continues its union with the Body It signifies here the rational soul and the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Soul hath a very near affinity with the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the heavens and indeed there is a nearer affinity betwixt the things viz. Soul and Heaven than there is betwixt the Names The Epithete 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we translate Living the Arabick renders a rational Soul and indeed none but a rational deserves the name of a living Soul For all other forms or Souls which are of an earthly extract do both depend on and dye with the matter out of which they were educed But this being of another Nature a spiritual and substantial Being is therefore rightly stiled a living Soul The Chaldee renders it a Speaking Soul And indeed it deserves a remarque that the ability of Speech is conferred on no other Soul but mans Other creatures have apt and excellent Organs Birds can modulate the Air and form it into sweet delicious notes and charming sounds but no creature except man whose soul is of an heavenly nature and extraction can articulate the sound and form it into words by which the notions and sentiments of one Soul are in a noble apt and expeditious manner conveyed to the understanding of another Soul And indeed what should any other creature do with the faculty or power of speech without a principle of Reason to guide and govern it It is sufficient to them that they discern each others meaning by dumb signs much after the manner that we traded at first with the Indians But speech is proper only to the rational or living Soul However we render it a living a rational or a speaking Soul it distingisheth the soul of man from all other Souls 2. We find here the best account that ever was given of the Origin of the Soul of man or whence it came and from whom it derives its Being O what a dust and pudder have the disputes and contests of Philosophers raised about this matter which is cleared in a few words in this Scripture * Sufflavit ad ostendendum animam hominis ab extriâ—seâ—o esse per câ—tationem simulqut creando corpori insulam Poli Synops. in locum God breathed into his Nostrils the breath of life and Man became a living Soul which plainly speaks it to be the immediate effect of Gods creating power Not a result from the matter no no results flow è sinu materiae out of the bosom of matter but this comes ex halitu divino from the inspiration of God That which is born of the flesh is flesh But this is a spirit descending from the Father of spirits God formed it but not out of any praeexistent matter whether Coelestial or Terrestrial much less out of himself as the * The Stoicks saith Simplicius call the Soul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pars vâ—l membrum Dil and Seneca Deum in bumano corpore hospitantem Which comes near to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stoicks speak but out of nothing An high-born Creature it is but no particle of the Deity The indivisible and immutable Essence of God is utterly repugnant to such Notions and therefore they speak not strictly and warily enough that are bold to call it a Ray or an Emanation from God A Spirit it is and flows by way of Creation immediately from the Father of Spirits but yet 't is a spirit of another inferiour rank and order 3. We have also the account of the way and manner of its infusion into the body viz. by the same breath of God which gave it its being It is therefore a rational scriptural and justifiable expression of S. Augustine creando infunditur infundendo creatur It is infused in creating and created in infusing Though Dr. Brown * 〈◊〉 Midiâ— Seâ—t â— 6. too slightingly calls it a meer Rhetorical Antimetathesis Some of the Fathers as Iustine Irenaens and Tertullian were of opinion That the Son of God assumed a humane shape at this time in which afterward he often appeared to the Fathers as a Prelude to his true and real incarnation and took Dust or Clay in his hands out of which he formed the body of man according to the pattern of that body in which he appeared And that being done he afterwards by breathing infused the â—oul into it But I rather think it 's an Anthropopathy or usual figure in speech by which the spirit of God stoops to the imbecillity of our understanding's He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life Heb. lifes But this plural word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 notes rather the twofold life of man in this world and in that to come or the several faculties and powers belonging to one and the same soul viz. the intellective sensitive and vegetative Offices thereof than that there are more souls than one essentially differing in one and the same man for that as * Impassibile est in uno homine esse plures animas per essentiam differentes sed una tantum est anima quae vigitativae sensitivae intellâ—ctivae officiis sâ—ngitur Aquin â—a Q. 26. Art 2. Aquinas truly saith is impossible We cannot trace the way of the spirit or tell in what manner it was united with this clod of Earth But it is enough that he who formed it did also unite or marry it to the body This is clear it came not by way of natural resultancy from the body but by way of inspiration from the Lord. Not from the warm bosom of the Matter but from the breath of its Maker 4. Lastly we have here the Nexus Copula tye or band by which it is united with the body of man viz. the breath of his i.e. of mans nostrils It is a most astonishing mysterie to see heaven and earth married together in one person The dust of the ground and an immortal spirit clasping each other with such dear embraces and tender love Such a noble and divine guest to take up its residence within the mudd-walls of flesh and blood Alas how little affinity and yet what dear affection is found betwixt them Now that which so sweetly links these two different natures together and holds them in union is nothing else but the breath of our nostrils as the Text speaks It came in with the breath whilst breath stays with us it cannot go from us and as soon as the breath departs it departs also All the rich Elixirs and Cordials in the world cannot perswade it to stay one minute after the breath is gone One puff of breath will carry away the wisest holiest and most desirable soul that ever dwelt in flesh and blood When our breath is corrupt our days are extinct Job 1â— 1 Thou takest away their breath they dye and return to their dust Psal. 104.29 Out of the Text thus opened arise two doctrinal Propositions which I shall insist upon viz. Doct. I. That the Soul of man is of
and perfect than when the Body in an Ecstasie is laid aside as to any use or assistance of the mind The Soul for that space uses not the Bodies assistance as the very words Ecstasie and Rapture convince us Si autem hoc non est ex natura animae sed per accidens hoc convenit ei ex to quod corpori alligatur sicut Platonics posuâ—runt de facili quaestio solvi possit Nam remoto impedimento corporis rediret anima ad suam naturam Aquin. p. 1. Q. 8. Art 1. 2. To understand by Species doth not agree to the Soul naturally and necessarily but by accident as it is now in Union with the Body Were it but once loosed from the Body it would understand better without them than ever it did in the Body by them A Man that is on Horse-back must move according to the motion of the Horse he rides but if he were on Foot he then uses his own proper motion as he pleaseth So here But though we grant the Soul doth in many cases now make use of Phantasms and that the agitation of the Spirits which are in the Brain and Heart are conjunct with its acts of Cogitation and Intellection Yet as a searching Scholar well observes The Spirits are rather Subjects than Instruments of those actions And the whole essence of those acts is antecedent to the motion of the Spirits As when we use a Pen in writing or a Knife in cutting How 's Blessedness pag. 174 175. there is an operation of the Soul upon them before there can be any operation by them They act as they are first acted and so do these bodily Spirits So that to speak properly the Body is bettered by the use the Soul makes of it in these its noble actions but the Soul is not advantaged by being tied to such a Body It can do its own work without it its operations follow its essence not the Body to which it is for a time united In summ 'T is much more absonous and difficult to conceive a stupefied benumbed and unactive Soul whose very nature is to be active lively and always in motion than it is to conceive a Soul freed from the shackles and clogs of the Body acting freely according to its own nature I wish the favourers of this Opinion may take heed lest it carry them farther than they intend even to a denial of its Existence and Immortality and turn them into down-right Sâ—matists or Atheists PROP. VI. That the separated Souls of the just having finished all their work of obedience on earth and the Spirit having finished all his work of Sanctification upon them they do ascend to God with all the habits of Grace inherent in them and all the comfortable improvements of their Graces accompanying and following them THis Proposition is to be opened and confirmed in these four Branches 1 When a gracious Soul is separated from the Body all its work of obedience in this World is finished Therefore death is called the finishing of our course Acts 20.24 the night when man works no more Iohn 9.4 There is no working in the grave Eccles. 