from the Dead the Members that are united to him by a spiritual vital Principle his holy Spirit shall certainly be raised for He that raised Christ from the dead shall also quicken our mortal Bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in us Rom. 8.11 Again Christ is expresly styl'd The first-fruits of our Resurrection And as the First-fruits offered to God consecrated or blessed the whole Lump so this First-fruit having purchased to himself a vital Principle by fulfilling the Divine Compact it will be convey'd to all those that have an interest in him so that the Resurrection of the Just or Faithful is in a spiritual Sence or the way of Grace derived from that of our Saviour as absolutely as Light or Warmth from the Sun in the way of Nature But then here 's the Foundation of the Miscarriages of our Adversaries the Rock which they carelesly split upon For since they are not able to discern any such Connexion between the Resurrection of our Saviour and that of the Wicked they are apt to imagine he can have no just Right or Title to it and consequently there 's no real Foundation for it But the Mistake is extremely obvious For as our blessed Saviour became a Mediator between God and Man and this Mediation in the original Design of it extends to all the Sons and Daughters of Adam he challenges an unquestionable Right of Dominion over the whole Species upon the Performance or Execution of it For to this end Christ both died and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and living Rom. 14.9 This is so clear that it extends even to Heathens and Unbelievers for by virtue of it he becomes their proper Judge and as he 's their Judge he can rightfully summon 'em from their very Graves in their proper Bodies or Persons And therefore he hath an uncontroulable Authority to rouze even once the most potent Sinner and oblige him to account for his Actions with those Eyes and Hands and Heart that so grosly dishonour'd him And since in the distribution of Rewards and Punishments he has signified a special regard to the Body as well as Soul we might without St. Paul's express Declaration conclude That there shall be a Resurrection both of the just and unjust Act. 24.15 It is true they move upon a different Foundation the first is an Act of infinite Grace and Mercy an Act that carries the most joyful Invitations in it for its the glorious Consummation of Christ's Espousals with his Church but the second an Act of sovereign Power and Justice and implies a kind of forcible Entry on the Tombs of the Wicked who shall be haled forth to receive the Sentence of Disobedience in a personal and bodily Appearance And thus much for the Extent of the Resurrection I proceed to examine the Second General which respects the Manner of it and 't is That we shall all be raised in our own proper Bodies And for the clearing of this Argument I shall first evince it from the Nature of the Thing from Scripture and Antiquity And for as much as the Resurrection of our own proper Bodies will appear from these Authorities I shall in the Second Place endeavour to state the Nature of Humane Identity and consequently the Identity of our rising Bodies and from both these conclude what is proper to be Believ'd and make some returns to the Possibility of such a Resurrection And First That we shall All be raised in our own proper Bodies This is a Position which the Socinians unanimously reject It s true Schlictingius places humane Identity purely in the Identity of a Rational Spiritual Soul and tho' he doth not expresly deny the Resurrection of the Body yet he makes the Identity of the Body no way material in the Resurrection See Comment on Rom. 8. v. 11. As for the Nature of humane Identity I shall speak to it in its proper place and therefore I shall prosecute my present Design and prove that the Christian Faith is We shall be raised every one in his own proper Body And first this is indisputably evident from the very Notion of a Resurrection and the receiv'd use of the Word Now certainly a Resurrection is the restoring a dead Creature to its former State of Life by a Re-union of its first Principles The constituent Principles of a Man are a Soul and a Body and Death primarily consists in the Separation of 'em or rather as Death is the Fore-runner of Corruption in the Dissolution of one or both of 'em If therefore Lazarus or any other Person is to be raised again those Two numerical Principles of which he was originally compounded must be united and then and not till then is Lazarus raised from the Dead The Notion sufficiently discovers it self in the Case of Lazarus and our Blessed Saviour where the Body was not dissolved and the same is absolutely required where the corruptible Principle is actually dissolved Man is certainly compounded of a corruptible and incorruptible Principle the incorruptible Principle cannot suffer Death or Dissolution and therefore Men are chiefly said to be Dead in respect of their corruptible Principle that usually suffers Corruption certainly then if any particular Person is to be raised from the Dead that Principle which properly dies and is corrupted is to be restored to its former State and united to the incorruptible Principle without which there can be no Resurrection For if the corruptible Principle which properly dies and is dissolved is not restored but a new one