ESSAY VIII. 419 nothing with certainty ; I am conscious of my ignorance. Per- haps it is probable enough that there may be some vehicles of grosser or more refined matter assigned to every human spirit, when the body of flesh expires, and is no longer capable ofmain- taining its reciprocalcommunion with the spirit. What are the circumstances, what are the laws, what is the situation, and what is the language of the worldof spirits, must and will be a matter of darkness and mystery to us, while we dwell in flesh and blood. We must each of us wait our appointed hour, and then shall our curiositybe better satisfied, either in a delightful or in a dread- ful manner, according to our behaviour in the present life. ESSAY VIII. The Resurrection of the same Body. THERE has been a warm dispute among men of learning, and particularly between Mr. Locke and Bishop Stillingfleet, whether the same individual body which is buried shall be raised at the resurrection of the dead ?, Or, whether .it may not be another new-made body, composed of any other atoms, and united to the same soul. Those, who with Bishop Stillingfleet affirm the resurrection of the same body, may give such reasons as these for it. 1. It is fit and proper, that the same body which has been a companion and instrument of the soul in duties of holiness should arise and share with the soul in the reward of heaven; and that the same body, which has been a temptation or instrument of the soul in sin, should also rise to share the torment. I must confess, I do not think this argument has very great weight in it; because the body alone is mere insensible matter, and can neither share in pleasure or pain. It is the soul only that has sense of pain and pleasure, and whatsoever body it is vitally united to, is still its own body, and may be the medium of plea- sure or pain to it. 2. Since body and soul united constitute the man, if it be not the same body that died which is raised, then one essential part of man is lost. If it be another body, it is another man that is raised from the earth, and not the same man that died. Besides, the soul never dies ; and if the same animal body that died benot raised to life, there is nothing at all raised to life nd2
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