Nature of feparate Spirits, or concerning the Body, however to Appearance loft and deftroyed; for the Body and Soul shall once more meet to part no more, but to be happy for ever. In this Cafe the Learned cannot doubt, and the Ignorant may be fure, that tis the Man, the very Man himself, who fhall rife again: For an Union of the fame Soul and Body is as certainly the Restoration of the Man, as the dividing them was the Destruction.

Would you know who it is that gives this Affurance? "Tis One that is able to make good his Word; One who loved you fo well as to die for you; yet One too great to be held a Prifoner in the Grave; No; hẹ rose with Triumph and Glory, the first-born from the Dead, and will in like manner call from the Duft of the Earth all those who put their Truft and Confidence in him.

But who is this, you'll fay, who was subject to Death, and yet had Power over Death? How could fo much Weakness and fo much Strength meet together? That God has the Power of Life, we know; but then he cannot die That Man is mortal, we know; but then he cannot give Life.

Confider; does this Difficulty deferve an Answer, or does it not? Our bleffed Saviour

lived among us in a low and poor Condition, exposed to much Ill-treatment from his jealous Countrymen: When he fell into their Power, their Rage knew no Bounds; They reviled him, infulted him, mocked him, fcourged him, and at last nailed him to a Crofs, where by a fhameful and wretched Death he finished a Life of Sorrow and Affliction, Did we know no more of him than this, upon what Ground could we pretend to hope that he will be able to fave us from the Power of Death? We might fay with the Disciples, We trusted this had been be who should have faved Ifrael; but he is dead, he is gone, and all our Hopes are buried in his Grave.

If you think this ought to be answered, and that the Faith of a Chriftian cannot be a reasonable Faith, unless it be enabled to account for this feeming Contradiction; I befeech you then never more complain of the Gafpel for furnishing an Answer to this great Objection, for removing this Stumblingblock out of the Way of our Faith. He was a Man, and therefore he died: He was the Son of God, and therefore he rose from the Dead, and will give Life to all his true Difciples. He it was who formed this World and all Things in it, and for the fake of

Man

Man was content to become Man, and to taste Death for all, that all through him may live. This is a wonderful Piece of Knowledge which God has revealed to us in his Gofpel; but he has not revealed it to raise our Wonder, but to confirm and establish our Faith in Him to whom he hath committed all Power, whom he hath appointed Heir of all Things.

Had the Gospel required of us to expect from Chrift the Redemption of our Souls and Bodies, and given us no Reason to think that Chrift was endued with Power equal to the Work, we might juftly have complained; and it would have been a standing Reproach, That Chriftians believe they know not what. But to expect Redemption from the Son of God, the Refurrection of our Bodies from the fame Hand which at first created and formed them, are rational and Well-founded Acts of Faith; and it is the Christian's Glory, That he knows in whom be has believed.

That the World was made by the Son of God, is a Propofition with which Reason has no Fault to find: That He who made the World fhould have Power to renew it to Life again, is highly confonant to Reafon. All the Mystery lies in this, That so high

and

and great a Perfon fhould condescend to become Man, and subject to Death, for the fake of Mankind. But are we the fit Perfons to complain of this transcendent mysterious Love? Or, does it become us to quarrel with the Kindness of our bleffed Lord towards us, only because it is greater than we can conceive? No; it becomes us to bless and to adore this exceeding Love, by which we are faved from Condemnation, by which we expect to be rescued from Death; knowing that the Power of our bleffed Lord is equal to his Love, and that he is able to fubdue all Things to himself.

DISCOURSE