all imaginable opposition contend against it says the Author of the Questions and Answers ad Graecos Thus St. Austin affirms that there was nothing in the Christian Religion so vehemently so pertinaciously and with so much contention and earnestness opposed as the Resurrection of the Flesh. Of the Immortality of the Soul says he many of the Heathen Philosophers have discoursed at large And in very many of their Writings they assert it But when they come to the Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Flesh they do not so much as hesitate about it but vehemently oppose it and they say that 't is impossible that this earthly Flesh should ascend up into Heaven Pliny affirms that 't is beyond the Power even of God himself to raise up a Body to life when once it is dead And 't is Madness to him to believe there will be any such thing To Celsus this Doctrine seem'd abominable or worthy to be spit at as extremly impure St. Cyril of Alexandria tells us that the Emperor Julian derided this above all the Tenets of the Christians They mock'd at it says the author of the Apostolical Constitutions And Origen says it was a common subject of Laughter Cecilius in Minucius Felix calls it an old Wife's Tale. And Tatian assures us that the Heathens were wont to look upon the Christians as pitiful Triflers and Bablers for asserting it My conclusion is this That if the Doctrine of the Identity or Resurrection of the very same Body had not been lookt upon in those Primitive Times as firmly establish'd on the Authority of Christ and his Apostles if it had been look'd upon only as a Scholastical Doctrine or a Dogma that might be dispensed with those learned and acute Men of whom we speak when converted from their Heathenism would never have embraced it as I have proved they did In the Second place it is worthy to be observ'd that those Books out of which I have taken their Testimonies were many of 'em written professedly in Answer to the Objections of the Heathen Philosophers And if the Doctrine of a new Ethereal Body which Origen afterwards made bold to advance could have been warranted by the Scripture and the Traditions of the Apostles how gladly would those Fathers have taken hold of it That the Soul is never without an Ethereal Body was as we have already observ'd a common Opinion of the Greek Philosophers Now how easie had it been for those Fathers to answer all the Cavils and Objections and Flouts of their insulting Adversaries by proposing this Notion How easie had it been to remove that great Stumbling-Block which lay in their way to Christianity They were too learned and too acute Philosophers not to think on it but they knew it was not agreeable to the Doctrine deliver'd to the Saints Perhaps it may be alledged that the Reason why the Primitive Fathers believ'd the Resurrection of the same Humane Body was because they believ'd that after the Resurrection Christ is to come upon Earth and the Saints are to abide with him here a Thousand Years Perchance you may be apt to suspect that this was the chief Foundation of that gross Notion which they so generally entertain'd of the rising Body To remove such a Suspicion as that is I need only tell you that not only the Patrons of the Millennarian Doctrine but such also as rejected that Doctrine asserted the Resurrection of the same Humane Body Tho' many of those ancients whose Authorities we have produced asserted the Millennium such as Papias the Author of the Sibylline Oracles Justin M. Irenâ—…us Tertullian and Hippolytus Yet others there are amongst 'em that did not embrace that Doctrine It does not at all appear that either St. Clement of Rome or St. Ignatius or Theophilus of Antioch or Tatian or Minucius Felix were asserters of it On the contrary it appears that the wise and learned Athenagoras did not believe it I observe that he asserts that after the Resurrection there will be no such Things as Inanimate Beings which is plainly repugnant to the Doctrine of the Millennium In his Discourse of the Resurrection he argues after this Manner If God says he is unwilling to raise the Dead it is either because it is Unjust or because it is Unworthy But it is not Unjust for if it be so it must be an Injury either to those that are rais'd or to some other being It cannot be an Injury to any other Being For Intellectual Beings or Angels are not at all damnified by it neither can it be an Injury to Irrational or Inanimate Beings For after the Resurrection there will be no such Beings And to that which is not there can be no Injury done But admit that there should be such things then in being yet the Resurrection of Mankind would be to them no Injury c. Neither was Clemens Alexandrinus an asserter of the Millenium I know it is suspected by some learned Men that he was But that he was not I gather from a place in his Treatise concerning the Salvability of Rich Men. He was made says he