9.10 for death dissolves the Compositum and removes the Soul immediately to another World where it can act for it self only but not for others as it was wont to do on earth I shall see man no more saith Hezekiah with the Inhabitants of the World Isaiah 38.11 that which was said of David's death is as true of every Christian that having served his Generation according to the Will of God he fell asleep Acts 13.36 I do not say this lower World receives no benefit at all by them after their death for though they can speak no more write no more pray for and instruct the Inhabitants of this World no more nor exhibit to them the beauty of Religion in any new acts or examples of theirs which is that I mean by saying they have finished all their work of obedience on earth Yet the benefit of what they did whilst in the Body still remains after they are gone as the Apostle speaks of Abel Hebr. 11.4 Who being dead yet speaketh This way indeed abundance of service will be done for the Souls of men upon earth long after they are gone to Heaven And this should greatly quicken us to leave as much as we can behind us for the good of Posterity that after our decease as the Apostle speaks 2 Pet. 1.15 they may have our words and examples in remembrance But for any service to be done de novo after death it is not to be expected We have accomplished as an Hireling our day and have not a stroke more to do 2 As all our work of obedience is then finished by us so at death all the Work of God is finished by his Spirit upon us The last hand is then put to all the preparatory work for glory not a stroke more to be done upon it afterward which appears as well by the immediate succession of the life of glory whereof I shall speak in another Proposition as by the cessation of all sanctifying means and instruments which are totally laid aside as things of no more use after this stroke is given Adepto fine cessant media Means are useless when the end is attain'd There is no work saith Solomon in the Grave How short soever the Souls stay and abode in the Body was though it were regenerated one day and separated the next yet all that is wrought upon it which God ever intended should be wrought in this World and there is no preparation-work in the other World 3 But though the Soul leave all the means of grace behind it yet it carries away with it to Heaven all those habits of grace which were planted and improved in it in this World by the blessing of the Spirit upon those means though it leave the Ordinances it loseth not the effects and fruits of them though they cease their effects still live The truth dwelleth in us and shall be in us for ever 1 John 2.17 The Seed of God remaineth in us 1 John 3.9 Common gifts fall at death but saving grace sticks fast in the Soul and ascends with it into glory Gracious habits are inseparable Glory doth not destroy but perfect them They are the Souls meetness for Heaven Col. 1.12 and therefore it shall not come into his presence leaving its meetness behind it In vain is all the work of the Spirit upon us in this World if we carry it not along with us into that World seeing all his works upon us in this life have a respect and relation to the life to come Look therefore as the same natural Faculties and Powers which the Soul had though it could not use them in its imperfect Body in the Womb came with it into this World where they freely exerted themselves in the most noble actions of natural life so the habits of Grace which by Regeneration are here
against the persecutors thereof Rev. 6. 10. Nor do I think those words Isai. 63.16 repugnant hereunto Abraham is ignorant of us and Israel acknowledgeth us not For I look upon the import of those words only as an humble acknowledgment of their defection which rendered them unworthy that their Forefathers should own or acknowledg them any more for their children Iob. 14. 21. Eccles. 9. 5,6 John 19.25 and not as implying their utter ignorance or total oblivion of the Churches state on earth But I here understand such a particular knowledg of our personal states and conditions as they once had when they dwelt amongst us in the Body and this seems to be denied them by those Scriptures alledged against it in the margent 3. By commerce and intercourse understand not their intercession with God for us which the Papists affirm but their concernments about our natural or civil interest in this World so as to be useful to our persons by warning us of death or dangers or to our Estates by disquieting such as wrong us in not fulfilling the Wills and Testaments they once made or by giving us notice by words or signs of the death of our friends who died at a distance from us or come to some violent and untimely end The sense of the Words being thus determined and the Question so stated I will for the resolution of it give you 1. The strength of what I find offered for the Affirmative 2. The general Concessions or what may be granted 3. My own judgement about it with the grounds thereof 1 Some there are even among the learned and judicious who are for the Affirmative part of the Question and do with much confidence assert that departed Souls both know our particular concerns in this world and intermeddle with them confirming their assertion both by reasons to convince us that it may be so and variety of instances that it is so I will produce both the one and the other and give them a due consideration and censure The substance of what is pleaded for the affirmative I find thus collected and improved by Dr. Sterne a learned Physician in Ireland Dissentatio de morte à p. 208. ad p. 214. in his Book entituled a Dissertation concerning Death where he offers us these four Arguments to convince that is possible for departed Souls thus to appear and perform such offices for their Friends on Earth Argument I. ANgels by command from God are useful and helpful to men (1) Angeli jussu Dei hominibus opitulantur haâ—d quaquam ambigitur unde animas à corpore solutas sese reb s humanis miscere comprobari videtur Sequtlae sundamentum duplex est prius quod animae separatae Angeli sunt saltem Angelis aequales posterius quod magis idonti sunt quibus officium generi humano succurrendi demandetur quà m Spiâ—itus inter quos corpus nullus unquam intercessit nexus c. they are the Saints Guardians and it is probable that each Christian hath his peculiar Angel whence it will follow that separated Souls do mingle themselves with humane affairs and that because they are Angels at least equal unto Angels Luke 20.36 Besides they being Spirits that were once embodied must needs be more fit for this imployment than those who never had any tie at all to a Body unless we can imagine them to have lost the remembraâ—â—â— of all that ever they did and suffered in the Body as also that they put off and buried all their affections to us with their Bodies which is hard to think Even as Christ our High-Priest is qualified for that office above all others in Heaven because he once dwelt and suffered in a Body like ours here upon Earth so separated Souls are qualified above all other Spirits who are unrelated to Bodies of flesh Argument II. THE Church triumphant and militant are but one Body (2) Ecclesia est corpus unum cujus membra quo meliora to magis ad aliis ejusdem corporis membris oâ—itâ—landum sunt propensa hujus autem corporis pars altera est triumphans in coelis altera militans in terris illa melior hec opis magis indiga c. and by how much better the triumphant are than the militant by so much the more propense they are to succour and help the other that stand in need of it This being the case we cannot imagine but they are inclined to perform all good Offices for us for else they should do less for us now they are in a state of highest perfection in Heaven than they did or were willing to do in their imperfect state on Earth Argument III. A Will or Testament as Vlpian defines it is the just sentence or declaration of our minds concerning that which we would have done after our decease (3) Testamentum Ulpiano definiente est voluntatis nostra justa sententia de co quod post mortem nostram fieri volumus Testamentum autem tanquam res sacra ab omnibus gentibus religiosâ— observatur Gal. 3.15 Ratio autem tam religiosa taniq universalis observantia est quoniam animas corum qui Testamenta condiderant etiam suam post mortem in tadem voluntate perseverare ejus complementa curare ac deinque ejus vel executrices vel non praestila vindices esse praesumitur These Testaments have always and among all Nations been religiously observed as the Apostle witnesseth Gal. 3.15 The reasons of this so religious observance are a presumption that those who made them when a live continue in the same mind and will after death that they take care for the fulfilling of them and revenge the non-performance upon the unjust Executors For otherwise there can be no reason why so great a stress should be laid upon the Will of the Dead if they care not whether their Wills be performed or no. Why should we be so solicitous and studious about it and pay so great reverence to it but on this account Argument IV. (4) In sacris Scripturis consulere mortuos paâ—sâ—m prohibetur ut Deut. 18.10 11. Sed si homines à mortuis non suscitentur legibus haâ—d opus est si mortuirogati non aliquando responderent ab hominibus haudquaquam coâ—â—â—â—erentur Sterne de Morte ubi sup THe Scriptures forbid consultations with the Dead Deut. 18.10 11. This prohibition supposeth some did consult them and received answers from them which must needs imply some commerce betwixt the Living and the Souls that are departed And considering he had before forbidden their consultation with the Devil it appears that here we must needs understand the very Souls of the Dead and not the Devil personating them only These are the Arguments of this learned Author for the Affirmative which he closes with two necessary Cautions First That this layes no foundation for religious Worship or Invocation of departed Souls Those that are helpful to us are not therefore
