riments for Inftance, how to order fuch an Earth, or fuch Seeds, fo as that in a few Hours a Sallad, or other Plants fit for ufe, may be produced; or again, that each Seed may at the fame time put forth all the Seed-Plants contained in it, and make them grow equally, by which means the Fruits of the Earth might be multiplied, and fuch like Experiments; At least every one will readily agree, that this is a Matter, the Inquiry into which may not only much more illuftrate our Knowledge of Nature, but likewife be very beneficial to Mankind.

In the mean while, fince nobody can be ignorant that the Air is the Magazine or Treafury, from whence that which renders the Earth fruitful is communicated thereto, as the frequent plowing and turning up the Earth, and expofing it to the Air, has fhewn experimentally for many Ages; can it be thought that it comes to pafs without a wife Providence, that there has never been any Want in the Air of fuch Particles as are fit for that Purpose? That the Waters of Rain, Dew, and Snow, falling down through the Air, are impregnated therewith, in order to carry fuch Particles along with them, and to infinuate them deep enough into the Earth, fo as to fertilize the fame, and to difpofe it to furnish all living Creatures with Food and Refreshment?

CONTEM

CONTEMPLATION XXVIII.

Of the Poffibility of the RESURRECTION.

SECT. I. The Objection of the Sadducees answer'd by our Saviour, Matt. xxij. v. 29.

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SHOULD here have made an end of contemplating the Laws of Nature, because an Inquiry into all those, to which the Study of Nature, and particularly Chymiftry, leads us, would take up too much of our time here: But fince it may seem to contribute very much towards the illuftrating a Matter which is of great Importance, I fhall attempt to fet that matter likewife in fome Light, tho' it is feldom handled upon Natural Principles. To enter therefore upon it:

It is well known, that among those unhappy Perfons who deny the GOD that made them,there be many who are wont not only frequently to ridicule the Confeffion of Chriftians about a Refurrection, but likewife to oppose the fame after all imaginable Ways; and that others, who seem to treat this matter with more Reason and Decency, are likewife accustomed to form fome Objections against it, by which they think they do fufficiently prove the Impoffibility of a Refurrection.

I know very well, that in order to cut off all Difficulties and Cavillings raifed against this Article of our Creed, by thofe who acknowledge a God; and believe the Holy Scriptures, nothing can be more ftrongly returned, than what our Lord

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was pleased to answer to the Sadducees who deny'd a Refurrection: Te do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the Power of God, Matt.xxij. v. 29. That is to fay, the Word which you admit to be Divine, fays fo; and no body ought to doubt, whether the Power of God be great enough to perform what he has faid.

SECT. II. It is not a greater Miracle to Raife a Body, than to Create it.

BUT fince we have here to do with a fort of deplorable Difputers who have no Reverence either for God or the Scriptures, and who think that they are able to prove from their Philosophy, the Improbability, if not the Impoffibility thereof, I have been of Opinion, that altho' the Certainty of a future Resurrection can only be deduced from the Word of that God who never deceives any one, and that the Manner of it must likewise be referred to his Wonder-working Power; yet that it might be perhaps ufeful to fome, to fhew here, that all the Objections which they can raise against it, are far from having any Strength in them; but on the contrary, that the few as yet known Laws of Nature and Appearances are more than fufficient to answer them all, at least all that have ever occurred to me, and to put the Poffibility of the Resurrection, the Proof of which is our prefent View only, quite out of doubt.

To begin therefore: Let one that denies or doubts of the Refurre&tion, tell us whether he is not forced to allow, that all the Food of which his Body confifts, as well as the Bodies of all his Progenitors, does proceed from the Earth, or rather is nothing more than a metamorphofed, or transformed Earth: (If he denies this, let him read what we have faid thereupon in the firft and following

lowing Contemplations.) 'Tis a plain Confequente then, that his Body likewife proceeds from Earth.

And this being fo, it is no more strange that his Body which was once Earth, fhould be raised again from the fame, than that it had acquired or received its firft Figure from thence. What Impoffibility is there, that fo wonderful and dreadful a Power, which made use of the Earth to form a humane Body before there was any fuch Being in the World, without its Knowledge, without its Concurrence, and after fuch a manner as is unconceivable to him and all other Created Beings, hould now again think fit to make ufe of the fame Earth to the fame purpose, and raife him up again from the Dead? Let this Philofophet fuppofe with us, that a Man were born and brought up in a Place where he should be entirely ignorant of the Nature of his Food: If now another Perfon came and fhewed him a Lump of Earth, out of which Rye and Wheat, or what else he might have ufed for Food, were produced; and if he told him, that his Body did not only proceed from, but was likewise maintained by this Earth; would not this Denier of the Refurre&tion think, as we do, that fuch a Man would make as many Scruples in admitting the fame for Truth, as dthers now do when we tell them, that their Body Thall once again proceed out of that Earth into which it is turned after Death? And would not likewise, even the most learned Enquirer of what happens in the World, be as much amazed at the Manner after which his Body is formed out of, and fuftain'd by Earth, were it not that the Custom of seeing frequently how a humané Creature is born and nourished, but never how he rife's from the Dead, would feem to make this matter more intelligible to him, and, as it happens with cuftomaty

customary Things, make him look upon the former with no Wonder?

SECT. III. Even the common Formation of Bodie's is lefs credible than the Refurrection.

LET one that denies the Refurrection tell us, whether the Parts of which his vifible Body is compofed (for as for the exceeding (mall Stamina, we fhall take no notice of them here) were not as much fcattered over the whole Earth about 5000 Years ago, as they will be many Years after his Death, or at the End of the World? (See concerning this Matter more largely in the following Contemplation, Sect. V.) And whether it be more impoffible in this laft Cafe, than in the first, to collect the Parts so dispersed, and to bring them into Order.

Again, if he were ignorant of the Manner by which the Procreation of Animals is performed, and had had no Opportunities of feeing the fame, let him ask himself whether he should admit it as a Truth, that a human Creature, for Inftance, dying fo many Months in a Liquid Matter, like a Fish in the Water, could be able to live; whereas now the fame Creature, if kept but a few Minutes under Water, would perifh? And would not he think, that from hence he might alledge many Reasons, why 'tis more probable that a Man fhould be produced, like a Plant, out of a Seed, or at least after fome other Manner that does not fo directly contradi& Experience? And yet he fees this comes to pafs conftantly, and always after the fame manner, without any Variation. Can now the Refurrection of the Dead appear to him more wonderful, or even fo much? Since in this laft Cafe it is only required, that a Body fhould be produced from the fame united Parts

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