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
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
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
divided into three Ranks First He asserts the Sensibility of the separate * Omnes ergo animae penes inferos inquis Velis ac nolis supplicia jam illic refrigeria Cur enim non putes animam puniri foveri in inferis interim sub expectatione utriusque judicii Novit anima apud inferos dolere fovere sine carne De Anim. cap. 58. Again Simplicior quisquis fautor sententiae nostrae putabit carnem etiam idcirco repraesentandam esse in judicio quia aliter anima non capiat passionem tormenti seu refrigerii utpote incorporalis Hoc enim vulgus existimat Nos autem animam corporalem hic profitemur in suo volumine probamus habentem proprium genus substantiae soliditatis per quam quid sontire pati possit Nam nunc animas torqueri foverique penes inferos licet nudas licet adhuc exules carnis probavit Lazari exemplum De Resurr c. 17. Soul That it is of its self capable of Rewards and Punishments is actually in some measure comforted or tormented before the Resurrection There are a multitude of other Passages of the same Father which testifie the same †De Anima cap. 7. 9. 55 56 58. alibi And no doubt but that this great Father is Orthodox here Secondly Notwithstanding in other places he seems to set up a quite opposite Doctrine viz. That the Soul is not capable of suffering without the Body and this he makes the Reason of the Resurrection a Apol. cap. 48. Certè quia ratio restitutionis destinatio judicii est necessario idem ipse qui fuerit exhibebitur ut boni seu contrarii meriti judicium a Deo referat Ideoque repraesentabuntur corpora Quia neqne pati quicquam potest anima sola fine materiâ stabili id est carne c. 48. And elsewhere he asserts the Necessity of the Resurrection because the Soul without the Body is not capable of feeling either Pleasure or Pain b Testim Anim. c.ult. Affirmamus te manere post vitae dispunctionem expectare diem judicii próque meritis aut cruciatui destinari aut refrigerio utroque sempiterno Quibus sustinendis necessario tibi substantiam pristinam ejudsdémque hominis materiam memoriam reversuram quod nihil mali ac boni sentire possis fine carnis passionalis facultate I shall reserve what I have to say to This to the last place and take leave to invert the Order and consider the other Opinion before it conceiving it more suitable and methodical to the Argument in hand And that is Thirdly He owns That separate Souls are actually c De Resurr carn cap. 17. Porrò si haec cogitatus concupiscentia voluntas satis essent ad plenitudinem meritorum ut non requirentur facta sufficeret in totum anima ad perfectionem judicii de his judicanda in quae agenda sola suffecerat Quum verò etiam facta devincta sint meritis facta autem per carnem administrantur jam non sufficit animam sine carne foveri sive cruciari pro operibus etiam carnis etsi habet corpus etsi habet membra quae proinde illi non sufficiant ad sentiendum plenè quemadmodum nec ad agendum perfecte Denique haec erit ratio in ultimum finem destinati judicii ut exhibitione carnis omnis divina censura perfici possit rewarded or punished before the Resurrection and he says 't is for those good or bad things it did without the Concurrence of the Body He farther says That tho' the Soul be in its own Nature capable of Rewards or Punishments yet it is not so fully capable as when united to the Body It is capable of greater Pleasure or Torment when united to the Body than in a State of Separation and therefore for those things which the Soul did in Concurrence with the Body must be punished and rewarded in the Body that the Pleasure or Torment may be perfect The Learned Author's Animadversion on this is p. 217. But this is very precarious and if once it be granted that the Soul is in its own Nature without an organized Body capable of Rewards and Punishments it cannot be denied but that it is of it self capable of being fully Rewarded and Punished I answer Not to take any notice of the Tertullianicum as his Learned Commentators call it of the gross Naevus here etsi habet corpus etsi habet membra which the Father applies to the Soul in a separate State and is by no means justifiable Nor to undertake a Defence of him here or elsewhere in an exact strict and rigid sense for 't is well known that this African Father is the most dark abstruse and intricate of the Latin Fathers makes use of uncouth obsolete Words which will no way bear a full and exact but require a moderate and sober Interpretation Premising this I cannot see how he is in the main here precarious to my Understanding there is no begging at all in the Case The Doctrine seems found and approvable supported and maintained by the Ancients who accordingly have placed the departed Souls in Abraham's Bosom in Paradise in outer Porches in Receptacles under the Altar the Promptuary of Saints the Earnest of the Kingdom with a multitude of other such Expressions to the same purpose 'T were easie here to fill up a great deal of Paper with the Names and Authorities of the most considerable Pillars of the Church who have espoused this Opinion but I industriously avoid the Vanity of it and think it altogether needless in the present Dispute because the Learned Author speaking