The snake in the grass: or, Satan transform'd into an angel of light. Discovering the deep and unsuspected subtilty which is couched under the pretended simplicity of many of the principal leaders of those people call'd Quakers.

SECT. XIII. Of the Resurrection of the Body.

THis the Quakers do positive∣ly deny. Mr. Penn makes Non-sense of it,* 1.1 and worse. He com∣pares it to Transubstantiation, nay to the Alcoran. In short (says he) if the compleat happiness of the Soul rests in a re-union to a Carnal Body, for such it is sown, then never cry out up∣on the Turks Alcoran; for such a

Heaven and the Joys of it, suit admi∣rable well with such a Resurrection.

If the Reader thinks (as I did when I first read this) that Mr. P. meant this only of such a gross Conceit of the Resurrection, as if our Bodies shou'd be in the same frail condition as now, & addicted to Sensualities. If the Reader think thus, as I did (for what else cou'd any one think) he will be, to his astonishment, undeceiv'd, as I was, in reading of what follows.

2dly, No Christian ever held that there was not a great Change of the Body, in its Qualities, at the Resurrection. It is sown in Weak∣ness, in Corruption; it is rais'd in In-Corruption, and in Power, &c. And therefore if Mr. Penn meant no more than as abovesaid, he wou'd

dispute against no Christian. But alas! as you will find, they deny any Resurrection at all of that Bo∣dy which is sown; that they leave wholly neglected for ever in its Dust.

Some of them suppose a per∣fectly New Body will be made for the Soul; But others, that the Soul it self is the Spiritual Body, which is mentioned 1 Cor. 15.44. and consequently that there is no other Resurrection than at each par∣ticular persons death, when the Soul, which they call the Spiritual Body, is freed from the Natural Body, never more to meet again.

And, in consequence of this, these believe no General Resurrection, no, nor some of them, any End of the World, every Man's Resur∣rection

being as they suppose, per∣fected at his Death.

But let us return to Mr. Penn. In his Book above Quoted in the Margent, (Reas. against Rail. p. 134.) he is answering this materi∣al Objection, That if it be a New Body which is made for the Soul, then there is no Resurrection of the Body: For that does not rise again which never lay down.

And when St. Paul says 1 Cor. 15.42. (speaking of the Resurrection of the Body) that It is sown in Corruption, and It is rais'd in Incor∣ruption, &c. this cannot be true, un∣less it be the same It, that is, the same Body, which is spoke of in both Branches of the Comparison. The Objection is in these words. If the It in the Text be not the same Body,

how can it be call••d a Resurrection; for that supposeth the same?

I Answer (says Mr. Penn) If a thing can yet be the same, and notwith∣standing Changed, for shame let us never make so much stir against the Doctrine of Transubstantiation; for the Absurdity of it is rather out-done than equall••d by this Carnal Resur∣rection.

• First, the Church of Rome owes Mr. Penn thanks for so very kind a Representation of Transubstan∣tiation, as to make it stand upon a better foot than the Resurrection of the Body, which is an Article in our Creed, and receiv'd by the Catholick Church in All Ages.
• Secondly, This is answering one Objection with another.

• But Thirdly, as to his Objecti∣on: Cannot he apprehend a thing to be Changed in many of its Quali∣ties, and yet remain the same in its Substance? For that is the pre∣sent Question: Quite contrary to that of Transubstantiation, which supposes a Change of the Substance, the Qualities or Accidents remaining the same.

What does he think? Was not Christ's Body Changed in his Trans∣figuration upon the Mount? Was it not therefore the same Body? or did Christ take a New Body? That wou'd have been Death. For af∣ter a Soul is Hypostatically, that is, Personally united to a Body, their separation is call'd Death. Unless he thinks that Christ took a Body no otherwise than as Angels have done,

that is, not into any Hypostatical Union with his Person, but only as a Cloak, or a Veil, which he might throw off and put on again, without any alteration as to his Person. And if so, then Christ did not die upon the Cross more than upon the Mount; that is, He only put off that Bodily Garment; but that was no Death, more than an Angel is said to die, when he lays down that Body, which he took up only for an occasion.

But this will be discours'd of more fully, in the Section concerning the Divinity of Christ. In the mean time, let me give an easie answer to the two Verses in the 15th Chapt. of the 1st Ep. to the Corinthians, which the Quakers make use of against the Resurrecti∣on

of the Body. One is ver. 37. Thou sowest not that Body which shall be. The other is ver. 50. That Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.

Answ. Flesh and Blood while Corruptible, as ours is in this Life, cannot bear the Incorruptible State of Heaven. As it is express'd in the same ver. in explanation of the Expression. Flesh and Blood cannot Inherit the Kingdom of God, neither doth Corruption Inherit Incorruption. But our Corruptible Flesh will be changed in its Qualities, and put on Uncorruptible Qualities; and thus the Dead shall be rais'd Incorruptible, and we shall be Changed; for this Cor∣ruptible must put on Incorruption, &c. ver. 53. &c.

The same Answer will serve ver. 37. where the Apostle does Il∣lustrate the Resurrection of our Bo∣dies by the Resurrection of Grain that is sown in the Ground. For the Bo∣dy of such Grain is chang'd in its Qualities, but not in its Substance. The Grain must die, or else it will not Fructifie or Rise again. In this Death it loses something, as the Husks; but it retains the Substance which rises again, much alter'd from what it was when it was sown; for it rises in the Blade, then the Stalk, Ears, and then the full Grain in the Ear. But to shew that the Substance is not alter'd in all this, we find that every Grain rises the same it was sown, if you sow Oats you expect not a Crop of Wheat. And there is full as much

Reason to say that God does Anew Create every year all the Grain that grows in our Fields, without any respect to the Grain that was sown, or any Natural Production from thence; as that we shall re∣ceive totally New Bodies without any Relation, or any part of the Body that was sown.

