*

J

;

ritual Body, that is, have no need of the Supports of Meat and Drink for its Reparation and Suftenance; for at that time, faith St. Austin, the glorified Bodies fhall not only not be, fuch as they are now in their greatest Health and Vigour, but also not fuch as Adam's finless Body was in Pa radife which altho' it would not have died if he had not finned, yet must have sustained it Drink, his earthly Body mal, and not Spiritual; but a then the Man fhall not be Earthly, but Heavenly; not as if he fhould not have the fame earthly Body, but because through the heavenly Gift, by the change of its Qualities, lofs of its Nature, he shall be fitted to inhabit in Heaven: So that, although they affirmed by this Article, that the fame Flesh and Blood fhould ftill remain at the Refurrection, yet they held withal, that the Properties and Qualicies thereof should be changed, as St. Auftin writes in his Expofition here. Dd 3

not by the

of,

*Non folum enim non erit ta

le quale nunc eft in quavis optima valetudine, fed nec tale quidem, quale fuit in primis hominibus ante peccatum, qui licet morituri non effent, nifi peccâffent, alimentis tamen ut homines utebantur, nondum fpiritualia, fed adhuc animalia corpora terrena geftantes. Tom.5. de Civit. Dei, lib. be 13. 6. 20. p. 30. with Meat and being yet Ani

cœleftis homo erit, non quia cora Tunc jam non terrenus, fed pus,quod de terrafactum eft, non ipfum erit, fed quia dono cœlefti calendo non amiffa natura fed mutata qualitate conveniat. Ibid.

jam tale erit, ut etiam cœlo in

c. 23. P. 35.

Hæc viabilis, quæ caro pro

prie dicitur,fine dubitatione credenda eft refurgere, videtur e

nim Paulus Apoftolus eam tan

quam digito fuo oftendere, cum dicit, oportet corruptibile hoc induere incorruptionem, cum enim dicit hoc, in eam quafi digi

tum intendit,& mortale hoc induere immortalitatem,&c. Tom. 3. de Fide & Symbol. p. 196.

* Corpora fimplicia & lucida, quæ appellat Apoftolus (piritu

alia. Ibid. p. 197.

b

of, that this fame vifible Flesh, which is properly called Flesh, shall arife, for the Apostle Paul doth Jeem to point at it as it were with his

O

Finger, when he faith, For this Corruptible shall put on Incorruption, and this Mortal Immortality: And yet a little farther on in the fame place, he faith, That thofe raised Bodies fhall be fimple and shining, whom the Apostle calls Spiritual; or, as he expreffeth it in another Place, ther Place, The Bodies of the Saints fhall arife without any Defect or Deformity, as well as without any Corruption, Heaviness or Difficulty, being by the Change of their Properties fitted and prepared for Life Everlasting; which is the next and laft Claufe of the Creed to be enquired into.

d

d Refurgent fan&torum corpora fine ullo vitio, fine ulla deformi

tate, ficut fine ulla corruptione,

onere aut difficultate. Tom. 3.

Enchir. ad Lurent. c. 91. p. 242.

Wherein it may be observed in the first place, That it was variously placed in the Primitive Creeds, as in a Creed of Cyprian's it thus ftands before the Article of the Church, and

© Life

e

æternam per

Life everlafting through the Holy eEt vitam Church; but, it is molt pertinently fanctam Ecexpreffed by the Apoftles Creed at the clefiam. Epift. Conclufion thereof, because it is the 76.§.6. p.248. End of all our Faith, and the Determination of every Man to his eternal and proper Place and State; for the Dead having been raised, and both Quick and Dead having received their Sentence from the final and fupreme Judge of Heaven and Earth, all Men both good and bad, fhall go unto their appointed Place, from whence they fhall not return, but there remain throughout Life Everlasting.

The Gnofticks, as it hath been already related in the Fifth Chapter of this Treatife, unto which I refer the Rea der, divided all Mankind into Three Parts, Earthly, Animal and Spiritual ; the first of which, and part of the second, they affirmed, would be annihilated, or reduced to nothing by the general Conflagration at the last Day, whilft only the Spiritual, and part of the Animal, fhould be made Immortal and Eternal. To obviate which obviate which Opinion, as it feems most probable, the Rulers of the Church did in those Days fubjoin to the Refurrection the Claule of Life Everlasting, that thereDd 4

by

f Τὸς ἀσεβεῖς καὶ ἀδίκος, καὶ

~

ὁσίοις

-

κα

by that Herefy might be contradicted and warded againft: From whence we find, that Irenays a Cotemporary with these Hereticks, and their greateft Antagonist and Confuter, doth in oppofition to their Herefy, thus Paraphraftically exprefs in his Creed the final Determination of every Man, that after the Refurrection Chrift shall render a righteous Judgment unto all, fWicked, Unjust, Unἀνόμος καὶ βλασφήμες της ανθρω. godly and Blafphemous πων εἰς τὸ αἰώνιον πῦρ πέμ. Men, he fall find into ψη, τοῖς δικαίοις In, Tois 3 duncios novios everlasting Fire; but, καὶ τὰς ἐντολὰς αὑτό τε ηξνικός di, — debagciar Seenan, unto the Juft and Righ σι, · ἀφθαρσίαν δωρήση Agavaidro demanon. Lib. 1. teous, and those who kept δόξαν αἰώνιον πεποιήσῃ. c. 2. p. 36. his Commandments, be ball give Immortality and eternal Glo ry: And in another of his Creeds he thus words it, That Chrift shall come in Glory to be a Saviour of those who are faved, and a Fudge of those who are judged, fending the Corrupters of his Truth, and the Contemners of his Father, and his Coming, into eternal Fire: And to the fame effect, it is in a Creed of Tertul lian's which he defignedly repeats ip oppofition to the Gnofticks, and other Hereticks

7

Venturus falvator eorum qui falvantur, & judex corum qui

judicantur, & mittens in ignem æternum transfiguratores veritatis, & contemptores patris fui & adventus ejus. Lib. 3. c.4. P. 172.

h

2

Hereticks of his time, That Chrift fhall come in Glory to re ceive the Saints into the Fruit of eternal Life, and to fentence the Pro phane to everlasting Fire. From all which it appears, that this Claufe was levelled against the forementioned Herefy of the Gnofticks; O and, that it includes the final and eternal State of every Man, of the Damned in Hell, as well as of the Bleffed in Heaven; that on the one hand, the Wicked and Miserable shall for ever fuffer under the Loads of Divine Vengeance; and that on the other hand, the Godly and Bleffed fhall for ever live in the perpetual Fruition of pure and undisturbed Happiness: The Eternity of both which Perfons and States, are included by St. Auftin in his Explication of this Article, That after the Refurrection and univerfal Judgment, i the Godly ball happily live in eternal Life, but the wicked miferably, with out the power of Dying

Si

in eternal Death, because they shall both
be without end: Wherewith agrees

the

W.

Ad fumendos fan&tos in vitæ æternæfru&tum, & ad pro

phanos judicandos igni perpetuo. De Prafcript. adverf. Haret. p. 73.

1 Iftis in æterna vita verè fæliciterque viventibus, illis infælici

ter in æterna morte fine moriendi poteftate durantibus, quonichirid. ad Laurent. c. 110. p. 252. am utrique fine fine. Tom. 3. En