of the Opinion of Pope John XXII tells us That he only held that the Soul does not at all enjoy the Beatisick Vision before the Resurrection and for Confirmation of it adds pag. 212. This indeed was the Opinion of the Primitive Fathers And albeit this Doctrine was Censur'd and Condemn'd in the Council of Florence yet this can have no Influence on us who know too well what this Council was and the Age of it And though it prevail with those of the Church of Rome yet 't is observable how that even the Learned Men that are Bigotted to that way do not stick to give us their Approbation of it Meminerint hunc errorem non efficere pietati eruditioni tam illustrium scriptorum saith Pamelius i.e. This Opinion is no prejudice to the Piety and Learning of those Great Men And another Eminent Writer of that Church calls it Pia beata opinio veritati facile reconciliabilis per duplicem beatitudinem perfectam imperfectam An holy and blessed Opinion easily reconcileable to the Truth by the distinction of a perfect and imperfect Happiness So that the difference between the Opinion and Council seems to be only about the Place in the Condition both agree About the Capacity of Separate Souls I
am not willing to dispute 't is too sublime a Subject and above our mortal Reach Nor will I eagerly contend for the Place where upon their dislodging here they are dispos'd of But this Opinion I readily embrace That before our Saviour's Ascension they were not admitted into Heaven whatsoever they are since Nor will I presume to determine for what Things the happy Soul is rewarded nor on the other hand for what the Soul of the Reprobate is punished but so far I conceive it to be plain and allowed by the Concurrence of all That Both at present have their different Enjoyments though imperfect So that in my Apprehension the Consequence of the Learned Author does Claudicare stand in need of a Crutch it is and always will be a Cripple The Soul of the Saint is at present admitted to Happiness I see nothing in Reason from hence to infer Therefore 't is capable of being fully rewarded On the other side the Soul of the Sinner is in its Separate State capable of Punishment Ergo 't is capable of being fully punished I must freely say I cannot see the least colour for the Inference Where-ever the Soul of Lazarus now is it must be without doubt allowed by all to be happy but that it is as happy as it will be after the Resurrection I utterly deny On the other side That the Soul of the Rich Glutton is now in a State of Punishment must be readily assented to but that it is in a full compleat State will can must never be granted This Assertion runs against the stream and current of Reason Scripture and Antiquity as will most manifestly appear in the Examination of the other Opinion of Tertullian which I now come to consider Thirdly He seems to affirm in the Passage above-cited That the Soul is not capable without the Body of Pleasure or Pain of Punishments or Rewards and therefore concludes for a Resurrection 'T is beside my intent to attempt the Defence of this Doctrine tho' the Centuriators have undertaken it And if the Fire of Hell be real as I believe no one will deny because constantly so represented in the Scriptures it would gravel the most accomplish'd of Philosophers from the Principles of Natural Philosophy only to resolve how this Fire can affect and reach the Soul how a Material can act upon an Immaterial Beside there are no mean Authorities and not a few neither to be produc'd who have asserted much the same thing Thus Maldonate as Learned a Man as most and incomparably well read assures us in Matt. 8. 29. Mirum quanto consensu plerique veteres Authores docuerint daemones ante diem judicii non torqueri It was it seems the general Doctrine That the Damned were not punished before the Day of Judgment which how it is to be understood he there tells you Notwithstanding all this I think the foresaid Passage in a strict literal gross Sense by no means defensible we must give some Grains of Allowance to the Writings of this Father or else we shall make mad Work We must consider the Drift and Carriage of the Discourse expound one Passage by another and judge charitably of all and then the Meaning will be plain One while he allows the departed Souls according to their different Deserts a present Portion of Pain or Weal Other while he says That the separate Souls are rewarded or punished at present for the good or bad things they did without the concurrence of the Body and that tho' they are capable without the Body of Pleasure or Pain yet they are not so fully capable as when united to it In other places he seems to affirm the quite contrary viz. That the Soul is not capable of suffering at all without the Body that in a divided State it can feel neither Pleasure nor Pain and upon this account concludes the Necessity of a Resurrection Now to a favourable Reader who shall govern himself as in reason he is obliged suitable to the method but now laid down here will upon mature deliberation appear no Contradiction no Inconsistency in all this the one leads us to the understanding of the other The separate Souls tho' in some measure they do now partake of Rewards and Punishments yet they are in a manner nothing in comparison to what they shall be the Height and