in keeping it clean swept and garnished a fit Receptacle and Mansion for the Holy Spirit in a ready Compliance and Conjunction with the Soul in all the Offices of Religion This most evidently appears to be the Doctrine of our Church when we are admitted to the highest and nearest Communion with God in the Eucharist by that Clause which is inserted and repeated in both Forms of Administration when the Priest delivers the Bread He prays That it may preserve thy Body and Soul unto Everlasting Life and again he uses the same Form when he gives the Cup The Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ which was shed for thee preserve thy Body and Soul unto Everlasting Life Now to reason fairly Unless our Bodies are capable of Everlasting Life I know not what sense we can make of the Prayer And if our Bodies are capable of Everlasting Life as must be allow'd they are necessarily imply'd subject to Everlasting Death and by unavoidable Consequence must be allow'd capable of doing good or evil To conclude this St. Paul was so throughly convinced of Both as that he rallies together a multitude of Arguments to prevent the one and engage us in the other First In 1 Cor. 6. 13. The Body is for the Lord i.e. 'T was made by him and therefore ordain'd and devoted to his Service Secondly The Lord for the Body i.e. He redeemed and sanctified it and so has a farther and improved Right to it Thirdly God will raise our Bodies v. 14. i.e. The Resurrection lays a farther Obligation upon us Fourthly Our Bodies are the Members of Christ and therefore they ought not to be the Members of an Harlot We ought to keep them clean and pure for his sake as Parts of that Society whereof he is the Head Fifthly He that committeth Fornication sinneth against his own body i.e. Though there are some Sins without the Body yet the Sins of Vncleanness are properly Sins of the Body Sixthly Our Bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost ver 19. The Sins of our Bodies turn this Holy Guâ—st out of doors and admit another Master making them the Devil's Brothel-Houses and Styes Lastly Our Bodies are bought with a price ver 20. Therefore not to glorifie God in own Bodies as well as Souls since by a manifold Right they are both his is not simply Sin but Sin of an high Degree and deep Dye no less than the Sin of Sacrilege After all this to corroborate the Argument I might here expatiate upon the great Cost and Expence which the Primitive Christians bestowed in Embalming their dead Bodies of which Tertullian St. Augustine and others give us a large Account which comes home fully to the Point in hand and can be apply'd to no other purpose By this Practice of theirs 'tis plain they look'd upon their Bodies as perfumed with their Graces here smelling sweet in their Dormitories deposited as in a Bed of Spices and resting in full Hope of a Glorious Retribution But I conceive I have no need of it and therefore it may suffice only to have noted it CHAP. IX I Pass to the Examination of the Third and last Objection which as a Bar lies in our way and ought to be removed If it be Injustice in God to punish the Soul alone without the Body in Conjunction with which she committed the Sin then all the Matter which constitued the Body when the several Sins were committed must be raised again and reunited to the Soul for if some why not all But what Monsters of Men should we be in the Resurrection if all the Substance of which our Bodies consisted from our Childhood to our Deaths should be gathered together and formed into a Body Without taking notice of the Severity of the Objection I shall endeavour to give satisfaction to it And First I Answer That the Resurrection depends upon an All-sufficient and Omnipotent Power and though I cannot tell with what Matter the Bodies shall arise yet every good Man ought to rest satisfy'd in this That a God of infinite Abilities will take care to make good his Word For there are an hundred things as the Learned Author has asserted p. 221. both in NATURE and DIVINITY the Existence of which we cannot doubt and yet the Reason of them we cannot comprehend Of which he there gives us a multitude of Instances whereunto I refer the Reader and at last resolves the Resurrection into God's good Pleasure as the Highest Reason 'T is altogether surprizing how he came to be so positive here and in this difficult point impossible to be understood or resolved by the wisest of Men to be so magisterial especially considering that unlucky Passage which drops from his Pen in the Words immediately following p. 222. I fansie my self Philalethes talking to a bold Refiner on the Promises and Decrees of Almighty God and one of those little Nothings that call themselves Philosophers that form to themselves Notions and Idaea's then deal with Revelation as the Tyrant did with the poor Innocents on his Bed either violently stretch it beyond its natural Reach or chop off a part to make it commensurate to their Intentions