Dinner though an handsom Treat was provided these words were sounding in his ears frequently during the remainder of his life he was never shy or scrupulous to relate it to any that asked him concerning it nor ever mentioned it but with horrour and trepidation they were both men of a brisk humour and jolly Conversation of very quick and keen parts having been both Vniversity and Inns-of-Court Gentlemen The Apparition of the Ghost of Sir George Villiers Father of the Duke of Buckingham giving three solemn warnings by three several Apparitions to his Servant Mr. Parker is a known and credible Story But I will wade no farther into Particulars they are almost innumerable let these suffice for a taste 2 In the next place therefore I will lay down some Concessions about this matter and the First Concession is this That the separated Souls or Spirits of men are capable of performing and executing any Ministry or Service for God if he should please to commissionate them so to do as well as Angels are whom we know he frequently imploys about the persons and affairs of his people on earth Though they become not Angels by their separation as Maximus Tyrius calls them but remain Spirits specifically distinct from them yet are they Spiritual Substances as the Angels are This their nature capacitates them either to live and act out of the Body or to assume as Angels do an aerial Body for the time of their Ministry nor do I know any thing in Scipture or Philosophy repugnant hereunto Concession 2. It cannot be doubted but upon some special and extraordinary reasons and occasions some departed Souls have returned to and appeared in this World by order and commission from God This is too manifest to be doubted by any that understands and believes the instances recorded in Scripture Moses and Elias long after their departure appeared to and talked with Christ upon the holy Mount in the presence of some of his Apostles Matth. 17.3 nor is there any reason to question the reality of their Apparition or to think it to be no more than a Phantasm Non enim conveniâ—bat ut veritas mendacio vel imaginariis testibus probaretur Maldon Capellus in loc or imaginary resemblance of these persons but very Moses and Elias themselves For they came to be Witnesses to Christs Prophetical office and it was not fit so great a point should be attested by imaginary Witnesses or that they should be called Moses and Elias if they were not the very same persons 'T is therefore most likely they both appeared in their own Bodies Credibilius est verè corporibus suis apparnisse Parcus in loc for Moses's Body we know was hidden by the Lord aud Elias his Body immediately translated with his Soul to Heaven when therefore the Lord would send them upon this solemn errand the Soul of Moses probably re-assumed that Body which was never found by man and Elias was already embodied and fit immediately for this Expedition In like manner we read Matth. 27.52 53. that at the Resurrection of our Lord many Bodies of the Saints arose and appeared unto many these were no Phantasms but the very Souls of the departed Saints returned having re-assumed their own Bodies unto this World not only to confirm the truth of Christs Resurrection and adorn that great day But as a Specimen or handsel of the Resurrection of all the Saints in the vertue of his Resurrection at the great Day Nor will I deny but upon some lesser though never without weighty and solemn occasions and reasons God may sometimes send the Souls of the dead back again into this World as in the cases before recited to evidence against the Atheism of men c. Augustine relates a memorable example which fell out at Millan Aug. in lib. de cura promortuis agenda where a certain Citizen being dead there came a Creditor to whom he had been indebted and unjustly demanded the money of his Son The Son knew the Debt was satisfied by his Father but having no Acquittance to shew his Father appeared to him in his sleep and shew'd him where the Acquittance lay whether it were the very Soul of his Father or rather an Angel as Augustine thinks is not certain though the one as well as the other be possible But though rarely and upon some weighty and solemn occasions some Souls have returned and appeared yet I judge this is not frequently done upon slight and ordinary errands and therefore to give you my own thoughts I judge 3 That those Apparitions which seem to be and are generally reputed and taken for the Souls of the Dead are not indeed so but other Spirits putting on the shapes and resemblances of the Dead and for the most part tricks of the Devil to delude or disquiet men Religio Med. Sect. 37. p. 82. In this I think the learned Dr. Brown delivered his judgment more solidly and orthodoxly than in some other points when he saith I believe that the whole frame of a Beast doth perish and is left in the same State after death as before it was martialled into life That the Souls of men know neither contrary nor corruption that they subsist beyond the body and continue by the priviledge of their proper nature and without a Miracle that the Souls of the faithful as they leave earth take possession of Heaven That those Apparitions and Ghosts of departed persons are not the wandering Souls of men but the unquiet Walks of Devils prompting and suggesting us unto mischief blood and Villany And with this Opinion I concur as to the ordinary and common Apparitions of the dead and my Reasons are 1 Because the Scriptures every where describe the state of departed Souls as a fixed state either in Heaven or in Hell and assigns the good or evil done in this World by Spirits not to the departed Spirits of men but to Angels or Devils and it is our duty to regulate our Conceits by Scripture and not according to the vain Philosophy of the Heathens or the Superstitious Traditions and Opinions of Men. As for the Souls of the godly they are at rest with Christ Rev. 14.13 Isai. 57.2 and as fixed as pillars in the house of God Rev. 3.12 And for the wicked their Spirits are confin'd and secured in Hell as in a Prison 1 Pet. 3.19 there is a fixed Gulph betwixt them and the living Luke 16.27 28 29 30 31. What good offices are to be done by Spirits for us the Angels are Gods Commission-Officers to do them Hebr. 1.14 They are all ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of Salvation these are the Spirits sent forth to walk to and fro through the earth Zech. 1.10 their Ministry was emblematically represented in Iacob's Vision where they were seen ascending and descending as upon a Ladder betwixt Heaven and Earth Gen. 28.12 Yea their very name Angel is a name of office
