Sin and consequences of it as in the 1 3 6 and 11. Verses O Man … Secondly That he is said to treasure up wrath by which elegant metaphor nothing less can be signified than that his sins are kept in a safe reconditory to be brought forth against the Man in the great Day of Reckoning Thirdly He is also here infallibly certified of the Justice of all the Proceedings then and that 1st From the Nature of the Judgment it self 'T is Righteous 2dly From the Character of the Judge set forth by this Paraphrase who will render to every Man according to his Deeds which most certainly carries an accent and emphasis with it being so often in Scripture repeated as Psal 62. 12. Mat. 16. 27. Rev. 22. 12. 3dly By another Property which makes his Justice altogether as conspicuous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is no respecter of Persons Fourthly We have here withal a large amplification of the different states which attend all according to their Deserts Lastly So universal is this last Scrutiny as that no Man whatsoever is exempt from it neither Jew nor Gentile that is no Person at all The Argument from this Authority runs thus There is a time coming when all Men which unavoidably supposes the conjunction of both parts shall make their Personal appearance before a most righteous Judge when all their Deeds of what kind soever shall be brought upon the Stage and they impartially treated without any other respects but their deservings When as St. Athanasius's Creed expresseth it All Men shall rise with their Bodies and give an account of their Works and they that have done Good shall go into life everlasting and they they that have done Evil into everlasting Fire And what is this but Justice both with respect to Body as well as Soul for both are here joined together and one is the inseparable concomitant of the other The Second Authority which I offer for the confirmation of the Doctrine which I endeavour to vindicate is John 5. 28. Marvel not at this for the hour is coming in the which all that are in their 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 To bring my Text home to the Argument we are necessitated to look back into the context where we find the occasion to be the cure of a Paralitical Man who had laboured under this Chronical Disease for no less a Space than 38 Years at which the Spectators deservedly wonder whereupon our Blessed Saviour gives them an account of a much stranger thing than this namely of the Resurrection of the Bodies of all Men from the first to the last at the end of the World Marvel not at this for the hour cometh when all that are in their Graves c. My observation from this Place for the Advantage of my Argument is First we have here a Resurrection how strange soever and impossible it may seem to be confirmed and established from the Mouth of Christ himself and secondly we have here the consequence of the Resurrection and the main Reason of it which is the matter of our Dispute and I most willingly appeal to the Reason of all Mankind whether it be not manifestly held forth in the latter Clause for tho the illative be suppressed yet t is manifestly implyed and the latter part is exegetical i. e. gives us the Reason of the former The Bodies of good Men are to rise again and to enjoy everlasting Happiness and the Bodies of the Wicked are to be united to their Souls to suffer those punishments in conjunction now which their Sins committed in their former Union have deserved The most natural Sense of the place is as if Christ had said All Men shall rise that they that have done Good may go into Life everlasting and that they that have done Evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation The Third and next Text is Rev. 20. 12 13. I saw the Dead small and great stand before God and the Books were opened and another Book was opened which is the Book of Life and the Dead were Judged out of these things which were Written in the Books and the Sea gave up the Dead which were in it and Death and Hell deliver'd up the Dead which were in them and they were Judged every Man according to their Works In this Vision St. John represents the general Resurrection under the popular Scheme of a grand Assize with allusion in all probability to the like passages of the Prophets Daniel and Malachy Dan. 7. 10. Mal. 3. 16. at which time the Books of Records containing the Indictments and Charges of those Summoned to appear are produced faithfully Read and Examined And as these are found so do the Persons at the Bar either stand or fall Even so is it to all intents and purposes at the Resurrection tho there will be no real Written Books of Registers but the Metaphorical ones of God's Omniscience and every Man's Conscience which carries in it the whole Work of the Court all the Officers of it we are hereby infallibly secured of the Accuracy of Justice in all the Proceedings Every Line and Clause of this Text affords us ample evidence of the Doctrine we contend for As the Bodies of all Men shall arise to be brought to Judgment so shall all their Actions be laid open carefully Scanned Weighed and Exaamined to make the Sentence Righteous Of which the Books that is the Accounts Charges and Works contained in them are the unvariable Measure and Rule inviolably to be observed by the Supreme Judge in the final Determinations of all Men. Now that the force of the Argument of this Text may not be eluded I desire the Reader to consider these three Remarks First The Dead are raised in order to their Tryal and therefore must by all be allowed in a special manner concerned Secondly 't is said expresly that the Dead were Judged which cannot be referred to the Souls of Men which are Immortal no ways subject to Death in the Sense here it must therefore by an unavoidable necessity be understood of the Bodies and so by consequence all the Business of this Judgment from first to the last both the Works and Remuneration fastned here And for the full assurance of which it ought to be Thirdly Farther noted how that 't is twice repeated in the close of both the Verses The Dead were Judged out of these things which were Written in the Books and they were Judged every Man according to their Works Fourthly After these I cannot pass by that of Heb. 6. 10. God is not Vnrighteous to forget your Work and Labour of Love in Ministring to the Saints For our encouragment in well doing the Apostle directs us to cast our Eyes on the recompence of reward which shall attend good and charitable Men at last and secures us in this that Righteousness
the Doctrines of our Religion yet this more especially The ingenious though Atheistical Dialogist makes himself merry more than once upon this subject It would be too tedious to recount the like behaviour of Porphiry and Celsus and other the professed adversaries of Christianity in this matter I shall therefore give it you in a lump and whole-sale from the known Testimonies of Tertullian and St. Austin The first tells us there was not one sect of Philosophers whatsoever but oppos'd it The last assures us There was no one point of our Religion so vehemently so pertinaciousty so stifly so contentiously rejected they entertain'd some other Doctrines with respect and favour but for this of the Resurrection they are not meal-mouth'd they no sooner hear it but it raises their indignation they instantly reject censure condemn it and with open mouth boldly proclaim it impossible in Psal 88. CHAP. III. NOtwithstanding all those Sarchasms and Contradictions of Sinners this Heavenly Doctrine is fixt on immovable Foundations and will and must stand impregnable amidst all the shocks and assaults made against it 'T is built on a Rock against which the Gates of Hell shall not prevail We are as strongly secur'd here as of any one Article of our Faith and that without being beholden to the Ludicrous stories of the Jews or the Idle and Fabulous Reports of Pinto and the Heathens which do the Doctrine no kindness but disservice rather 'T is supported on the unanimous Testimonies of the Fathers of the Councils of the Creeds The plain and undeniable Authorities of the Old and more especially the New Testament The word and Promise of an