I will make no Animadversions here though I have a fair Opportunity but I cannot forbear to say that the Learned Author has made Monsters of all Men at the Resurrection if it be founded on Justice contrary to his own Reasoning in the places foregoing where he professes his Ignorance and challenges the World to give an account of as supposing it impossible And yet boldly asserts here That all the Matter which was of the Body of the Man from his Childhood to his Grave must be rallied together at the Resurrection or else there can be nothing of Justice in the Case But Secondly I answer This Assertion runs Counter to the Doctrine of the Schoolmen and Ancients who have with one Mouth determin'd That the Child shall not arise a Child nor the Corpulent Man with his great Bulk nor he who sunk under a Marasmus peep out of his Grave a Skeleton Nor the Old Man appear at the Resurrection with his Grey Hairs or any Symptomes of Age but all shall arise inter Incrementum Decrementum humanae naturae about the Age of 33 in a perfect State staturaÌ„ quam habuit vel habiturus est as Lombard Sent. 4. Dis 44. Aug. Civ Dei Lib. 22. Cap. 14. Thirdly I answer That this is altogether beside the Question We are to consider the Body fallen and to prove the Resurrection of that same Body to be joined to the same Soul in order to a Judgment And this is all that in Reason can be expected We are no ways concerned to look back to its various and different States from his Childhood to his Death if we can produce the same Prisoners before the Supreme Tribunal there can be no Injustice in the Thing for the Learned Author has granted and proved that our Bodies from our Childhood to our Graves notwithstanding
powerful Rhetorick of his Wounds the Impression of which he now retains is our Eternal Expiatory Sacrifice incessantly transacting the great Work of Advocation with his Father still making Intercession for us By this there is conferr'd on Humane Nature the highest Honour and Dignity imaginable and this must teach us to put a value on our Bodies and to look upon them as more than Machines and Tools only This if I mistake not is an Inference most genuine and naturally flowing from the Premisses and 't is most certainly the express Use which the Ancients would have us to make of it Thus St. Austine on the present Subject de Verit. Relig. cap. 6. Demonstravit nobis Deus quà m excelsum locum inter creatur as habet humana natura in hoc quod in hominibus in vero homine apparuit God saith the holy Father hath given us a Demonstration of the Dignity and transcendent Excellency of Humane Nature in that Christ a VERY MAN lived among Men. And to the same purpose another great Author Leo Serm. 1. de Nat. Dom. Agnosce O Christiane dignitatem tuam divine consors factus naturae noli in veterem vilitatem degeneri consuetudine redire i. e. Christ by taking such a Body has shewn thee the Dignity and Excellency of thine taught thee not to disparage dis-esteem it or use it unworthily 3. But if neither of these be sufficient come we in the third place to cast our Eyes a little on the Redemption and in that great Work the Whole Man is concern'd The Prince of our Salvation submitted himself to the Cross and all its shameful miserable painful Appendages to become a Propitiation for Both. Our Bodies as well as Souls are the Price of his Blood And can any one then account 'em no more but Instruments only The thing is so evident as that I think it needless to say any more for it nor can I imagine what can in the least colour be said against it 4. Wherefore I pass to the next Argument under this Head for Confirmation of the Doctrine in hand and that is Bodily Worship Have not all the Orthodox Pulpits echo'd and sounded this aloud How often have we been told That we are to serve God in our Bodies as well as Souls the one is but maimed and imperfect without the other the Great Creator has an undeniable and manifold Right to Both. How much the true Sons of the Church have labour'd in this Argument cannot be unknown to any who know any thing of the Controversies about the Modification of Worshipping God which has been the grand Subject of the Dispute of this last Age. How zealous good Men have been to relieve that abused and misapply'd Place John 4. 