and SAVIOUR, JESUS CHRIST, and his APOSTLES, &C. 199 and [hewed, that the rights of God, and thofe of the magilrate, do not in the leak interfere; becaufe magiltrates:are God's de- puties, and rule byhis authority: this quite difconcerted and filenced thefe crafty,ene- mies ; they were aftonilhed both at his having difcovered their deign, and his wifdom in avoiding the fnare they had fo artfully laid for him : When they heard thefe words,. they .marvelled, and left hint, and went their way, Matt. xxü. 22. But the mifcarriage of this fcheme did not intimidate others from renewing the attack ; enemies came again[t him from every quarter. The Sadducees, who de- denied the doéirine of a future flato; together with the exiftence of angels and fpirits, firk returned to the charge; pro- pofing to him their firongelt argument againk the refurre8ion, whichthey deduced from the law given by Mofes, with regard tomarriage : Mailer, faid they, Mofes wrote unto us, If a man's brother die, having a wife, and he die without children, that his brother fhould take his wife, and raiife úp feed unto his brother. There were, there- fore, fevers brethren ; and the firft took a wife, and died without children. And the fecond took her to wife, and he died child- 4/.i. And the third took her; and in like manner the fe-ven alfa : and they left no children anddied. Laft of all the woman died alto. Therefore, in the r f trrellion, whole wife of them is the? for fevers had her to wife, Luke xx. 28 -33. But the Sadducees, believing the foul to be nothing more than a refined matter, were perfuaded, that if there was any fu- ture Hate, it muli refemble the prefent ; and the being in that kate material and mortal, the human race could not be con- tinued, nor the individuals rendered happy, without the pleafures and conveniencies of marriage : and hence confidered, that every man's wife. fhould be reftored to him, as a nece[fary confequence of the dou.rine of the refurreflion, or a future Hate. But our bleffed Saviour foon confuted this argument; by telling the Pharifees they were ignorant of the power of God, who had created fpirit as well as matter, and who can render man completelyhappy in the enjoyment of himfelf. He alfo ob- ferved, that the nature of the life obtained in a future Rate, made marriage altogether fhperfluous, becaufe in the world to come, men being fpiritual and immortal, like the angels, there was no need of natural means to propagate or continue the kind: Ye do err, faid our dear Lord, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the refitrrellion, theyneither marry, nor are given in marriage, Matt. xxii. 29. Neither can theydie any more; for they are equal unto the angels, and are the childrenofGod, being the children of the refurrellion, Luke xx. 36. Hence we may obferve, that good men are called the children of the Mott High, from their inheritance at the refur- reétion, and particularly on account of their being adornedwith immortality. : Having thus (hewn their ignorance of the true nature of a future kate, and the difference between corporal and fpiritual beings, our dear Lord proceeded to thew that they were alfo ignorant of the Scrip- tures, and particularly of the writings of Mofes, from whence they had drawn their objection : for he demonftrated, from the very law itfelf,, the certainty ofa refurrec- tion, at leak that of juft men, and conte- quently quite demolifhed the opinion of the Sadducees, who, by believing the ma- teriality of the foul, affirmed that men were annihilated at their death, and that their opinion was founded on the writings of Mofes.: Now, faid our Saviour, that the dead are raifed, even Wes 'hewed at the bu'h, when he citlleth the Lord, the God of Abraham, and the God of Ifaac, and the God of ,Jacob. For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living : for all live unto hint, Luke xx. 37, 38. As if he had faid, The Almighty cannot properly be called God, unlefs be has his people, and be Lord of the living. Since, therefore, Mofes called him the God of Abraham, the God of Ifaac, and the God of Jacob, long
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