And as to Mr. Penn's mighty Wonder, how a thing can be chang'd and yet the same, which he cannot comprehend, and com∣pares to Transubstantiation, it is so far from being any difficulty at all, that it proves the thing that is changed to be the same; because otherwise, It were not changed.

If George be chang'd in Quality, in the State of his Health, or in Re∣putation, this is a certain proof that

it is the same George still. But if William be chang'd, this is no change in George. So that a thing being chang'd proves it to be the same. Nor is the greatness of the Change any Difference as to the sameness of the Person chang'd. Death is a great change, yet if VVilliam dies, it is VVilliam, even the same William that liv'd, who dy'd: and as sure, it will be the same who shall rise again, tho' undergoing another great change.

But I am now to tell you a ve∣ry strange thing, which I wou'd not believe when it was told me, till I saw it: And that is, that Mr. Penn does understand that Long and Elegant Description of the Resurrection of our Bodies, from the 35 ver. of the 15. Chap.

of the 1 st Ep. to the Corinthians, only of the Spiritual State of the Soul in this Life.* 1.2 These are his own words, p. 373. of his Book Quoted in the Margent; and repeating ver. 44. It is sown a Natural Body, it is rais'd a Spiritual Body, &c. he adds, p. 369. I do utterly deny that this Text is concern'd in the Resurrection of Mans Carnal Body at all. I will recite it (says he) with the five following verses, which he there sets down, but for Brevity I omit them, referring to the Chapter; and having repeated them, which speak of the Natural and Spiritual Body, that the First Man is of the Earth Earthly, the Second is the Lord from Heaven; and that as we have born the Image of the Earthly

(that is of Adam in this Corrupti∣ble Life) so we shall bear the Image of the Heavenly (that is, at the Re∣surrection, when our vile Bodies shall be made like unto Christ's Glorious Body) but Mr. Penn, p. 370. having repeated these verses, goes on thus. I say this doth not concern the Resur∣rection of Carnal Bodies, but the two States of Men, under the First and Second Adam; Men are sown into the VVorld Natural, so they are the Sons of the First Adam; But they are Raised Spiritually, through Him who is the Resurrection and the Life, and so they are the Sons of the Second Adam— who came to Raise up the Sons of the First Adam, from their Dead to his Living, the Natural to his Spiritual E∣state. But perhaps (says he) it will be

objected that the 47. verse, The first Man is of the Earth Earthly, and part of the 9. verse, We shall also bear the Image of the Heavenly, seem to imply a Bodily Resurrec∣tion; but let the whole verse be con∣sider'd, and we shall find no such thing, &c.

I will not take up the Reader's time to repeat all his Arbitrary Interpretations. They are such as will, by the same Liberty, be useless; take away the Literal A∣dam, and Literal Christ, as well as the Literal Resurrection. And I shall have occasion Sect. 17. to shew that the Quakers have Spiritua∣liz'd away all the Body and the Be∣ing of Christ into their Light within. Indeed, if the Spiritualizing Art be allow'd in this Latitude, there can

remain no one word of Certainty or Reality in the whole Bible, or in any other Book or Writing, or in a∣ny other Book or Writing, or in a∣ny words that Men can speak.

When I urg'd to a Quaker-Prea∣cher, towards a proof of the Re∣surrection of Bodies, that Text Mat. 27.52, 53. that many Bo∣dies of Saints arose, and came out of the Graves after Christ's Resur∣rection, and went into the Holy City, and appeared unto many; He made answer, That that was not meant of the Literal or Earthly Ierusalem, that any Dead Body arose there, but of the Spiritual Ierusalem which John saw coming down from Heaven. And others told me they heard the same Exposition in a Quaker Sermon at one of their Meetings.

Here we have Spiritual Graves, Spiritual Dead Bodies, Spiritual Ierusalems, Spiritual Resur∣rection, and Spiritual Christ, whenever any Text pinches them.

Among other Names of Re∣proach which Mr. Penn in his Spi∣rit of Alexander the Copper-Smith (before Quoted p. 4.) bestows upon one of the Separate Quakers, he calls him Hymeneus and Phile∣tus, who (as St. Paul tells of them, 2 Tim. 2.18.) concerning the Truth, have erred, saying that the Resurre∣ction is past already. That is, they Spiritualiz'd it from the Letter, and meant it only of the Spiritual rising up of Christ in our Hearts; which having obtain'd (as their Light within did assure them) their Resurrection they suppos'd was

past already, and they expected no other. But this, St. Paul calls overthrowing the Faith. And I can tell of a Preacher among the Qua∣kers, who was as confident of himself (were they not all so, see Sect. 8, 9, 10.) and said that he had already obtain'd the Resurrecti∣on, by Christ having Risen in his Heart: and that he believ'd no other Resurrection, nor expected any. And G. Fox says plainly in these words.* 1.3 There's none have a Glory and a Heaven but within them.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Reason against Rail∣ing, 1673. p. 138.
• * 1.2

  The Invalidity of John Faldo's Vindi∣cation, &c. 1673.
• * 1.3

  Great Myst. p. 214.