24. from Captivity and to discharge it from that hard and unworthy Service which the Dissenters would have imposed upon it and compelled it to bear still asserting that to serve God as in Truth we ought we must serve him more than in Spirit only How often has that of the Apostle been made the Text 1 Cor. 14. ult That in God's Service regard must be had to Decency and Order How often have we been told that we must not make our Approaches to the most High in a slovenly manner but in the most humble and becoming Postures To give Testimony of our inward by the uniform Port of our OUTWARD MAN and to make the Worship acceptable and compleat to be careful to join both these together The truth is the Body by its self is altogether incapable of the least Performance for as the Psalmist has observ'd The dead praise not God neither they that go down to silence But yet we have the same infallible Assurance that the living can and do praise him Do not our Lips Tongue and Mouth shew forth his Praise Do not our Hands serve God when we lift them up toward the Mercy-seat of his holy Temple Do not our Feet bear a part also here when they make chearful and direct Paths to the place where his honour dwelleth Do not our Eyes and Ears go Sharers here when they behold and hear the wondrous things of God's Law when they are attentively exercised in his Statutes In a word Do not our whole Bodies engage in this Divine Work in their Submissions Adorations and Prostrations before his Altar What Nonsense is it for any Man to imagine the contrary when we are so often and pathetically commanded and called upon by God in his Holy Word to do it Not to multiply Authorities here the winning and endearing Entreaty of the Great Apostle alone is sufficient Rom. 12. 1. Wherefore I beseech you Brethren by the mercies of God that you present your Bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service And if it be here said that the Apostle by Bodies means the Whole Man I have no mind to deny the Allegation but I reply that the Body is also concerned and as must be acknowledged from the Allusion to the legal Sacrifices in an especial manner pointed at And if this be not Proof enough there are other places which cannot be understood in any other sense which refer peculiarly to the Body Thus the same Apostle speaking of the abominable Sin of the Gentiles says Rom. 1. 24. That they did dishonour their own Bodies between themselves And to the same purpose he calls upon his Corinthians to glorifie God with their Bodies which are his and 1 Thess 5. 23. he prays that their Spirit Soul and Body be preserved blameless to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ Where Both the Objections of the Learned Author are put to silence and quashed by one word Blameless which clearly supposes our Bodies capable of doing well or evil of Rewards and Punishments otherwise there can be no Congruity in the Discourse of the great Doctor of the Gentiles who was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel was so Accomplish'd an Orator as that 't was one of the three celebrated Wishes of the great St. Austin That he might have seen him in the Pulpit nay what is more was inspir'd from above And he must be allow'd by all to speak at a very impertinent Rate I cannot see any doubt or difficulty here The Wicked sin and dishonour God with their Bodies and that properly speaking by the Lusts of the Flesh the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Lusts of the lower Belly as the Father calls them The Sins of Gluttony Drunkenness Vncleanness and a multitude of others Nay St. John seems to fix Sin more especially on the Body in his first Epistle chap. 2. 16. where he reckons them up under three Heads All that is in the World the Lust of the Flesh the Lust of the Eye and the Pride of Life On the other hand the Case is altogether as undeniable The good Man serves honours worships and glorifies God with his Body in adorning it with Sobriety Temperance Chastity and other Exercises of Vertue
their constant innumerable great and wonderful Changes are still the same Pag. 132. Moreover he has granted That according to the Supposition of Philosophers tho' the Body be changed once in seven Years which obiter I can never believe and am sure is impossible to be proved yet he grants it is still the same That a Man that has kept his Bed for above seven Years upon his Recovery rises the same Man tho' he have not now one Particle the same that he had when he took his Bed and he gives us the Reason of it Because the Particles of the Body are gradually changed in a continual Vnion with the Soul The Body he says in such a Case is the same and may properly be said to raise again And yet the Learned Author in his Argument here exacts all the Matter which constituted the Body when the several Sins were committed to be raised again to be re-united to the Soul which how congruous to himself and how reasonable in its self I leave others to judge Fourthly I answer This Objection is too strict and subtile It impeaches destroys and overturns all Justice upon Earth and renders it altogether impossible The Reason is irresistible for there are fleeting Particles of Matter which constantly come and go ebb and flow in our Bodies through the whole Course of our Lives so that the Man is not to day what he was yesterday nor will be to morrow what he is to day This is more manifest in long Imprisonments The Malefactor frequently comes into Gaol plump and hail full of Flesh and Blood but by his long Confinement is emaciated and appears at the Bar quite another Thing Yea often times it so happens that he is so much impair'd in his Health