in an Ethereal Body 11. In other places he proceeds so far as to deny that the Soul will after Death be united to any Body whatever and to asfirm that at the end of the World all Corporeal Substance will be perfectly annihilated Photius tells us that He and his Followers Evagrius and Didymus asserted that our Bodies are not to rise but our naked Souls alone without Bodies So also says Constantinus Harmenopulus And Anastasiâ—…s Sinaita intimates the same We are told by Leontius that he own'd a Resurrection of the Body but held withal that the Soul being punish'd in the Body is purg'd by degrees and at last freed wholly from it and restored to its primitive state and condition Theophilus Alexandrinus assures us that he made the rising Bodies corruptible and mortal and asserted that after many Ages they will be annihilated That all Corporeal Substance will be at the end of the World annihilated he affirms in several places of his Books 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated by St. Jerom in his Epistle to Avitus So St. Maximus observes that tho in some of his Books he taught a Resurrection of an Ethereal Body yet in others he denied it affirming that all corporeal Substance will be annihilated 12. In one place of his Work 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he tells us that at the time of the Dissolution of the World all Matter will be chang'd into the same Substance of which God himself consists In the same he asserts 13. That as soon as the World is dissolv'd and all Matter annihilated there will be new Matter and a new World created just like this and after that another and so on to Eternity and that before this World was created there had been innumerable others 14. That in the next World he that is now a Man may be an Angel and that which is now an Angel may be a Man by being for it's offences thrust down into a Humane Body If after it is sent down into a Body it does not behave it-self so as to deserve to be restor'd to its former State it will then says he become a Devil and according to its Merits be employ'd in divers Offices in the other Worlds if after this it desires to amend and become better it is sent again into a Humane Body and being there punish'd and purified it at last becomes an Angel as it was at first These were the Opinions of Origen relating to the Resurrection these his strange Contradictions and Inconsistences How dangerous a thing it is in matters of Religion to forsake the Traditions of the Church and to build upon ones own private Fancy we may learn from his Example If once you begin to indulge your own Fancy in Matters of Religion without a due Regard to the Traditions of the Primitive Church you know not where it will end 'T is odds but the head-strong Thing will at last after many Turns and Wanderings bring you to a Precipice No sooner were these Opinions advanc'd and publish'd but the Church began to be alarm'd Liberatus Diaconus affirms that Origen was condemn'd for 'em in his life-time His Apologist Pamphilus who flourish'd and wrote about the latter end of the same Century tells us that that which made the greatest Noise and was chiefly oppos'd was his Opinion concerning the Resurrection The same Author tells us that several had written against him on that Subject One of them was St. Methodius he whom I have several times quoted Bishop of Tyre who was martyr'd about the Year CCCIII. He wrote a Book with this Title Against Origen Concerning the Resurrection of which a great part is preserv'd in Epiphanius and Photius The Opinion which he opposes and confutes is First That the Rising Body will not consist of the same substance that was buried Secondly That it will be not a Body of Flesh but an Ethereal one Another that wrote against Origen Concerning the Resurrection was Antipater Bishop of Bostra in Arabia who flourish'd long after about the Year 460. A Third was Ammon Hadrianopolites whose Age I know not To these I might add Theophilus Bishop of Alexandria who writes against him in his Paschal Epistles Epiphanius St. Jerom the Emperor Justinian and others In the Year 399 He and his Opinions were condemn'd and anathematiz'd by a Synod of Alexandria under the Patriarch Theophilus who at the same time expell'd all those that profest 'em out of Egypt In the Year 400 he was condemn'd by a Synod call'd at Rome by P. Anastasius after that by a Synod of Antioch under the Patriarch Ephraemius a little after by a Synod of Constantinople under the Patriarch Mennas and at last by a General Council the Fifth which was held in the Year 553. I could easily fill you a Volume with the Testimonies and Authorities of the Doctors of the Fourth and the following Ages and could shew you with how great a Zeal the Doctrine of the Resurrection of the same Humane Body has been always maintain'd by the Church But I remember I am to send you not a Folio but a Manual and I think the