Alknowing Infallible Omnipotent God So that all or at least the most considerable Objections that have been brought against it are dash'd in pieces and laid even with the Dust from the consideration of the Veracity and Alsufficiency of that God who has bound himself and his Attributes for the performance I am not ignorant how many learned and ingenious Men have taken much pains to solve from the principle of Philosophy the Arguments brought against it I honour and admire them for their preformances but I must freely say I much question whether the attempts of this kind come up to the point whether they are not too low and inferiour to give it satisfaction My Reason is this The Resurrection is confessed by all to be a work above Nature and how it can be made out by Natural Philosophy I cannot understand Our Reason must be beholding to Revelation in this matter and call in the assistance of Faith without which there can be no Assurance In short if we believe the Creation I cannot see any stumbling block here that Power who made the World and Man at first out of nothing must be readily acknowledged able to raise him from the Grave and to joyn together the scattered Particles of his dissolved Body The one seems more easie than the other This is the great the Common Argument of the Ancients and has without doubt been more effectual to the purpose than a Cart-load of Chimical Experiments than all the notions of the most subtile Philosophers But this I have said to make way to my Design which is to enquire into the strength of the Argument for the Resurrection from a principle of Justice In which I shall take this Method 1. I shall briefly lay down the State of the Argument 2. I shall shew how it has been the Great the Principal the most Topping and Chiefest Argument of all Ages 3. I shall offer to answer the Objections which are levied against it 4. I shall Examine his Reasons of the Resurrection Vlt. I shall endeavour to establish the Doctrine by such considerations as I hope will secure it CHAP. IV. THE State of the Argument in short is The Body and the Soul are here joyned together as sharers in all the Concerns and Actions of this Life which is a state of Probation and therefore they are to stand or fall together in the next which is a state of Remuneration The Body of the Saint and Good Man concurs with his Soul in the exercise of Vertue and Piety in this World and can there be any thing more equitable than that they should be joyned together in that which is to come On the the other hand the Body of the Sinner must be allowed a Partner with the Soul in Evil and is there not all the reason in the World that it should stand forth at the Bar and be joyned with it in the punishment The contrary must be pronounced downright Injustice Can we have such hard thoughts of the most Righteous Judge that he should admit the Soul of the Martyr upon his dissolution to that Glorious Crown which he has promised in the highest Heavens and mean while have no regard to the Crucified Tortured Body that has born the heat and burthen of the Day been the saddest Patient in all the Tragedy but suffer it to lie neglected in the Grave Vlt. How can we imagine that the Soul of the Reprobate should be condemned to the Torments of Tophet for those sins it committed in conjunction with the Body and that the Body it self should escape scot-free sleep undisturbed in the Grave and neither know nor feel any thing of those Flames In this case have we not reason to cry out with the Prophet Malachy 2. 17. Where is the God of Judgment For Justice carries in the very Nature of it a due and impartial distribution of Rewards and Punishments If two work together both have a right to the Wages 't is downright injustice to give all to One and nothing to the Other This is the substance of the Argument of which I must take leave further to acquaint the Reader that it has been the great the standing Argument of all perswasions of Men in all Ages In the first place I affirm this was the great reason which the Jews still used and applyed to the same purpose I would not boast of what I have not I cannot pretend to Rabbinical Learning yet I am sure of what I assert because many learned Men have told me so and I have seen Maimonides their second Solomon their Renowned Epitomizer in Latin and many times met with the famous Fable of the Rabbins which because it comes home and pat to the purpose I here insert There was a great Lord who planted a delicious Garden wherein he placed two Keepers a Blind Man and a Lame Man that he might be secure of his Fruit on all hands but so it was that after some time he found himself Robb'd He charges the Keepers with the Theft they both offer very plausible excuses the Blind Man pleads he could not see the Fruit and therefore could not Steal it The Lame Man alledges the Infirmity of his Feet he could not reach it and so could not take it away At last the fallacy was found out viz. 'T was done by the mutual combination of
of Confession that the Body properly speaking is not capable of Sinning or of doing well considered in its own Nature abstractively in its self 't is a passive principle and can pretend to no Life Energy Sense or Motion in a single state 'T is likewise granted that the Body without the Soul is a Dull Stupid Senseless Clod of Earth a Stinking Carcass a Sink of Rottenness and Corruption uncapable of Acting Doing Suffering Injoying all whatsoever or more than the Doctor can suggest but in a state of Conjunction with the Soul 't is far otherwise so that it injoys Life Sense and Motion shares and ingages with it in all its concerns So that in the two first Reasons there is a manifest Fallacy of Division which runs through every part visible to every common Eye and is no sooner deâ—â—rted but the whole Fabrick of his subtile Argumentation sinks and falls even with the dust Though the Body alone cannot yet in conjunction with the Soul it may When a Noble Lord takes to Wife one of the meanest Extraction who has no pretensions of her own to any thing that is great yet upon her Marriage she is Dignified and Indowed with all the Privileges of her Right Honourable Spouse This as near as I can represent it is the Case of the Soul and Body The Heaven-born Bridegroom stoops to the Earth for a Partner Advances Exalts the Beggar confers Life Sense Motion on her admits her to Bed and Board allows her a share in all his Dignities and Injoyments The Body without the Soul can neither Sin nor do Well But the happy wedlock has ennobled this piece of Clay and empowered it in conjunction to act with it So that I fancy the Doctor to be under a mistake when he calls the Body only the Instrument of the Soul Certainly 't is more 't is an essential Part and the Man can as well be without the Soul as without the Body to call the Body therefore an Instrument is too low a Term when 't is manifestly the Collegue and Companion of the Soul and together with it constitutes the Great Prince and Lord of the Creation I shall challenge the most Acute of Philosophers to give me the definition of a Man without a Body Nec caro sine anima Homo quae post exilium Cadaver est saith Tertullian The Soul without the Body is no more the Man than the Body without the Soul If then it must be acknowledged a Physical Indispensible Principle of his constitution the one half of the Man What a disparagement is it to call it an Instrument only Now that it is so the Learned Doctor himself expresly tells us Pag. 218. 'T is a great mistake to imagine that the Identity or Sameness of Man consists wholy in the Sameness of the Soul if Euphorbus Homer and Ennius had had one and the same Soul yet they would not have been one and the same but three distinct Men. It seems then it is the constituting the essential and most distinguishing Principle it can make three Men of one Soul and so by consequence threescore And how worthily 't is called an Instrument only let the World judge I confess 't is often by Philosophers and Divines set out by this Expression The Instrument of the Soul to denote as I suppose the transcendent excellency of the Soul above it and all that Life Sense and Activity it can pretend to as derived from the Soul and dependent on it yet That it is more than an Instrument is acknowledged by the Learned Author who calls it pag. 198. The Collegue and Companion of the Soul and pag 204. Her old Acquaintance and is undeniably proved from 1 Cor. 6. 