which is the same with Justice shall be the standard of it and clearly implies that if God should forget should not recompense the Saint according to his Works he would be Unrighteous Fifthly Nor may we omit that infallible assurance which we have received from the Mouth of our Blessed Saviour in that full Place Mat. 25. 31. c. where we have a large Account of the Resurrection and Judgment together with the Method Rule and Reasons of both The cursed Sentence which shall be passed on the Bodies as well as Souls of the Wicked for they are now both joyned together has respect to the Sins which in their former conjunction they committed the one is Assigned the express Reason of the other So it runs depart ye cursed into Everlasting Fire c. For I was an Hungred and ye gave me no Meat c. here the illative For is allowed by all Perswasions Protestants as well as Papists to be Causal And the whole Man was concerned in the Sin and must be joyned in the Punishment and tho' in the adverse Part when the welcome Invitation is given Come ye Blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom c. For I was an Hungred and ye gave me Meat … some Divines of the Reformation will not have it here to signifie the Cause but the Consequence to avoid the Force of the Argument for Meritoriousness of good Works which seems to me a very strange Distinction and as I conceive in the present Case altogether needless for God may ought and will reward us for our good Works not for any real Merit of condignity in them but because he hath been pleased out of his Goodness and Bounty to give us his Gracious Promises so to do and upon this account is obliged to make good his Word but be this how it will so much is certain and must be acknowledged by all it is the main drift and design of our Blessed Saviour in the whole Discourse to represent our Actions here done in the Body to be the Square and Measure of that Judgment which suitably shall attend both Body and Soul hereafter Sixthly After all this I might here call in to our Assistance the professâ—d Argument of the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. on the present Subject but I have considered this in the beginning of this Discourse I shall therefore now dismiss it with a Remark or two As First How he represents the Resurrection as the Basis of Christian Religion He secures us of the certainty of it displays for our Comfort the Glorious Qualities of Bodies then Encourages us to persevere in doing Good here from an assurance that our Labour will not be in vain hereafter intimating in the Expression by an elegant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a most transcendent incomparable Reward Which must of Necessity be applyed to the Body whereunto the design of the whole Chapter tends For it must be acknowledged by all the main End of it Now the Reason of all can result from no other Principle or at least none so considerable as this viz. That we have to do with a God who will Reward every Man according to his Work which fully comes up to what I am to prove Can any one imagine that there would be so much ado about our Bodies if they were not capable of an exalted injoyment in Heaven No verily we may depend upon the Truth of the contrary let the Philosopher say what he pleases for the same Apostle has elsewhere assigned this as the Reason of it Phil. 3. last God shall change our vile Body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious Body because our Conversation is in Heaven Our Citizenship lies there we are free of that Jerusalem above and this Angelical Alteration is in order to our Investiture into all the unspeakable Privileges of it In short the tendency of the whole Chapter resolves it self into this That Christians notwithstanding all the discouragments in the way ought to go on with resolution and chearfulness in the discharge of their Duty upon the assurance of a Resurrection when their Bodies as well as their Souls shall receive a recompence for all and if this be the Case of the Saint as it is here plainly and fully represented what the State and condition of the Sinner will be upon his Resurrection we may easily conclude not only from the Topick of contraries but also because he is to bring his Works along with him to the Judgment-Seat and according to these shall receive his Sentence of him who will must and can do no other than Judge the World in Righteousness Seventhly I shall mention but one Text more 2 Cor. 5. 10. FOR WE MUST ALL APPEAR BEFORE THE JUDGMENT-SEAT OF CHRIST THAT EVERY MAN MAY RECEIVE THE THINGS DONE IN HIS BODY ACCORDING TO WHAT HE HATH DONE WHETHER IT BE GOOD OR BAD This is the very Scripture which the learned Author alledges for the confirmation of his Reason for the Resurrection viz. That as we are Men when we do Well or Sin So 't is reasonable that we should be Men when we are Rewarded or Punished for it Which as was intimated before is the same Doctrin with ours And this is that invictus Cunaeus that invincible Fort which can never be taken which will and must maintain the great standing reason of the Resurrection against the Assaults of the Philosopher being above them all This is that Place which we have industriously reserved as the last and surest Nail to fix the Doctrine and render it immoveable This is that