History of the Resurrection which I have brought down through the Two first and purest Ages of the Church to the time of Origen may suffice to clear the truth of this Article of our Faith by shewing that the Fathers of those Primitive times were Seconds to the Apostles and abett the same Doctrine which we deduced from Scripture The later Doctors of the Church we will call all together to a General Council by their Creeds and so seal our Doctrine with the great and Venerable Seal of the whole Catholick Church We have shewn already from the Testimony of Irenaeus and Tertullian that in the Creed of the Catholick Church in their time the Resurrection of the flesh was one Article It is so in that which is extant in the Apostolical Constitutions It is so likewise in that which we commonly call the Apostles Creed which was generally believ'd even before the time of Ruffinus to have been written by the Apostles themselves In our English Translation we read The Resurrection of the Body but in the Originals the Greek and the Latin it is The Resurrection of the flesh So 't was read as Russinus affirms in all Churches That the Latin Churches read Carnis Resurrectio appears not only from Rufsinus but likewise from St. Jerom St. Austin Chrysologus and Maximus Taurinensis whose Expositions on the Creed are now extant and from divers others That it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Resurrection of the flesh in the Creed of the ancient Church of Jerusalem is apparent from St. Cyril Bishop of that Church It is so in the Greek Creed which is extant at the end of K. Ethelstan's Psalter in Sir John Cotton's Library and in that of the Bodleian Library which is written in
after the same likeness But this is a Conjecture altogether groundless and precarious And it is not I think to be doubted but that as they were translated in their Bodies so they still retain the very same and will always retain ' em And this to me is another very clear Demonstration that the Bodies to which our Souls are to be united in the next Life will be numerically the same XI I shall conclude all these Arguments with another drawn from the proper signification of the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Resurrection which is every where used in the New Testament and signifies rising again If the same Particles of Matter that were buried be not to rise if the Body is to be altogether new as to its Substance how can it be said to be a Resurrection a rising again That Body which rises again must be that which once died For nothing can be said to rise again but that which once fell If a new Body be to be created and united to the Soul if all that we are to expect be only this that after Death our Souls will be again united to a Body certainly they would never have chosen so very improper a Word to express it as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Resurrection It 's generally suppos'd by Natural Philosophers that in the space of about Seven Years all the Particles of a Man's Body are chang'd Now suppose you will say that a Man should keep his Bed for above Seven Years together and at last should recover and rise again tho' there be not one Particle in his Body when he rises the same that he had when first he began to keep his Bed yet the Body with which he rises may properly be said to be the very same The Body in such a case may properly be said to rise again I answer that there 's a great deal of difference betwixt a Body whose Particles are gradually chang'd in a continu'd union with the Soul and a Body whose Particles are chang'd not gradually but all together Altho' in the case suppos'd the Body is understood to be the same and may properly be said to rise again tho' it has not any the same Particles yet when the Soul is separated from the Body if that Body be dissolv'd and new Particles be form'd into a Body and united to the Soul it cannot be said to be the same or to rise again I appeal to the common Sense of Mankind I proceed now to shew in the Second place that our Doctrine of the Identity of the Body in the Resurrection is the Doctrine of the Primitive Fathers the successors of Christ and his Apostles The Fathers and ancient Writers of the primitive Ages whose Testimonies I shall produce are these which follow I. St. Clement Bishop of Rome the Companion and Fellow-Labourer of St. Paul the Apostle In his First Epistle to the Corinthians he endeavours to convince that People of the possibility of the Resurrection by the Example of the Phenix which he says according to the Opinion of those times was produced out of the same Matter of which the dead one was compounded He intimates that the Phenix was design'd by God Almighty as an Emblem of our Resurrection to assure us that he will certainly raise us up Why therefore says he do we esteem it a great matter and wonderful that the Creater of all things should raise up all those