Paradife fpoken of in the Gospels, where Chrift promised the good Thief be should be with him; whither, St. Paul in his Epiles fays, he was caught up; which St. John alfo calls by the Name of the Paradije of God, fomewhere within the compass whereof grows the Tree of Life, and whofe Rivers are the Water of Life. I would know of them likewife what they would anfwer to the Authority of the beft Jewish Writers, who generally fay that Paradife is out of this World, and was created before this lower World was. Nay Jerom himself here helps Origen's Caufe with his Authority, concluding thus from the Words of the Text, Ex quo manifeftiffimè comprobatur, quod priuf quam cælum & terram Deus faceret, Paradijum antè condiderat. Quast, in Gen. But 'tis no wonder the Objectors fhould talk at that rate they do; for they plainly affirm, that the eternal Habitation of the Bleffed, after the Refurrection, fhall be upon Earth. St. Jerom hath other Texts of Scripture againft Praexiftence, which in his own Words are thefe: Pater ufque modo operatur, & ego operor; and that of Ifaiah, Qui format fpiritum hominis in ipfo; and that in the Pfalms, Qui fingit per fingulos corda eorum. By thefe places he thinks it appears, that God does daily, as there is occafion, create Souls. To the First I anfwer, by demanding what Neceffity there is, that the working here mention'd fhould fignify Creation of Souls? Are not all the Works of his Providence in continuing Life, Motion, Order to the World, and every part of it, in governing and managing all by his Goodness, Power and Wifdom, to their behoof and advantage, fufficient to verify this Saying, That the Father worketh hitherto? And does not our Saviour's adding, And I work, with reference to that beneficent Miracle he had wrought on the Sabbath-day, plainly intimate what kind of Operation he meant in both? And if I fhould confront Jerom's Expofition with that in Genefis, God refted on the Seventh day from all his work; or that of St. Paul, His works were finish'd from the foundation of the World, I am fure I fhould have Reason and Philofophy on my fide: and their Exception, that these places are to be underftood of the Species of Things, is not fo plainly gather'd from the words, as is my interpreting of my Father worketh hitherto, of his Works of Providence and continual Beneficence. His other two places mean no more than this, That God is the Creator and Father of Souls or Spirits, and by his Power over them, moulds, fafhions, and changes them as he pleases; both which are true, tho the Soul fubfifted from eternal Ages. You will ask me then, Where lies the Father's Argument? Truly, Sir, it is fo thin and evanid a fubtilty, that your great Mind, made for, and used to great Objects, may very likely mifs it but this it is, He reads the Words

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thus; Who forms in him the Spirit of Man, not the Spirit of Man which is in him. This would have been pretty, had he firft prov'd by fubftantial Arguments, taken from the Nature of the Soul or Providence, that the Souls of Men could not exift before they inform'd a Terreftrial Body; but having not done that, nor scarce endeavour'd it, his Argutenefs is ridiculous. For who can doubt, but that the Prophet meant the fame with that more compleat and exprefs Form of Speech in St. Paul, Who knows the Things of a Man, εἰ μὴ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ανθρώπι τὸ ἐν αυ'τῳ; If I fhould fay of that elegant Watch you did me the honour to give me, that your own neat and curious Hand wrought and form'd all the Springs and Wheels in it, no Man would be fo mad as to think I meant, that you wrought them within the Cafe: or if I fhould tell you (which I may with Truth) that I have been fo oft at Alney-thorpe, that I know all the Inhabitants in it, I hope you would not think that the Image of your noble Perfon was fo feldom in my Fancy; or that I was of fo fantaftick a Memory, that I knew you, and the reft of your Neighbours only, when I was there, but should not know you at my own Hermitage, or any where else.

These are all the Objections they have (fo far as I remember) against these two Opinions of Origen, the Praexistence and Defcent of the Soul into a Terreftrial Body; unless you will give fo much to the Authority of Jerom in a metaphyfical Argument, as to take that magnificent Bravado of his for another; Quod vos miramini, olim in Platone contempfimus. And do not you think now, Sir, that thefe good Fathers having so ftrenuously and perfpicuously fhewn, that these two Dogmata are inconfiftent with the Attributes of God, and contrary to the Nature of Things; and having fo plainly demonftrated the Sophifticalnefs of Origen's Arguments, and the Inconfequence of his Illations; laftly, having by fo plain and cogent places of Scripture prov'd the contrary Pofitions to be true; do you not think, I fay, that they had reafon to call these Opinions of his τρελισμὸν καὶ τραγικολογίαν, Nonfenfe and Stolidity ? I leave you to judge.