18. He that comitteth Fornication Sinneth against his own Body Here it is manifestly a Party and so interpreted and understood by Commentators on the place The like might be observed of other sins as of Gluttony Drunkenness c. which are properly called the Lusts or Sins of the Flesh But 't is farther Objected That the Arm that stabs sins no more than the Sword Here then is a good plea for Criminals at the Bar and 't is much it has never been made use of but I believe the Homicide suspects that it would do him no kindness it would be received by the Court with Laughter and rejected with Scorn and Indignation and reason good for the Sword is a Tool in its self Innocent and Harmless 't is the Arm that weilds it that impresses it that ' gives it Force and Vigour to destroy so that if to gratifie the Objection we allow the Arm to be an Instrument yet that it is no more concerned in the Matter than the Sword is notoriously false because the one is a dead the other a living Instrument and there must be a vast difference between these The Arm considered a-part is no more able to kill than the Sword nay less able because that has not so fit a disposition to pierce thro' the Bowels as the other being made acute for that purpose But the Arm united to the Body has Strength Vigour Motion in every part and must be allowed the true efficient Cause of the Murther whereas the other is the Means the Weapon to effect it And here also the Fallacy of Division is very plain and visible CHAP. VI. BUT the Objector adds 'T is the Soul only that is the Murtherer If it be so I wonder then what the Judge Jury and Executioner the Gaol or Gallows have to say or do to the Body if it be so there is an horrible Scene of Injustice all the World over if so Delirant Reges plectuntur Achivi was not the single Case of the poor Grecians who went to pot for the Miscarriages of their Generals but the common and deplorable Fate of all Mankind Certainly if the Soul only be the Murtherer the Body is free ought not to be touch'd is by all Laws whatsoever discharg'd both from the Guilt and Punishment of that Crime in which it had no hand For as 't is Injustice on one side not to punish the Guilty so 't is no less on the other to punish the Innocent If this quaint Notion of the Philosopher could be made good before the Bench it would bring him in more Gain than all the Preferments beside But alas this nail will never drive He will never be able to perswade the World of the truth of it And indeed it does exceedingly labour For 't is not the Soul but 't is the Man that is the Murderer And here also is a manifest Tang of the old Sophism True indeed the Soul is the first chief and principal Actor in the Tragedy but we can by no means excuse the outward Part. 'T is the Soul that bestows on the Body Life and sense without which it could not possibly lay claim to either and even here 't is Ridiculous to imagine that the more Spiritual and noble Part uses the Terrestrial and earthy as a
Tool and Machine an Instrument only i. e. barely agitates and moves it as the Snail does his Shell the Waterman his Boat the Rider his Horse the Fencing-Master his Weapon the Man his Cloaths No this has been sufficiently exploded by the Philosophers and Schoolmen in the colebrated Question on the present Subject being by Both constantly maintained in the Negative The Soul during its Residence with its beloved Bride is liberal in his Endowments towards her as in the foregoing Comparison furnishes and sets her up with great Accomplishments bestows Sense Vigour Activity Perception on on her so that derivatively she has the Benefit Use and Enjoyment of all these This is a Doctrine disputable and I believe will not go down with all but for the Truth of it I appeal to the Sense of Mankind and for its Support I briefly offer these Considerations 1. The Soul diffuses it self through every Part of the Body according to the known Maxim of the great Peripatetick and certainly to no other purpose but to bestow its Largesses The Vegetable Soul gives Life to every Particle of the Plant or Tree and the Rational Soul cannot be supposed to be less liberal 2. 'T is undeniable that there is a mutual and reciprocal Influence of each toward other The Soul impresses the Body on t'other hand That impresses the Soul The loving Pair mutually give and receive from each other the noble Spouse makes his Bride the generous Presents so often mentioned She on the other hand guides and directs the Soul in his Behaviour according to the known Axiome Mores animae sequuntur temper amentum corporis which I confess I do not understand unless it come home to the purpose The different Constitutions and Complexions of our Bodies have a powerful influence on our Souls and do in a great measure over-rule and command them This is allowed by all and manifestly appears in the Behaviour of Children suitable to their Progenitors They do for the most part follow their Way and tread in their Steps The Body is the perpetual Dictator and prescribes to the Soul the Manner and Method of its Government Thus according to the peculiar Composure of the outward we find the Dispositions of the inward Man He in whom the sanguine Complexion is predominant proclaims his Constitution by his Port and Actions is Bold Couragious Magnanimous and Heroick whereas the Cholerick Man tells the World what he is made of by his Peevishness and Petulancy And so in all other Cases as all here agree And least the Suspicion of Traduction which prevails with some should enervate the force of the Argument To put it altogether without dispute I lay down this as an undeniable Position That the Manners of Children are not only influenced by their Parents but Nurses too The Concessions of Philosophers Physicians and confirmed Experience of all do give me a Supersedeas here and pronounce the Proof of it altogether needless There is a Curious Dissertation in Aulus Gellius lib. 12. cap. 1. of Favorinus the Philosopher on this Subject to a Noble Woman perswading her to give suck to her own Child and not endanger the corrupting of his Manners by a strange Milk The Discourse is so full excellent and nervous that I can hardly forbear to transcribe it and whereunto for full Satisfaction I refer the Reader 3. That the Body is endowed with Life and Sensation is undeniable from the common and daily Experience of it in every part Even the Extream Parts are endued with a ready and most exquisite Sensation And 4. the Truth of it is abundantly confirmed from this usual Experiment That if at any time there happens a Sphacelus a Mortification in any extreme part instantly there is recourse to the Surgeon and his Saw to take off the dead part for the Preservation of the whole which to me is little less than a Demonstration That the other Parts are truly and actually alive The Body even of Adam if the Supposition may be allow'd before its Union with its Heavenly Partner was a senseless Clod of Earth but when God breathed into him the Breath of Life then Man became a living Soul a living Man though we allow it a Carkass upon its Separation CHAP. VII THE Objector goes on Neither is the Body capable of any Rewards or Punishments 't is the Soul only that is sensible and nothing but what is sensible can be capable of Rewards and Punishments Here again we are assaulted with the old Paralogism and therefore must dismiss it with the same Answer The Body without the Soul is capable of neither Rewards nor Punishments but in Conjunction with it is exquisitely sensible and enjoys either What have we to do to consider the Body in a separate state This is foreign impertinent and beside the Argument in all respects Our Dispute lies about the Good or Evil that Men do in this Life and that Remunaration which according to their Deserts shall attend them at the Resurrection In both which the whole Man is concerned and not one part neither the Body without the Soul nor the Soul without the