speaking of the young-Man re-converted by St. John a Trophy of the Resurrection that is hoped for when in the end of the World the Angels shall carry up those who are truly Penitent to the Supercelestial Habitations I have now done with my History and Proofs of the Doctrine of the Resurrection And by this time I hope you are so well satisfied of the Truth and certainty of it as to be ready to ask me that Question of St. Paul How say some among You that there is no Resurrection The fourth and last thing I propos'd to do was to answer the Objections of such as say there will be no Resurrection And this I shall now in the next place endeavour to do The First Objection is taken from the Difficulty of it There are not only many Men whom Necessity and Famine have forc'd to devour one another but there are many whole Nations in the World that are wont to feed ordinarily on Humane Flesh. You may add that we are all in some sense Canibals and Man-eaters we devour one another we eat our dead Neighbours our Brothers our Fathers the succeeding Generation swallows down the former though we prey not upon 'em in the same manner as some other Canibals do yet by a subtle Cookery of Nature we eat 'em at second Hand This is true in some Measure From the Bodies of the Dead springs up Grass this when eaten by the Ox is turn'd into Flesh this we eat and the Flesh of the Ox becomes ours Plutarch tells us that when the Cimbrians were defeated by Marius there fell so great a Number of 'em that the whole Field was dung'd as one may say with their dead Bodies and afforded the next Season an extraordinary rich and plentiful Crop Others tell us of a certain Roman who
that this was one of the Articles of the Creed receiv'd by the Church throughout the whole World to the ends of the Earth from the Apostles and their Disciples That Christ shall come and raise up all flesh And he spends a great part of his Fifth Book in proving against the Hereticks that we shall rise perfect Men with the same Body of Flesh. VIII And to prove the same against the Heathens is the whole endeavour of that excellent Treatise Concerning the Resurrection of the Dead written by Athenagoras the Christian Philosopher who was Professor in the Divinity School of Alexandria in St. Irenaeus's Time IX Athenagoras tells us there were many that had written before him on this Subject and that they were all asserters of the Doctrine of the Identity he plainly intimates He takes no Notice of any thing in which they differ'd from him but the Reason which they assign'd for the Resurrection The same Author observes that the Objection concerning one Man's feeding on another was in those days a common Objection against the Doctrine of the Resurrection From thence it appears that the Doctrine of the Identity was the Common and receiv'd Doctrine He adds that that Objection perplex'd even some of those that were admired for their Wisdom This Doctrine therefore was the common and receiv'd Doctrine not only of the Vulgar but also of the mâ—…st Wise and Learned X. Theophilus Bishop of Antioch who flourish'd at the same time with St. Irenaeus and Athenagoras in his first Book to Autolycus a Heathen maintains the same Doctrine But you deny says he the Resurrection of the Dead and say Shew me but one that has risen from the Dead and when I see him I will believe But what great Matter is it if you believe when you see a thing done Do you believe that Hercules though he burnt himself is yet living and that Aesculapius revived after he was struck with the Thunder-Bolt and yet disbelieve those things which are revealed to you by God c. XI In the same Age viz. in the Year 177 the Churches of Vienna and Lions wrote that Epistle to the Churches of Asia and Phrygia which is extant in Eusebius concerning their Persecutions In that Epistle they complain that their Persecutors would not suffer the Bodies of the Martyrs to be buried but threw 'em to Dogs to be devour'd and burn'd that which remain'd undevour'd to Ashes and threw the Ashes into the River And this say they they did as if they could master God and hinder their Resurrection that as they said the Christians might not have any hopes of a Resurrection through the belief of which they despised the greatest Torments and came willingly and with joy to their Deaths Let us now see say they whether they will rise again and whether their God can deliver 'em out of our Hands The holy Pothinus Bishop of the Church of Lions who was martyr'd at that time was not only born but was almost of Man's estate before St. John the Apostle's death XII Clemens Alexandrinus who flourish'd at the same time tho' in those Works which are now extant he speaks but very little of the Resurrection no where professedly yet that he held the same Doctrine may be gather'd from his Conjecture that Plato when he tells the Story of Eris's reviving after he had been dead Twelve Days had respect