formed or created in the room of it and united to the incorruptible Principle it may be properly esteemed a new Production but by no means a proper Resurrection and to assert the contrary is to confound received Terms as well as Notions In a word when a new Body is formed out of the common Mass of Matter and united to the Soul of any particular Person it s in reality no more but the Pythagorean Transmigration which tho' perform'd after a new manner yet by no greater a share of Divine influence than that which gives a plastick Power to form a Body in the Womb and unites a particular Soul to it Shall the Socinians then those pretending Masters of Reason call this a Resurrection This is to obtrude a Notion contrary to the sence of Mankind when the great Argument for rejecting the true Resurrection is because they cannot reconcile it to their scanty Measures of Reason But that what hath been hitherto asserted was the true Notion of a Resurrection not only the Testimony of Scripture and Christian Antiquity but the joint Suffrage of the Learned Heathens abundantly assures us For it was on this account the Doctrine of the Resurrection was loaded with so much Contempt and Scorn when they considered so many various Transmigrations of Matter they esteemed it impossible for Omnipotence it self to range every Particle into its own peculiar Place and Order so as to restore and make up
the Just had obtain'd in the Jewish Schools except those of the Sadducees yet the Notion of it was vastly different from that Glorious Resurrection which the Christian Institutions ratify and establish for none of 'em could ever arrive to a strict numerical Resurrection and therefore it s in this sence One of those Doctrines which stands to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness But notwithstanding these extravagant Insults it s to those that believe The power of God and the wisdom of God It s a Doctrine as powerful in the Evidence of it as it has been mighty in its Successes and tho' we cannot assert it from the established Course of Nature nor desire to rake it up out of the Rubbish of Heathen or Jewish Traditions yet it rests upon an unshaken Foundation even a sure word of Prophecy unto which we shall do well to take heed for we have before us the words of Him that is become The Lord of Life and Glory and has the Keys of Hell and Death He it is that assures us The hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth They that have done good unto the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation This famous Passage is almost universally allowed to be a Description of a general Resurrection Indeed the Learned Bishop Pearson observes that it strikes so closely at the Socinian Notion of a Resurrection that some of 'em are forc'd to apply it to a Spiritual Resurrection and pronounce the Grave to be the Regions of Heathen Ignorance and Impiety and the Reception of the Gospel to be the Resurrection from ' em But we must do Socinus and the most considerable of his Followers Crellius and Schlictingius a piece of Justice here for tho' they will not allow the words to prove the Identity of our Rising Bodies yet they reject the conceit of a spiritual Resurrection and assign the same Arguments against it that are advanced by this Eminent Prelate Since then we are thus far agreed that the thing pointed at is a General Resurrection we may venture to affirm that they instruct us in two important Circumstances of it first the Extent and secondly the Manner of it Here 's a distinction of Allotments Life and Damnation and they are founded in distinct Works and Actions good and evil and both imply distinct Classes of Persons the Righteous and the Wicked and consequently a Resurrection of both The Wicked must certainly bear a part in the Resurrection for every Soul that sinneth and every Body that dyeth and is committed to the Dust must rise again Yes as surely as he dyeth and enjoys a Sepulchre he must be forced from his Lodgment and rise again for neither the Grave nor Rocks nor Mountains shall cover much less secure him since all that are in the Graves must come forth Thus we have the Extent of the Resurrection Again If we demand with what Bodies shall we come Why certainly since our Resurrection is to be made from the Grave and since our Bodies even Flesh and Blood were committed to the Grave the very same Bodies will rise again the Substance will not be changed tho' the Quality's altered And thus we have the Manner of the Resurrection for All that are in the Graves shall come forth I shall endeavour to assert both these important Truths and that in Opposition to the Adversaries of ' em I begin with the First I mean the Extent of the Resurrection As for the Extent of it the Socinian Doctors are not yet agreed tho' the most Judicious declare for a general Resurrection It s observable Smalcius the Author of the Racovian Catechism only describes the Resurrection of the Just without taking the least notice of that of the Wicked whilst others allow the former but expresly deny the latter But an impartial Reader one would think could not have wished for a clearer Decision of this matter than our Saviour's words afford us when we are told That all that are in the Graves shall come forth part to the Resurrection of Life and part to the Resurrection of Damnation So that he that disputes the Truth