Treatise of the Passions and Faculties of the Soul, Chapter 35
CHAP. XXXV. Of the Honour of Humane Bodies by Creation, by Resurrection; of the Endowments of Glorified Bodies.
ANd now, that this particular of immortality may farther redound bothVid. Cal. Rhodig. lib. 2. cap. 9. 10. 11. Aug. de Gen. ad lit. l. 6. c. 12 &c. Platonic. … sententi… Ca…cer, Apostolic. i Templum. Tertul. de An…m. Tertull. de Carne Christi. Vid. Aug. lib. 7. de Trinit. cap. 6. to the Honour and comfort of Man, I must fall upon a short digression touching mans Body: wherein I intend not to meddle with the Question, How mans Body may be said to be made after the Image of God (which sure is not any otherwise, than as it is a sanctified and shall be a Blessed Vessell, but not as some have conceited, as if it were in Creation Imago Christi futuri, nec Dei opus tantum, sed & Pignus: As if Christ had beene the patterne of our Honour, and not wee of his Infirmity, since the Scripture saith, Hee was made like unto us in all things, and that he Assumed our Nature, but never that we were, but that we shall be like unto him) not, I say, to meddle with this, I will only briefly consider the Dignity thereof in the particular of immortality, both in the first structure, and in the last Resurrection of it. The Creation of our Bodies, and the Redemption of our Bodies, as the Apostle calls it. What Immunity was at first given, and what Honour shall at last be restored to it. In which latter sense it shall certainly be Secundum Imaginem, after his Image, who was Primitiae the First fruits of them that rise. That as in his Humility his Glory was hid in our Mortality, so in our Exaltation our Mortality shall be swallowed up of his Glory. And for the first estate of Mans Body, we conclude in a word: that it was partly Mortall, and partly Immortall: Mortall in regard of possibility of Dying, because it was affected with the mutuall Action and Passion of corruptible elements: for which reason it stood in need of reparation and recovery of it selfe by food, as being still Corpus Animale, and not Spirituale, as St. Paul distinguisheth, a Naturall, but not a Spirituall Body. But it was Immortall, that is, Exempted from the Law of Death and Dissolution of the Elements, in vertue of Gods Covenant with man, upon conditionAug. de Gen ad lit. lib. 6. cap. 25. de Civ. dei. l. 13. c. 19 Vide quae fuse & erudite disscrit Georg. Zeem…n▪ Tract. de I …. Dei. cap. … sect. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5 …. of his Obedience. It was Mortall Conditione Corporis, by the Condition of a Body; but immortall Beneficio Conditoris, by the Benefit of its Creation; else God had planted in the Soule such naturall desires of a Body wherein to work as could not be naturally attained; For the Soule did naturally desire to remaine still in the body. In the naturall Body of Adam there was no sin, and therefore no death, which is the wages of sinne.
I come now to the Redemption of our Bodies already performed in Pignore & in Primi…its, In our Head, & in some few of his Members, Enoch, Ellas, and (as is probable) in those dead Bodies which arose to testifie the Divine power of our crucified Saviour; and shall be totally accomplished at that day of Redemption, as the same ApostleEph. 4 30. calls the Last day: that day of a full and finall Redemption, when Death, the last enemy, shall Luk. 21. 28.be overcome. And well may it be called a day of Redemption, not only in regard of the Creature, which yet groaneth under the Malediction and Tyrannie of sinfull Man: nor yet only in respect of Mans Soule, which, though it be before admitted unto the purchased Possession of the Glorifying Vision, and lives no more by Faith alone, but by sight, shall yet then receive a more abundant fulnesse thereof, as being the day of the Manifestation and plenary discovery both of the Punishing Glory of God in the Wicked, and of his Merciful and Admirable Glory in the Saints: but also and (as I think) most especially in respect of the Body. For there is, by vertue of that Omnipotent Sacrifice, a double kinde of Redemption wrought for us: The one Vindicative, giving us Immunity from all spirituall dangers, deliveringLuk. 1. 68. us from the Tyrannie of our Enemies, fromHeb. 9. 1…. the Severity, Justice, and Curse of the Law;Luk. 21. 28. Rom. 8. 23.which is commonly in the New Testament calledEph. 1. 7. simply foreign and foreign, a Deliverance from evill; The other Purchasing, or Munificent, by not only freeing us from our own wretchednesse, but farther conferring upon us a Positive and a Glorious Honour, which St. Iohn calls foreign, a Power, Priviledge, Prerogative, andIoh. 1. 12. Title unto all the Glorious Promises of Immortality: which like wise St. Paul calls foreign,Eph. 1. 