Accomplishment of both awaits the Resurrection when Body and Soul shall be again united then and then only the Condition of all shall be compleat And that this is the Meaning of this Ancient Writer is abundantly evident not only from the whole Thread of the Discourse but also from some plain Passages in it As ad perfectionem judicii the Body is required to make the Judgment compleat And again Quae proinde illi non sufficiunt ad sentiendum plaenè quemadmodum neque ad agendum perfecté i. e. The Members of the Soul as he expresses it are not of themselves sufficient to enjoy or suffer fully Nay there are many other Passages frequently occurring which as a Key open the door to the Sense here as the places above noted where he again and again allows the separate Souls capable of Pleasure or Grief without the Body That they can feel or suffer any thing licèt exules carnis without the Body I shall neither trouble my self nor the Reader but with two places more and they are both in one Chapter Resur Carn cap. 17. non quâ sentire quid sine carne non possit sed quâ necesse est illum cum carne sentire And again Ad perficiendam autem operam carnis expectat sic itaque ad patiendam societatem carnis postulat ut tam PLAENE per eam pati possit quà m sine eâ PLAENE agere non potuit The blessed Soul to make up its Happiness full requires the Society of the Body and on the other hand the condemned Soul in its Torments calls for the Fellowship of the Body that the Punishment might be compleated in both parts in conjunction of which their Sins were committed This then being allowed to be the Sense of the Father as I do not see how it can well be denied viz. That the Soul is not capable of Rewards and Punishments without the Body but by no means as the learned Dr reports it p. 214 That the Soul is not capable in its own nature without an organized Body of any Perception how that it is not capable without ar humane Body of either Rewards or Punishments This seems to be a too rigid extream and unreasonable Construction of those passages and woud unavoidably involve the Father in the other Errors of the Death of the Soul or the slumber of it But though the Learned Author does represent the Opinion of Tertullian in this matter thus severely yet he confesses this notion very consistent with the Doctrine of the Resurrection and the General Judgment that is to follow after it but he has this to object against it pag.
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
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
THE RESURRECTION Founded on Justice THE Resurrection founded on Justice OR A VINDICATION OF THIS Great Standing Reason Assigned by the Ancients and Modern WHEREIN The Objections of the Learned Dr. HODY against it are Answered Some Opinions of Tertullian about it Examined The Learned Doctor 's three Reasons of the Resurrection Inquired into And some Considerations from Reason and Scriptures laid down for the Establishment of it By N. B. M. A. Si Resurrectio non est neque Deus neque Providentia Damasc lib. 4. Non sit Particeps in sententiâ caro si non fuerit in Causâ Tertul. de Resur Carn cap. 15. LONDON Printed for Thomas Helder at the Angel in Little-Britain MDCC TO THE READER THis small Tract is sent into the World without the shelter and protection of any Patronage if it be Truth it needs none if otherwise it deserves none Such as it is 't is well meant and humbly submitted to the Judgment of the Learned Being sensible of my manifest insufficiency no ways furnished with Abilities or Advantages to manage the Dispute with the Learned Author I laid all thoughts of it aside presuming that some worthy Hand would undertake it But after a long expectation finding nothing but a deep Silence the great opinion that I have of the Argument grew so mightily upon me as that it has by a strong impulse compelled me to say somewhat for it not out of any fond conceit of my own performance but to provoke others to appear in Vindication of that Doctrine which has been Taught Approved Applauded by all without exception in all Ages and always represented as the Basis and Pillar of this great Article of our Faith For my Apology I have the Practise of the Long Robe which allows the Puisney Lawyer to open the great Cause which afterwards is taken and maintained by the most able Counsel And in Martial Discipline nothing more usual than for a Private Sentinel seeing the Enemies approach to give the Allarm to the more Generous Commanders to come in to the Relief of that Post which himself was no ways able to maintain This in truth is the design of this small Essay to cry out for help and call in the assistance of Men of Conduct and Learning It matters not though he who gave the first Charge fail in the Engagement as too impotent to withstand the more powerful Arms of his mighty Adversary â—ut he has this satisfaction that he has appear'd in a good Cause has according to the proportion of his Talent contributed his utmost Aid has withal the Honour to fall by a great Hand and like Scaeva in the Poet overpowered by an unequal Force he sinks with his Assurance Veniet qui vindicet arces Dum morimur That some noble Caesar with his puissant Auxiliaries is at Hand Some accomplish'd Pen will take up the Argument and do it Right which here tho' I can truly say is