that have serv'd him holily since by a Bird he manifests to us the magniâ—…cence of his Promise And tho' he makes use of several other Comparisons yet he ehieâ—…y inâ—…s on this as the most apposlte and is very long and particular upon it Secondly He endeavours to eonvince the Corinthians of the possibility of it by representing to 'em the Almighty Power of God and his Veraeity that nothing is impossible to him but to lye and the like Thirdly To prove the Doctrine of the Resurrection he produces those Words of Job Thou shalt raise up my Flesh. I observe the Word Flesh. In the Greek Translation of the Book of Job it is Skin This St. Clement thought â—…it to change to express the thing more fully and 't is worthy to be observ'd that when he changed the Word he call'd it not Body but flesh Fourthly in his Second Epistle he has these Words Let no one of you say that this flesh shall not be judg'd nor rise Do you know in what you were saved in what you were converted unless it were in this Flesh We ought therefore so to keep our Flesh as the Temple of God For as ye were call'd in the Flesh so shall ye come in the flesh The Lord Jesus Christ who has saved us being first a Spirit was made Flesh and so call'd us So we likewise in this flesh than receive a Reward I know this Second Epistle is by some suspected not to be St. Clement's But as it is suspected so 't is only suspected not proved and this at least is certain that it is exceeding ancient Having thus shewn what was St. Clement's Doctrine I shall now subjoin some few Remarks 1. That the First Epistle was written by St. Clement not in his own Name only tho' his Authority alone were enough to demonstrate our Doctrine to be the Doctrine of the Church but in the Name of the whole Church of Rome This appears from the Title of it and from the Testimony of St. Irenaeus Clemens Alexandrinus Eusebius and others Clemens Alexandrinus quotes it in one place by the Title of The Epistle of the Romans to the Corinthians 2. That in most Churches it was wont to be read together with the Canonical Scriptures not only in Eusebius's time about the end of the Third Centry but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he himself asserts in those Times which to him were the ancient Times From hence it is evident that the primitive Church in general profess'd the same Doctrine It appears from St. Epiphanius that in his time not only the First but the Second too was wont to be read in the same manner St. Clement says he in his Circular Epistles which are read in the Holy Churches c. And in the last of the Canons ascribed to the Apostles the same is mention'd together with the First as part of the Canonical Scripture 3. That St. Clement writes to the same Church to whom St. Paul had written before concerning the Resurrection Now since he found that some of the Corinthians persisted still in their unbelief notwithstanding what St. Paul had written to 'em if the Doctrine of St. Paul and the Catholick Church had been only concerning a new Ethereal Body he would have told 'em so in the plainest Terms that possibly he could not have written so to 'em as plainly to intimate if not assert the quite contrary Why are you so hard of believe Has not St. Paul already told you that the Body in the
has now no real Deformity no Wrincle or Blemish but all is turn'd to Comeliness and Beauty At least we shall then have a truer Notion of Beauty and Deformity and that which now passes for Ugliness will then appear to be no such thing Hoec est vera resurrectionis Confessio quoe sic gloriam carni tribuit ut non auferat veritatem So †St. Jerom. And that Confession we must stand to Now how far these Bodies of ours are capable of being exalted and glorified so as still to continue truly Humane I shall not presume to determine I am not fond of walking in the Dark especially when it is to little or no purpose But because you desire to know what my Sentiments are concerning our future State and are pleas'd to ask me that Question How are the Dead rais'd up And with what Body do they come I must own my-self inclin'd to believe that our Bodies in the Resurrection will be as to their Purity Constitution and Liveliness the same with that of Adam when first it came from the Hands of its Maker with the Stamps and Characters of the Divine Goodness and Wisdom fresh upon it That was the true Exemplar and Original and Perfection of Humane Nature All the Difference I think will be this That Adam's Body after some little Time stood in need of Meat and Drink to supply its Evacuations and was fitted to make him the Father of Mankind Ours in the Resurrection will continue always the same without Perspiration or any other Evacuation The Springs will always have the same Bent the Motions will all be equally Regular the same continual Round of the same pure vigorous Spirits and the same Blood moving forever in a brisk but even Circulation