BibleWare/BibWare.bin/bibref/wesley/serm_137.txt

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John Wesley, excerpting Benjamin Calamy


SERMON 137


[text from the 1872 edition]


ON THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD


Written in the year 1732

[This Sermon was originally written by Benjamin Calamy, D.D., Vicar
of St. Lawrence, Jewry, London. It occurs, p. 275, in a volume of
Sermons which bears his name, published in 1704; and is here abridged
and revised by ~Mr. Wesley.~--EDIT.] "But some man will say, how
are the dead raised up? and with~ what body do they come?" 1 Cor.
15:35.

The Apostle having, in the beginning of this chapter, firmly settled
the truth of our Saviour's resurrection, adds, "Now if Christ be
preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you, that
there is no resurrection of the dead?"  It cannot now any longer
seem impossible to you that God should raise the dead; since you
have so plain an example of it in our Lord, who was dead and is alive;
and the same power which raised Christ must also be able to quicken
our mortal bodies.

"But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? And with what
body do they come?" How can these things be? How is it possible that
these bodies should be raised again, and joined to their several
souls, which many thousands of years ago were either buried in the
earth, or swallowed up in the sea, or devoured by fire?--which
have mouldered into the finest dust, --that dust scattered over the
face of the earth, dispersed as far as the heavens are wide;--nay,
which has undergone ten thousand changes, has fattened the earth,
become the food of other creatures, and these again the food of other
men? How is it possible that all these little parts, which made up
the body of Abraham, should be again ranged together, and, unmixed
with the dust of other bodies, be all placed in the same order and
posture that they were before, so as to make up the very self-same
body which his soul at his death forsook? Ezekiel was indeed, in
a vision, set down in a valley full of dry bones, "and he heard a
noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to
his bone; the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered
them above, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood
upon their feet." This might be in a vision. But that all this, and
much more, should in time come to p~ass; that our bones, after they
are crumbled into dust, should really become living men; that all
the little parts whereof ou~r bodies were made, should immediately,
at a general summons, meet again, and every one challenge and possess
its own place, till at last the whole be perfectly rebuilt; that
this, I say, should be done, is so incredible a thing, that we cannot
so much as have any notion of it. And we may observe, that the Gentiles
were most displeased with this article of the Christian faith; it
was one of the last things the Heathens believed; and it is to this
day the chief objection to Christianity, "How are the dead raised
up? With what body do they come?" In my discourse on these words,
I shall do three things:--

I. I shall show, that the resurrection of the self-same body that
died and was buried, contains nothing in it incredible or impossible.


II. I shall describe the difference which the Scripture makes between
the qualities of a glorified and a mortal body.

III.

I shall draw some inferences from the whole.

I. I shall show, that the resurrection of the self-same body that
died, contains nothing in it incredible or impossible.

But before I do this, it may be proper to mention some of the reasons
upon which this article of our faith is built.

And, 1. The plain notion of a resurrection requires, that the self-
same body that died should rise again. Nothing can be said to be
raised again, but that very body that died. If God give to our souls
at the last day a new body, this cannot be called the resurrection
of our body; because that word plainly implies the fresh production
of what was before.

~2. There are many places of Scripture that plainly declare it. St.
Paul, in the 53d verse of this chapter, tells us~ that "this corruptible
must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality."
[1 Cor. 15:53] Now, by this mortal, and this corruptible, can only
be meant, that body which we now carry about with us, and shall one
day lay down in the dust.

The mention whi~ch the Scripture makes of the places where the dead
shall rise, further shows, that the ~same body which died shall rise.
Thus we read in Daniel: "Those that sleep in the dust of the earth
shall awake; some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting
contempt." And, we may likewise observe, that the very phrase, of
sleep and awake, implies, that when we rise again from the dead,
our bodies will be as much the same as they are when we awake from
sleep. Thus, again, our Lord affirms, (John 5:~28, ~29,) "The hour
is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
and shall come forth; they that have done good to the resurrection
of life, and they that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation."
Now, if the same body do not rise again, what need is there of opening
the graves at the end of the world? The graves can give up no bodies
but those which were laid in them. If we were not to rise with the
very same bodies that died, then they might rest for ever. To this
we need only add that of St. Paul: "The Lord shall change this vile
body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.~ Now,
this vile body can be no other than that with which we are flow clothed,
which must be restored to life again.

That in all this there is nothing incredible or impossible, I shall
show by proving these three things:--1. That it is possible for
God to keep and preserve unmixed, from all other bodies, the particular
dust into which our several bodies are dissolved, and can gather
and join it again, how far soever dispersed asunder. ~2. That God
can form that dust so gathered together, into the same body as it
was before. 3. That when he hath formed this body, he can enliven
it with the same soul that before inhabited it.

1. God can distinguish and keep unmixed from all other bodies the
particular dust into which our several bodies are dissolved, and
can gather it together and join it again, how far soever dispersed
asunder. God is infinite both in knowledge and power. He knoweth
the number of the stars, and calleth them all by their names; he
can tell the number of the sands on the sea-shore: And is it at all
incredible, that He should distinctly know the several particles
of dust into which the bodies of men are mouldered, and plainly discern
to whom they belong, and the various changes they have undergone?
Why should it be thought strange, that He, who at the first formed
us, whose eyes saw our substance yet being imperfect, from whom we
were not hid when we were made in secret, and curiously wrought in
the lowest parts of the earth, should know every part of our bodies,
and every particle of dust whereof we were composed? The artist knows
every part of the watch which he frames; and if it should fall in
pieces, and the various parts of it lie in the greatest disorder
and confusion, yet he can soon gather them together, and as easily
distinguish one from another, as if every one had its particular
mark. He knows the use of each, and can readily give it its proper
place, and put them all exactly in the same figure and order they
were before. And can we think that the Almighty Builder of the world,
whose workmanship we are, does not know whereof we are made, or is
not acquainted with the several parts of which this earthly tabernacle
is composed? All these lay in one vast heap at the creation, till
he separated them one from another, and framed them into those distinct
bodies whereof this beautiful world consists. And why may not the
same Power collect the ruins of our corrupted bodies, and restore
them to their former condition?