to the Resurrection XIII Tertullian who flourish'd towards the latter end of this Second Century has left us a whole Book concerning and in defence of this Doctrine entituled De Resurrectione CARNIS In another Book he affirms that this was one of those Articles of Faith which were receiv'd by the whole Church with one accord and which were immoveable and unalterable That Christ shall come to judge the quick and the dead and that by the Resurrection of the flesh XIV The Compiler of the Apostolical Constitutions who lived about the end of this Century has a large Chapter in defence of our Doctrine against the Heathens God Almighty says he will raise us up through our Lord Jesus Christ according to his Promise that cannot fail And he will raise us up together with all those that have died from the beginning of the World in the same form which now we have without any mutilation or corruption For we shall rise uncorrupted For whether we die in the Sea or have our Particles dispers'd in the Earth or are devour'd by Beasts or Birds He will raise us up by his Power by which he holds the whole World in his Hand Not a Hair says he of your Heads shall perish Through this certain perswasion we endure Stripes Persecutions and Deaths And in vain have we endured these things if we have not full assurance of those things which we preach As God created the World in the same manner he will raise us up by his good pleasure not standing in need of any assistance For 't is an effect of the same Power to make the World and to raise up the Dead When Man had no Being He made him of different Parts giving him a Soul created out of nothing And in the Resurrection he will restore to our Souls that do not die their Bodies which are dissolv'd c. XV. The Author of the Recognitions of St. Clement who lived in the same Age and is thought by a very learned Man to be Bardesanes of Syria affirms that the Souls in the Resurrection of the dead will receive their Bodies that were dissolv'd XVI About the middle of the same Age Celsus the great Adversary of the Christians publish'd that Book which Origen in the following Age answer'd He disputes against this as the receiv'd and avow'd Doctrine of the Christians That the dead shall rise again out of the Earth with the very same Flesh. 'T is true he adds that there were some even among the Christians that did not embrace this Doctrine but shew'd it to be horridly impure abominable and impossible But what sort of Christians those were whom he speaks of that they were only such as were condemn'd as Hereticks there is no one can doubt We know that many of the Hereticks denied it and wrote professedly against it and it 's usual with Celsus to mention those as Christians without any note of distinction who were even the vilest of Hereticks and own'd by none of the Orthodox He says for example in one place that the Christians affirm that Christ did not really suffer but only in appearance Which was only the Opinion of some of the Hereticks In another place he lays to the charge of the Christians a certain Opinion which was only receiv'd by the Ophiani a sort of Hereticks that were so far from being Christians that they hated Christ as much as Celsus himself and never admitted any one into their Society but such as first curs'd him Such as these perhaps
These I had says he from Heaven and for his Laws I despise 'em and from him I hope to receive 'em again This happen'd about 165 Years before Christ. 'T is true I am not fully perswaded that these Words were really spoken by that Martyr Since there were not any Jews then present who might think it worth their while to commit the Words of those several Martyrs to Memory it may be reasonably suppos'd that the Speeches ascrib'd to 'em were made by the Author of the History as is usual with other Historians Thus Josephus in his History of those Martyrs makes 'em speak quite different Speeches so likewise the Arabick History which is extant in the Polyglot Bible and if I well remember the Hebrew Ben Gorion all differing both from the Book of Maccabees and from one another Yet this at least is to be concluded from these Words that when the Second of Maccabees was written this Doctrine was generally receiv'd and 't was also then taken for granted that at that time when those Martyrs suffer'd it was the general and receiv'd Doctrine How ancient that Book is we do not certainly know but we know from Clemens Alexandrinus who cites it that it was extant within 150 Years after our Saviour's Pasâ—…ion and from the First and Second Chapters it may easily be gather'd that it was written long before his Nativity before the Jews were conquer'd by the Romans 2. We read in the same Book that Razis the Jew when he pluck'd out his own Bowels and cast 'em with his Hands upon the Throng call'd upon the Lord of Life and Spirit to restore him those again 3. I know that he shall rise again