A church dictionary

by Walter Farquhar Hook

RESTORATION. The name generally given to the happy return of the Church of England to the divinely appointed ecclesiastical polity, and to their allegiance to the lawful prince, Charles II., which took place in 1660; a happy event, for which Christian people cannot be too thankful, and of which, and all the dreadful evils from which it delivered them, they cannot be too often reminded. It has been accordingly appointed by authority, that the 29th of May, in every year, shall be kept with prayer and thanksgiving to Almighty God for these unspeakable mercies.

RESURRECTION. There are many passages in the Old Testament, which either obscurely hint at the resurrection, or immediately refer to it. (Job xix. 23–27; Dan. xii. 2; Isa. xxv. 8; xxvi. 19; Hosea vi. 2; xiii. 14; Ezek. xxxvii. 1–14.) It follows, indeed, from an acceptance of the promise of a redeemer. A redeemer was promised as a blessing to Adam and the patriarchs; but when Adam and the first patriarchs died, how was the coming of the Redeemer to be a blessing to them? The answer is given by Job: “I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that at the latter day he shall stand upon the earth; whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold;” i. e. by being raised from the dead. The doctrine of the resurrection of the dead is one of the great articles of the Christian faith. We believe that Jesus died and rose again; we also believe, for so we are taught in the New Testament, that “them which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him,” that “Christ by his rising became the first-fruits of them that slept,” that “the dead shall be raised incorruptible,” that “the grave and the sea shall give up their dead,” that at this resurrection “the dead in Christ shall rise first,” that the Lord Jesus Christ will change “our vile body, and fashion it like unto his glorious body, according to the working of that mighty power whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself.” (1 Thess. iv. 14–16; 1 Cor. xv. 20–52; Rev. xx. 13; Phil. iii. 21.)

As Christ, the “first-fruits of them that sleep,” (1 Cor. xv. 20,) arose from the dead, so shall there be also a general RESURRECTION OF THE BODY; for he “that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken our mortal bodies.” (Rom. viii. 11.) A seeming difficulty, however, attends the latter case, which does not the former. The body of Christ did not “see corruption;” but we know that in our case, “after the skin worms shall destroy the body itself,” and that “yet in our flesh shall we see God.” (Job xix. 26.) We must, therefore, believe that this resurrection, however apparently difficult, is not impossible, for with him by whom we are to be raised “all things are possible.” We know that by him “the very hairs of the head are all numbered;” and he “who measures the waters in the hollow of his hand,” and “comprehends the dust of the earth,” (Isa. xl. 12,) whose “eyes” could “see our substance,” “made in secret,” and “yet being imperfect” (Ps. cxxxix. 15, 16,) can be at no loss to distinguish the different particles of every different body, whether it be crumbled into dust, or dissipated into air, or sublimated by fire. He, too, the artificer of the body so “fearfully and wonderfully made,” (Ps. cxxxix. 14,) can be at no loss to reunite the innumerable and widely scattered atoms; for these shall not perish; and with equal ease reform the man, as he originally made him.

The union of the immortal soul to the companion made for it, (then become more pure and glorified,) after they have existed together in this transitory life, is also highly probable; nor is it less so, that this should be the case as man is an accountable agent, intended to enjoy eternal happiness, or suffer eternal misery—decreed to “receive the things done in the body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” (2 Cor. v. 10.) It is also typified by many things around us: the constant succession of death and revivification—the night is followed by a new day—the winter, the death of the year, is followed by the spring, and the renewal of vegetation; the “grain” sown is not requickened except it first “die,” and is buried in the ground and brought to corruption.

By this is Reason prepared to assent to Revelation; and therefore, as it has been prophesied that, notwithstanding this destruction of the body, yet in our “flesh” shall we “see God,” and our “eyes shall behold him” (Job xix. 26); that the “dead men shall live,” and with the “dead body, arise;” for “the earth shall cast out the dead,” (Isa. xxvi. 19,) and that they that “sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt,” (Dan. xii. 2,) so shall it be accomplished: “there shall be a resurrection of the dead” (Acts xxiv. 15); “the hour is coming when the dead—all that are in the grave—shall hear the voice of the Son of God,” and “shall come forth;” the “sea” and “death and hell” (or the grave) “shall deliver up the dead which are in them” (Rev. xx. 13).

This our Lord, who calls himself “the Resurrection and the Life,” (John xi. 25,) proved to the Sadducees from the Old Testament; since he who was then the God of their fathers “is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” (Matt. xxii. 32.) St. Paul, too, confirms the doctrine by most powerful reasoning; declaring, that if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is “Christ not risen;” and then is their “faith” vain; and he shows, in answer to cavillers, that, as Christ is risen, “the first-fruits,”—so shall “all be made alive,” exemplifying the probability and the manner of this by a familiar illustration. (1 Cor. XV. 12–23, 35–49.)

It shall be, too, a resurrection of the body, every one his own body as it “hath pleased” God to give him: although the “natural body,” “sown in corruption,—in dishonour,—and in weakness,” shall be “raised a spiritual body,—in incorruption, in glory, and in power.” The “earthly house” shall have “a building of God” (2 Cor. v. 1); the “corruptible” shall “put on incorruption;” and the “mortal, immortality.” Those that do “not sleep” shall “be changed,”—“caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord.” (1 Thess. iv. 17.)

We believe in this article, as the great truth it contains is for the glory of God’s eternal government, “the hand of the Lord shall be known towards his servants, and his indignation towards his enemies” (Isa. lxvi. 14); as it proves the value of the “gospel,” which has “brought life and immortality to light” (2 Tim. i. 10); as it consoles us under “afflictions,” which are “but for a moment:” since we know that our “Redeemer liveth;” and that we “sorrow not,” therefore, “as others which have no hope” (1 Thess. iv. 13, with 14–18); and excites us “to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and toward men” (Acts xxiv. 16, with 15); since “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!” (Heb. x. 31)—of “him that is able to destroy both soul and body in hell!” (Matt. x. 28.) Therefore should we be “always abounding in the work of the Lord; forasmuch as we know that our labour in the Lord is not in vain.” (1 Cor. xv. 58.)

REVELATION. (1.) The Divine communication of the sacred truths of religion. (See Bible, Scripture.)

(2.) The Apocalypse, or prophecy of St. John, revealing future things. This is the last book of Holy Scripture, and it contains the revelations made to St. John at Patmos. It is quoted as an inspired book by Justin Martyr, Irenæus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, and other fathers of the first three centuries. Its authenticity and genuineness were never disputed until a prejudice was excited against it by the follies of certain Millenarians, who thought to support their conclusions by its authority. But the Church never doubted of its being a portion of Scripture, or of its Divine origin. Indeed, few books of the New Testament have more complete evidence of canonical authority than the Book of Revelation. It treats, 1. “Of the things which were then,” (i. 19,) i. e. of the state of the Church in the time of St. John; and, 2. “Of things which should be hereafter,” or of the history of the Church, its propagation, corruption, reformation, and triumph.