Body but both in Conjunction And though I will not deny That the Soul while in the Body may and does sometimes act Abstractively without the Concurrence of the Body in a Spiritual and Intellectual Manner in good or bad Desires Cogitations and Contrivances which are by the Philosophers call'd Immanent Acts and so by consequence has a separate distinct Enjoyment of Pleasure or Pain according to the Result and Nature of them wholly peculiar to its self and altogether independent from the Body yet all other Rewards and Punishments here are conferred on the Soul by the Mediation of the Body so far is the Objection from being true as that the contrary is undeniable As the Body is beholden to the Soul for the Capacity of Rewards and Punishments so all the Rewards or Punishments that are or can be placed on the Soul in this Life are owing to the Body without which 't is altogether impossible it should be invested with either How is the Soul of the most deserving Courtier preferr'd but by the Body How is the Soul of the Valiant Soldier advanc'd to higher Dignity of Command but by the Body How is the Soul of the Learned Doctor bless'd with Plurality of Preferments in the Church and Vniversity but by the Body And so in all other Cases whatsoever On the other hand the same is no less visible in the Distribution of Punishments How is the Soul of the Malefactor brought to suffer but by the Body Ask the Prisoner in the Dungeon with his heavy Load of Fetters on how the Place and Irons come to affect his Soul he will readily tell thee 'T is by the Body Ask the petty Thief at the the Cart's Tayl how his Spiritual Part does rue for his Transgression and he 'll tell thee 't is by the painful Stripes inflicted on his Back Ask the Man that has undergone the
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
in keeping it clean swept and garnished a fit Receptacle and Mansion for the Holy Spirit in a ready Compliance and Conjunction with the Soul in all the Offices of Religion This most evidently appears to be the Doctrine of our Church when we are admitted to the highest and nearest Communion with God in the Eucharist by that Clause which is inserted and repeated in both Forms of Administration when the Priest delivers the Bread He prays That it may preserve thy Body and Soul unto Everlasting Life and again he uses the same Form when he gives the Cup The Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ which was shed for thee preserve thy Body and Soul unto Everlasting Life Now to reason fairly Unless our Bodies are capable of Everlasting Life I know not what sense we can make of the Prayer And if our Bodies are capable of Everlasting Life as must be allow'd they are necessarily imply'd subject to Everlasting Death and by unavoidable Consequence must be allow'd capable of doing good or evil To conclude this St. Paul was so throughly convinced of Both as that he rallies together a multitude of Arguments to prevent the one and engage us in the other First In 1 Cor. 6. 13. The Body is for the Lord i.e. 'T was made by him and therefore ordain'd and devoted to his Service Secondly The Lord for the Body i.e. He redeemed and sanctified it and so has a farther and improved Right to it Thirdly God will raise our Bodies v. 14. i.e. The Resurrection lays a farther Obligation upon us Fourthly Our Bodies are the Members of Christ and therefore they ought not to be the Members of an Harlot We ought to keep them clean and pure for his sake as Parts of that Society whereof he is the Head Fifthly He that committeth Fornication sinneth against his own body i.e. Though there are some Sins without the Body yet the Sins of Vncleanness are properly Sins of the Body Sixthly Our Bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost ver 19. The Sins of our Bodies turn this Holy Guâ—st out of doors and admit another Master making them the Devil's Brothel-Houses and Styes Lastly Our Bodies are bought with a price ver 20. Therefore not to glorifie God in own Bodies as well as Souls since by a manifold Right they are both his is not simply Sin but Sin of an high Degree and deep Dye no less than the Sin of Sacrilege After all this to corroborate the Argument I might here expatiate upon the great Cost and Expence which the Primitive Christians bestowed in Embalming their dead Bodies of which Tertullian St. Augustine and others give us a large Account which comes home fully to the Point in hand and can be apply'd to no other purpose By this Practice of theirs 'tis plain they look'd upon their Bodies as perfumed with their Graces here smelling sweet in their Dormitories deposited as in a Bed of Spices and resting in full Hope of a Glorious Retribution But I conceive I have no need of it and therefore it may suffice only to have noted it CHAP. IX I Pass to the Examination of the Third and last Objection which as a Bar lies in our way and ought to be removed If it be Injustice in God to punish the Soul alone without the Body in Conjunction with which she committed the Sin then all the Matter which constitued the Body when the several Sins were committed must be raised again and reunited to the Soul for if some why not all But what Monsters of Men should we be in the Resurrection if all the Substance of which our Bodies consisted from our Childhood to our Deaths should be gathered together and formed into a Body Without taking notice of the Severity of the Objection I shall endeavour to give satisfaction to it And First I Answer That the Resurrection depends upon an All-sufficient and Omnipotent Power and though I cannot tell with what Matter the Bodies shall arise yet every good Man ought to rest satisfy'd in this That a God of infinite Abilities will take care to make good his Word For there are an hundred things as the Learned Author has asserted p. 221. both in NATURE and DIVINITY the Existence of which we cannot doubt and yet the Reason of them we cannot comprehend Of which he there gives us a multitude of Instances whereunto I refer the Reader and at last resolves the Resurrection into God's good Pleasure as the Highest Reason 'T is altogether surprizing how he came to be so positive here and in this difficult point impossible to be understood or resolved by the wisest of Men to be so magisterial especially considering that unlucky Passage which drops from his Pen in the Words immediately following p. 222. I fansie my self Philalethes talking to a bold Refiner on the Promises and Decrees of Almighty God and one of those little Nothings that call themselves Philosophers that form to themselves Notions and Idaea's then deal with Revelation as the Tyrant did with the poor Innocents on his Bed either violently stretch it beyond its natural Reach or chop off a part to make it commensurate to their Intentions I will make no Animadversions here though I have a fair Opportunity but I cannot forbear to say that the Learned Author has made Monsters of all Men at the Resurrection if it be founded on Justice contrary to his own Reasoning in the places foregoing where he professes his Ignorance and challenges the World to give an account of as supposing it impossible And yet boldly asserts here That all the Matter which was of the Body of the Man from his Childhood to his Grave must be rallied together at the Resurrection or else there can be nothing of Justice in the Case But Secondly I answer This Assertion runs Counter to the Doctrine of the Schoolmen and Ancients who have with one Mouth determin'd That the Child shall not arise a Child nor the Corpulent Man with his great Bulk nor he who sunk under a Marasmus peep out of his Grave a Skeleton Nor the Old Man appear at the Resurrection with his Grey Hairs or any Symptomes of Age but all shall arise inter Incrementum Decrementum humanae naturae about the Age of 33 in a perfect State staturaÌ„ quam habuit vel habiturus est as Lombard Sent. 4. Dis 44. Aug. Civ Dei Lib. 22. Cap. 14. Thirdly I answer That this is altogether beside the Question We are to consider the Body fallen and to prove the Resurrection of that same Body to be joined to the same Soul in order to a Judgment And this is all that in Reason can be expected We are no ways concerned to look back to its various and different States from his Childhood to his Death if we can produce the same Prisoners before the Supreme Tribunal there can be no Injustice in the Thing for the Learned Author has granted and proved that our Bodies from our Childhood to our Graves notwithstanding