in the Resurrection at the last day Thus Martha concerning her Brother Lazarus when our Saviour had told her that tho' he then lay dead and buried yet he should rise again She knows it she says and does not at all doubt of it 4. That it was the common and receiv'd Opinion of the Jews at that time that the Body in the Resurrection would be truly a Humane Body is farther evident from that Question of the Sadduces concerning the Woman that had been married to Seven Brethren Whose Wife she should be in the Resurrection 5. It 's evident likewise from that Saying of one of the Jews at the Feast where Christ was present in the House of one of the chief Pharisees When Christ had told the Pharisee that if he invited the Poor c. he should be recompens'd at the Resurrection of the Just one of those that sate at Meat with him made him this Answer Blessed is he that shall eat Bâ—…ead in the Kingdom of God Their Opinion was that they should Eat and Drink in the next Life as well as in this 6. Josephus the learned Jew who was born in the Thirty Seventh Year after Christ professes himself a Follower of the Pharisees and in another place he tells us the place I shall produce hereafter that the Pharisees own'd a Transmigration of the Soul out of one Body into another It should therefore seem that he himself also held it But it is not necessary that because he chose rather to adhere to the Sect of the Pharisees than to that of the Essens or Sadduces he should therefore be in all things a Pharisee In his Third Book of the War he seems to intimate that the Souls of the Wicked shall not after Death be re-conjoin'd to a Body but he plainly asserts that those of the Good shall And from this consideration he endeavours to disswade his Companions from laying violent Hands upon themselves Such Souls says he as are pure and obedient obtain the most Holy place of Heaven whence after the great Revolution of the World or after the circumvolution of many Ages they shall return and again inhabit Chast Bodies But they who lay violent Hands upon themselves their Souls are cast into Hell and God punishes their Sin in their Posterity Whether he held the Resurrection or only the Transmigration of the Soul we cannot from this place certainly conclude But from another place of his Works if he were the true Author of the Book call'd Maccabaica it appears very evidently that he own'd the Resurrection For he cites there that place of the Prophet Ezechiel where he speaks of the raising up of the dry Bones He tells us that the Maccabees were encouraged by their Mother with the hopes and assurance of a future Life She propos'd says he to her Sons the Saying of Solomon That God is the Wood of Life to them that do his Will And that of Ezechiel Can these dry Bones live Neither did she omit that Saying of Moses in his Song I will kill and I will make alive And from hence it likewise appears that Josephus believ'd that at that time when those Martyrs suffer'd the Doctrine of the Resurrectiâ—…n of the same Humane Body was the common and establish'd Doctrine And that this was the common Opinion in his time may be further gather'd from what he says concerning the Opinion of the Sect of the Essens That they had a most certain Opinion amongst 'em that their Bodies indeed were corruptible and that their Matter should not be perpetual This had been a very idle Observation if some others had not asserted the Perpetuity of the Body as well as of the Soul He therefore takes notice of that Opinion of theirs because it was contrary to the receiv'd and general Opinion 7. In the Targum or Chaldee Paraphrase of Jonathan who is placed by some in the same Age with the Apostles there is mention made of the Second Death in Hell and that too of the Body For thus he paraphrases the Sixth Verse of the Sixty Fifth Chapter of Isaiah Their Vengeance shall be in Hell where the Fire continually burns Behold it is written before me I will not give 'em an end in this Life but will be revenged on 'em for their Sins and deliver their Bodies to the Second Death And here I shall observe by the bye That tho' Josephus seems to intimate that the Wicked are not to rise and many of the Rabbins affirm the same thing Yet from hence it is manifest that among the Ancient Jews there were others of the contrary Perswasion And that in the time of the Apostles this was the general and receiv'd Opinion of the Jews is apparent from those Words of St. Paul in his Apology to Felix But this I confess unto thee that I have Hope towards God which they themselves the Jews also allow that there shall be a Resurrection of the Dead both of the Just and Unjust 8. The Chaldee Paraphrase of the Canticles has these Words C. 8. V. 5. The Prophet Salomon said When the Dead shall revive it shall come to pass that the Mount of Olives shall be cleft and all the Dead of Israel shall come out from thence And the Just too that died in