were in the World and if it should be ours also we should not be much startled at it considering these Bodies of ours must be shortly pent up in a straiter darker and more loathsome place of confinement than any prison in this World can be The grave is a darker place Iob 17.13 And your abode there will be longer Eccles. 11.8 These and all other our outward enjoyments are separable things and its good thus to alleviate our loss of them Inference VI. HOw Heavenly should the tempers and frawles of those Souls be who are Candidates for Heaven and must be so shortly numbred with the Spirits of just men made perfect 'T is reasonable that we all begin to be that which we expect to be for ever To learn that way of living and conversing which we believe must be our everlasting life and business in the World to come Let them that hope to live with Angels in Heaven learn to live like Angels on Earth in Holiness Activity and ready obedience There is the greatest reason that our minds be there where our Souls are to be for ever A spiritual mind will be found possible congruous sweet and evidential of our interest in that glory to all those holy Souls who are preparing and designed for it First it is possible notwithstanding the clogs and entanglements of the Body to be heavenly minded Others have attained it Philip. 3.20 Two things make an heavenly conversation possible to men viz. 1. The natural abilities of the Mind 2. The gracious principles of the Mind 1. The natural abilities of the mind which can in a minutes time dispatch a nimble messenger to Heaven and mount its thoughts from this to that World in a trice The power of cogitation is a rich endowment of the Soul such as no other creature on earth is participant of Though spiritual thoughts be not the natural growth of the Soul yet thoughts capable of being spiritualized are And without this ability of projecting thoughts all intercourse must have been cut off 2. The gracious principles implanted in the Soul do actually incline the mind and mount its thoughts heaven-ward Yea this will prove more than a possibility of a conversation in Heaven whilst Saints tabernacle on earth in Bodies of flesh it will almost prove an impossibility that it should be otherwise For these spiritual principles setting the bent and tendency of the heart heaven-ward we must act against the very law of our new Nature when we place our affections elsewhere Secondly A mind in heaven is most congruous decorous and comely for those that are the enrolled inhabitants of that heavenly City Where should a Christians love be but where his Lord is Our hearts and our homes do not use to be long asunder It becomes you so to think and so to speak now as those who make account to be shortly singing Allelujahs before the throne Thirdly 'T is most sweet and delightful no pleasure in all this World comparable to this pleasure Rom. 8.6 To be spiritually minded is life and peace 'T is a young Heaven born in the Soul in its way thither Fourthly To conclude It is evidential of your interest in it an agreable frame is the surest title Col. 3.1 2. Matth 6.21 If Heaven attract your minds now it will centre them for ever USE II. THis Doctrine of the separation of the Spirits of the Just from their Bodies as it lyes before you in this Discourse affords a singular help to all the people of God to entertain lovely and pleasant thoughts of that day to make death not only an unregretted but a most pleasant and desirable thing to their Souls I know there is a pure simple natural fear of death from which you must not expect to be perfectly freed by all the Arguments in the World And there is a reverential awful fear of death which it would be your prejudice and loss to have destroyed You will have a natural and ought to have a reverential fear of death the one flows from your sensitive the other from your sanctified nature But it is a third sort of fear which doth you all the mischief a fear springing in gracious Souls out of the weakness of their Graces and the strength of their unmortified affections A fear arising partly out of the darkness of our minds and partly out of the sensuality and earthlyness of our hearts this fear is that which so convulseth our Souls when death is near and imbitters our lives even whilst it is at a distance He that hath been over-heated in his affections to this World and over-cooled by diversions and temptations neglects and intermissions to that World cannot chuse but give an unwilling shrug if not a frightful screech at the appearance of death And this being the sad case of too many good and upright Souls for the main and there being so few even amongst serious Christians that have attained to that courage and complacence in the thoughts of death which the Apostle speaks of 2 Cor. 5.8 to be both confident and willing rather to be absent from the Body and to be present with the Lord I will from this discourse furnish them with some special assistance therein But withal I must tell you upon what great disadvantages I am here to dispute with your fears so strong is the current of natural and vicious fear that except a special hand of God back and set on the Arguments that shall be urged they will be as easily swept away before it as so many Straws by a rapid Torrent nor will it be to any more purpose to oppose my breath to them than to the Tides and Waves of the Sea Moreover I am fully convinced by long and often experience how unsteady and inconstant the frames and tempers of the best hearts are and that if it be not full home yet it is next to an impossibility to fix them in such a temper as this I aim at is Where is that man to be found who after the revolutions of many years and in those years various dispensations of providence without him altering his condition and greater variety of temptations within can yet say notwithstanding all these various aspects and positions his heart hath still held one steddy and invariable tenour and course Alas there be very few if any of such sound and Athletick temper of mind whose pulse beats with an even stroke through all inequalities of condition alike free and willing at one time as another to be uncloathed of the Body and to be with Christ. This heighth of faith and depth of mortification this strength of love to Christ and ardour of holy desire are degrees of grace to which very few attain The case standing thus it is no more than needs to urge all sorts of Arguments upon our timorous and unsteady hearts and it 's like to prove an hard and difficult task to bring the heart but to a quiet and unregretting submission to the appointment
shall be done for them Is there no way for their deliverance O that God would direct and bless the following considerations to them if it may be expected they may at any time get through the brake in which they are involved and find them at leisure to bethink themselves The sixth way to Hell shut up by five Considerations 1. Bethink thy self poor Soul as much as thou art involved and plunged in the necessities and distracting cares of this life others many others as poor as necessitous and every way as much embroil'd in the cares of the world as you are have minded their Souls and taken all care and pains for their Salvation notwithstanding yea though millions of your rank and order are destroyed by these snares of the Devil yet God hath a very great number indeed the greatest of any rank of men among those that are low poor and necessitous in the world The Church is called the Congregation of the poor Psal. 74.20 because it consisteth mostly of men and women of the lowest and most despicable condition in this world They are all poor in Spirit and most of them poor in purse Hearken my beloved Brethren saith Iames hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom Jam. 2.5 Now if others many others as much intangled in the necessities cares and troubles of the world as you have yet struggled through all those difficulties and discouragements to Heaven why should not you strive for Christ and Salvation as well as they Your Souls are as valuable as theirs and their discouragements and hinderances as great and as many as yours 2. Consider your poor and necessitous condition in the world hath something in it of motive and advantage to excite and quicken you to a greater diligence for Salvation than is found in a more full easie and prosperous state for God hath hereby imbitter'd this world to you and made you drink deeper of the troubles of it than other men they have the honey and you the gall they have the flour and you the bran But then as yoâ— have not the pleasures so you have not the snares of a prosperous condition and your daily troubles cares and labours in it do even prompt you to seek rest in Heaven which you cannot find on Earth Can you think you were made for a worse condition than the Beasts what to have two Hells one here and another hereafter Surely as low miserable and despicable as you are you are capable of as much happiness as any of the Nobles of the World and in your low and afflicted condition stand nearer to the door of hope than they do Ah! methinks these thoughts do even put themselves upon you when your spirits are overloaded with the cares and your bodies tired with the labours of this life Is this the life of troubles I must expect on Earth Hath God denied me the pleasures of this World O then let it be my care my study my business to make sure of Christ to win Heaven that I may not be miserable in both Worlds How can you avoid such thoughts or put by such meditations which your very station and condition even forceth upon you 3. Consider how all your troubles in this World would be sweetned and all your burdens lightned if once your Souls were in Christ and in Covenant with God O what hearts-ease would Faith give you What sweet relief would you find in Prayer These things like the opening of a Vein or Tumor when ripe would suddenly cool relieve and ease your spirits Could you but go to God as a Father and pour out your hearts before him and roll all your cares and burdens wants and sorrows upon him you would find a speedy out-let to yâ—ur troubles and an inlet to all peace all comfort and all refreshments such as all the