of a general Resurrection must allow no distinction between the Righteous and the Wicked no more than their future Allotments or he must deny the Wicked the most common Office of Humanity that of Burial or excuse it by asserting an immediate Annihilation For if the Wicked at the point of Death do not immediately vanish into soft Air or if Mankind do not usually judge before-hand and thereupon deny 'em the Office of Burial or if the Allotments of Life and Damnation are not indiscriminately ascertain'd to affirm any of which would be a gross and palpable Absurdity then the Wicked must come forth of their Graves and make their Resurrection tho' a most Fatal one even the Resurrection of Damnation We may add to this leading Authority another of St. Paul's and its the more considerable since this great Apostle industriously pursues our Saviour's Methods in Representing it and that too with respect to the Universality Design and Manner of it For we must all appear no doubt from our Graves before the Judgment-seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his Body no doubt in that very Body they were committed according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad 2 Cor. 5.10 But to conclude this Argument from express Authorities of Scripture the Divine Author of the Book of Revelations hath so accurately described a general Resurrection that he seems to have industriously Ransackt all the Corners of the World in order to advance a Challenge to produce one single Mortal that has not his Summons to it And I saw the dead both small and great stand before God no doubt with that very Part about 'em for which they were once esteem'd Dead-men and the Sea gave up the dead which were in it and Death and Hell gave up the dead which were in them Chap. 20. ver 12 13. Here we see the Prince and Peasant the Infant and Man of Years must obey the Summons of a general Resurrection and all the Repositories of Art and Nature are forc'd to surrender up their Dead or disgorge the Mortal part of 'em And will any Socinian pretend to contrive a shelter for the Wicked I 'm afraid he 'll leave himself as well as them miserably expos'd especially when the Text assures us That the very Heavens shall flee away and there shall be no place found for them ver 11. But farther not to rest any longer in Generals I shall endeavour to prove it from the Nature of the Thing and that too in its particular Instances And First As for the Resurrection of the Just it s on all hands agreed that they are virtually raised in Christ for since the Head is risen and as such styled The first-born
every individual Body Hence it was they triumphed in their Barbarities exercis'd upon some of the Martyrs of Christ since they designedly committed 'em to the Jaws of wild Beasts to defeat as they thought Omnipotence and infinite Truth at the same time in disabling him from performing what he had solemnly promised Indeed had the Resurrection in the most strict and proper Sence of it implied a Restitution of the same individual Body it could not have extorted such severe Censures from most of the Learned Heathens for since they allowed the Immortality of the Soul and a natural Tendency to assume a new Vehicle they might easily allow that Omnipotence could without any difficulty prepare a new Body if that had been sufficient as the Socinian would have it to give it the Denomination of a Resurrection For in a word This would have passed off as a specious kind of Transmigration and consequently a Doctrine that would have met with a very easy Reception in most of the Greek Schools But to proceed Let us in the next place examine what Scripture says to this Matter whereby we shall prove our main Design as well as confirm this very Notion And first from the Passages already cited on another Argument where the Resurrection is said to be made from the Grave from the Sea and Hell and Death where the Dead are said to stand before God and Death and Hell are said to give up their dead See Rev. 20 12 13. Joh. 5.28 I think its indisputably evident the Holy Spirit directs us to the corruptible Principle the Body which alone suffers Death and is committed to the Grave and consequently the Resurrection must imply a Restitution of this very Principle in Conjunction with the incorruptible Principle the Soul Indeed it seems absurd to send us to all the Repositories of the Dead to establish the Belief of a Resurrection if a new Corporeal Part is to be framed or rather if the Mortal Part that was laid in the Prison of the Grave is not to be given up again and actually restored The Argument is so obvious and convincing that neither Socinus nor Crellius upon these Passages of Scripture are able to make any other Reply but Non sequitur or it does not appear that the rising Body is the same numerical Body with that which fell It s true Socinus appeals to a Passage of St. Paul which proves nothing as will appear by and by but what we freely grant that our corruptible Bodies cannot inherit Incorruption See Comment oâ— Joh. 5.28 And therefore it concludes nothing against the present Argument But the Identity of our rising Bodies is evinced from yet more express Authorities of Scripture in one place we are assurred that the holy Spirit shall quicken our mortal bodies Rom. 8.11 In another that our Saviour shall change our vile bodies