Resurrection shall not be the same Humane Body as you imagine but a new one and of a quite different kind 4. It manifestly appears from this obstinate unbelief of some in that Church that they did not understand St. Paul of a new Ethereal Body That the Soul after Death is invested with an Ethereal Body was the common and receiv'd Opinion of the Greeks themselves the Pythagoreans and the Platonists And though they commonly believ'd that the Soul has an Ethereal Body or Vehicle in its state of Prae-existence and that it retains the same even whilst it is united to the Humane Body and also after Death yet they did not think it necessary that it should always be invested with the same which it had before its separation from the Humane Body Plato asserts that The Soul will always have a Body but sometimes of one Kind and sometimes of another And Porphyry affirms that according as the Soul is affected so it assumes a Body suitable to its present Condition that being thoroughly purged it assumes a Body of the purest Sort the next in degree to Immateriality And with that according to his Philosophy it lives for ever in Heaven The Conclusion is that if the Apostles had intended not the same Body that died but another Ethereal One 't is impossible that their Doctrine should meet with so great Opposition as it did Was this the Doctrine that the Corinthians could not believe Could that which their own Philosophers had taught 'em seem so strange and incredible a Thing when preach'd by the Apostles It is plain from St. Paul that the Corinthians to whom he wrote thought the Resurrection a strange and incredible Thing and after they had receiv'd St. Paul's Epistle they still continued to think it so They still thought it as is evident from what St. Clement answers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strange and wonderful Thing Was the Union of the Soul to an Ethereal Body after Death so strange and wonderful a Thing to the Corinthians that they could not believe St. Paul but forced St. Clement to write again and again to 'em to convince ' em Was it for this that St. Clement to convince 'em was forc'd to insist so much on the Almighty Power of God If the Epistle ad Tarsenâ—…es were genuine to St. Clement we might add St. Ignatius who was constituted Bishop of Antioch by the Apostles themselves In that Epistle they who assert that this flesh is not to rise are reckon'd amongst the Ministers of Satan But since that Epistle is spurioâ—…s we must pass by Him unless you will grant that those Words of his concerning his being condemn'd to be devour'd by wild Beasts had some respect to the Resurrection of the Body I am the Wheat says he of God and am ground small by the teeth of Beasts that I may be â—…ound pure Bread II. At the same time flourish'd St. Polyâ—… who was Disciple to St. John the Evâ—…ngelist When he was bound to the Sâ—…ake to be burn'd he thanked God that he was now to suffer Martyrdom and to partake of the Cap of Christ in order to the Resurrection of everlasting Life both of Soul and Body You may read his Prayer in the Epistle of the Church of 〈◊〉 which is Extant in Eusebius III. At the same time also lived Papiaâ—… Bishop of â—…rapolis St. Irenâ—…s tells us that he was Disciple to St. John the Evangelist and a familiar Acquaintance of St. Polyâ—…p's This is certain that he liv'd in the time of those who had been conversant with the Apostles and had made it his Business to collect the Doctrines of the several Apostles from the Mouths of such as had convers'd with ' em Now that He asserted the Resurrection of the same Humane Body Eusebius plainly intimates when he tells us that according to his Opinion Christ is to reign here corporally upon Earth after the Resurrection from the Dead a Thousand Years St. Maximus affirms that he held that after the Resurrection we shall eat and drink as before Such an Opinion as this could never be built on meer Air. Whether true or false it plainly shews that the Apostles did not preach the Resurrection of an Airy or Ethereal Body IV. The Sibylline Oracles publish'd by some Christian not long after these times within about Thirty Years after St. John the Apostle's Death say That God after he has destroy'd the World and all mankind by Fire will restore their Ashes and Bones and form 'em again as they were before And the Verses which tell us thus much are extant not only in the Volume which now we have but also in the ancient Apostolical Constitutions where they are cited V. St. Justin Martyr who flourish'd in the Year 140 and was first instructed in the Christian Faith by one that was not only of Man's Estate but of a considerable Age when St. John was yet living not only speaks in several places of his Works of the Rising Body as of the very same and truly Humane but in his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew he gives him this Caution that if he met with any