Strength Constitution and Complexion that he is unavoidably dropping into the Grave without the Help of the Gallows and yet no Man ever questions the Justice of his Execution Sir Walter Rawleigh was beheaded for a Crime committed above 20 Years before and though according to the Imagination of the Philosophers above-mentioned this Body must be thrice changed in this Interval yet the Equity of his Sentence was never doubted The like might be observed of Mary Queen of Scotland The Annals of all Nations overflow with Examples of Criminals whose Punishments have been a long time protracted without the least suspicion of Injustice Fifthly Therefore I answer plainly by denying the Consequence viz. That it does no way follow from the Principles of Justice That all the Matter which constituted the Body when the several Sins were committed should be raised up again My Reason is because much if not most of this Matter is accidental to the Body forasmuch as 't is plain the Body can be and oftentimes is without it What frequent and considerable Alterations all Men undergo in this respect is abundantly confirmed by the Experience of all Most Men generally are well fleshed in Summer but in the Time of Winter fall away And this is more visible in the Cattle of the Field being for the most part Fat and Full in the Hot Season of the Year which affords plenty of Grass and Food But when the Frost and Snow comes in upon them and diminishes their Pasture then they pine away and are often starved Men owe the Dimensions of their Bodies in a great measure to their Ease Health Prosperity and Affluence Whereas Hunger Cold Want Poverty Diseases will make them dwindle and bring them down to nothing but Skin and Bones To this purpose I am sure I have long since met with the Determination of the Royal Society in their Philosophical Transactions namely That the Fat and Corpulency of a Creature is nothing but the Repletion of the Parenchyma And that they would undertake to make a Dog or an Horse Fat Fleshy and Full in a very few Days There is no necessity then for all the Matter to be rallied together at the Resurrection because much of it is Accidental not Essential to the Body It has been is and may be without it Our Doctrine then must stand in spight of this Shock and Assault The Justice of God is secured and the Saint in no manner of Danger of mounting from his Grave a Monster nor the Sinner neither in this though he must be acknowledg'd such in the worst of senses Lastly If all that has been hitherto said cannot put the Objection to silence I will presume to borrow the mighty Sword of our Opponent which alone can do the Work and as effectually as that of Goliah cut off this Monstrous Head Pag. 187. his Words are these It is farther to be considered that though the same Body that died is to rise again yet it is not necessary that all the Particles of it should be raised up 't is enough that such Particles are raised as made up the integrant and necessary Parts of the Body By necessary Parts I mean those which remain after the utmost degree of Maceration without which the Body would not be integrant but imperfect and these are chiefly the Bones the Skin the Nerves the Tendons the Ligaments and Substance of the several Vessels as long as these and all that are necessary to Life remain the Body is truly whole though never so much macerated all the Flesh that is added makes nothing to the Wholeness or Integrality of the Body though it conduce to Strength and Ornament And by and by he adds If the Body be extremely maciated I do not doubt but in the Resurrection it will be restored by foreign adventitious Matter to its due and just Proportion So in Bodies that are full and flesby there is a great deal of Substance that is not necessary which if it become the Flesh of another Man the Body may be raised up without it and yet be Physically whole and truly the same In Bodies that are fat and gross there is doubtless a great deal superfluous which will never be raised up though it were never made the Ingredient of another Man's Body CHAP. X. Having consider'd the Objections I 'm to wait on the Learned Author in what remains who is labouring to find out a Reason of the Resurrection of the Body as indeed he is obliged since he has taken away the main Pillar and laid that aside In order whereunto he tells us pag. 211. That the Soul does not die with the Body as some ancient Hereticks and Arabians held This is an Opinion too ridiculous to be confuted Then pag. 212. he tells us That the Soul does not sleep until the day of the Resurrection as the Psychopannychists imagined All that is to be said here is That this is a Notion so manifestly false so contradictious to Scripture and has been so fully confuted by many Learned Pens particularly by the incomparable Divine of Geneva in a Treatise professedly written against it as that there is no more to be said here He comes thence to consider the Opinions of Tertullian and they are