that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body Phil. 3.21 In a third that This corruptible shall put on incorruption 1 Cor. 15.53 Here we have the Notion of a Resurrection asserted in express Terms as well as the Identity of the rising Body For is it not that mortal corruptible Principle or that Body which suffered Corruption in the Grave that is said to be quickened or restored to Life Crellius I know has the Face to affirm that they are not our mortal Bodies that are quickened but new ones assigned us See Comment on the Place But can a new Body substituted in the room of my mortal Body without Solecism and Nonsence be called my mortal Body or this New Body quickened the quickning of my mortal Body But to proceed the remaining Passages carry the Absurdity higher Can a new Body as to Matter or Substance plac'd in the room of my corruptible Body be fairly reconciled with this Corruptible Or can my corruptible Principle or dead Body tho' never to be restored be said to put on Incorruption only because my Soul is after a certain Period united to a new incorruptible Body diametrically distinct from my corruptible Body My Soul in such a case puts on Incorruption but by no means my corruptible Body that still rots and moulders in the Dust Again our vile Bodies may be fashioned or changed into the likeness of Christ's glorious body by reducing 'em from a natural to a spiritual and from a corruptible to an incorruptible Frame but if perfect new Bodies are to be fashioned and substituted then our vile bodies are not the things fashioned or changed into the likeness of glorious bodies but exchanged for ' em We therefore freely grant that the Substance is transform'd by a Change of Qualities from natural to spiritual and from corruptible to incorruptible Bodies And this is all the Apostle intends when he tells us That flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of Heaven A great Truth no doubt as it is encompassed with humane Infirmities and corruptible Qualities for the Close of the Verse gives us the sence of the whole nor corruption inherit incorruption 1 Cor. 15.35 the place cited by Socinus But now we have gone thus far it would be highly absurd to affirm that a vile corruptible Body puts on Incorruption or is fashioned or changed into a glorious Body when it remains in an eternal State of Corruption Therefore the Resurrection which changes a vile and corruptible Body into a glorious and incorruptible one must imply a Restitution of the corruptible Principle and consequently the same numerical Body is the undoubted Subject of the Resurrection But farther that I may not dwell too long on this General I shall only have recourse to Scripture for one Argument more it s The Resurrection of our Saviour's Body Now it s well known the History of all the Evangelists the Print of the Nails in his Hands and Feet and of the Spear in his Side demonstrate That our blessed Saviour rose in that very Body which was Crucified Dead and Buried but now it s on all hands agreed that our Saviour was a Type and Pattern of our Resurrection yes he 's more to the Righteous for its Christ's the first-fruits afterwards they that are Christ's at his coming The Apostle all along carries the Analogy between him and us and therefore As Christ rose in his own proper mortal Body so we shall all rise in ours The Socinians are pressed here and therefore endeavour to evade the force of it by pretending That tho' our Saviour rose in his Crucified Body yet upon his Ascension he received a glorious and spiritualized Body But this Evasion proves nothing unless it appear from Scripture that Christ deposited his Crucified Body and assumed a new Body in the room of it But this is a Conceit that 's destitute of all Foundation from Scripture and indeed so much that I do not find any Socinian that peremptorily asserts it Therefore this Glorified Body can be nothing but the Crucified Body refin'd adorn'd and beautify'd and it s no more but what we allow in the
THE DOCTRINE OF A General Resurrection WHEREIN The Identity of the Rising Body is asserted against the Socinians and Scepticks IN A SERMON PREACH'D Before the UNIVERSITY at St. Mary's in OXFORD on Easter-Monday Apr. 5. BY THO. BECONSALL A. M. and Fellow of Brasenose College OXFORD Printed by Leon. Lichfield for GEORGE WEST Bookseller An. Dom. 1697. THE PREFACE THE Biass of Humane Nature towards those things we in any Sence call our Own is so notorious and remarkable that it often influences our Judgments in the Affairs of States and Kingdoms no less than Families and private Persons But certainly there 's a Parental kind of Affection exercis'd towards the Off-spring of our own Minds as well as that of our Bodies that often transports us into over-weening Fondnesses and unaccountable Partialities Hence writing of Books or publishing of Thoughts from the Closet or Pulpit is by the rest of the World generally pronounc'd a piece of Affectation and Vanity founded in an Opinion of some extraordinary intrinsick Worth or Merit Men are not content to conceive and bring forth in a private Apartment and view and admire their own Productions but height of Admiration sends 'em forth into the open World to exercise the same Faculties in others no doubt with an Intention that the Praises of all should be return'd back on the Original I must confess this is a Censure which