place which expresses and proclaims it as loudly and plainly as Letters Words and Syllables can do it I do not see how 't is possible for any one that is not irresistibly perverse to avoid the force of it For here our Bodies are cited before this Tribunal and all the Actions of our Lives are brought with them to be reviewed scanned over sentenced and Judged all the actions of all sorts of Men without exception whether Good or Bad. And the proper wages of either is to be given accordingly and that in statu composito the whole Man his Body as well as Soul There are a multitude of Elegancies observable in the words the chief of which I cannot forbear to note As First The necessity of the Resurrection in order to a Judgment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We must appear which gives us sure grounds to conclude that our Bodies are more than Instruments that they are in an especial manner concerned in the business of the Bench. No upright full Judgment can be passed without them Secondly We have here the manner of it significantly set out in the Idium of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Appear clearly as in the Light manifestly to be laid open in every part all that ever was done in the Body must appear with it Thirdly The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as some Copies read it the Body is brought to answer for the proper things
Shame and Torment of the Hot Iron how the principal Actor in the Crime comes to have a share he will immediately by his woful Experience resolve the Question viz. by the scandalous Stigma in his Hand or Cheek which to his Anguish he has felt and to his Disgrace must retain In short Ask the Man in the Cart tyed with the fatal Halter and just ready to be turn'd over how the first and chief Contriver of the Offence for which he is condemned is brought to suffer and he can give thee no other Answer The Soul is a Spiritual Intellectual Invisible Being no way subject to the Pleasure or Jurisdiction of any Power on Earth 't is no way capable of the Preferment of a Palace nor of the Confinement of a Prison but above and out of the Reach of both and can have no Colour of pretence to any Rewards or Punishments whatsoever at present excepting those before mentioned but in Conjunction with and by the Mediation of the Body In Conclusion our Answer here is 'T is neither the one nor the other in a divided or separate Sense that has a Claim or Title to Rewards or Punishments here 't is the Compositum the Soul and Body in Vnion and Conjunction together i.e. 't is the Man that can challenge this And as for an Answer to the Objection with reference to the Body after the Resurrection which is the main Subject of the present Discourse if the Body be not capable of Rewards or Punishments I would fain have the Learned Dr. to tell me what doth the Body of the Saint in Heaven or what makes the Body of the Reprobate in Hell Sure I am because so taught by Christ himself as two Evangelists have recorded it Matt. 10. 28. Luc. 12. 4. That Men are able to kill the Body and God is able to destroy both Body and Soul Now you cannot be said with any Congruity of Speech to kill that which has no Sense no Life and what is liable to be destroy'd in Hell-fire must be allow'd capable of Punishment and by unavoidable Consequence of Sin whereof this is the Wages In short this sacred Authority lays the Axe to the Root of the two first Objections and fells them to the Ground If the Body can be kill'd can be destroy'd in Hell-fire it cannot be deny'd to be sensible capable of sinning of doing well of Rewards and Punishments All these are manifestly imply'd here CHAP. VIII THat our Bodies are more than Instruments only is a Truth that clearly shines forth from the Make and Creation of them Man was brought into the World last of all and therefore must be acknowledg'd the most perfect and compleat of all the Creatures He is upon this account called by the Philosophers the Microcosm the Little World the Epitome of the Greater And tho' the Fabrick of all others tho' never so mean must be own'd to be stupendous yet there is certainly somewhat in Humane Bodies surpassing and transcendent if not in the Matter yet in the Manner and Figure of ' em The Consultation of the Eternal Trinity about this Affair imports somewhat singular a Product more than ordinary Come Let us make man Gen. 1. 26. the Prince the Emperor of all the rest This is taught us in that passage of Elihu in Job 33. 4. The spirit of God hath made me and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life The Expression elegantly notes the Exactness of his Frame Man is the Master-piece of the Creation as his immortal Commentator Caryl has observ'd Our Bodies are Temples built and Temples sanctify'd A living Man Genes 2. 7. Man became a living Soul And upon this account the Royal Psalmist breaks forth into this sublime Rapture Psal 139. 