that had the Name of Christians but denied the Resurrection of the Dead he should not esteem them Christians For I says he and all those Christians who in all respects hold the true Opinions do know that there will be a Resurrection of the flesh He says expresly The Resurrection of the flesh And the same Word he used in the Title of a Book which he wrote professedly on this Subject Concerning the Resurrection of the flesh They did not call it in those Days The Resurrection of the Body because some of the Hereticks who denied the Resurrection of the Flesh pretended however to believe the Resurrection of the Body but that all might know that they intended the Verâ—… same Humane Body they call'd it in downright Terms The Resurrection of the flesh VI. Tatianus Syrus who was Disciple to Justin M. in his Oration against the Gentiles We shall be restored says he to what we are and be judg'd by God the Creator This we believe tho' you look upon us as silly triflers and bablers for it For as once I had no being and then was begotten so being born and again reduced by Death to what I was I I shall be restored to my being again Tho' all my Flesh shall be consum'd by Fire yet the World contains the evaporated Matter Though I should be drown'd and dissolv'd in a River or the Sea or be devoun'd by wild Beasts yet I am laid â—…p in the Repositories of God The Ignoranâ—… indeed and the Atheist know not where my Substance is reposited but God who reigns and who alone sees it will restore it in his due Time to its former State VII St. Irenâ—…us who was born before the Death of St. John and was Scholar to St. Polycâ—…rp one of his Disciples affrms
or not much better were those who denied the Resurrection as impure and abominable such perchance of whom we may say what Origen does in this latter case See what absurdity Celsus is guilty of who mentions those as of our Religion who cannot endure to hear the Name of Jesus XVII Lucian the noted Atheist a Writer of the same Age has these Words concerning the Christians Those Wretches perswade themselves that they shall be the whole Man both Body and Soul immortal and shall live for ever And on this account they contemn Death and many of 'em offer themselves voluntarily to be put to Death XVIII Minucius Felix who lived in the beginning of the following Age Who says he is so foolish and brutish as to deny that God who first made Man can form him again as he was before 'T is harder to make that which before had no Being than to restore that which once had a Being All Bodies when dissolv'd whether crumbled to Dust or dissolv'd into Moisture or reduced to Ashes or rarefied into Vapour are lost to us but to God the keeper of the Elements they are still preserv'd He brings in his Heathen objecting against the Christians that they believ'd this Doctrine of the Resurrection with so great and firm an assurance as if they themselves had risen to Life XIX The Author of the Book entituled Concerning the Cause of the Universe against the Heathens tells the Heathens that God will raise us all up not shifting the Soul out of one Body into another but raising up the same Bodies You O ye Heathens says he because you see that these Bodies are dissolv'd do not believe that they will rise again But learn you to believe For since ye believe according to Plato that the immortal Soul was made by God you ought not to disbelieve but that God is able to raise up to Life this Body which is compounded of the Elements and to make it immortal c. The Author of this Book was either Caius the Roman Presbyter or St. Hippolytus who both flourish'd in the begining of the Third Age. St. Hippolytus wrote a Book besides with this Title Concerning the Resurrection of the flesh We are now come down to the time of Origen who left the receiv'd Traditions of the worthy Fathers his Predecessors and endeavour'd to accommodate the Doctrine of the Resurrection to the Notions of the Heathen Philosophers He himself owns that the Resurrection of the flesh was the Doctrine preach'd in the Churches But he says that by the more wise it was not understood in so gross a sense as Celsus represented it If he means that the Wiser and Learneder sort of Christians did not believe that the same Humane Body is to rise it appears from the foregoing Testimonies that that is not true We have sought for Christ not among the ignorant Common-People but among the Doctors in the Temple And the Authorities which we have produced are those of the moâ—… Wise and Learned But this was not Origen's meaning He means only thus much That the wiser sort understood that the Flesh in the Resurrection would not be just the same in quality with that which was buried but would be alter'd for the better Neither we says he in his Answer to Celsus nor the holy Scriptures say that the Dead shall rise out of the Earth with the same Flesh without any alteration for the better So firmly