Sect. III.-That the Analogy between Vegetation and the Resurrection of the Body is not destroyed by the Inequalities of Time, during which the Bo- dies of different Men repose in the Grave Sect. IV.-Arguments to prove, That the Resur- rection of the Body can no more take place imme- diately, than Seed-time and Harvest can be blended Sect. V.-In which it is proved, That St. Paul, when illustrating the Doctrine of the Resurrection CHAPTER VI. Arguments tending to prove, That the Identity of the Human Body must consist in some Germ, or Stamen, which remains Immoveable. Sect. I.-In which it is argued, That the Identity of our future Bodies cannot consist in all the numeri- cal Particles, nor in the Majority of them, which occasionally adhered to the Vital Mass, in any giv en Portion of the present Life Sect. II.-Arguments tending to prove, That the Sameness of our future Bodies must be constituted by some Germ, or Stamen; and that we now pos- sess all the Evidence of a Resurrection, which we can rationally expect in the present State Sect. III.-The Objections against the Idea of a Germ as constituting the Identity of the Body hereafter, no Argument against its certainty. Several Objec- tions considered. Several Changes of our Bodies Sect. IV.-Probable Arguments, That the Changes through which our Bodies have already passed, are a Groundwork of our future Expectations, and Sect. V.-Arguments to prove, That Gravitation must be inapplicable to our future Bodies in another World, and that the Loss of Gravitation will make a considerable Distinction between these Bodies which we now have, and those which shall be hereafter Sect. VI.-Arguments to prove, That though our fu Sect. VII. On the Origin of bodily Identity. Ar- CHAPTER VII. That the Resurrection of the Human Body, is Possible, Probable, and certain, proved both from Philosophy and Scripture. Sect. I. That the resurrection of the Human Body is Possible, proved from the Nature of infinite Power, and the unobstructing Nature of Matter Sect. II.-That the Resurrection of the Human Body is highly Probable, from a Train of presumptive and analogical Evidence Sect. III.-That the Resurrection of the Human Body is Certain, proved from the Principles of Philosophy, the Justice of God, and compounded Nature of Man Sect. IV. Observations on several Passages of the Fifteenth Chapter of the First Book of Corinthians, in which Philosophy and Authority, are combined and considered together Page 283 301 315 334 347 355 374 404 AN ESSAY 'ON THE IDENTITY AND GENERAL RESURRECTION OF THE HUMAN BODY. CHAPTER I. ON THE STATE OF MAN BEFORE THE INTRODUCTION OF MORAL EVIL. SECTION I. General View of the Subject. As no being can be infinite but God, no doubt can be entertained that all finite intelligences had a beginning; and those which had a beginning, must owe their origin to another. This remark is appropriate to man, and is not confined to any detached light in which we may view him, but is equally applicable both to his body and his soul. But though both matter and spirit must have had a beginning, it will not thence follow that they must have had an end. They may C change their modes of being, and their relations to each other, in all the variety of forms which is within the reach of possibility, and yet remain at the same distance from the real absence of being as they were when God first called them into exis tence. That a spirit, though created, cannot die, is plainly demonstrated to us by the deathless state of angelic natures, and by the immortality of the human soul. And we plainly discover in these two instances, that beginning of existence does not include, an end. We also discover in all the modes which any given portion of matter is capable of assuming, that it is always at an infinite distance from a perfect nonentity. Something and nothing are extremes which never can meet together; and the distance which lies between them, no approaches can possibly fill up and therefore the real absence of being which is a nonentity, must always be at an equal distance from all given substances to which these possible modes of existence are ascribed. The combinations which the particles of matter form with one another, are indeed, continually dissolving; new unions are constantly taking place in regular succession to each other: and the modifications of matter, seem to undergo perpetual changes. But we can trace no more analogy between the real absence of matter and a world, because a world and an atom must be at an equal distance from the real absence of all that is material. If therefore, neither the infinite divisibility of matter, nor the various modes which it undergoes and is capable of undergoing, can reach the internal constitution of matter, or otherwise affect it, than by altering its configuration, while its essence remains untouched, and while its substance is entire, we may safely infer, unless God should alter the laws of nature, that matter itself will be as perpetual as spirit; and that it must continue for ever, under such forms and in such modes, as God in his infinite wisdom shall think proper. That man is formed of matter and spirit, will admit of very little doubt. While in union with each other, these substances partake of one common life, and are cemented together by ties which are at once permanent and unknown. That the spiritual part of man shall never die, is to be inferred from the properties of the human soul.* The soul therefore, from its superior nature, must be capable of subsisting without the aid of the body, in a distinct and separate state. And that the body, when separated from its union with the soul, must cease to act, we are convinced of by the most unquestionable proof. In that state of separation, all compact seems to be dissolved; the spirit retires into another region, to mix with beings whose natures are analogous to its own; while the body is consigned over, and apparently for ever, to darkness and corruption. The compact being thus dissolved, all union en *See my Essay on the Immateriality and Immortality of the Human Soul, 8vo. 1803, 2nd edit. |