14. I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made marvellous are thy Works and that my Soul knoweth right well My substance was not hid from thee though I were made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth Thine Eyes did see my substance yet being imperfect and in thy Book were all my members written which day by day were fashioned when as yet there were none of them The Fabrick of Man is of all other the most exquisite This the Great Mrster of Physick has professedly asserted in a most Admirable Treatise of 17 Books which Gassendus thinks was penn'd with a Spirit of Enthusiasm for the Refutation of the Atheistical Doctrines of Epicurus and the Mirrour of of Learning Orig. Sacr. lib. 3. cap. 1. calls it the Hundred and nineteenth Psalm in Philosophy or A perpetual Hymn in Praise of the Great Creator a just Commentary on the former Passage of the Psalmist The whole Work is a full and pregnant Demonstration of a Deity to which end 't is apply'd by that incomparable Prelate who thereupon thinks it strange that Physicians of all Men should be Atheists who from the Subject of their Science have powerful Arguments to the contrary When we shall consider the admirable Contrivance of Man's Body the curious Formation of all its Parts in order to the various Designs Services and Uses of 'em its astonishing and innumerable Excellencies methinks we should account them more than barely Instruments The Philosophers and Divines have entertain'd Nobler Sentiments of it They have proclaim'd it aloud to be the One half of that finishing Piece which came last out of the Almighty's hands the One half of him for whose sake and service all others were made the One half of him who had the Dignity to be Lord over all who by his Frame Endowments and Advantages is directed to devote and conseerate his Whole Self all that he has or is to the Honour and Glory of his bountiful Master 2. But if this Consideration will not do let us for a while contemplate the Assumption the Incarnation of our Blessed Saviour He took such a Nature as ours such a Body as ours with all its Organical Parts To this purpose he stoop'd to Bethlehem to the Womb of a poor Virgin to the Stable and the Manger To this purpose He that was in the form of God and thought it not robbery to be equal with God made himself of no Reputation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 emptied himself disrob'd himself of his Divine Dignity and took upon him the Form of a servant and was made in the likeness of man St. John tells us John 1. 14. That the Eternal Word that was in the beginning and created all things was made flesh and dwelt among us And the Author to the Hebrews chap. 2. 16. gives us a Confirmation of it with an Asseveration Verily he took not on him the nature of Angels but the seed of Abraham i.e. He was an entire Man like any of us sin only excepted Nay what is more that very Body which he assum'd in which he lived and in which he was crucified is ascended up into Heaven where he sitteth at the Right hand of God and by the
Now if we reflect on these passages with a thorough and serious consideration what conclusion can we possible draw from hence Shall We take an occasion upon this account as the Heathens have done to arreign the Justice of Heaven with open mouth to charge God foolishly or as we find Holy Men sometimes muttering Tush God hideth away his face and he doth not see there is no knowledge in the Almighty then have I cleansed my heart in vain and washed my Hands in Innocency it is vain to serve God what profit is there in it No verily these are Illogical and false inferences from these irregularities and failures here we must firmly conclude there is a time approaching when the supreme Judge will set all things at rights i. e. there is a Resurrection which is attended with impartial Justice to all this I am sure is the great use which the royal Psalmist points at and directs us to Psal 94. 14 15. The Lord will not cast off his People neither will he forsake his inheritance but Judgment shall return unto Righteousness Tho now they are at a distance yet they shall shake Hands and meet again and then the Wicked shall be punished and the Godly rewarded This I am sure is the Improvement St. Paul makes of it 2 Thes 1. 5. where speaking of the Persecutions and Tribulations which the Saints endured calls them a manifest token of the Righteous Judgment of God Not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not an example but Demonstration tho' now the Order of Justice be inverted tho' the Wicked which deserve punishment are far from it tho they prosper and triumph are florishing and spreading like the Cedars in Lebanus and you that are well deserving are rudely and barbarously treated you are to look on this as an undeniable evidence that there is a day of review approaching when Justice shall be done to all this is undeniably the meaning of our Apostle here as appears not only from the expression but also from what follows where he expatiates on the Argument That ye may be counted worthy of the Kingdom of God for which ye also suffer seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompence tribulation to them that trouble you and to you who are troubled rest when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming Fire taking Vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting Destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his Power when he shall come to be Glorified in his Saints and to be admired in all them that believe in that day The natural and genuine Interpretation of which Place can be no other than if the Apostle had said Have but a little patience and the scene will be inverted those who afflict and persecute you shall pay dearly for it and you that now suffer shall be gloriously rewarded at the Resurrection of all which is designed for Justice to all Men and to every part of Man Lastly From the foregoing experiences which must be allowed there can no inference be thought on more reasonable than that which the same Apostle has elsewhere repeated Acts 17. 