establish'd in the Church was the Doctrine of the Resurrection of the same Body that Origen himself tho' in some places of his Works he advances an Hypothesis not agreeable to it yet in many other places he very plainly asserts 〈◊〉 In the Proem of his Books 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where he reckons up the several Doctrines which were own'd to be certain and firmly grounded on the Tradition of the Church he lays down this for one That there shall be a time of the Resurrection of the Dead when this Body that is sown in corruption shall rise in incorruption In the Second Book of the same Work Chap. 10. where he treats professedly of this Doctrine he disputes against the Hereticks that denied the Resurrection after this manner There are some says he especially among the Hereticks that are offended at the Church's Belief of the Resurrection as if we believ'd foolishly and absurdly concerning it To whom we may answer thus If even they themselves confess that there will be a Resurrection of the Dead let 'em answer us this Question what that is which died Is it not the Body The Resurrection therefore will be of the Body Let 'em tell us besides whether they think that we shall have Bodies in the Resurrection or not I think since the Apostle St. Paul says that it is sown a natural Body and shall be rais'd up a spiritual Body they cannot deny but that the Body is to rise or that we are to have Bodies in the Resurrection Now since it is certain that we are to have Bodies in the Resurrection and the Body that fell are said to rise again for nothing but that which fell can properly be said to rise again there is no doubt but that our Bodies are therefore to rise that we may be again cloath'd with ' em For this by a natural consequence follows from that For if our Bodies rise again without all doubt they therefore rise that we may be again cloath'd with ' em And if it be necessary that we should be in Bodies we ought not to be in any other Bodies but our own Now since it is true that they rise and that they rise Spiritual Bodies there is no doubt but that they are to rise again without their Corruption and Mortality For it would be in vain for any one to rise from the Dead that he may die again In his First Book Concerning the Resurrection as his Words are produced by Pamphilus in his Apology he thus disputes for it Is it not absurd that this Body which bears the Scars of Wounds receiv'd for Christ's sake and which as well as the Soul endured cruel Torments in Persecutions and suffer'd the Punishments of Prisons and Bonds and Stripes which was burnt by Fire cut with the Sword devour'd by Wild Beasts tormented on the Cross and many other ways should be defrauded of the Rewards due to it for so great Sufferings For does it not seem contrary to all reason that the Soul which did not suffer alone should be rewarded alone and its Vessel the Body which serv'd it with great labour should obtain no Reward of its Contentions and Victory that the Flesh which resists its natural vicious Inclinations and Lusts and preserves its Virginity with a great deal of labour which labour is more the labour of the Body than of the Soul or at least full as much should be rejected as unworthy in the time of Retribution and the Soul only obtain the Crown To the same purpose are those
endeavour to demonstrate that he is able to provide that the Particles which compounded the necessary Parts of one Man's Body shall never belong to the necessary Parts of another or that they shall not be the Particles of another at the time of his Death He that created all the Particles that are in the Universe He that made all the Bodies that ever were out of 'em He in whose Book are all our Members and our Particles written how can he be ignorant to what uses each Particle has been put and where they are all reposited He who first created our Bodies and form'd 'em of the Dust of the Earth how can it be difficult for him to raise up the Dust of the Grave and make it declare his Truth He that first commanded Man to come as it were out of Nothing what can hinder but that he should be obey'd when he shall be pleas'd to command the Children of Men to come again If so mean a Thing as a Loadstone can distinguish and gather together the little Particles of Iron that lie confus'd and undistinguish'd in the Dust how much more shall the Almighty Magnetism of Him that made the Loadstone be able to distinguish and raise up together the confused and lost Particles of our Bodies If Mercury when dead and dissolv'd can even by the Power of Nature be reduced and restor'd to its Life and Being how much more shall the great God of Nature be able to reduce and restore our dead and dissolved Bodies to their former State I shall not any longer insist on these things There is no one can doubt of the Resurrection on the account of the difficulty of it but such as with the