Testimonies of the New Testament
affirm; "The corrupting of evil things is numbered among good things." And we are wont to say of a noble and happy emperor; "He is a lion, a wolf, a dragon; he is fierce and terrible:" but it is added;
"Unto his enemies:" whereas otherwise, unto his citizens he is merciful, gentle, and courteous. Yea, and in this self-same prophet,
God named himself like a bear, a leopard, and a lioness; but that was toward the wicked and ungodly: whereas otherwise he is mild and merciful towards the faithful. So as God has tempered for us a medicine out of the death and resurrection of Christ, whereby we are delivered, and death perishes: in like manner as a wise physician administers medicine to the patient, wherewith he is relieved, and the ailment or disease extinguished. And, of this wholesome medicine we drink healthily, while either by reading or by preaching, there is mention made of the death and resurrection of the Lord, and we with a lively faith embrace the same: and also, when we make a protestation of our faith by the sealing of baptism and receiving of the Lord's Supper. For in these holy actions, both the death and resurrection of Christ are celebrated. In the treatise of this place,
Paul added; "that Death is swallowed up by victory;" namely, of Christ.
Testimonies of the New Testament 53. And thus much have we spoken concerning the places of the Old
Testament, of which sort there might be more brought: but these I was minded to produce, and to stand content with them. And I have the more largely expounded them because there are some at this day who affirm that in the Old Testament there is nothing concerning the resurrection of the dead: or if there be any testimony there extant, they say it was not known unto the fathers of those times. Now come
I to the testimonies and assertions of the New Testament.
First, we read in the fifth of John, which already I have oftentimes alleged; "They which be in their graves, shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they which have done well, shall come forth into the resurrection of life; but they that have done evil, into the resurrection of judgment." And in the sixth chapter; "He that believeth in me, hath life everlasting, and I will raise him up at the last day." In the 22nd of Matthew, the 12th of Mark, and the 20th of Luke; "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. But God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." And in the 14th chapter of Luke, when Christ had exhorted them that stood by, that they should be beneficial unto the poor, and that they should make feasts unto them; "They have not wherewithal (saith he) to requite thee again, but it shall be restored to thee in the resurrection of the just."
In John; "He that loveth his soul in this world shall lose it; and he that doth hate the same, shall preserve it unto everlasting life." And under the word "Soul," he understandeth this life of the body: whereunto he that is overmuch affected, and will not render it for the Gospel's sake shall lose the same; because in the resurrection it shall be judged to perpetual destruction: But he that shall lose the same, shall receive it safe unto eternal life.
In the 25th of Matthew; "Before him shall be gathered all nations."
And in the 13th of Mark; "And he shall send his angels, and shall gather his elect together from the four winds, and from the uttermost parts of the earth, to the uttermost part of heaven." In the 17th of the Acts, Paul preached this resurrection to the Athenians, when there were present with him the Stoics and Epicures, in the street of Mars: who hearing of that doctrine, partly they laughed it to scorn, and partly they said; "We will hear thee another time of this matter." And they called him "A carrier about of news, and a setter forth of strange gods, and of new doctrine." In the same book, the 23rd chapter,
when as Paul stood in the college of the Scribes, Pharisees, and priests, and saw himself to live in great danger, he cried out; "I am a Pharisee, and the son of a Pharisee, and I am judged of the resurrection of the dead." And again, in the 24th chapter of the same book, when he had pleaded his cause before Felix the president, he testified, that both the just and unjust should rise again. The very which thing he rehearsed again when he was before Festus, in the presence of King Agrippa, and Bernice his wife.
54. Yea, and Peter in the first epistle, and first chapter, says that God, according to the abundance of his mercy, has begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And ye by the power of God are kept through faith unto salvation, which shall be showed in the last time. And in the latter epistle, the third chapter, he says that In those days there shall be new heavens, and a new earth. Also John, in his first epistle, and third chapter, writes;
When Christ shall appear, then we shall be like unto him. Whereof it is gathered, that seeing Christ has a body, and is risen again; we also shall rise again together with our bodies. In the 20th chapter of the Apocalypse, we read; And I saw the dead, both great and small, stand in the sight of God, etc. Also in the 21st chapter; And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, etc.
In the 22nd chapter also; Blessed be they which keep his commandments, that their power may be in the tree of life. Paul in the eighth chapter to the Romans; But if his spirit that raised up
Jesus Christ from the dead, dwell in you, he that hath raised Jesus Christ from the dead, will also quicken your mortal bodies, And in the sixth chapter; For if we be planted with him to the similitude of his death, even so shall we be partakers of his resurrection. And in the 14th chapter; For we shall all appear before the tribunal seat of Christ.
Unto the Corinthians, the first epistle and 15th chapter, he treats purposely and diligently of this question, in such sort confirmeth the resurrection, that of his judgment and meaning therein, it is not lawful to doubt: I will not draw out words from thence, because it should be meet to recite the whole chapter. However, this I will rehearse out of the sixth chapter of the same epistle; Our body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God hath also raised up the Lord, and shall raise us up by his power. And in the latter epistle, the fifth chapter, mention is made of our habitation in heaven, Not being made with hands: and that we desire to be clothed upon, and that while we be in this tabernacle, we sigh, because we would not be unclothed, but be clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Further it is added, that All we shall appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things which are done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or evil. Unto the Ephesians, the second chapter; When we were dead through sins, he quickened us together in Christ, and hath raised us up together with him, and made us to sit in the heavenly places, etc. Unto the Philippians, the third chapter; That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his afflictions, while I am made conformable unto his death, if I may by any means attain to the resurrection of the dead. Unto the Colossians, the second chapter; Ye being buried together with him, by baptism, in whom ye are also raised together with him, through the faith of the operation of God, which hath raised him up from the dead. Likewise in the third chapter; Your life is hidden with Christ in God: wherefore when
Christ your life shall appear, then shall you be made manifest with him in glory. Unto the Thessalonians, the first epistle, the 4th chapter, he admonishes them, that They should not sorrow for them that are asleep, as others do, which have no hope: for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those