30. That God hath appointed a Day in which he will Judge the World in Righteousness For the farther improvement of the Argument I think fit to recommend in the next place those various Parables in the Gospel so often mentioned of the Labourers of the Talents of the Husbandmen For 't is undeniable that all these have a manifest tendency to the business in hand All these are to be considered and according to their behaviour treated upon the Return of the great Lord at the end of the Day and of their Work in all which we have a special and exact Account of every Man's recompence according to his Works Justice in all the proceedings being made the standing Rule and Measure and the Resurrection the unalterable time and so by consequence appositely answers our present design In all these cases we have the repeated Declaration of that great Judge that he will give to all what he Promised what is Right what properly belongs unto him He that hid his Talent meets with a hard but equitable Doom He that improved it is advanced In a word the Loiterer eo nomine is punished as such and the faithful Labourer is promoted The treatment of all here is proportioned to their former doings and deservings So we find it expresly noted by St. Luke 19. 17. He who had received five pounds and by his industry had gained five more is kindly received with the Character of a good and faithful Servant and because of his ten pounds has Authority given him over ten Cities and so with proportion in the next example He whose Pound had gained five has a suitable command over five Cities Nor have we less evidence of the point in hand from the Rewards the Wages the Recompense of reward which are Phrases that ever and anonoccur in Holy Writ All these are well known to be metaphorical and relative terms and therefore for a right understanding necessarily direct us to the Correlative and that can be no other than the whole Man All his Actions all his Deeds all his Merits shall be taken into consideration the Traffick of his whole life is brought upon examination and accordingly he shall receive the returns of them at the setled time of the Resurrection Nor may we omit the diversities and degrees of Rewards and Punishments which attend the Bodies of Men in the other World and can result from nothing but Justice For as it is the essence of it to take care to Punish the Evil Doer and to Reward the Man of Merit So is it no less to dispence both with respect to the deservings of either This is the Method of all Tribunals here below and is industriously observed as himself has assured us by the Judge above To this purpose all Governments have provided great varieties of all kinds to answer the infinite cases that come before them and how plentifully in this the Supream Governour is accommodated the Magna Charta of Heaven will not suffer us to be ignorant Forasmuch then as there are in that everlasting Dungeon below different Stations or at least Punishments provided for such as shall by a dreadful Sentence be fixed there of which to pass by all others the tremendous woes pronounced against Corazin and Capernaum Tire and Sidon the outer darkness and greater Damnation are undeniable evidences it roundly follows that the hand of Justice is conspicuous in all this On the other side forasmuch as there are many mansions higher and lower places of Honour and Glory prepared for the Bodies of the Saints in the Empyraean Heaven Of the truth of which we are so abundantly secured as that it would be a weak â—upererogation to attempt the proof
We are by all the Rules of Reason and Logick to make the same conclusion as heretofore it being scarcely possible to derive it from any other cause If the Bodies of the Twelve Apostles for the promise cannot be applied to their Souls only because it is to be made good after the Resurrection and at the Day of Judgment are hereafter to be seated upon Twelve Thrones as Judges and Assessors of The Twelve Tribes of Israel i. e. Of all Mankind If the Sons of Zebedee the Martyr'd Saints some of those of the highest form shall fill those immediate places of the Right Hand and of the Left Hand of Christ of his Kingdom If the eminent Christians in the Gentile World shall come from the East and from the West and take their Places next to Abraham Isaac and Jacob the great Patriarchs of the Promise If those that have beaten down their Bodies and brought them into subjeicton by their unwaried wrestling with the Flesh have obtained a Victory over it here shall receive the advantage thereof in their Exaltation above if as the Apostle speaks Every Man shall receive his own Reward according to his Labour 1 Cor. 3. 