Athenians worship an Unknown God The Third Objection is taken from the unworthiness of these our Bodies and from their unfitness to be made the Habitation of the Soul in the next Life which is to be in Heaven and Everlasting The Consideration of the Impureness of these our Bodies made the Heathen Philosophers deride and abominate the Doctrine of the Resurrection To hope for the Resurrection of the Body says Celsus becomes rather the Worms than Men And what Man's Soul says he would ever desire to be re-united to a Body that is already rotten Thus a late Author to disgrace this Doctrine is pleas'd to call the Body a Load of Carrion and to compare it to course nasty Rags I shall not say in answer to Celsus that the Soul will ever desire to return to the Body purely for the Body's sake Neither are we to regard what the Soul might perhaps desire but what God has order'd to be done Were the Soul to wish without any regard to the Will and Good-pleasure of God I am apt indeed to believe she would hardly desire to be re-conjoined to her Body But neither would she wish to be in any Body whatever She would not be what she is not a Soul but a Seraphim But is the Clay to say to the Potter Why dost thou make me thus The Ambition of the Soul must stoop to the Pleasure of God Her Wishes and Desires must all con-center in the Will of her Almighty Maker and Preserver As she must be contented with that middle degree of Glory in which God has placed her so likewise she must be contented with that Collegue and Companion which he shall think fit to assign her When he shall be pleas'd to command her to return to her old Habitation tho' it were as to a Prison she must humbly and resignedly submit to his good Pleasure Behold the Handmaid of the Lord be it unto me according to thy Word But why should we imagine that the Soul when she shall be remanded to her Body will look upon herself as sent to a Prison That House which was once a Prison may be turned to a Palace and such a one too as the Owner of it would be glad to live in forever Were the wretched and disorderly House in which my Soul now lives to continue always just such as it is she would doubtless think herself happy in being sent for abroad and with reason be glad to continue always from home This Flesh in which we now live may at present be deservedly styl'd a Prison or a Burden or an Enemy or whatsoever else is not Declamation and Irreverence 'T is our Church in her Office of Burial that calls it the Burden of the Flesh And 't is the Author of Ecclesiasticus that tells us that the corruptible Flesh presseth down the Soul Such indeed is our Earthly House of this Tabernacle so foul so inconvenient and ruinous that I know not who would be very fond of it Who is there that can say It is good for us to be here I know that in my Flesh as at present it is there dwelleth no good thing We are now in a Body of Death as the Apostle himself calls it and well may we desire with the Apostle and with much more reason than he to be deliver'd from it But is this Body to be always thus constitution'd Is it always to remain this Needy and Impure this Passionate Lustful Restive Body We have hitherto look'd but on one Side of it let us now look upon it in the Reverse Immortal Incorruptible Powerfull Spiritual Celestial Glorious These are the Attributes of the Body that shall be rais'd And where is now the unworthiness of it Where is the unfitness to be made the Habitation of the Soul Was there heretofore a Law in our Members warring against the Law of our Minds Were there heretofore continual Feuas between the Flesh and the Spirit There is now a perpetual Peace Their Quarrels and Bickerings are all at an end They are now no longer Enemies but loving and faithful Friends It is not properly in the Nature of Flesh to oppose it self to the Soul and to revolt from its Duty and Subjection It is naturally Quiet and Passive and though in this Life the Wheels and Movements of the Noble Machine are sometimes disorder'd yet in the next they will all move regularly and in obedience to the Intelligence that governs it When God shall be pleas'd to raise it up out of the Grave it will drop all its Passions and Restiveness together with its Impurities and carry up nothing with it but its Natural Gentleness and a Will to be govern'd Those Traces which sensible Pleasures had imprinted on it will be all perfectly Obliterated and the new Impressions which it will receive will be truly worthy of Heaven and Eternity Had our Bodies heretofore many Infirmities Were they sickly or maim'd or crooked or old or otherwise deform'd These Infirmities and all Imperfections are now done away The Body is new-cast the Mold work'd better and the Mettal refin'd The whole Figure comes out with Vast Improvements though the same as to all the Ideal Rudiments yet a much more curious and delicate Piece of Workmanship Whatever it was heretofore it