14. the Redemption of a purchased Possession, and a Redemption unto the Adoption of Sonnes. Now then the Last day is not Totally and Perfectly a day of Redemption unto our Soules in either of these senses, since they are in this life delivered from the Malediction of the Law, from the Wrath of the Judge, from the Tyrannie of the Enemie, from the Raigne of Sinne, and by Death freed not only from the Dominion, but from the Possession, or Assault of the Enemie; not only from the Kingdome, but from the Body of Sinne; and is withall in good part possessed of that Blisse, which it shall more fully enjoy at last. But our Bodies, though before that Great day they partake much of the benefits of Redemption, as being here sanctified vessells, freed from the Authority and Power of the Devill, World, Flesh, and from the Curse of Death too, wherein they part not only with life, but with sinne; yet after all this doe they want some part of either Redemption: as namely to be raised and delivered from that dishonour and corruption, which the last Enemie hath brought upon them: and to be Admitted into those Mansions, and invested with that Glory, whereby they shall be Totally possessed of their Redemption. In a word, the Soule is in its separation fully delivered from all Enemies, which is the first; and in a great measure enjoyeth the Vision of God, which is the second part or degree of mans Redemption. But the Body is not till its Resurrection, either quite freed from its Enemie, or at all possessed of its Glory. I meane in its selfe, though it be in its Head, who is Primitiae & P…gnus Resurrectionis, the first fruits and earnest of our Conquest over Death.
Touching the Dignity of our Bodies, though there be more comfort to be had in the Expectation, than Curiosity in the enquirie after it; yet what is usually granted, I shall briefly set down. And first, it shall be Raised a whole entire and perfect Body, with all the parts best fitted to be Receptacles of Glory; freed from all either the Usherers in, or Attendants and followers on the Grave, Age, Infirmity, Sicknesse, Corruption, Ignominie, and Dishonour: And shall rise a true, whole, strong, and honourable Body. For though every part of the Body shall not have those peculiar uses, which here they have, since they neither eat, nor drink, marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the Angels of God: yet shall not any part be lost: Licet enim officiis liberentur, judiciis re…inentur: T…ull.Though they are freed from their Temporall service, for which they were here ordained, yet must they be reserved for receiving their judgment, whether it be unto Glory, or unto Dishonour.
The second Dignity is that Change and AlterationVid. Aug. de C…v. Dei. lib. 13. cap. 20. & 23. & Epist. 146. of our Body from a Naturall to a Spirituall Body, whereby is not meant any Transubstantiation from a Corporeall to a Spirituall substance: For our Bodies shall, after the Resurrection, be conformable unto Christs body, which, though glorious, was not yet a Spirit, but had flesh and bone, as we have. Nor is it to be understood of a thinne, Aereall, Invisible Body (as some have collected) since Christ saith of his Body, after he was risen, Videte, Palpate. Wheresoever it is, it hath both its quantity, and all sensible qualities of a Body Glorified with it. It is a strong Argument, that it is not there, where it is not sensible; And therefore the Doctrines of Vbiquity, and Transubstantiation, as they give Christ more thā he is pleased to owne, an Immensity of Body; so doe they spoyle him of that, which hee hath beene pleased for our sakes to assume; Extension, Compacture, Massinesse, Visibility, and other the like sensible Properties, which cannot stand with that pretended miracle whereby they make Christs Body (even now a Creature, and like unto ours in substance, though not in qualities of Corruptibility, Infirmity, Ignominie, Animality) to be truly invested with the very immediate properties of the Deity. True indeed it is, that the Body of Christ hath an efficacie and operation in all parts of the world, it worketh in Heaven with God the Father by Intercession; amongst the blessed Angels by Confirmation; in Earth, and that in all ages, and in all places amongst Men, by Justification, and Comfort; in Hell amongst the Devils and Damned, by the Tremblings and Feares of a condemning and convicting Faith. But Operation requireth only a presence of Vertue, not of Substance. For doth not the Sunne work wonderfull effects in the bowels of the Earth, it selfe notwithstanding being a fixed Planet in the Heaven? And why should not the Sunne of Righteousnesse work as much at the like distance, as the Sunne of Nature? Why should he not be as Powerfull Absent, as he was Hoped? Or why should the Not presence of his Body make that uneffectuall now, which the Not existing could not before his Incarnation? Why should we mistrust the Eyes of Stephen, that saw him in Heaven, at such a Distance of place, when Abraham could see him in his own bowels through so great a Distance of Time?