But I pafs on to their Objections against his Fourth Opinion of the Refurrection. Aud here they are more copious, I mean in Arguments taken out of Scripture; for I do not yet remember, that they make ufe of Ethnick and Secular Philofophy (as they fpeak) against it. And indeed, their Arguments are fo numerous, that it is a prejudice againft the Truth of their Caufe: For tho a fingle Text or two may probably escape the Obfervation, even of a diligent Reader; yet that fuch a Multitude as they boaft of and oftentate, fhould be all unmark'd by Origen, one fo well vers'd in Scripture, that he had it all without

without book; or that he fhould be fo ftubborn and pervicacious in his falfe Perfuafion, who was fo hearty and fincere a Chriftian, is a very wonderful thing. In many of their Arguments againft him, they are fo fanciful and allegorical, and do fo toy and fport with a word or two in the Text, that if a Man did not know the perfons, he would certainly conclude either fuch Argumentators, or the Queftion was not ferious; or that they thought their Adverfaries fuch Mushrooms, fo foft and foolish, that they would be put off with any thing. Such Objections as thefe I fhall not trouble you withal; the chief of the other, which have a better fhow and pretence, I will give you. They fay then, With what Body our Saviour rofe, and afcended into Heaven, with the like fhall we be raised again, and live in Heaven with. But he rofe with the very fame Flesh and Blood he had before his Crucifixion, as is manifeft from his fhewing the Print of the Nails, and of the Souldier's Spear to St. Thomas, and afcended with the fame to Heaven in the fight of his Difciples. To this Origen himself answers in the Words of Jerom: Illud corpus aliis pollet privilegis, quod de viri femine & carnu voluptate non natum eft. Comedit poft refurre&iotem fuam & bibit, & veftitus apparuit, tangendum fe præbuit; ut dubitantibus apoftolis fidem faceret refurrectionis. Sed tamen non diffimuLabat naturam aerii corporis & fpiritalis: claufis enim ingreditur offiis, &in fractione panis ex oculis evanefcit. And in other places he adds his being not known of the two Difciples going to Emmaus, nor of Mary in the Garden, his walking on the Waters, his escaping from the Multitude, when they led him to throw him headlong from a Rock. Some of which paffages at leaft verify Origen's illud corpus aliis pollet privilegiis; and the Effects of thefe Privileges are fuch as naturally proceed from Tenuity of Body: For this Difpofition is both eafily mouldable into any Form and Shape by the Fancy, and other natural Powers, of its actuating Spirit; and alfo eafily paffes through fuch Bodies, as to others are impervious, and is devoid of Gravitation. But Origen no where fays, that the Body of Chrift upon Earth was not truly Flefh and Blood. For he knew well enough, that there is no other difference in Matter, than what it receives from fuch or fuch Modifications of its Parts; and that it is capable of all thefe Modifications, where a fatficient Caufe works upon it; and fuch he very piously conceiv'd the Soul of our Saviour to be: which could as well fix and conftipate the Matter of his Body into a Terreftrial craffness, as loofen it into a fpiritual Tenuity; and when it was wrought into fuch particular Modifications as conftitute the Form of Flesh and Blood, it was then as truly Flesh and Blood as that is which we mere mortal Men are clothed withal. And the

