Presumptions are of no weight against positive evidence; and every account of the resurrection assures us, that the body of Christ was seen, felt, and handled by many persons; who were called upon by Christ so to do, that they might be assured that he had flesh and bones, and was not a mere spectre, as they, in their first surprize, imagined him to be.  It is impossible that they who give this account, should mean, by anything they report, to imply that he had no real body; it is certain, then, that when the Gentleman makes use of what they say to this purpose, he uses their sayings contrary to their meaning:  for it is not pretended that they say, that Christ had not a real human body after the resurrection; nor is it pretended they had any such thought, except only upon the first surprize of seeing him, and before they had examined him with their eyes and hands.  But something they have said, which the Gentleman, according to his notions of philosophy, thinks, implies that the body was not real.  To clear this point, therefore, I must lay before you the passages referred to, and consider how justly the Gentleman reasons from them.

The first passage relates to Mary Magdalene, who, the first time she saw Christ, was going to embrace his feet, as the custom of the country was:  Christ says to her, [John 20:17] Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brethren and tell them, etc.  Hence the gentleman concludes, that Christ’s body was not such an one as would bear the touch.  But how does he infer this?  Is it from these words Touch me not?  It cannot be:  for thousands say it every day, without giving the least suspicion, that their bodies are not capable of being touched.  The conclusion then must be built on those other words, For I have not yet ascended to my Father. but what have these words to do with the reality of his body?  It might be real or not real, for anything that is here said.  There is a difficulty in these words, and it may be hard to give the true sense of them; but there is no difficulty in seeing that they have no relation to the nature of Christ’s body; for of his body nothing is said.  The natural sense of the place as I collect, by comparing this passage with Matthew 28:9 is this.  Mary Magdalene, upon seeing Jesus, fell at his feet, and laid hold of them and held them as if she meant never to let them go:  Christ said to her, “Touch me not, or hang not about me now; you will have other opportunities of seeing me for I go not yet to my Father:  lose no time then but go quickly with my message to my brethren.”  I am not concerned to support this particular interpretation of the passage; it is sufficient to my purpose, to show that the words cannot possibly relate to the nature of Christ’s body one way or other.

The next passage relates to Christ’s joining two of his disciples upon the road and conversing with them without being known by them:  it grew dark, they pressed him to stay with them that night; he went in with them, broke bread, blessed it, and gave it them, and then they knew him; and immediately he disappeared.