do both persevere after death, and that they do not transmigrate out of one body into another, and that they have a human figure or shape (whereby they may be known); as also they remember the things here upon the earth, and their own actions; and, lastly, that each kind of good and bad have their distinct and suitable habitations assigned them, even before the judgment.-Now, that Irenæus did not here mean, that souls are themselves bodily substances, and consequently have a certain character, form, and figure of their own, but only that they have certain bodies conjoined with them, which are figurate, is first of all evident from the words themselves: "characterem corporis, in quo etiam adaptantur, custodire eundem;" the na-. tural sense whereof is this, that they keep the character of body (wherein they are then also adapted after death) the same with that, which these bodies before had here in this life. And it is further manifest from hence, because he elsewhere plainly declareth souls themselves to be incorporeal; as in his fifth book and seventh chapter, "Flatus autem vitæ incorporalis est," but the breath of life is incorporeal. a Furthermore, Origen was not only of the same persuasion, that souls after death had certain subtile bodies united to them, and that those bodies of theirs had the same είδος χαρακτηρίζον, characterising form-which these their terrestrial bodies before had; but also thinks, that this, together with the soul's immortality, may be sufficiently proved from the frequent apparitions or ghosts of departed souls; in way of opposition to Celsus, endeavouring to invalidate the Scripture testimonies a P. 300. ΤΟ concerning the apparitions of our Saviour Christ, and imputing them either to magical imposture, or fanatic frenzy, or the disciples mistaking their own dreams and fancies for visions and sensations, after the Epicurean way,a Touto de ovdèv ýttov κατασκευαστικόν ἐστιν ἀναγκαίου δόγματος, ὡς ἄρα ἡ ψυχή ὑφέστηκε τῶν ἀποθανόντων· καὶ οὐ μάτην πεπίστευκε περὶ τῆς ἀθανασίας αὐτῆς, ὁ τοῦτο τὸ δόγμα ἀνειληφώς· ὡς καὶ Πλάτων ἐν τῷ περὶ τῆς ψυχῆς λέγει, σκιοειδῇ φαντάσματα περὶ μνημεῖα τισὶ γεγονέναι τῶν ἤδη τεθνηκότων· Though this might seem to have been smartly opposed by Celsus, yet are those very apparitions of ghosts, notwithstanding, a sufficient argument or proof of a certain necessary opinion, that souls do subsist after death. Neither did Plato vainly conclude the immortality and permanency of the soul, besides other things, from those shadow-like phantasms of the dead, that have appeared to many about graves and monuments.-Whereupon he giveth this further account of these apparitions ; τὰ μὲν οὖν γινόμενα περὶ ψυχῆς τεθνηκότων φαντάσματα από τινος ὑποκειμένου γίνεται, τοῦ κατὰ τὴν ὑφεστηκυῖαν ἐν τῷ καλουμένῳ Αυγοειδεῖ Σώματι ψυχήν. For these apparitions of the dead are not mere groundless imaginations, but they proceed from souls themselves, really remaining and surviving after death, and subsisting in that, which is called a luciform body.-Where, notwithstanding Origen takes this 'Avyoades Zwua, or luciform body, in a larger sense than the Greek philosophers were wont to do; namely, so as to comprehend under it that airy or vaporous body also, which belongeth to unpurged souls, who do therein most frequently appear after death; whereas it is thought proper to the purged souls to be clothed a Adv. Celsum, lib. ii. p. 97. with the luciform body only. Besides which, the same Origen tells us, that the thing, which St. Thomas the apostle disbelieved, was not our Saviour's appearing after death, as if he had thought it impossible for ghosts or souls departed visibly to appear, but only his rising and appearing in that same solid body, which had been before crucified, and was laid in the sepulchre; σvykaTeriθετο μὲν γὰρ ἐκεῖνος τῇ φασκούσῃ αὐτὸν ἑωρακέναι, ὡς οὐκ ἀδυνάτου ὄντος, τοῦ τὴν ψυχὴν τοῦ τεθνηκότος ὀφθῆναι· οὐκέτι δ ̓ ἐνόμιζεν εἶναι τὸ ἐν σώματι αὐτὸν ἀντιτύπῳ ἐγηγέρθαι Thomas also, as well as the other apostles, assented to the woman affirming, that she had seen Jesus; as not thinking it at all impossible for the soul of a dead man to be seen: but he did not believe him to have risen and appeared in that self-same solid body, which before he lived in; for which cause he said, not only, unless I see him; but added also, "And unless I shall put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe."-Where again Origen subjoins, Ταῦτα δ' ἐλέγετο ὑπὸ τοῦ Θωμᾶ, κρίνοντος ὅτι δύναται Οφθαλμοῖς αἰσθητοῖς φανῆναι ψυχῆς Σῶμα πάντα τῷ προτέρῳ εἴδει, μέγεθός τε, καὶ ὄμματα καλ ̓ ἐοικυίας, καὶ φωνὴν, Πολλάκι δὴ καὶ τοῖα περὶ χροὶ εἵματ ̓ ἐχούσης. These things were said by Thomas, not as doubting at all, but that the body of a soul departed (to wit, condensed) might be seen with the eyes of sense, every way resembling that form which it had before in this life, both in respect of bigness, figure, colour, and voice; and oftentimes also in the same customary garments.-Wherefore, according to Origen, the Jews were at that time generally possessed with this opinion, that souls after death had certain bodies united to them, wherein they might visibly appear; neither is that of any great moment to the contrary, which a learned critic objecteth, that Josephus, writing of their opinions, maketh no mention hereof; he omitting, besides this, other considerable dogmata of theirs also, as that of the resurrection. How ever this at least is certain from hence, that Origen himself took it for granted, that human souls departed were not altogether naked or unclothed, but clothed with a certain subtile body, wherein they could also visibly appear, and that in their pristine form. Moreover, it might be here observed also, that when upon our Saviour's first apparition to his disciples, it is said, that they were affrighted, as supposing that they had seen a spirit; our Saviour does not tell them, that a spirit or ghost had no body at all, wherein it could visibly appear; but (as rather taking that for granted), that a spirit had no flesh and bones (no owua ávτíτvπov), no such solid body as they might find him to have; bidding them therefore handle him, to remove that scruple of theirs. As if he should have said, Though spirits or ghosts, and souls departed, have bodies (or vehicles), which may by them be so far condensed, as sometimes to make a visible appearance to the eyes of men; yet have they not any such solid bodies as those of flesh and bone; and therefore by feeling and handling may you satisfy yourselves, that I am not a mere spirit, ghost, or soul, appearing, as others have frequently done, without a miracle; but that I appear in that very a Luke xxiv. 37. same solid body, wherein I was crucified by the Jews, by miraculous Divine power, raised out of the sepulchre, and now to be found no more there, Agreeable to which of our Saviour Christ is that of Apollonius in Philostratus ;" λαβοῦ μοι, ἔφη, καν μὲν διαφύγω σε, εἴδωλόν εἰμι· εἰ δὲ ὑπομείναιμι απτόμενος, πεῖθε καὶ ζῆν τέ με, καὶ μὴ ἀποβεβληκέναι τὸ σῶμα· Touch me and handle me, and if you find me to avoid the touch, then may you conclude me to be a spirit or ghost (that is, a soul departed); but if I firmly resist the same, then believe me really to live, and not yet to have cast off the body.-And, indeed, though spirits or ghosts had certain subtile bodies, which they could so far condense, as to make them sometimes visible to men; yet is it reasonable enough to think, that they could not constipate or fix them into such a firmness, grossness, and solidity, as that of flesh and bone is, to continue therein; or at least, not without such difficulty and pain, as would hinder them from attempting the same. Notwithstanding which, it is not denied, but that they may possibly sometimes make use of other solid bodies, moving and acting them, as in that famous story of Phlegon's," where the body vanished not, as other ghosts use to do, but was left a dead carcass behind. Now, as for our Saviour Christ's body, after his resurrection, and before his ascension; which notwithstanding its solidity in handling, yet sometimes vanished also out of his disciples' sight: this probably, as Origen conceived, was purposely conserved for a time, in a certain middle state, betwixt the crassities of a a In Vita Apollonii Tyanei, lib. ix. cap. xii. p. 355. b In Libello de Rebus Mirabilibus, cap. i. in Jac. Gronovii Thesauro Antiq. Græcar. tom. viii. p. 2694. |