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Oeconomy of his Evangelical Undertaking, both in his Life
and Death, requiring fuch a Body, he very rarely gave any
publick Specimen of that mighty Power which was in his quick-
ning Spirit; but was content to want the happy Privileges of
that freer Life he might have enjoy'd, by exerting that his
heavenly Power. For his humble and obedient Soul was re-
folv'd to perfect what he had taken upon him, whatever debase-
ment, whatever inconvenience he fhould endure from the
weight and preffure of his Servile Schema. And moreover, a
firm hope of Life, and bleffed Immortality of the whole Man,
being the main End of the Chriftian Myftery, and the palpa-
ble Evidence thereof in the Perfon of our Lord, being necef
fary to make his Apoftles and Difciples with Boldness and Cou-
rage, and convictive Teftimony, preach the Gofpel in the World,
(whom we find fo amazed at his Death and Crucifixion, that
"they knew not what to think of it;) it was therefore neceffary
that he should exhibit himself to them again after his Refur
rection, in the fame fenfible manner of appearance that he did
before his Death and if with the Prints of his Wounds re-
ceiv'd at his Crucifixion, 'twould be the better, left their back-
wardness of Belief, in fo ftrange an Event, fhould make any
of them (as it did St. Thomas) fo curious, as to demand or need
fo punctual an affurance; for this the Wisdom of his Oecono-
my requir'd, as well as the other parts of his Condefcenfion.
But for all this, fome of thofe Inftances Origen takes notice of,
as alfo his Transfiguration, do very fairly invite us to believe,
that he had that in him which was of fuch fovereign Energy
and Life, as could swallow up what was mortal in Victory, and sub-
due every thing to it felf. And the Exercise of this Power being
only reftrain'd for the performing his Temporary Difpenfation
upon Earth; that being ended, who can doubt but that it
would then freely break forth, and melt his Body into fuch a
rarity and fineness, as would, like a winged Chariot, carry him
from the Earth? And the Exertion of this Power being fo
temper'd, as not forthwith to make his Body pure Æther, he
might as well, for fome time in his Afcent, be corporally be-
held by his Difciples, as Ghosts and Spektres are, whofe fudden
difappearing does fufficiently manifeft, that they had not fuch
Bodies as we Terreftrial Men have. Nay, Epiphanius himself, not
wont to be very Philofophical, tho he contend for Chrift's ri-
fing from the Dead with the fame Body he had before; yet he
prefently tells us what Sameness of Body he means, by acknow-
ledging that his raifed Body was changed into a spiritual fubtilty
and tenuity; by the advantage whereof he entred the Doors,
when fhut; which (he fays.) cannot be done by the Bodies we
have here a rouges, and not having yet attain'd their

fpiritual

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vil

at a

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fpiritual Tenuity. He affirms likewife, that the Body which Chrift fhew'd to St. Thomas, was the fame which was crucified, but changed into a fpiritual Tenuity; and that which was before παχυμερές, was then πνευματικὸν and λεπτομερές. How far this is from the Origenian Herefy, I leave you to judge; and fhall let his Adverfaries fight it out among ft themfelves, fince I perceive there is Diffention amongst them. For it is not the fame individual Particles of Matter that we, in this Queftion, principally deny or difpute about, but the fame Modification and Confiftency of Body with that which is in Flesh and Blood. It may perhaps feem to fome very ftrangely done of us, (that I fay no worfe) who read that the Defcent of Chrift from Heaven was his Humiliation, and his taking upon him the form of a fervant, and being made in the likeness of firful flesh, his exihanition; yet to be fo defirous to imprifon him ftill in the fame fervile Condition, and to be unwilling that he should refume that antient Glory and Liberty which he had with God before his Incarnation. And if it was done out of half as much Malice as Ignorance, no Man would doubt to pronounce, that it was next to crucifying our Lord afresh, and putting him to perpetual hame. After all this which hath been faid, it will not be neceffary to give a formal Anfwer to the Objector's Syllogifm. But inftead thereof, I fhall only point at two or three places of Scripture, and leave you to confider them. The first man Adam is ixos, the fecond man, the Lord, is evi. But Chrift being come, or made an High Prieft of good things to come, by a better and more perfett Tabernacle, ο χειροποιήτο, τετέςιν, κ ταύτης της κλί ows, enter'd into the holy places not made with hands, Heaven it felf. Flesh and blood fhall not inherit the Kingdom of God. I cannot get it out of my fancy, but that there is an intimation of fomething contrary to the Objector's pretenfions in thefe Texts which follow. Jefus the Chrift come in flesh. Ev Tu apali Tüs σαρκὸς αὐτῇ — ὓς ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις τῆς σαρκὸς αὐτό, &c. Καὶ if you can make Tλewges, &c. I defire you likewife to try any fenfe of the Sixth of St. John, from the 32d Verfe, to the end; which fhall fo naturally agree to the Words, as that which we have aim'd at in our Answer to this Objection concerning Chrift's Body. I am the bread of life which truly came down from Heaven, which he that eateth thereof shall never die. The bread which I will give is my Flefh, which I will give for the life of the World. He that eateth my Fleth, and drinketh my Blood, hath eternal life, and I will raife him up at the laft day. Many therefore of his Difciples, when they heard this, faid, This is an hard faying, who can hear it? But he answer'd them, Doth this offend you? What and if you fall fee the Son of Man afcend up where he was before? The Spirit is that which quickens, the Flesh profiteth nothing; the words which I have spoke unto

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