riches honours and fulness of this world cannot give you would then find Providence engage it self for your supply and issue all your troubles to your advantage Heb. 13.5 Isa. 41.17 Psal. 34.9 10. Psal. 91.15 Rom. 8.28 You would suck the breasts of those Promises in the Margent and say all the dainties in the world cannot make you such another Feast You would then see your bread your cloaths and all provisions for you and yours in Gods promises when you are brought to an exigence and would certainly find performances as well as promises all along the course of your life 4. Say not you have no time to mind another world God hath not put any of you under such an unhappy necessity you have one whole day every week allowed you by God and Man for your Souls you have some spare time every day which you know you spend worse than in heavenly thoughts and exercises yea most Callings are such as will admit of spiritual exercises of thoughts even when your hands are exercised in the affairs of this life Besides there are none of you but have and must have daily some relaxations and rest from business and if your hearts were spiritual and set upon Heaven you would find more time than you think on without prejudice to your Callings yea to the great furtherance of them to spend with God I can tell you when and where I have found poor Servants hard at work for Salvation labouring for Christ some in the Fields others in Barns and Stables where they could find any privacy to pour out their Souls to God in prayer As Lovers will make hard shifts to converse together so will the Soul that is devoted to God and in earnest for Heaven And though your opportunities be not so large they may be as sweet as successful and to be sure sincere as those whose condition affords them more time and greater external conveniencies than you enjoy More business is sometimes dispatcht in a quarter of an hour in prayer yea let me say in a few hearty ejaculations of Soul to God in a few minutes than in many long and elaborate duties If thou cast in thy two mites of time into the Treasury of Prayer having no more thou mayst as Christ said of the poor Widow give more than those that cast in of their great abundance of time and Talents 5. Lastly Consider Jesus Christ is no Respecter of persons the poorest and vilest on earth are as welcome to him as the greatest He chose a poor and mean condition in this World himself conversed mostly among the poor never refused any because of his poverty God accepteth not the persons of Princes nor regardeth the rich more than the poor for they are all the work of his hands Job 34.19 and that both in respect of their natural constitution as men and their Civil condition as rich or poor men Riches and poverty make a great difference in the respects of men but none at all with God If thou be one of Gods poor he will accept love and honour thee above the greatest if
Πνευματολογια· A TREATISE Of the Soul of Man WHEREIN The Divine Original excellent and immortal Nature of the Soul are opened its Love and Inclination to the Body with the necessity of its separation from it considered and improved The Existence Operations and States of separated Souls both in Heaven and Hell immediately after death asserted discussed and variously applyed Divers knotty and difficult Questions about departed Souls both Philosophical and Theological stated and determined The Invaluable preciousness of humane Souls and the various Artifices of Satan their professed Enemy to destroy them discovered And the great Duty and interest of all men seasonably and heartily to comply with the most great and gracious design of the Father Son and Spirit for the Salvation of their Souls argued and pressed By IOHN FLAVEL Minister of the Gospel of Iesus Christ late of Dartmouth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Trism 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phocylides Quid de Turcis Tartaris Moschis Indis Persis aliisque omnibus nunc temporis Barbaris Nationibus dicâm Nemo tam Barbarus aut impius est qui non sentiat post mortem superesse loca in quibus animae aut pro malefactis puâ—iantur aut coronentur deliciisque perfruantur pro benefactis Zanch. de Animae immortalitate p. 653. London Printed for Francis Tyton at the Three Daggers in Fleetstreet 1685. To the much honoured his dear Kinsman Mr. Iohn Flavell and Mr. Edward Crispe of London Merchants and the rest of my worthy Friends in London Ratcliffe Shadwell and Lymehouse Grace Mercy and Peace Dear Friends AMong all the Creatures in this lower World none deserves to be stiled great Nihil interra magnum praeter hominem nihil in homine praeter mentem Favorin Eâ—coelo descendit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Juvenal Nulla scientia melior illa qua homo novit scripsum relinque ergo caetera teipsum discute per te curre in te confiste à te incipiat cogitatio tua in te finiatur but Man and in Man nothing is found worthy of that Epithet but his Soul The study and knowledge of the Soul was therefore always reckoned a rich and necessary improvement of time All Ages have magnified these two words know thy self as an Oracle descending from Heaven No knowledge saith Bernard is better than that whereby we know our selves leave other matters therefore and search thy self run through thy self make a stand in thy self let thy thoughts as it were circulate begin and end in thy self Strain not thy thoughts in vain about other things thy self being neglected The study and knowledge of Iesus Christ must still be allow'd to be most excellent and necessary But yet the Worth of Necessity of Christ is unknown to Men till the value wants and dangers of their own Souls be first discovered to them The disaffectedness and aversation of men to the study of their own Souls is the more to be admired not only because of the weight and necessity of it but the alluring pleasure and sweetness that is found therein What * Quid jucundius quam scire quid simus quid fuerimus quid â—rimus cum his etiam divina atque suprema illa post obitum Mundique vicissitudines Cardan speaks is experimentally felt by many that scarce any thing is more pleasant and delectable to the Soul of man than to know what he is what he may and shall be and what those Divine and Supream things are which he is to enjoy after death and the Vicissitudes of this present World For we are Creatures conscious to our selves of an immortal Nature and that we have something about us which must overlive this mortal flesh and is therefore ever and anon some way or other hinting and intimating to us its expectations of and designations for a better life than that it now lives in the Body and that we shall not cease to bee when we cease to breathe And certainly my Friends Discourses of the Soul and its immortality of Heaven and of Hell the next and only receptacles of unbodied Spirits were never more seasonable and necessary than in this Atheistical age of the World wherein all serious piety and thoughts of immortality are ridicul'd and hissed out of the company of many As if those old condemned Hereticks the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who asserted the corruptibility and mortality of the Soul as well as Body had been again revived in our days And as the Atheism of some so the tepidity and unconcerned carelessness of the most needs and calls for such potent Remedies as Discourses of this kind do plentifully afford I dare appeal to your charitable Judgments whether the Conversations and Discourses of the Many do indeed look like a serious pursuit of Heaven and a flight from Hell Long have my thoughts bended towards this great and excellent Subject and many earnest desires I have had as I believe all thinking persons must needs have to know what I shall be when I breathe not But when I had engaged my Meditations about it two great rubs opposed the farther progress of my thoughts therein Namely I. The difficulty of the Subject I had chosen And II. The distractions of the times in which I was to write upon it I. As for the Subject such is the subtilty and sublimity of its nature and such the knotty Controversies in which it is involv'd that it much better deserves that inscription than Minerva's Temple at Saum did * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Never did any Mortal reveal me plainly Animam praesentem mentis acie vix aut ne vix quidem assequimur sed qualis sit futura quomodo indagabimus Laboranthic maxima ingenia caligo conatus etiam generosos non rarò eludit Jos. Stern de Morte cap. 20. It is but little that the most clear and sharp-sighted do discern of their own Souls now in the state of composition and what then can we positively and distinctly know of the life they live in the state of Separation The darkness in which these things are involved doth greatly exercise even the greatest Witts and frequently elude and frustrate the most generous attempts Many great Scholars whose natural and acquired abilities singularly furnished and qualified them to make a clearer discovery have laboured in this field usque ad sudorem pallorem even to sweat and paleness and done little more but intangle themselves and the Subject more than before This cannot but discourage new attempts And yet without some knowledge of the hability and subjective capacity of our Souls to enjoy the good of the World to come even in a state of absence from the Body a principal relief must be cut off from them under the great and manifold tryals they are to encounter in this evil World As for my self I assure you I am deeply sensible of the inequality of my shoulders to this Burthen and have often enough since I undertook it of that
