powerful Rhetorick of his Wounds the Impression of which he now retains is our Eternal Expiatory Sacrifice incessantly transacting the great Work of Advocation with his Father still making Intercession for us By this there is conferr'd on Humane Nature the highest Honour and Dignity imaginable and this must teach us to put a value on our Bodies and to look upon them as more than Machines and Tools only This if I mistake not is an Inference most genuine and naturally flowing from the Premisses and 't is most certainly the express Use which the Ancients would have us to make of it Thus St. Austine on the present Subject de Verit. Relig. cap. 6. Demonstravit nobis Deus quà m excelsum locum inter creatur as habet humana natura in hoc quod in hominibus in vero homine apparuit God saith the holy Father hath given us a Demonstration of the Dignity and transcendent Excellency of Humane Nature in that Christ a VERY MAN lived among Men. And to the same purpose another great Author Leo Serm. 1. de Nat. Dom. Agnosce O Christiane dignitatem tuam divine consors factus naturae noli in veterem vilitatem degeneri consuetudine redire i. e. Christ by taking such a Body has shewn thee the Dignity and Excellency of thine taught thee not to disparage dis-esteem it or use it unworthily 3. But if neither of these be sufficient come we in the third place to cast our Eyes a little on the Redemption and in that great Work the Whole Man is concern'd The Prince of our Salvation submitted himself to the Cross and all its shameful miserable painful Appendages to become a Propitiation for Both. Our Bodies as well as Souls are the Price of his Blood And can any one then account 'em no more but Instruments only The thing is so evident as that I think it needless to say any more for it nor can I imagine what can in the least colour be said against it 4. Wherefore I pass to the next Argument under this Head for Confirmation of the Doctrine in hand and that is Bodily Worship Have not all the Orthodox Pulpits echo'd and sounded this aloud How often have we been told That we are to serve God in our Bodies as well as Souls the one is but maimed and imperfect without the other the Great Creator has an undeniable and manifold Right to Both. How much the true Sons of the Church have labour'd in this Argument cannot be unknown to any who know any thing of the Controversies about the Modification of Worshipping God which has been the grand Subject of the Dispute of this last Age. How zealous good Men have been to relieve that abused and misapply'd Place John 4. 24. from Captivity and to discharge it from that hard and unworthy Service which the Dissenters would have imposed upon it and compelled it to bear still asserting that to serve God as in Truth we ought we must serve him more than in Spirit only How often has that of the Apostle been made the Text 1 Cor. 14. ult That in God's Service regard must be had to Decency and Order How often have we been told that we must not make our Approaches to the most High in a slovenly manner but in the most humble and becoming Postures To give Testimony of our inward by the uniform Port of our OUTWARD MAN and to make the Worship acceptable and compleat to be careful to join both these together The truth is the Body by its self is altogether incapable of the least Performance for as the Psalmist has observ'd The dead praise not God neither they that go down to silence But yet we have the same infallible Assurance that the living can and do praise him Do not our Lips Tongue and Mouth shew forth his Praise Do not our Hands serve God when we lift them up toward the Mercy-seat of his holy Temple Do not our Feet bear a part also here when they make chearful and direct Paths to the place where his honour dwelleth Do not our Eyes and Ears go Sharers here when they behold and hear the wondrous things of God's Law when they are attentively exercised in his Statutes In a word Do not our whole Bodies engage in this Divine Work in their Submissions Adorations and Prostrations before his Altar What Nonsense is it for any Man to imagine the contrary when we are so often and pathetically commanded and called upon by God in his Holy Word to do it Not to multiply Authorities here the winning and endearing Entreaty of the Great Apostle alone is sufficient Rom. 12. 1. Wherefore I beseech you Brethren by the mercies of God that you present your Bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service And if it be here said that the Apostle by Bodies means the Whole Man I have no mind to deny the Allegation but I reply that the Body is also concerned and as must be acknowledged from the Allusion to the legal Sacrifices in an especial manner pointed at And if this be not Proof enough there are other places which cannot be understood in any other sense which refer peculiarly to the Body Thus the same Apostle speaking of the abominable Sin of the Gentiles says Rom. 1. 24. That they did dishonour their own Bodies between themselves And to the same purpose he calls upon his Corinthians to glorifie God with their Bodies which are his and 1 Thess 5. 23. he prays that their Spirit Soul and Body be preserved blameless to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ Where Both the Objections of the Learned Author are put to silence and quashed by one word Blameless which clearly supposes our Bodies capable of doing well or evil of Rewards and Punishments otherwise there can be no Congruity in the Discourse of the great Doctor of the Gentiles who was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel was so Accomplish'd an Orator as that 't was one of the three celebrated Wishes of the great St. Austin That he might have seen him in the Pulpit nay what is more was inspir'd from above And he must be allow'd by all to speak at a very impertinent Rate I cannot see any doubt or difficulty here The Wicked sin and dishonour God with their Bodies and that properly speaking by the Lusts of the Flesh the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Lusts of the lower Belly as the Father calls them The Sins of Gluttony Drunkenness Vncleanness and a multitude of others Nay St. John seems to fix Sin more especially on the Body in his first Epistle chap. 2. 16. where he reckons them up under three Heads All that is in the World the Lust of the Flesh the Lust of the Eye and the Pride of Life On the other hand the Case is altogether as undeniable The good Man serves honours worships and glorifies God with his Body in adorning it with Sobriety Temperance Chastity and other Exercises of Vertue