powerful Rhetorick of his Wounds the Impression of which he now retains is our Eternal Expiatory Sacrifice incessantly transacting the great Work of Advocation with his Father still making Intercession for us By this there is conferr'd on Humane Nature the highest Honour and Dignity imaginable and this must teach us to put a value on our Bodies and to look upon them as more than Machines and Tools only This if I mistake not is an Inference most genuine and naturally flowing from the Premisses and 't is most certainly the express Use which the Ancients would have us to make of it Thus St. Austine on the present Subject de Verit. Relig. cap. 6. Demonstravit nobis Deus quà m excelsum locum inter creatur as habet humana natura in hoc quod in hominibus in vero homine apparuit God saith the holy Father hath given us a Demonstration of the Dignity and transcendent Excellency of Humane Nature in that Christ a VERY MAN lived among Men. And to the same purpose another great Author Leo Serm. 1. de Nat. Dom. Agnosce O Christiane dignitatem tuam divine consors factus naturae noli in veterem vilitatem degeneri consuetudine redire i. e. Christ by taking such a Body has shewn thee the Dignity and Excellency of thine taught thee not to disparage dis-esteem it or use it unworthily 3. But if neither of these be sufficient come we in the third place to cast our Eyes a little on the Redemption and in that great Work the Whole Man is concern'd The Prince of our Salvation submitted himself to the Cross and all its shameful miserable painful Appendages to become a Propitiation for Both. Our Bodies as well as Souls are the Price of his Blood And can any one then account 'em no more but Instruments only The thing is so evident as that I think it needless to say any more for it nor can I imagine what can in the least colour be said against it 4. Wherefore I pass to the next Argument under this Head for Confirmation of the Doctrine in hand and that is Bodily Worship Have not all the Orthodox Pulpits echo'd and sounded this aloud How often have we been told That we are to serve God in our Bodies as well as Souls the one is but maimed and imperfect without the other the Great Creator has an undeniable and manifold Right to Both. How much the true Sons of the Church have labour'd in this Argument cannot be unknown to any who know any thing of the Controversies about the Modification of Worshipping God which has been the grand Subject of the Dispute of this last Age. How zealous good Men have been to relieve that abused and misapply'd Place John 4. 24. from Captivity and to discharge it from that hard and unworthy Service which the Dissenters would have imposed upon it and compelled it to bear still asserting that to serve God as in Truth we ought we must serve him more than in Spirit only How often has that of the Apostle been made the Text 1 Cor. 14. ult That in God's Service regard must be had to Decency and Order How often have we been told that we must not make our Approaches to the most High in a slovenly manner but in the most humble and becoming Postures To give Testimony of our inward by the uniform Port of our OUTWARD MAN and to make the Worship acceptable and compleat to be careful to join both these together The truth is the Body by its self is altogether incapable of the least Performance for as the Psalmist has observ'd The dead praise not God neither they that go down to silence But yet we have the same infallible Assurance that the living can and do praise him Do not our Lips Tongue and Mouth shew forth his Praise Do not our Hands serve God when we lift them up toward the Mercy-seat of his holy Temple Do not our Feet bear a part also here when they make chearful and direct Paths to the place where his honour dwelleth Do not our Eyes and Ears go Sharers here when they behold and hear the wondrous things of God's Law when they are attentively exercised in his Statutes In a word Do not our whole Bodies engage in this Divine Work in their Submissions Adorations and Prostrations before his Altar What Nonsense is it for any Man to imagine the contrary when we are so often and pathetically commanded and called upon by God in his Holy Word to do it Not to multiply Authorities here the winning and endearing Entreaty of the Great Apostle alone is sufficient Rom. 12. 1. Wherefore I beseech you Brethren by the mercies of God that you present your Bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service And if it be here said that the Apostle by Bodies means the Whole Man I have no mind to deny the Allegation but I reply that the Body is also concerned and as must be acknowledged from the Allusion to the legal Sacrifices in an especial manner pointed at And if this be not Proof enough there are other places which cannot be understood in any other sense which refer peculiarly to the Body Thus the same Apostle speaking of the abominable Sin of the Gentiles says Rom. 1. 24. That they did dishonour their own Bodies between themselves And to the same purpose he calls upon his Corinthians to glorifie God with their Bodies which are his and 1 Thess 5. 23. he prays that their Spirit Soul and Body be preserved blameless to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ Where Both the Objections of the Learned Author are put to silence and quashed by one word Blameless which clearly supposes our Bodies capable of doing well or evil of Rewards and Punishments otherwise there can be no Congruity in the Discourse of the great Doctor of the Gentiles who was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel was so Accomplish'd an Orator as that 't was one of the three celebrated Wishes of the great St. Austin That he might have seen him in the Pulpit nay what is more was inspir'd from above And he must be allow'd by all to speak at a very impertinent Rate I cannot see any doubt or difficulty here The Wicked sin and dishonour God with their Bodies and that properly speaking by the Lusts of the Flesh the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Lusts of the lower Belly as the Father calls them The Sins of Gluttony Drunkenness Vncleanness and a multitude of others Nay St. John seems to fix Sin more especially on the Body in his first Epistle chap. 2. 16. where he reckons them up under three Heads All that is in the World the Lust of the Flesh the Lust of the Eye and the Pride of Life On the other hand the Case is altogether as undeniable The good Man serves honours worships and glorifies God with his Body in adorning it with Sobriety Temperance Chastity and other Exercises of Vertue
their constant innumerable great and wonderful Changes are still the same Pag. 132. Moreover he has granted That according to the Supposition of Philosophers tho' the Body be changed once in seven Years which obiter I can never believe and am sure is impossible to be proved yet he grants it is still the same That a Man that has kept his Bed for above seven Years upon his Recovery rises the same Man tho' he have not now one Particle the same that he had when he took his Bed and he gives us the Reason of it Because the Particles of the Body are gradually changed in a continual Vnion with the Soul The Body he says in such a Case is the same and may properly be said to raise again And yet the Learned Author in his Argument here exacts all the Matter which constituted the Body when the several Sins were committed to be raised again to be re-united to the Soul which how congruous to himself and how reasonable in its self I leave others to judge Fourthly I answer This Objection is too strict and subtile It impeaches destroys and overturns all Justice upon Earth and renders it altogether impossible The Reason is irresistible for there are fleeting Particles of Matter which constantly come and go ebb and flow in our Bodies through the whole Course of our Lives so that the Man is not to day what he was