in the symbol, translated literally, means " flesh:" a word, which, though of frequent occurrence in Scripture to signify the whole man, soul and body, as in Isaias, " All flesh is grass;" [1] and in St. John, " The Word was made flesh;" [2] is, however used, here, to express the body only; thus giving us to under stand, that of the two constituent parts of man, one only, that is the body, is corrupted, and returns to its original dust; whilst the soul remains incorrupt and immortal. As then, without dying, a man cannot be said to return to life; so the soul, which never dies, could not, with propriety, be said to rise again. The word body, is, also, mentioned, in order to confute the heresy of Hymeneus and Philetus, who during the life-time of the Apostle, asserted, that, whenever the Scriptures speak of the resurrection, they are to be understood to mean not the resurrection of the body, but that of the soul, by which it rises from the death of sin to the life of grace. [3] The words of this Article, therefore, clearly confute the error, and establish a real resurrection of the body.
But it will be the duty of the pastor to illustrate this truth by examples taken from the Old and New Testaments, and from all ecclesiastical history. In the Old Testament, some were restored to life by Elias, [4] and Elizeus; [5] and in the New, be sides those who were raised to life by our Lord, [6] many were resuscitated by the Apostles, and by others. [7] Their resurrection confirms the doctrine conveyed by this Article, for believing that many were recalled from death to life, we are also naturally led to believe the general resurrection of all; and the principal fruit which we should derive from these miracles is to yield to this Article our most unhesitating belief. To pastors, ordinarily conversant with the Sacred Volumes, many Scripture proofs will, at once, present themselves; but, in the Old Testament, the most conspicuous are those afforded by Job, when he says, "that in his flesh he shall see God;" [8] and by Daniel when, speaking of those " who sleep in the dust of the earth," he says, "some shall awake to eternal life, others to eternal reproach." [9] In the New Testament the principal passages are those of St. Matthew, which record the disputation which our Lord held with the Sadducees; [10] and those of the Evangelists which relate to the last judgment. [11] To these we may also add, the accurate reasoning of the Apostle, on the subject, in his epistles to the Corinthians, [12] and Thessalonians. [13]
But, incontrovertibly as is this truth established by faith, it will, notwithstanding, be of material advantage to show from analogy and reason, that what faith proposes to our belief, nature acknowledges to accord with her laws, and reason with her dictate. To one, asking how the dead should rise again, the Apostle answers; " Foolish man! that which thou sowest is