the WHOLE but God made the WHOLE Man Thus this most Excellent Man reasons on our side To the same purpose we may not omit the * Anima aptitudinem inclinationem habet ad corporis unionem sicut leve sursum Aquinas 1ae Q. 76. 1 6m Notion of the Philosophers and Schoolmen which the Learned Author knows much better than I can tell him viz. That the Soul hath as natural an inclination to be united to the Body as a light thing to mount upward beside if the Philosopher had been silent this Truth is undeniably established from the sacred Authority but now alledg'd viz. The earnest cries and longing desires of the Souls under the Altar to be again united to their Bodies Nay this Doctrine has not only been constantly maintained but also carry'd on and advanced by the Schoolmen who in this point are express and full That the happiness of the Saints shall be greater at the Day of Judgment than now it is or can be and they are so liberal withal as to give us the manner and reasons of it why it is so and how it is brought about †Extensive augetur in corpore extensive in animâ quia anima gaudebit de bono corporis intensive quia est corporis perfectibile omnis pars imperfecta est completur in toto Aquin. Suppl Q. 93. i. e. It is extensively augmented in the Body which before lay in the Grave under the enjoyment only of a negative happiness in an exemption from pain and a rest from all its labours But is in reunion admitted to a positive one is after a long separation placed in copartnership with the Soul 2ly 't is extensively augmented in the Soul which rejoices at the new Nuptials has no small satisfaction complacency pleasure in the advancement and injoyment of his Bride after so long a separation and Divorce When two intimate Friends that have not for many years seen one another happily meet again how great how ravishing how superlative is their Joy if there be joy in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth as we are sure there is Luk. 15 If it be one part of the happiness of the Inhabitants of that Jerusalem that is above that they shall know their ancient Acquaintance and Relations with whom they have lived on Earth and sit down with them there praising exalting congratulating each others condition as is by many asserted and is not at all improbable This offers fairly for the proof of what the Shools have here determined who in the procedure of the Argument further tells viz. That the Happiness is intensively also advanced Forasmuch as the Soul makes the Body perfect for the support of which they produce the known Axiom which is allowed of in all other cases and therefore ought to pass muster here That every part is by its self imperfect 't is perfected in the whole 'T is true if we consider the Body as it is represented by the School of Plato a Sepulchre a Prison or really as it now is a sink of Infirmities Diseases and Indispositions an heavy load and weight pressing down the Soul I do confess I see nothing Beautiful or Charming to make the Soul in love with it But when we shall draw the Curtain and change the Scene when we shall contemplate the glorious qualities wherewith it shall be enobled after the Resurrection when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal have put on immortality when it shall have obtained a most perfect Victory not only over Death but all its troublesome antecedents and consequences also the known miseries of this Life and the calamities of the Grave when I say the Body has surmounted all these and sits above 'em this must induce us strongly to conclude for the Argument in hand If this be the case as in Truth it is the Happiness of the Saint must be advanced to such a degree as surpasseth our understanding All that we have to do is for ever to admire and adore To conclude this part 't is a Truth too plain to be disputed That the separate Soulson all hands are not under the full injoyment of either Rewards or Punishments That this is the case of the Damned Spirits needs no laboriousness of proof the single interrogation of those disposed in the Gospel Mat. 8. 29. Art thou come to torment us before the time Alone is sufficient nor have we less evidence on the other hand Where-ever the Souls of the departed Saints under the Law were 't is certain they were not in Heaven for the Captain of our Salvation was the first that opened those everlasting Doors and made his entrance there that went before to provide mansion Places for his Faithful ones Wherever the Souls of the Gospel-Believers since departed have their Residence though as I believe notwithstanding the determination of the Council of Florence and others we can conclude nothing of certainty here nevertheless we have so much evidence that their State is imperfect as that I do not see how any Man can have the forehead to deny The Nail of this Doctrine is immovably fastned by the Author to the Heb. 11. and last where after he had given a large Catalogue of the most renowned Saints departed together with the Records of their most noble Atchievements says expresly That all these having obtained a good report through Faith received not the Promise God having provided some better things for us that they without us should not be perfect In the meaning of which place there can be no doubt because the stream of Interpreters here run in one Channel altogether undivided all agreed that this is the sence The Consummation of the Happiness of those under the Law shall not prevent those under the Gospel the Day of Judgment is the stated time of both whenthere shall be a general Resurrection The accomplishment of the great Patriarchs under the old dispensation must await ours under the new the Labourors that entred the Vineyard the first Hour of the Day shall not be paid off before those that came in the last Hour the wages of all is not to be expected before the end of all The Promise refers to the Resurrection as was noted in the Preamble and is put for the Thing Promised which can be no other than the Glorification of our Bodies in conjunction with our Souls and this makes the Happiness compleat which shall not be conferr'd on some before others but shall be bestowed on all assembled together in a Grand Consistory at the last Audit This also is the professed Doctrine of our Church as she has Taught and Injoyned us in her Liturgy to Pray Beseeching God of his Gracious Goodness shortly to accomplish the Number of his Elect and to hasten his Kingdom that we with all those departed in the true Faith of his Holy Name may have our perfect Consummation and Bliss both in Body and Soul in thy Eternal and Everlasting Kingdom
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
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
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
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