yesterday nor will be to morrow what he is to day This is more manifest in long Imprisonments The Malefactor frequently comes into Gaol plump and hail full of Flesh and Blood but by his long Confinement is emaciated and appears at the Bar quite another Thing Yea often times it so happens that he is so much impair'd in his Health Strength Constitution and Complexion that he is unavoidably dropping into the Grave without the Help of the Gallows and yet no Man ever questions the Justice of his Execution Sir Walter Rawleigh was beheaded for a Crime committed above 20 Years before and though according to the Imagination of the Philosophers above-mentioned this Body must be thrice changed in this Interval yet the Equity of his Sentence was never doubted The like might be observed of Mary Queen of Scotland The Annals of all Nations overflow with Examples of Criminals whose Punishments have been a long time protracted without the least suspicion of Injustice Fifthly Therefore I answer plainly by denying the Consequence viz. That it does no way follow from the Principles of Justice That all the Matter which constituted the Body when the several Sins were committed should be raised up again My Reason is because much if not most of this Matter is accidental to the Body forasmuch as 't is plain the Body can be and oftentimes is without it What frequent and considerable Alterations all Men undergo in this respect is abundantly confirmed by the Experience of all Most Men generally are well fleshed in Summer but in the Time of Winter fall away And this is more visible in the Cattle of the Field being for the most part Fat and Full in the Hot Season of the Year which affords plenty of Grass and Food But when the Frost and Snow comes in upon them and diminishes their Pasture then they pine away and are often starved Men owe the Dimensions of their Bodies in a great measure to their Ease Health Prosperity and Affluence Whereas Hunger Cold Want Poverty Diseases will make them dwindle and bring them down to nothing but Skin and Bones To this purpose I am sure I have long since met with the Determination of the Royal Society in their Philosophical Transactions namely That the Fat and Corpulency of a Creature is nothing but the Repletion of the Parenchyma And that they would undertake to make a Dog or an Horse Fat Fleshy and Full in a very few Days There is no necessity then for all the Matter to be rallied together at the Resurrection because much of it is Accidental not Essential to the Body It has been is and may be without it Our Doctrine then must stand in spight of this Shock and Assault The Justice of God is secured and the Saint in no manner of Danger of mounting from his Grave a Monster nor the Sinner neither in this though he must be acknowledg'd such in the worst of senses Lastly If all that has been hitherto said cannot put the Objection to silence I will presume to borrow the mighty Sword of our Opponent which alone can do the Work and as effectually as that of Goliah cut off this Monstrous Head Pag. 187. his Words are these It is farther to be considered that though the same Body that died is to rise again yet it is not necessary that all the Particles of it should be raised up 't is enough that such Particles are raised as made up the integrant and necessary Parts of the Body By necessary Parts I mean those which remain after the utmost degree of Maceration without which the Body would not be integrant but imperfect and these are chiefly the Bones the Skin the Nerves the Tendons the Ligaments and Substance of the several Vessels as long as these and all that are necessary to Life remain the Body is truly whole though never so much macerated all the Flesh that is added makes nothing to the Wholeness or Integrality of the Body though it conduce to Strength and Ornament And by and by he adds If the Body be extremely maciated I do not doubt but in the Resurrection it will be restored by foreign adventitious Matter to its due and just Proportion So in Bodies that are full and flesby there is a great deal of Substance that is not necessary which if it become the Flesh of another Man the Body may be raised up without it and yet be Physically whole and truly the same In Bodies that are fat and gross there is doubtless a great deal superfluous which will never be raised up though it were never made the Ingredient of another Man's Body CHAP. X. Having consider'd the Objections I 'm to wait on the Learned Author in what remains who is labouring to find out a Reason of the Resurrection of the Body as indeed he is obliged since he has taken away the main Pillar and laid that aside In order whereunto he tells us pag. 211. That the Soul does not die with the Body as some ancient Hereticks and Arabians held This is an Opinion too ridiculous to be confuted Then pag. 212. he tells us That the Soul does not sleep until the day of the Resurrection as the Psychopannychists imagined All that is to be said here is That this is a Notion so manifestly false so contradictious to Scripture and has been so fully confuted by many Learned Pens particularly by the incomparable Divine of Geneva in a Treatise professedly written against it as that there is no more to be said here He comes thence to consider the Opinions of Tertullian and they are
A most Heavenly Prayer this being incomparably the best Shield Buckler the best Antidote and Preservative against the loss of Friends or the Consideration of our own approaching Mortality with respect both to our selves and others to bouy up our Spirits amidst the Melancholy Apprehensions of the Rottentenness and Miseries of the Grave and exalts us above the Worms and Corruption of it directing us assuredly to know and believe that there is a time coming when there will be an happy meeting of both though they are now with Grief and Rluctancy divided when the happiness of both shall be complete And this is an Authority undeniably Authentick and must for any thing I can see to the contrary strongly and irrefragably establish the Doctrine contended for viz. That our Bodies are capable of Cewards and Punishments hereafter of doing Well or Evil here CHAP. XI THE Learned Author having laid aside the Opinions of Tertullian as not serviceable to his purpose not affording him a Satisfactory Reason of this Decree of Almighty God concerning the Resurrection To give a true Accounr of it thinks it necessary to mount a little higher and to look a little farther and passing by many conjectures which he finds in the Schools and in some of our Ancient Writers and among the Jewish Masters p. 217. lays before you his own Thoughts and here he assigns three Reasons why God has been pleased to decree that the Soul in the Day of Judgment shall be again united to a Humane Body In discussing of which I shall beg leave to invert the order of them as more suitable to the method of my Discourse and for the advantage of my present Argument which if I mistake not will gain one of those Reasons over to our side and party as falling over to it and therefore ought to go together The last Reason which I here place first why God will restore us to our Humane Nature and why he will raise up the very same Body is p. 219. HE WILL BECAUSE HE WILL a very bad Reason for the Actions of Man but a very good one for God's he will because he hath Promised Which the Learned Author irrefragably confirms from what follows p. 222. which I conceive my self obliged to transcribe and is as follows I am the Lord I have said it and who can say What dost thou There is nothing that God does but he does for a very good reason And who are we that we should call him to an Account for what he does His Ways and his Counsels are many of them unsearchable to us and as Job tells us Chap. 33 13. He gives not Account of any of his Matterâ— 'T is his part to Act ours to Admire and Submit and as long as our Reason and our Senses are not plainly contradicted we are only to enquire WHAT not How or WHY I would fain know of those who deny the Resurrection of the same Humane Body because they do not know what use we can make of the particular parts in the Life to come whether they deny or doubt the existence of all other things the Reason of which they cannot comprehend I would undertake to quiet the Scruples of these Men and to satisfie all their Queries if they would be pleased to answer a few Questions of mine I could ask them the reason of an Hundred things in Nature and Divinity Which he there supposes unaccconntable and particularly in the case about the Resurrection p. 221. He acknowledges a multitude of difficulties altogether inextricable i. e. for which there is no reason to be given and therefore must of necessity be resolved into this viz. the Will and Pleasure of God I willingly concur with the Learned Author here and presume there is no one that will oppose him For this without paradventure is the highest and most supream Reason which must put to silence all Objections remove all Difficulties whatsoever and make things which seem to us impossible easie Though with Mary we do not know how this can be Luke 1. 