The Apostles Epithets ' of Powerful and Spiritual and Celestial and Glorious and all that the Scripture says of our Transformation into the Divine likeness I take to signifie no more than this even and pure and dispassionate and incorruptible State of the Body with a perfect Refinement of all our Faculties This perhaps is much less than what some others are willing to allow to a glorified Body But I see no Reason why we should expect any higher Exaltation And if such be the State and Condition of it I know no Reason why we should desire any higher This Heavenly Frame is enough to make us truly Happy and Blessed no less than if our Bodies were Ethereal and our Souls were carried in those fine Celestial Chariots which the Heathen Philosophers talk of If Adam had not sinn'd these very same Bodies had then been Immortal and wholly exempted from Death Why then should we think it strange that the Immortal Bodies which God will bestow on us in the Resurrection should be truly Humane The Immortality of these Bodies was then intended as a Blessing and shall we not think it a Blessing worthy of the Donor to have the same Body restored to a better State than that from which it was fallen Yes This is enough and This is all I desire and This I hope to obtain Let this my Body this very same Body be made pure my Pollutions wash'd away my Passions subdu'd my Wants remov'd my Understanding clear'd my sense of true Pleasure enliven'd let this be but done and my Soul will desire no more Her old Acquaintance when blessed with these happy Transmutations will be truely welcome to her Neither She nor the Angels will ever be asham'd of his Company Let this be but done and I shall not think the grossness of it to be any Diminution of my Happiness I shall not envy the Glory of Incorporeal Beings but shall heartily thank God that I am what I am A Fourth Objection is concerning the unfitness of a Humane Body to be plac'd in Heaven on account of its Gravity How can a Humane Body that is naturally heavy be sustain'd in a pure Ethereal Heaven I answer 1. If those Regions of Heaven where the Saints are hereafter to have their Habitation be all fluid and Ethereal or even void Space yet our Bodies may without the least difficulty and without any Miracle or particular Care of Omnipotence be there supported and sustain'd There is no such thing as Gravity in Regions purely Ethereal which are above the Reach and Activity of particular Orbs. There is no High and Low in such Places Our Bodies will be there sustain'd as the Globe of the Earth and the several celestial Orbs are now sustain'd in the Air and Ether Which is not done by a Miracle for they are Naturally sustain'd there and there is not any Low to which they may encline There is nothing indeed properly speaking Heavy in its own Nature as there is not any thing Light in its own Nature And our Bodies even here in this World do not of their own Natures tend towards the Center of the Earth but they are violently haled of push'd down Had there been no external Causes of what we call Gravity contriv'd by the Creator there would have been no such Thing no High and Low in the Universe This no one can deny that considers the System of the World 2. That the place in which we are to have our Abode in the next Life is all pure Ether or Immaterial is perhaps not so true as generally suppos'd Perhaps after all our Heaven will be nothing but a Heaven upon Earth or some glorious solid Orb created on purpose for us in those immense Regions which we call Heaven It seems more natural to suppose that since we have solid and material Bodies we shall be placed as we are in this Life on some solid and material Orb. Neither is this a new Opinion but embrac'd by many of the Ancients That after the Resurrection we are to live for ever on a new Earth was as Maximus tells us the Opinion of many in his time And the same was asserted in the Third Century by St. Methodius Bishop of Tyre in his Treatise Concerning the Resurrection St. Peter himself tells us that after this World is dissolv'd there will be new Heavens and a new Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness He adds that this the Saints look for with a plain Intimation that there they are hereafter to Inhabit St. John also in his Revelations makes mention of a new Earth where the Blessed are to have their happy abode after this World is destroy'd These places the Chiliasts produce to confirm their Opinion but they ought to be understood of the everlasting Habitation of the Blessed Our Saviour tells his Disciples In my Fathers House are many Mansions I go to prepare a place for you And If I go to prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto my-self that where I am there ye may be also In the Regions of Heaven tho' before our Saviour's Ascension there were many Mansions of Angels or Immaterial Beings yet those it seems were not thought fit for the