moft likely to give us the greatest fill of the pleafures of this life, if death will put an end to our existence. So with St. Paul, fuch method was far more eligible than his own meafures, which expofed him to fo much evil, if the dead rife not.But he adds immediately, what would fatisfy any candid reader, that he had no fuch inattention to his fubject, as is fuggefted; but kept clofe to it; for he fays, Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners; awake to righteousness, and fin not; for fome have not the knowledge of God. It is pity but Mr. Chubb had kept his own eye on the context, and been himself a little more attentive to the rational and just manner, in which St. Paul handles this, and every other fubject he investigates: lefs prejudices would have appeared in his treatment of this moft venerable character and writer. However, in juftice to Mr. Chubb, I will again hold up to my readers, fome of his finishing declarations; - As the writings of the apostles were occafional, so they contain many excellent cautions, advices, and inftructions, which ferve for the rightly directing our affections and actions,Vol. II. p. 344. I intend not to lead my readers into a neglect of the writings of the apostles; much lefs to lay them afide, p. 345.By chriftianity I mean that revelation of God's will, which Chrift was in a particular and special manner fent to acquaint the world with: and fo far as the writings of the apofiles are confonant with it, they come under the denomination of Christianity, p. 346. If any fay, that what I have written is out of difrefpect to the perfon and miniftry of Jefus Chrift, -I answer, the accufation is falfe. And as upon the Chriftian fcheme, Jefus Chrift will be judge of quick and dead; fo I affure my readers, that in this view, and under thefe confiderations, I have по no difagreeable apprehenfions, on account of any thing that I have published to the world, pag.353, 354. We are now to obferve what Mr. Chubb has faid of the great fact on which the credibility of the Gospel has its fupport, viz. the refurrection of Chrift.-And from the different appearances of the rifen Jefus, that are recorded, he thus expreffeth himself; And does not this minister a temptation to men to think and fay, that if the bu- XXIV. finefs of Christ's refurrection was not a fraud; yet Chriff's it looks very much like it, and feems to have the fame appearance as if it was fo, Vol. I. p. 358. Se&. refurrec tion looks much like But can there be fo much as the femblance of a fraud. fraud, detected from the hiftory, when all those appearances anfwered their end; and did convince thofe to whom they were made, that he was actually rifen? Is there an intimation, once given, that any man thought himself impofed upon, or deceived by them? Did not the perfons who faw him, rifque their lives upon the truth and certainty of their having seen, known, and converfed with the rifen Jesus? The very inftructions they received from him, demonftrated the truth of his being the very perfon, whom the Jews had crucified, And his appearing to them in different forms, was fo far from weakening, that it ftrengthened and confirmed the facts of his death and refurrection. So that if we suppose, with the objector, he fometimes did appear as a tall, and fometimes as a little man, fometimes with greater bulk of body than at other times; what had any, or all of this to do with deception? The difference of stature, or of bulk, could no more hinder him from being known to them, than the transfiguration on the mount, had made him lefs known to Peter, James, and John. On the other hand, they would confider our Lord's body, as a Sect. a refurrection body; no longer fubject to the laws of this temporary, material fyftem. It was, and must be capable of compreffion and expanfion, at his own pleasure and this too, tho' it was the fame body in which he had fuffered. It is now indeed in no respect fufceptible of pain or injury, as it had been before; for the whole animal economy is altered. No more circulation of the blood; the diastole and systole of the heart is useless, as the body is a vehicle immediately actuated by a felf-moving, intelligent fpirit. Hence it is, that we are told of his bidding Thomas thrust his hand into bis fide; fince it would not cause an uneafy fenfation, nor was it any injury to him, that the divifion, made by the fpear, yet remained, It was the fame identical body fet free from all the incumbrances of mortality? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and fee, for a fpirit has not flesh and bones, as ye fee me bave, Luke xxiv. 39. The different appearances were much more in character, than an uniform, unaltered bodily form would have been. It proved him to be rifen indeed. His identical fameness had other more fubftantial proofs than the numerical fameness of material particles could afford. Nay, these could not poffibly be, from the effufion of blood on the crofs, made from all his wounds: unless the old mafs of blood, for which he has now no occafion, had been replaced. And I understand St. Paul as having this idea, when he fays, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, i. e. flesh and blood, or the body of man, as it is now conftituted. It is now, a fpiritual, and not a natural body, fuited unto a state of beatification and glory! Net fatisfied with what was faid above, he tells XXV. us, that the refurrection of Chrift does not appear plainly, refurrec plainly, to him, defigned and intended clearly to Chrift's evince the poffibility and certainty of a refurrection. tion not to eternal life; because it appears to be directed to defigned anfwer another purpose; and because it does not seem to evince wifely directed to answer this. Vol. I. p. 334-a refur339. rection to eternal What was that other purpofe, which it was di- life. rected to answer? It was to gather, or rather to keep together bis difpirited difciples, to commiffion and qualify, and fend them forth to preach the gospel. Was it fo? What was the Gospel they taught? Why, that God had raised up Jefus from the dead, whom the Jews had wickedly put to death: and that he was rifen the firft fruits of them who Aleep that by this fame Jefus, God will raise all the dead. This was the Gofpel, which he authorized, commiffioned, and qualified them to teach, and to commit to writing, after they had confirmed it, by the miracles which they wrought in the name of the rifen Jefus. A doctrine that Christ himself had taught, when he said, that he was the refurrection and the life, and that he would give his flesh for the life of the world. A doctrine, which affures us, that if we have now our converfation in heaven, we may look for the faviour from thence, to change our bodies of humiliation, and fashion them like to his glorious body. Agreeable to his own teachings, that he will come again, and take all his faithful difciples to himself, that where he is, there they may be alfo. These are effential parts of the Gospel, which the apoftles were commiffioned and qualified to preach: which makes it evident, that his refurrection, and manifeftation of it to his difciples, had this end principally in view, viz. to evince not only the poffibility, but the certainty of a re Sect. furrection unto eternal life. It is very apparent that Feftus the Roman governor, having collected all the materials in the Jews accufations of Paul, fums them up in this fingle point, viz. certain queftions they had against him of their own religion, even of one Jefus, which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive, Act. xxv. 19. This is the report he makes to King Agrippa: from which affirmation, St. Paul had inferred the certainty of a refurrection to eternal life, of all the virtuous and holy. And his having feen the exalted efus, and converfed with him, was a full affurance to him of the truth of the doctrine. He had likewife collected Christ's feveral appearances, from the teftimony of the other apoftles, 1 Cor. xv.from whence he argues not only the certainty of the refurrection-body, but alfo its very nature and abilities. The establishing of this doctrine was the plain defign and intention of Chrift's appearing unto, and informing his difciples in the nature of their office, for which he qualified them. So that one would, out of charity to Mr. Chubb, be tempted to conclude, that his head was fomewhat difordered when he wrote his farewel. However, one may fairly conclude, he had no freedom of thought; but that he wrote under very ftrong prejudices. It is not at all to be wondered at, that we find XXVI. him rejecting the accounts of Enoch and Elijah's Enoch and not tafting death: which, he fays, have not fufficiElijah's ent ground of credit, being only related by Single rejected. hiftorians, Vol. I. p. 311. tranflation A fingle hiftorian, whatever credit he may have had in the world, is no valid teftimony with Mr. Chubb. And if there has happened to be three or four concerned in writing the hiftory of a perfon, who was put to death by the Jew-nation, at the time of their having a Roman governor; and much against his judgment that he paffed |