34 Though our reason cannot fathom cannot comprehend it yet our Faith must give us an assurance that it will be and teach us with the Mother of the Holy Jesus with submission to conclude Behold the Handmaid of the Lord be it unto me according to thy Word This is a Reason above all Reasons allowed and approved of by all and to which all others however Philosophical and plausible must submit This I gladly and readily note because I expect to receive some advantage from it in the subsequent part of this Discourse for I am in hopes to prove the Doctrine I have attempted to defend to be the express determination of God's revealed Will and Word and then all the most powerful Arguments of the Profoundest Philosophers must truckle under and fall to the Ground But if I mistake not this Reason of Gods Word or Decree of the Resurrection of the Body was not in the least the Subject of the Dispute The Question only arose from the Reason of this Decree There can be no doubt but that the Resurrection will be because God hath said and ordained it The Subject of the enquiry can be no other than the Reason of God's Will and Pleasure here Namely why God has Decreed the Resurrection of the same Body and this obliges the Learned Author to look farther and therefore Secondly In the the next place he tells us p. 219. That another Reason why God has been pleased to ordain that the same Humane Body that Died shall Rise again and be reconjoined to the Soul I take to be this and that indeed I take to be the first and chief reason of that Decree we had all been immortal Men if Adam had not sinned 't was God's design that we should never Die but that our Souls should remain for ever united to their Bodies this Gracious design being frustrated by Adam's Transgression he was Graciously pleased to ordain that as in Adam all Die so in Christ the second Adam we should all at last Triumph over Death and be restored to those Bodies and that Humane Nature which he first designed should be immortal by the Death and Resurrection of Christ our losses are to be repaired which Adam's sin occasioned but our losses cannot be repaired unless we are restored to those Bodies which by his sinning we lost To this Second Reason I say First I have no mind to implunge my self or Reader in the Decrees of Almighty God which is an Abyss or Ocean never to be fathomed Nor am I disposed to concern my self about the examination of that Question Whether Adam and his Posterity had Died if they had not Sinned Only I shall briefly and freely deliver my Opinion in this matter That it seems to me very probable that allowing the supposition of his and their continuance in their spotless purity He and his Race after some time like Enoch or Elias or some other way with Analogy and resemblance to
Punishment in order whereunto t is observable how that the greatest part of the Torments of Hell which we find mentioned in its Black Catalogue seem in a peculiar and proper manner to be marked out and intended to this very Purpose as most Offensive and displeasing to them For example here is Darkness than which nothing can be more offensive to the Sight and to make it full here is utter Darkness Is Fire injurious to the Touch Here t is with a Witness most frequently assigned as the greatest severest Part of Hell And that the Smell should not escape scotfree here is an addition of Brimstone And farther to affect the Organs of seeing and hearing there are two other Punishments expresly assigned to the Damned viz. weeping and wailing which unless we will interpret all these Metaphorically contrary to the Judgment of all must be applyed to the Body In a Word the Argument is clearly on our side it being the Doctrine of all without exception that there are in that Dungeon below Punishments provided for and appropriated to both Parts Lastly The elaborate Treatise of the Learned Author seems to me a full Answer and confutation of the Objections He has proved the Resurrection of the same Body from the Antidiluvian Patriarchs the Jews the Abissines Peruvians Prussians Brasilians c. from all the Heathens he has proved it to have been the Doctrine of the Primitive Fathers of the Councils of the Creeds of the Scriptures Answered all the Objections against it and can it be supposed that he should take so much pains to no purpose does he in all this Learned undertaking contend de lana Caprina It must be confessed and allowed nothing less if the Body be barely an instrument a Machine if it be not Sensible Materiam superabat opus certainly he has stooped his noble Pen to too ignoble a Subject he might very well have spared his Labour To what end should the same Body arise if it never were capable of doing Good or Evil neither can be of Rewards or Punishments No verily by this accomplished Work he has obliged the World and done the Church good Service effectually Proclaimed aloud the Truth which is here contended for The Resurrection of the same Body carries in the very bowel of it a Judgment together with the consequences of it And if it be necessary that the same Body should appear the Actions of the former Life are unavoidably fastned to it together with the sutable Rewards of that which is to come CHAP. XV. IF these Sentiments were not as we conceive them to be the suggestions of Reason to mount in the Argument a little higher come we to Divine Revelation and to enquire what Authorities we can find here for the support of it For if our reason of the Resurrection receive any countenance from the Sacred Oracles it s above the shock of the Philosopher and can no more be impressed by all his Notions than the Creation of the World could be overturned by the known Axiom of the great Stagyrite ex nihilo nihil fit out of Nothing Nothing can be made I begin with two noted Authorities of our Saviour which because of a near affinity to each other I shall join here in one That of our Saviour in his Sermon on the Mount Mat. 5. 30. together with that of the Twelve Apostles when he gave them their Commission and instructed them in their Duty Mat. 10. 