thefe Vifions at a Time as he tells us twice Over, when whether he was in, or out of the Body be could not tell; that is, as fome conceive when he was ftoned at Lyflra, and drawn out of the City, fuppos'd to be dead, or according to others at his first Converfion, when he was three Days without Sight, and neither did eat nor drink.

As to the first of thefe Inferences, replies PHILANDER, that the third Heaven, and Paradife are different Places, and that the latter of thefe is the Mansion of separate Souls, it is I know an Inference which fome have drawn from it, tho' as others think without any fufficient Reason. I grant indeed the Words of the Apostle do feem to intimate a certain Difference, or that the third Heaven and Paradife are not in all Refpects one and the fame; but then they may differ no otherwise than as the Garden of Eden did from that Eden in which it was fituate; or as the most splendid and glorious Part of any Region does from the Reft of the Region around it. This I cannot but think the most easy and natural Sense of it, that he was not only rapt to the third Heaven, which muft no doubt afford Scenes of a very extraordinary Nature, but even into the Paradifaical and most blissful Part of it, the City, Court, and Paradife of God;

but

but which that it is any Part of the Domains of Death, or intended to fignify Scenes of inferiour Happiness, I fee nothing at all in the Scriptures to tempt our Belief of, but rather Reasons that lead to the Contrary. And as for the other Inference, that Souls are capable of separate Happiness without a Body, it is not only an Inference, the. Apostle's Words will hardly bear, but fuch as falls fhort of the Proof of a separate State if they would; as what has been, or may be, on fpecial Occafions is one Thing, and what is common, or fhall be another. Nor. does it seem any Part of the Apostles Doubt, whether he was alive or dead at the Time: he had thefe Revelations but only whether he had them bodily, or only mentally, by. Way of Trance, as we call it or Extafie.:

You are very dextrous fays CRITO, in warding off all the Proofs for Immortality;: but what after all do you make of the Human Soul? Is it only the Life of the Body, or fomething diftin&t from it?

That's a Question, I own, fays PHILANDER, I am not prepar'd for. I will not pretend to be wife beyond what's written, nor will I darken Counfel by Words without Knowledge. As God has plainly reveal'd a Resurrection, I can leave it to him to perform it without knowing further; nor:

do

do I doubt in the leaft but our Natures will well correfpond with it, tho' it is not reveal'd to us how. If I should ask you, what Life is, perhaps you'd be puzzled to tell me, tho' you fee and experience the Effects of it every Day!

It is very true, fays THEOPHILUS, we know fo little, even how to account what we experience, daily, that in all Cafes of this Kind we ought to relie on the Scriptures, and should not prefume to ramble beyond our Guide.

As they have then brought us, fays CRITO, once more on the Stage of the World, fuppofe we go on to enquire what Stage they condu&t us to next?

With all my Heart, fays PHILANDER, but here I refign to THEOPHILUS to take the Speaker's Place on him once again.

Let me then resume it, fays THEOPHILUS, by Acknowledging firft to Philander, that with Regard to the Point we have been laft debating, I am fo much the wifer for Him. We have been now for fome Time among the filent Dead, fleeping quietly, and without any Impatience, till their Redeemer fhall come to awake them: which tho' we were not inclined to affent to at first setting out, I believe we are fatisfy'd now is the Doctrine of Scripture, and a Doctrine

H

Doctrine that feems to fuit with every Part of it. I fuppofe I need not prove the Refurrection, nor indeed can I think it a Matter that ftands in need of it, if we either rightly confider the Nature of God, or of Man: And that every moral Proof for a future Recompence is on the prefent Scheme a Proof of the Point before us. But however needlefs it may be to prove this, it may be useful perhaps to take a brief Survey of it, if it be only to fhew us the Benefits thence arifing, and which Philander has juft replaced in their proper Light. For it is not now to be look'd on as only a trifling Addition; our all of future Happiness depends on it; nor need we therefore to wonder the Gospel should lay fuch a Stress on it; the Reftorer of Life appears an endearing Character; and the abolishing Death an Affair of the utmost Importance. But our Lord did not merely come that we might have Life, but that we might have it as he fays, more abundantly: that we might have it reftor'd with Advantage, and with several, and glorious Improvements. It is fown, fays the Apostle, in Corruption, it is raised in Incorruption: It is fown in Dishonour, it is raifed in Glory: It is fown in Weakness, it is raifed in Power: It is fown a natural Body, it is raised a fpiritual Body. These are Expreffions

Inftead

preffions, which how unable foever we may be to attain the full Senfe of, are yet ex-1 preffive, as must be seen at first Sight of a much noble Life than the prefent. For the fhall this Corruptible put on Incorruption, and this Mortal put on Immortality, and then fhall be brought to pass the Saying that is written, Death is fwallowed up in Victory. Then fhall these our vilé Bodies, thefe Bodies of our Humiliation, be form'd and fashion'd like Chrift's glorious Body, and fhine as the Sun in the Kingdom of our heavenly Father; as the Brightness of the Firmament, and as the Stars for ever and ever. of weak and feeble, as at prefent, we shalk then be as Angels that excell in Strength: and this our natural, and earthy Fabrick ber changed to Heavenly, Spiritual, and Angelick. For thefe are alfo celeftial Bollies, and Bodies ferreftrial: But the Glory of the Ge-. leftial is one, and the Glory of the Terreftrial is another. And as we have born the Image of the Earthy, we fhall alfo bear the Image of the Heavenly Not that all the Dead fhall rife thus cloathed with Glory, or bear the Image of the heavenly Adam; for there is a twofold Refurrection, one of the Juft, and one of the Unjuft, of the former only of which we must here underftand the Apoftle, as it is not likely that any H 2

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