That Speech then, that the Body shall be a Spirituall Body, is not to be understood in either of those former senses: but it is to be understood first of the more immediate Union and full Inhabitation of the vertue and vigour of Gods Spirit in our Bodies, quickning and for ever sustaining them without any Assistance of Naturall or Animall qualities, for the repairing and augmenting of them in recompence of that, which by labour and infirmity, and the naturall opposition of the Elements, is daily diminished. Secondly, it shall be so called in regard of its Obedience & Totall Subjection to the Spirit of God, without any manner of Reluctance and dislike. Thirdly, in respect of those Spirituall qualities, those Prerogatives of the Flesh, with which it shall be adorned, which are
First, a Shining and Glorious Light, wherewithall it shall be cloathed as with a Garment: for the Iust shall shine as the Sunne in the Firmament. Now, this shal be wrought first by vertue of that Communion, which wee have with Christ our Head, whose Body, even in its Mortality, did shine like the Sunne, and had his cloathes white as light. And secondly, by diffusion and Redundancie fromDe m…i … Anim… in Corpus, vide C…l Rhodig. lib. 1…. cap. 15. 16. our Soule upon our Body, which by the Beatificall Vision, filled with a Spirituall and unconceiveable brightnesse, shall work upon the Body, as on a Subject made throughly Obedient to its Power unto the Production of alike qualities.
The second Spirituall Property shall be Impassibility, not in respect of Perfective, but in respect of annoying, disquieting, or destructive Passion. There shall not be any Warre in the members, any fighting and mutuall languishing of the Elements; but they shall all be sustained in their full strength by vertue of Christs Communion, of the Inhabitation of the Spirit, of the Dominion of the Glorified Soule. There shall be no need of rest, or sleepe, or meat, all which are here requisite for the supply of our Infirmities and daily defects, and are only the Comforts of Pilgrimage, not the Blessednesse of Possession. For although Christ after his Resurrection did eat before his Disciples, yet this was none otherwise done, than that other, the Retaining of his wounds, which was only for our sakes; that our Faith touching the Truth of his Body, might not be without these visible and inferiour Witnesses, by which he was pleased to make his very Glorified flesh a proportioned Object to our fraile sense and faith, that so wee might thence learne confidently to rely for our selves as well on the Benefit of his Exaltation, as of his Humility. Or it was done (as St. Augustine speaks) Non ex Necessitate, De C…i. Dei. lib. 14.sed ex Potestate: as the Sunne is said to draw and suck up standing waters: Non Pabuli Egestate, sed Virtutis Magni…adine, Not to Nourish, but to Manifest its vertue.
Thirdly, the Body shall be a strong and beautifull Body, throughly able to minister unto the Soule any service, wherein it shall imploy it, and shall be no longer, as it is now, the clogge and luggage thereof. It shall likewise be free from all blemish and deformity (which ever ariseth out of the distemper & discord of the Elements) (as it is by good probability conjectured) reducedIta … p… rum de Corpor… ut nihil deforme mantal in Corpore. Vid. Aug. Enchirid. c 91. & de Civ▪ Dei. lib. 2…. cap. 19▪ 20. Tertul de Resu… vitia de…entur, Natura …rvabitur. Aug. de Civ. Dei. l. 22. cap. 17. unto a full, comely and convenient stature, even in those, who were in their Death contemptible, Infants, lame, dismembred, or any other way dishonoured with the miseries of corruption; Naturae, non injuriae reddimur, we shall be restored to our Nature, but not to our shame; the Dust shall still retaine and bury our dishonour, and it shall be one part of our Glory to be made fit for it.
The last quality of our Bodies, which I shall observe, is a perfect subtilty and agility, best befitting their service for the Soule in all speedy motion; which surely shall be there so much the more requisite, than here on earth, by how much Heaven is a more ample and spacious Country. And thus while the Body is made an attendant on the Soules glory, it is likewise a partaker of it. Unto these, adde the sweet Harmony of the Affections, the exact and exquisite Operation of the senses, the Bodily communion and fellowship of the Saints, and, above all, the Eternall Corporeall vision of that most sacred Body, whence all ours derive their degrees of Honour, whose presence were truly and without any Hyperbole able to make Hell it selfe a Place of Glory: how much more that Country, and those Mansions, where the Soule likewise shall be swallowed up with the immediate vision and fruition of Divine Glory. Our Soules are not here noble enough to conceive what our Bodies shall be there.