing in one form upon the resurrection generally; while in the other, it applies only to the resurrection of believers.

As bearing upon the resurrection generally, it may be thus stated.

be thus stated. Our Lord foretold the resurrection of his own body, and the manner in which it should be accomplished, and that he himself would effect it.

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Destroy this tem

2 Acts xxiv. 15.

Rev. xx. 12, 13.

John v. 26, 28, 29.

1 Cor. vi. 14. 2 Cor. iv. 14. John v. 21. Phil. iii. 20, 21. Rom. viii. 11. 1 Cor. xv. 51, 52. Rom. viii. 22, 23.

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ple," said he, speaking of the temple of his body, "and in three days I will raise it up." And on another occasion, Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself: I have power to lay it down, and power to take it again." The event actually occurred, and occurred precisely as he had predicted; at once proving the veracity of his declarations, and demonstrating the fact of his being able to do every thing. But he has likewise promised to accomplish the resurrection of all who are in the grave. And inasmuch as he has promised this; and inasmuch as he promised to effect his own resurrection and did effect it, thereby affording the most unquestionable evidence of his truth, faithfulness, and power, it is more reasonable to expect, upon the strength of such evidence, that what he has declared concerning the resurrection of others will receive its fulfilment, than to suppose that it will not; or rather, if it be allowed that he did foretel his own resurrection, and the accomplishment of it by his own power, and that he accordingly rose from the dead; and if it be allowed that he thus exhibited a proof, both of his almightiness, and of the total absence from his character of falsehood and guile; and if it be allowed that he has given an unequivocal

3 John ii. 19, 21.

4 John x. 17, 18.