heartily yet must confess is very weakly attempted Farewel THE CONTENTS Chap. I. SHeweth the Import of the Resurrection Chap. II. What Oppositions it hath met withal Chap. III. On what Grounds it stands and how the Objections against it are Answered with a brief Analysis of this Discourse Chap. IV. Sets out the State of the Argument and shews how it has been the great Reason assigned by all Jews Fathers Schoolmen and Moderns Chap. V. Containeth the three Objections of the Learned Author against it with an Answer to the first Chap. VI. Gives a further Answer Chap. VII Offers Satisfaction to the second Objection Chap. VIII From several Topicks proves our Bodies to be more than Instruments only Chap. IX Contains an Answer to the third Objection Chap. X. Examineth three Opinions of Tertullian about it Chap. XI Inquireth into the three Reasons of the Doctrine assigned by the Learned Author Chap. XII Sheweth the third Reason to be the same with that which is here contended for Chap. XIII alias XIV Laies down several Arguments from Reason for the Esablishment of it Chap. XIV alias XV. Vrges several Authorities from Scripture to the same Purpose With the Conclusion ADVERTISEMENT THis one Error the Reader is desir'd more especially to correct pag. 69. line 12. after not add fully ERRATA PAge 19. Line 10. read Lirinensis P. 21. l. 10. r. concession l. ultr r. detected p. 71. l. 10. for Peter r. Paul p. 79. l. 13. r. dispossess'd p. 99. Notes l. 4. after Deos dele and the ib. l. 7 before Old add And the p. 111. l. 18. r. Graces p. 126. l. 5. r. implied These and what other Errors may have pass'd the Press the Candid Reader is desir'd to Correct and Excuse CHAP. I. THE Resurrection of the Dead is the Grand and most Important Article of our Religion the Ground-work and Foundation of our Faith Hope and Expectation To fix Men in the Belief of which was the main Business Design and Province of the Apostles as St Luke once and again has noted This is assigned as the chief Reason of St Matthias's admission into the Apostleship in the vacancy of Judas Iscariot that he might be a Witness of the Resurrection Acts 1. 22. And the whole Colledge is frequently described by this Character Witnesses of the Resurrection Acts 2. 32. 4. 33. 10. 41. and Acts 4. 2. They Preached through Jesus the Resurrection of the Dead This was the first and great Argument of St. Peter's Sermon upon his Inspiration on the Day of Penticost which was attended with the blessed success of the Conversion of more than Three Thousand souls Acts 2. 41. it filled a great part of the rest of his and their Discourses This was the principal Topick of St. Paul upon all occasions In his Sermon to the People Acts 13. 't is interwoven through every Part In his Disputation with the most learned Philosophers the Epicureans and Stoicks in the most learned University of the whole World He Preached unto them Jesus and the Resurrection Acts 17. 18. In his conferences with the Scribes and the Pharisees he Discourses of the Hope and Resurrection of the Dead Acts 23. 6. In short he keeps this Text and Theme still before the Rulers and Governors Felix Festus and Agrippa and Drift Design and Nerves of his Discourses meet and concenter in this great Article Nay it seems plain and undeniable that this was in a more peculiar and especial manner given them in charge by their great Master who ordain'd them as it is clearly intimated by St. Peter Acts 10. 42. He commanded us to preach unto the People and to testifie that it was he that was ordained of God to be Judge both of the Quick and of the Dead the reason of this is visible at the first glance from the repeated Description which St. Paul gives of the Resurrection In one place he calls it The Hope and Resurrection Acts 23. 6. in another Acts 26. 6. The Hope of the Promise made of God unto our Fathers unto which Promise
these should have been translated for 't is no way conceivable how that Paradise which was but a Garden as the word imports and by the boundaries and description of it must be acknowledged a very small and inconsiderable part of the Earth should have held and contained him and his numberless issue in the State of innocency which state must unavoidably by all be allowed perfectly and intirely Prolifick absolutely free and dischargeb from all false Conceptions or Abortions all Impediments or Indispositions whatsoever on either side Passing by all this I say that that which the Learned Author takes to be the First and Chief Reason of this Decree of the Resurrection I take to be no Reason at all or at least to be no adequate Reason of the General Resurrection the utmost that it can pretend to as it is here stated is only the Resurrection of the Just the Reason is undeniable for the Learned Author here sets it forth and expresses it by a Gracious Design and the Gracious Pleasure of God Now how this can agree with and include the Resurrection on of the Reprobate let the World judge The Subject of our Discourse is the Resurrection of all Men of which the Wicked are allowed by all to be by far the greater Number And this is a Doctrine that can meet with no Opposition That these are to be called out of their Graves to an Everlasting Death to be taken out of the common Prison to be delivered over to Tormentors to be cast into that