may sometimes carry a great deal of Truth in it tho' at last it seems to be a very uncharitable Truth unless every short-sighted Mortal can pretend to be a Searcher of the Heart and Reins or unless no Attempts of this kind could be acted by any other Motive that is truly Just and Honourable But however this Doctrine may prevail in common Cases certainly the special Obligations I 'm unfortunately under in doing Justice to my self and others will at this time free me from the Imputation of it It has been more than once represented how much I lie under the Displeasure not to say the Reproaches of some Men for shamefully Mis-representing the Author of the Essay concerning Humane Understanding for branding his Notions of Identity with little less than the Imputation of Heresy whilst at last I was forc'd to have recourse to 'em to establish my own Hypothesis This is a Charge form'd on a transient Delivery of a Sermon and for the Truth of the greatest part of it I submit it to every Ingenuous Reader upon a View on both sides But certainly it seems to reflect as much Positiveness and Presumption on its Authors as it industriously fixes Folly and Disgrace on me It might have been considered who presides in the University-Church to censure all such notorious Miscarriages and consequently they might at least have expected a Reprimand from Authority before such a severe Sentence had passed upon me This would have given them not only an Opportunity to express their Resentments or Indignation but added weight and force to ' em As the Case stands I 'm not now to be a Judge I can only declare I 'm as yet so unhappy to be wholly unsensible of any Misrepresentations and consequently of any Injustice committed against Mr. Lock And therefore being so highly charged I thought the best Expedient to set both sides to Rights to put the one into a Condition of Vindicating himself and the other of being Informed of an Errour was to publish the whole Discourse which as far as concerns Mr. Lock I 've done without the least Alterations Having said thus much give me leave to offer something by way of Pre-caution I can safely declare I am acted by no Personal Prejudices no more than Unchristian Designs for this Author is as absolute a Stranger to me as I am to him The Subject I was engag'd on directed me to the Controversy and the Duty I owe to what appears to me to be Truth and especially a Fundamental Christian Truth obliged me to enter the List with those that have advanc'd Positions that apparently shake or over-turn it and perhaps the Duty and Obligations are justly heightned in an Age when the Assailment of the most important Articles of Faith is become so exquisitely Fashionable But now if in the Defense of Truth it at last appears that I have done this Author the least Injustice either in mis-representing or mis-applying his Sence or Notions I shall heartily and freely make him Satisfaction and that too as publick as he or his Friends shall think fit to make my Mistakes A Sermon c. JOH Chap. V. ver 28 29. The hour is coming in the which All that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth They that have done good unto the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation THE present Solemnity has engaged me on a Subject which as 't is the support and glory of the Just and Faithful so it has always been the contempt and laughter of the Impious and Unbelieving It s true the Learned have often attempted to trace the Foot-steps of a general Resurrection from certain Resemblances in the Book of Nature or from certain Doctrines advanced I know not how in the Schools of Philosophers Thus the Earth hath been represented as a kind of Grave or Sepulchre to the Vegetable World where the vital Powers are sealed up and stifled all the Winter and yet at Spring are actuated expand and send forth a lively Verdure Thus every Grain of Corn that ministers Life and Sustenance to our own Species must suffer Death in order to receive a new vital Principle Thus the Doctrine of Transmigration in the Schools of Plato and Pythagoras has been sought to to speak out that of the Resurrection And the Doctrine of a general Conflagration among the Stoicks must usher in the Restitution of all things These are Arguments by no means the Product of any Modern Wits but of the earliest Apologists and Advocates for the Faith As if the Doctrine of the Resurrection had been legible in the very Frame and Constitution of Nature and to deny it in the Old Schools of Philosophy were to renounce their own avowed Principles But yet for all this it s well known the most powerful Assailants of the Christian Faith made their greatest Efforts against this Christian Bulwark It did not become the subject of Drollery and Ridicule to the Stoicks at Athens alone but it engaged the Wit and Malice too of Lucian and Celsus of Julian and Caecilius In a word when it came to the Test neither the most improved Doctrine of Transmigration nor of the Soul's Immortality nor of a future State was sufficient to introduce the Belief of it For the whole Tribe of Gentile Philosophers tho' otherwise sufficiently distinguish'd in their Notions and Principles do here unanimously conspire to pronounce it Absurd and Impossible and its Professors for this very reason Vile and Despicable In a word Tho' the Doctrine of a Resurrection particularly that of