28. For if thy Right Eye offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee for it is profitable for thee that one of thy Members should perish and not thy whole Body should be cast into Hell And if thy right Hand offend thee cut it off and cast it from thee for it is profitable for thee that one of thy Members should perish and not that thy whole Body should be cast into Hell And in the Second Fear not them which kill the Body but are not able to kill the Soul but rather fear him which is able to destroy both Body and Soul in Hell in both which places we are again and again assured that the Bodies of Men as well as Souls are liable to the Punishments of Hell unless we can imagine that Christ here intended to alarm the World with a Brutum fulmen an ineffectual Threat which is most impious to conceive To what purpose should he give such frequent advertisements as those if Hell were not to be the Portion of evil Bodies The casting into Hell and destroying in Hell are applied to Bodies it can be understood in no other Sense but as a commination or affirmation that they shall be doomed upon their miscarriages here to the severest Torments in that Region below If Men do not pluck out their Right Eyes cut off their Right Hand they are in danger of implunging the whole in the Lake that burns with Fire If Men do not fear God above Men their Bodies as well as Souls are in danger of Hell Fire So that from these two places all those Conclusions follow and appear as clear as Chrystal diametrically contrary to what the Learned Author would have us to believe viz. First That our Bodies are capable of Punishments because liable to be cast into Hell Secondly That they are capable of doing Evil at present because that portion of misery is here denounced against them Hell being provided for none but the wicked And the two opposites to these are altogether as apparent First Our Bodies are capable of doing well here we can cut of our Right Hand we can fear God or else it had never been here intimated as our Duty And Lastly If we live in the discharge of our Duty our Bodies shall be admitted to glorious enjoyments in the other World For this in the Antithesis is manifestly applied The first Authority that I produce shall be that of the Apostle Rom 2. Where after he had pronounced the sinner inexcusable who committed the same Sins which he condemned in others and charged him with the sure Judgment of God which is according to truth from his impenitency and perseverance in it tells him verse 5. That he thereby treasureth up to himself Wrath against the Day of Wrath and Revelation of the Righteous Judgment of God who will render to every Man according to his Deeds to them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for Glory and Honour and Immortality Eternal Life But to them that are contentius and do not obey the Truth Indignation and Wrath Tribulation and Anguish upon every Soul of Man that doth Evil of the Jew first and also of the Gentile But Glory Honour and Peace to every Man that worketh Good to the Jew first and also to the Gentile for there is no respect of Persons with God If this Text be well considered it will afford a good Argument in order whereunto it is worthy our observation First How that the Man is through the whole course of it charged both with the
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
it did here and ea quae corpori debentur as another of the Learned has Paraphrased it The Body shall receive the things which are due which of right belong unto it Sicut Justitia dicitur suum cuique dare as another of the Criticks comments it and this is the very nature of Justice that every Body shall have the proper Reward which is exactly suitable to his work And congruenter ad id quod gessit as another of no small Repuration has given us the sense of it The Judgment of every Body shall be tongruous and correspondent to his actions We see the main indictment is against the Body and all the deeds done in the former Life are applied to it and according to these it is we are either to stand or fall Fourthly 'T is farther to be noted how that St. Paul expresses himself by a Trope a Metonymie of the Cause for the Effect the Works for the Wages the things Done in the Body for what is Due unto them And if this be not plainly enough exprest to remove all scruples cavils doubts and gain-sayings we have here Lastly The Reason of all this assigned by the infallible Spirit THAT EVERY MAN MAY RECEIVE THE THINGS DONE IN HIS BODY ACCORDING TO WHAT HE HAS DONE WHETHER IT BE GOOD OR BAD … Which sounds to me as if the Apostle had said To this very end to this very intent for this very purpose for this very reason The Process of the Day of Judgment requires the appearance of our Bodies as well as Souls that Justice may be done to both I can make no other construction of it That every Man may receive the things done in the Body according to what he has done whether it be Good or Bad. Upon the whole I declare that ever since I met with the Objections of the learned Author against it I have been scarcely able to put the thoughts of it out of my Head and the more I considered it the more I am in love with the more I am established in it And whereas the Learned Author would enervate throw it aside and make it no reason at all I on the contrary must confess beside the will and pleasure of God that I look on it as the first and great Reason of the Resurrection I do give it the supremacy and precedency to all others I must freely acknowledge that I cannot after my utmost search and inquisition possibly find out any Reason that can pretend to equal or rival it that can stand in competition with it The Resurrection is in order to Judgment and Judgment and Justice here are all one I cannot for my heart Divine upon what other Account but this the Resurrection of the same Body should be so constantly by all the Ancients contended for and expresly asserted Resurrectionis vocabulum non aliam rem vindicat quam quae recidit Tertullian lib. 5. cap. 9. ad Mart. and the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the learned Doctor has also noted clearly implies the Rising again of that which Fell according to the vulgar saying Resurrectio est ejus qui recidit Suitable to this the Creed of Aquileia has expressed this Article by the Resurrection of this Flesh and accordingly their Bodies were particularly pointed at by those of that Communion as Ruffinus tells us when they made Publick Confession of their Faith I will not dwell upon this nor light a Candle to the Sun but refer you to the Elaborate Treatise of Dr. Beaumont on the present subject who has proved it to have been the constant Doctrine of the Fathers beyond a possibility of denial Now I desire the Philosopher to give me a reason of this Doctrine of which the Ancients have been so tenaâ—eâ—us Why this Body why this Flesh must arise for 't is but equal that I should give him a question to answer who in his Objections has made a precedent and done the like if the Body be no other ways concerned than an instrument only if it be not sensible if it be not capable of doing Good or Evil Rewards or Punishments as he has in down right words affirmed If this be so I earnestly request him to tell me Why it must be the SAME BODY that must arise Why not another Body Why not an Aereal Body Why any Body at all Dic Sodes dic aliquem Dic Quintiliane colorem I do verily believe he will have an hard Task of it and however he may be himself persuaded it will I presume be a a difficult matter for him to persuade or convince others For my part I look on the Doctrine as a most Divine Truth and am immoveably fixt in the belief of it notwithstanding all the Arguments the Learned Author has brought against it and I presume the greatest part of Mankind are and will be of my Opinion 'T is most certain that this Doctrine has a most natural tendency to the advancement of Piety and suppression of Vice There can be no Antidote or Cordial no Shield or Buckler more Sovereign than this to defend and support the devout Christian amidst all the difficulties and hardships with which he is engaged in his present Pilgrimage they are all silenced mastered disappointed and overcome by one word Resurgam There can be no more powerful motive to engage us in the pursuit of Holiness than this viz. The consideration of that plenteous recompense which shall be conferred on the whole Man hereafter with respect to his labours here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith St. Cyrill The hope of the Resurrection is the Root of well-doing This must carry us on with Courage and Resolution thro all the difficult rugged and uneven passages we meet withal in our present Race this must reconcile soften and sweeten all the assurance that we serve so good a Master who will not fail fully to reward all his faithful Labourers in the next World with respect to their deservings in this Lastly There can be no more effectual dissuasive against Sin than the Argument before us If Men have any sense of their State any love for themselves any kindness or regard for their Bodies as well as Souls they are carefully to avoid those ways which will inevitably implunge Both in everlasting Torments in the great and terrible Day when they shall be again united to the intent that they may be sharers in the Wages who have been Confederates in the Work FINIS