Dungeon whence there is no Redemption where the Worm dieth not and the Fire never shall be quenched where there is utter Darkness and uninterrupted weeping and gnashing of teeth In a word The Resurrection of the Wicked is only in order to a Judgment that is altogether insupportable He is like the worst of Criminals taken from the Gaol to undergo a much severer Doom His Resurrection ushers in the tremendous Sentence Depart ye Cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels Here the Designs carry in them the Advancement of Divine Vengeance Justice and Glory without the least Mite or Crumb of Grace or Favour The undone Reprobate placed on the other side of the Great Gulf is for ever excluded from all Hopes of these not all his Cries in his greatest Extremity can prevail for one drop of Water There is no place for Favour or Mercy in Hell so that it seems to me somewhat strange how the Learned Author came to take up this for a Reason and to alledge for Confirmation of it that Passage of the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. 22. As in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive I am verily perswaded that this place was never before understood of or applied to the Resurrection of the Wicked but of the Righteous only Neque vivificantur omnes in Christo sed tantum qui Christo adhaeserunt saith the Excellent Cameron Eccl. tom 10. and all Commentatators go the same way And indeed no one without offering manifest Violence to the Sacred Text can put any other Interpretation on it it being the chief Design of the Apostle in that Chapter as is evident from the whole Carriage of it to set forth the Glorious Qualities attending the Bodies of the Righteous at the Resurrection without touching in the least on the other side Beside we have most plentiful Assurance That Christ's Coming his Merits Death and Resurrection are so far from being Advantageous to all that the quite contrary is undeniable These greatest of Favours shall sink those that have despised them into the lowest deepest darkest and most dismal Place of Hell To this purpose the Prophet Isaiah delivers himself expresly chap. 8. ver 24. He Christ shall be for a stone of stumbling and rock of offence to both the houses of Israel for a gin and a snare to the Inhabitants of Jerusalem Which great Truth two Evangelists have left on Record Matth. 21. 44. Luke 20. 18. Whosoever shall fall on this stone shall- be broken but on whomsoever it shall fall it shall grind him to powder The very self-same Doctrine is taught us by St. Paul Rom. 9. ult and prosecuted and amplified at large by St. Peter 1 Epist. 2. 6 seq … Beside 't were an easie Province to discharge this also from being a Reason of the Resurrection of the Righteous for 't is a Truth that shineth as clear as the Sun at Noon-day That this Blessed Change advances the Saint to a State of Happiness and Glory beyond what Man could ever pretend to had the still continued in his Primitive Purity But this is not my Business Wherefore I come to consider the Third and remaining Reason assigned by the Learned Author Why the Soul at the Day of Judgment is again to be united to the Body which is as follows p. 218. That as we are Men when we sin or do well so we may be Men when by a judicial Sentence we are punished or rewarded for it But we cannot be Men unless we have Humane Bodies St. Paul tells us THAT WE MUST ALL APPEAR BEFORE THE JUDGMENT-SEAT OF CHRIST THAT EVERY MAN MAY RECEIVE THE THINGS DONE IN HIS BODY ACCORDING TO THAT HE HATH DONE WHETHER IT BE GOOD OR BAD And as we are to give an account for what we did in the Body so in the Body we shall give an account if it be reasonable that we should be Men when we are punished or rewarded for what we did when Men it seems much more reasonable that we should be then the same Men But we cannot be the same Men unless we have the same Bodies CHAP. XII I Cannot here forbear with the Philosopher to cry out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and with an Extasie of Joy most willingly and gladly receive it This certainly is a Reason which must be allowed approved of and applauded by all A Reason which deserves the Inscription of Capital Golden Letters and as Job speaks To be graven with an iron pen and lead in a rock for ever Job 19. 2. Or as the Prophet Jeremy expresses it tho' in a different Sense To be written with a pen of iron and the point a diamond Jer. 11. 1. This is that Reason which being in love with I do earnestly contend for and am very unwilling to lose THE GREAT AND STANDING REASON OF THE RESURRECTION IN ALL AGES EMBRACED AND COMMENDED BY AEL Which tho' the Learned Anthor has been pleased to censure condemn and throw aside as false and untrue and to give us no less than three Reasons for his Justification yet here he â—akes it up again and notwithstanding his former Reflections on it give it a new Reputation and in his most studied refined and last Reasons of this most important Doctrine of the Resurrection recommends it to the World in the first place as no doubt the Flower and Prime of all Nay what is more he sets it on the Foundation of an Infallible Authority 2
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
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
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