humane souls to be created together before their bodies and placed in some glorious and suitable Mansions as the Stars till at last growing weary of Heavenly and falling in love with Earthly things for a punishment of that Crime they were cast into Bodies as into so many Prisons Origen suckt in this Notion of the praeexistence of Souls And upon this supposition it was that Porphyry tells us in the life of Plotinus that he blushed as often as he thought of his being in a Body as a man that had lived in reputation and honour blushes when he is lodged in a Prison The ground on which the Stoicks bottomed their Opinion was the great dignity and excellency of the Soul which inclined them to think they had never been degraded and abased as they are by dwelling in such vile bodies but for their faults And that it was for some former sin of theirs that they slid down into gross matter and were caught into a vital union with it Whereas had they not sinned they had lived in celestial and splendid habitations more suitable to their dignity But this is a pure creature of fancy for 1. no Soul in the world is conscious to it self of such a praeexistence nor can remember when it was owner of any other habitation than that it now dwells in 2. Nor doth the Scripture give us the least hint of any such thing Some indeed would catch hold of that expression Gen. 2. 2. God rested the seventh day from all the works which he had made And it is true he did so the work of Creation was finished and sealed up as to any new species or kind of creatures to be created no other sort of souls will ever be created than that which was at first But yet God still creates individual Souls My father worketh hitherto and I work of the same kind and nature with Adams Soul And 3. for their detrusion into these bodies as a punishment of their sins in the former state if we speak of sin in Individuals or particular persons the Scripture mentions none either original or actual defiling any Soul in any other way but by its union with the body Praeexistence therefore is but a Dream But to me it 's clear that the Soul receives not its being by Traduction or Generation for that which is generable is also corruptible but the spiritual immortal Soul as it hath been proved to be is not subject to Corruption Nor is it imaginable how a Soul should be produced out of matter which is not endued with reason Or how a bodily Substance can impart that to another which it hath not in it self If it be said the Soul of the child proceeds from the Soul of the Parents that cannot be for spiritual Substances are impartible and nothing can be discinded from them Absâ—rdum est aliunde esse animam â—â—stâ—am aliunde animam Adae cum omnes sunt ejusdem speciti Zanch. And it is absurd to think the Soul of Adam should spring from one Original and the souls of all his off-spring from another whilst both his and theirs are of one and the same Nature and species To all which let me add that as this Assertion of their Creation is most reasonable so it is most scriptural It is reasonable to think and say †Nalla virtus aâ—liâ—a agit ultâ—a sâ—â—m genus sâ—d Anima â—â—tellectiva excedit totum genus corporae natarae cum sit sâ—bstantia sâ—iritualis c. Conâ—ubâ— that no active power can act beyond or above the proper Sphere of its activity and ability But if the Soul be elicited out of the power of matter here would be an effect produced abundantly more noble and excellent than his cause And as it is most reasonable so it is most Scriptural To this purpose divers Testimonies of Scripture are cited and produced by our Divines amongst which we may single out these four which are of special remark and use Heb. 12.9 Furthermore we had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of Spirits and live Here God is called the Father of Spirits or of Souls and that in an emphatical Antithesis or contradistinction to our natural Fathers who are called the Fathers of our Flesh or Bodies only The true scope and sense of this Text is with great judgment and clearness given us by that learned and judicious Divine Mr. * Pembâ—e de Origine Animae p. 59. Nihil apertins 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ista Antithesi Carnem corpusque à pareâ—tibâ—s animas à Deo accipimus Quod si vilioris partis Authores qui minus in nos juris habent patienter caâ—ligantes fâ—â—â—imus quà m aequiore animo â—â—remus eâ—m qui sâ—premum in nos jus obtinet utpote partis quae in nobis est praestantiâ—sima unicus Datoâ— Conditorquâ— Pemble in these words Nothing is more plain and emphatical than this Antithesis We receive our flesh or body from our Parents but our souls from God if then we patiently bear the chastisements of our Parents who are Authors of the vilest part and have the least right or power over us with how much more equal a mind should we bear his chastisements who hath the supream right to us as he is the Father and only giver of that which is most excellent in us viz. our souls or spirits Here it seems evident that our souls flow not to us in the material Chanel of fleshly generation or descent as our bodies do but immediately from God their proper Father in the way of Creation Yet he begets them not out of his own Essence or Substance as Christ his natural Son is begotten but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of nothing that had been before as Theodoret well expresseth it Agreeable hereunto is that place also in †Testimonium satis clarum quo docâ—mur pari passâ— haectria ambulare expansionem câ—â—li fâ—â—dationem teâ—rae â—ormationem animae ratioâ—alis Zech. 12.1 The Lord which stretcheth forth the Heavens and layeth the foundations of the Earth and formeth the spirit of man within him Where the forming of the spirit or soul of Man is associated with those two other glorious effects of Gods creating power namely the expansion of the Heavens and laying the foundations of the Earth all three are here equally assumed by the Lord as his remarkable and glorious works of Creation He that created the one did as much create the other Now the two former we â—ind frequently instanced in Scripture as the effects of his creating Power or works implying the Almighty power of God and therefore are presented as strong props to our Faith when it is weak and staggering for want of visible matter of incouragement Isa. 40.22 and 42.5 Ierem. 10.12 Iob 9.8 Psal. 104.2 q. d. Are my people in Captivity and their Faith nonplust and at a loss
noble Souls in the manner of life with the Beasts that perish Our Tables differ little from the Crib at which they feed or our Houses from the Stalls and Stables in which they lie down to rest in respect of any Divine worship or Heavenly communication that is to be heard there Happy had it been for such men if so they live and dye that their souls had been of no higher Extraction or larger Capacity or longer Duration than that of a Beast for then as their comforts so also their miseries had ended at death And such they will one day wish they had been A Separate Soul immediately capable of Blessedness Inference II. THe Soul of Man being a Substance and not depending in its Being on the Body or any other fellow creature There can be no reason on the Souls account why its blessedness should be delayed till the Resurrection of the Body 'T is a great mistake and 't is well 't is so that the Soul is capable only of social Glory or a Blessedness in partnership with the Body And that it can neither exert its own powers nor enjoy its own happiness in the absence of the body The opinion of a sleeping interval took its riâ—e from this errour as it is usual for one mistake to beget another they conceived the Soul to be so dependent upon the Body at least in all its operations that when death rends it from the Body it must needs be left as in a swoon or sleep unable to exert its proper powers or enjoy that felicity which we ascribe to it in its state of separation But certainly its substantial Nature being considered it will be found that what perfection soever the body recieves from the Soul and how necessary soever its dependence upon it is * Anima rationâ—â—iâ— nihil 〈…〉 possâ—tâ—r 〈◊〉 Coâ—imâ—r Disp. 2. Art 3. The Soul receives not its perfection from the Body nor doth it necessarily depend on it in its principal operations but it can live and act out of a Body as well as in it Yea I doubt not but it enjoys it self in a much more sweet and perfect liberty than ever it did or could whilst it was clogged and fettered with a body of flesh Doubtless * Proculdubio cum â—i mortis expâ—imitur de câ—â—â—â—â—tione caâ—nâ—s ipsa eâ—pressiâ—ne colatu 〈…〉 to de oâ—panâ—o coâ—pore â—umpit in apertâ—m ad mâ—ram pâ—â—am sua◠〈◊〉 statim semetipsam in expeditione substantiae recognoscit ut de somno emergens ab imaginibas ad veritates Tertul. in lib. de Anima saith Tertullian when it is separated and as it were strained by death it comes out of darkness into its own pure perfect light and quickly finds it self a substantial Being able to act freely in that light Before the eyes of the dead body are closed I doubt not but the believing Soul with open eyes beholdeth the face of Jesus Christ Luk. 23.43 Philip. 