8. if those that have done and suffered more in this Life are carried on and encouraged thereto from an infallible assurance of a suitable Retaliation That is to say of an emminent and proportionable Recompence at the Resurrection of the Just It is I think to any Man who will not shut his Eyes against the Light a Plain Case viz. in all this the Justice of God is signal and conspicuous Hither tend the advancements of Glory appropriated and applied by the Ancients and Schoolmen to three sorts of Men more especially First To the famous Preachers of the Gospel who with the great Apostle did very gladly spend and were spent laboured more abundantly in the Vineyard Of the truth of this there can be no doubt since Truth it self has assured us That they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament and they that turn many to Righteousness as the Stars for ever and ever Dan. ult 3. And that the Righteous shall shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of the Father Mat. 13. 43. And this is farther and more fully confirmed in the above mentioned promise of Twelve Thrones to the first Heralds of the Gospel Secondly To such as have kept themselves unspotted from the Flesh have adorned their Conversation with Purity and Chastity and have fought Valiantly and Victoriously in this Warfare This is asserted by the Prophet Isaiah in a lofty and Rhetorical strain as his custom is Chap. 54. 4 5. Thus saith the Lord unto the Eunuchs that keep my Sabbaths and chuse the things that please me and take hold of my Covenant even to them will I give in mine House and within my Walls a Place and a Name better than of Sons and of Daughters I will give them an Everlasting Name that shall not be cut off This is alluded to by our Blessed Saviour Mat. 19. 12. and emphatically noted by St. John Rev. 14. 4. where those pure Virgins that were not desiled with Women are represented dignified with extraordinary marks of Glory above others v. 5. They sung a New Song which no Man could learn they were admitted to follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth and are called expresly the first Fruits unto God and unto the Lamb. Thirdly The Noble Army of Martyrs who have chearfully for the testimony of the Faith and a good Conscience suffered the most cruel Torments that Men or Devils could inflict given their Bodies to the◠Wild Beasts and to the flames There can be no dispute of the truth of this point neither forasmuch as that it is 〈◊〉 confirmed by the testimony of the infallible Spirit which assigns an eminency of happiness to those that were slain for the Word of God and for the testimony which they held white robes were given unto them Rev. 6. 9 10. And positively pronounces the Right hand and Left hand the principal places in the Kingdom of Heaven to belong to those that have drank of Christ's Cup and been Baptised with his Baptism Mat. 20. 22. To this purpose excellent is the animadversion of St. Augustine Videbimus in illo regno in corporibus Martyrum vulnerum Cicatrices quae pro Christi nomine pertulerunt non enim deformitas in eis sed dignitas erit quaedam quamvis in corpore non corporis sed virtutis pulchritudo fulgebit Civ Dei l. 19. c. 3. We shall see in Heaven in the Bodies of the Martyrs the marks of those wounds which they received for Christ's sake and these will be no deformity but an honour to them the Beauty of their Grace◠will gloriously shine forth through these impressions And again this great Father to the same purpose has noted In cicatricibus Martyrum sole fulgidioribus extabit Martyrii gloriosissimum Monumentum non autem ullum corporis glorificati dehonestamentum Civ Dei l. 6. 22. cap. 19. In the Scars of the Bodies of the Martyrs brighter than the Sun shall shine forth the most glorious Trophy of Martyrdom We all allow it for the Honour and Reputation of a Souldier to shew the Foot steps of those wounds which he received in fighting valiantly for his King and Countrey And indeed this Consideration makes this Opinion very probable 't is generally admitted by the Schools and others and in the main cannot be denied and in my apprehension does not a little contribute to the support of that Doctrine which is our business to establish If the Bodies of some of the Saints in Heaven shall be signalized with Characters of Advancement of Glory they are certainly capable of Rewards For the farther improvement of the argument I desire that it may be observed how that the Resurrection and Judgment are so interwoven and twisted together as that the one cannot be separated from the other 't is a truth which neither can nor will be denied that the one is in order to the other And as at the Assizes here below when the Court is set the Persons concerned are brought from Preson to the Bar in order to their Trials So it is in this last and general Assize the Supream Judge sends out his Officers to remand all out of their Graves from all Quarters of the World to make their personal appearance to answer to their Charge and abide the final determination of this last Audit And though there may and will be to the end of the World prevarications failures and deviations in the proceedings of all Earthly Tribunals yet this highest Court of Justice must be acknowledged by all to be altogether exempt from these 'T is placed beyond the possibility of the least miscarriage Well then the Reason of the Resurrection is the Judgment which is immediately to follow after it and if our Bodies are not concerned in the business Transacted what do they make here If they are no