1.23 but this will also be further spoken to hereafter II Immediately Created Inference III. THe Souls of men being created immediately out of nothing and not seminally traduced it follows That all souls by nature are of equal value and dignity One Soul is not more excellent honourable or precious than another But all by nature equally precious The Soul of the poorest Beggar that cries at the door for a crust is in its own nature of equal dignity and value with the Soul of the most glorious Monarch that sits upon the Throne And this appears to be so 1. First because all souls flow out of one and the same fountain viz. the creating power of God They were not made better or worse finer or courser matter but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of nothing at all The same Almighty power was put forth to the forming of one as of another All Souls are mine saith he that created them Ezek. 18 4. The Soul of the Child as well as the Father the Soul of the Beggar as well as the King Those that had no praeexistent matter but received their beings from the same efficient cause must needs be equal in their original nature and value The bodies of men which are formed out of matter do greatly differ from one another some are moulded as we say è meliori luto out of better and finer Clay some are more exact elegant vigorous and beautiful than others but Souls having no matter of which they consist are not so differenced 2. Secondly All souls are created with a capacity of enjoying the infinite and blessed God They need no other powers faculties or capacities than they are by nature endued with if these be but sanctified and devoted to God to make them equally happy and blessed with them that are now before the Throne of God in Heaven and with unspeakable delight and joy behold his blessed face We pass through the fields and take up an Egg which lies under a clod and see nothing in it but a little squalid matter yea but in that Egg is seminally and potentially contained such a melodious Lark as it may be at the same time we see mounting Heavenward and singing delicious notes above So 't is here Those poor despised souls that are now lodged in crazy despicable bodies on Earth have in their Natures a capacity for the same imployments and enjoyments with those in Heaven They have no higher Original than these have and these have the same capacity and hability with them They are Beings improvable by grace to the highest perfections attainable by any Creature If thou be never so mean base and despicable a creature in other respects yet hast thou a Soul which hath the same alliance to the Father of Spirits the same capacity to enjoy him in glory that the most excellent and renowned Saints ever had 3. Thirdly All Souls are rated and valued in Gods book and account at one and the same price and therefore by nature are of equal worth and dignity Under the Law the Rich and the Poor were to give the same Ransom Exod. 30.15 The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel The Redemption of Souls by the Blood of Christ costs one and the same price The poorest and most despised Soul that believes in Jesus is as much indebted to him for the Ransom of his Soul as the greatest and most illustrious person in the World Moses Abraham Paul c. did not cost Christ one farthing more than poor Lazarus or the meanest among all the Saints did The Righteousness of Christ is unto all and upon all that believe and there is no difference Rom. 3.22 But yet we must not understand this Parity of humane Souls universally or in all respects Though being of one species or common nature they are all equal and those of them that are purchased by the blood of Christ are all purchased at one rate Yet there are divers other respects and
his own in this case Isai. 66.1 2. Thus saith the Lord the Heaven is my Throne and the Earth is my footstool where is the house that ye build to me and where is the place of my rest For all these things have mine hands made and all these things have been saith the Lord but unto this man will I look even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth at my word q. d. Think not to please me with magnificent Temples and adorned Altars if I had pleasure in such things Heaven is a more glorious Throne than any you can build me and yet I have more delight in a poor contrite spirit that trembles with an holy awe and reverence at my word than I have in Heaven or Earth or all the works of my hands in either O if there had been more trembling at his word there had not been such trembling as now there is under fears of the loss and removal of it Some can superstitiously reverence and kiss the sacred dust of the sanctuary as they call it and express a great deal of zeal for the externals of religion but little consider how small the interest of these things is in Religion and how little God looks at or regards them Inference IX HOw much are the spirits of men sunk by sin below the dignity and excellency of their Nature Our Souls are Spirits by nature yet have they naturally no delight in things spiritual They decline that which is homogeneal and suitable to Spirits and rellish nothing but what is carnal and unsuitable to them How are its affections inverted and misplaced by sin That noble spiritual Heaven-born creature the Soul whose Element and Centre God alone should be is now fallen into a deep Oblivion both of God and it self and wholly spends its strength in the pursuit of sensual and earthly enjoyments and becomes a meer drudge and slave to the body Carnal things now measure out and govern its delights and hopes its fears and sorrows O how unseemly is it to bâ—â—â—ld such an high-born spirit lackying up and down the Woâ—â—d in the service of the perishing flesh Their heart saith the Prophet goeth after their Covetousness Ezek. 33.31 as a Servant at the beck or nod of his Master O! how many are there to be found in every place who melt down the precious affections and strength of their Souls in sensitive brutish Pleasures and Delights Iames 5.5 Ye have lived in pleasures upon Earth as the Fish in the Water or rather as the Eel in the Mud never once lifting up a thought or desire to the spiritual and eternal pleasures that are at Gods right hand Our Creation did not set us so low we are made capable of better and higher things God did not inspire such a noble excellent spiritual Soul into us meerly to salt our bodies or carry them up and down this world for a few years to gaze at the vanities of it It was a great saying of an Heathen * Maior sum ad majora natus quam â—t carporis â—ti sim mancipium Seneca I am greater and born to greater things than that I should be a slave to my body We have a spirit about us that might better understand its Original and know it is so base a Being as its daily imployments speak it to be The Lord raise our apprehensions to a due value of the dignity of our own Souls that we may turn from these sordid imployments with a generous disdain and set our affections on what is agreeable to and worthy of an high-born spirit Inference X. VII The Soul an immortal Substance IS the Soul of Man a Vital Spiritual and immortal Substance Then it is no wonder that we find the resentments and impressions of the world to come naturally ingraven upon the Souls of men all the world over These impressions and sentiments of another life after this do as naturally and necessarily spring out of an immortal Nature as branches spring out of the body of a Tree or feathers out of the body of a Bird. So fairly and firmly are the characters and impressions of the life to come sealed upon the immortal spirits of all men that no man can offer violence to this truth but he must also do violence to his own Soul and unman himself by the denial of it Who feels not a cheariness to spring from his absolving and an horrour from his accusing Conscience Neither of which could rise from any other prinple than this We arâ— Beings conscious to our selves of a future State and that our Souls do not vanish when our breath doth That we cease not to be when we cease to breathe And this is common to the most Barbarous and Salvage Heathens They shew saith the Apostle the work of the Law written in their Hearts their Conscience also bearing them witness and their thoughts in the mean while accusing or else excusing one another By the work of the Law understand the summ and substance of the Ten Commandments comprizing the duties to be done and the sins to be avoided This work of the Law is said to be written upon the Hearts of the Gentiles who had no external written Law upon their hearts it was written though many of them gave themselves over to all uncleanness and they shewed or gave evidence and proof that there was such a Law written upon their hearts They shewed it two ways 1. Some of them shewed it in their Temperance Righteousness and moral honesty wherein they excelled many of us who have far greater Advantages and Obligations 2. In the efficacy of their Consciences which as it clear'd and comforâ—ed them for things well done so it witnessed against them yea judg'd and condemned them for things ill done And these evidences of a Law written on the heart are to be found where-ever men are to be found Their ignorance and barbarity cannot stifle these sentiments and impressions of a future State and a just Tribunal to which all must come And the universality of it plainly evinces that it springs not out of Education but the very nature of an immortal Soul Let none say that these universal impressions are but the effects of an universal Tradition which hath been time out of mind spread among the Nations of the World For as no such universal Tradition can be proved so if it could the very propension that is found in the minds of all men living to embrace and close with the proposals of a life to come will evince the agreeableness of them to the nature of an immortal Soul Yea the natural closing of the Soul with these Proposals will amount to an evidence of the reality and existence of thosâ— invisible things For as the natural senses and their Organs prove that there are colours sounds savours and juices as well as or rather because there are Eyes Ears c. naturally fitted to close with and receive them so it
hath layed out the treasures of his wisdom power and goodness in this noble structure he built it for an habitation for himself to dwell in And indeed such noble rooms as the Understanding Will and Affections are too good for any other to inhabit But sin hath set open the gates of this hollowed Temple and let in the abomination which maketh desolate All the doors of the Soul are barr'd and chain'd up against Christ by ignorance and infidelity he seeks for admission into the Soul which he hath made but findeth none A forcible entry he will not make but expects when the Will shall bring him the keys of the Soul as to its rightful owner So he expresseth himself to us in Rev. 3.20 Behold I stand â—â— the door and knock if any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and sup with him and he with me his standing at the door denotes his earnest desire and patient waiting in the use of all those means that are introductive of Jesus Christ into the Souls of men His knocking signifies the various essaies he makes by Ordinances and providences externally and the convictions and perswasions of his Spirit and the Consciences of sinners internally every call of the word and every conviction of Conscience is a Call a Knock from Heaven at the door of the Soul for the admission of Christ into it By the souls hearing his voice and opening the door understand its approbation and consent to the motion and offer of God By Christs coming in is meant his uniting that Soul unto himself that opens to him And as his coming in denotes union so his supping with the Soul and the Soul with him denotes his sweet Communion imperfect here compleat and full in Heaven O The admirable condescensions of God to poor sinners The God that formed you with a word and can as easily ruine you with a frown yet waits at the gates of your Souls for admission into them There be many Souls within the sound of this complaint that have kept God out of his own right all their days They have shut out Jesus Christ and delivered up their Souls to Satan if he but knock by a slight Temptation the door is presently opened but Jesus Christ may wait in vain upon them from Sabbath to Sabbath and from Year to Year But the longest day of his patience hath an end And there is a refusal of Grace after which no more tenders of mercy shall ever be made What say you Souls will you at last open the door to Jesus Christ or will you still exclude him If you will open to him he will not come in empty-handed he will bring a feast with him such a feast as you never tasted any thing like it in your lives But if you will not open to him then I call Heaven and Earth to witness against you this day that you have once more barr'd the doors of your Souls against him whose pleasure and power gave them their very Beings Against him who is their Soveraign Lord and rightful Owner and consequently this Act of yours must stop your mouths and deprive you of all Pleas and Apologies when you shall knock hereafter at the door of mercy and God shall for ever shut it up against you according to his juâ—t but dreadful threatnings Matth. 7.22 Prov. 1.24 25 And thus much of the Divine Original and excellent Nature of the Soul of Man Having taken a view of this excellent Creature the Soul in opening the former Proposition we come next to the consideration of its union with the Body in this second Proposition DOCT. II. Doct. II. THat the Souls and Bodies of men are knit together by the feeble band of the breath in their Nostrils Mr. How in a Funeral Sermon p. 9 10. There is saith a learned Man no greater mystery in nature than the union betwixt the Soul and Body That a mind and spirit should be so tyed and linked with a clod of Clay that while that remains in a due temper it cannot by any art or power free it self It can by an act of the Will move an hand or a foot or the whole body but cannot move from it one inch If it move hither or thither or by a leap upward do ascend a little the body still follows it cannot shake or throw it off We cannot take our selves out by any allowable means we cannot nor by any at all that are at least within meer humane power as long as the temperament lasts While that remains we cannot go if that fail we cannot stay though there be so many open avenues could we suppose any material bounds to hem in or exclude a spirit we cannot go out or in at pleasure A wonderful thing And I wonder we no more wonder at our own make and frame in this respect What so much akin are a mind and a piece of earth a clod and a thought that they should be thus affixed to one another My design here is to shew by what ligament tye or bond it hath pleased the great and wise Creator to affix and link these so different parts of man together and this Moses in the Text tells us is no other but the breath of his nostrils The Breath and Soul of Man are two distinct things His Breath is not his Soul nor his Soul his Breath but the Nexus or bond that couples and unites his Soul and body in a personal union The Body hath no life in it self but its life results from its union with the Soul Iames 2.26 this union is maintained by the breath of our nostrils which upon that account is here called the breath of life What breath is Breath is an act of life proceeding from the Souls union with its Body and ending with the dissolution of it Life is continued by its respiration and ended by its expiration Whilest we live and whilst breath is in our bodies are terms Synonymous That little quantity of air which we thus breath in and out at our nostrils is more to us than all the three Regions of air which fill up the vast space between earth and heaven It is in a sense our life For the use and office of Respiration the Lungs were formed and placed where they are not without the most wise counsel and direction of God What the Lungs are They are that organ in the * Pulmo est spirandi respirandi instrumentum ad pulmones inducitur sâ—â—ula quae dicitur Trachea arteria ad geminos usus condita c. body which by the help of that Arterie called Arteria trachea leading to them as a Chanel for the passage of air from the mouth and nostrils the air is transmitted to and ventilated by them for the refreshment of the * Cor movetâ—r motu duplici nempe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qua caloâ— innatus attracto aëre mitigatur
Iohn saw II. Next he tells us what he heard and that was 1. A vehement Cry from those Souls to God 2. A gracious Answer from God to them 1. The cry which they uttered with a loud voice was this How long O Lord Holy and True dost thou not avenge our bloud on them that dwell on the Earth A cry like that from the blood of Abel Yet let it be remembred 1 This cry doth not imply these holy Souls to be in a restless state or to want true satisfaction and repose out of the Body noâ— yet 2 that they carried with them to Heaven any malevolent or revengeful disposition but that which is principally signified by this Cry is their vehement desire after the abolition of the Kingdom of Satan and the Completion and Consummation of Christs Kingdom in this World That those his Enemies which oppose his Kingdom by slaying his Saints may be made his footstool which is the same thing Christ waits for in glory Heb. 10.13 2. Secondly Here we find Gods gracious Answer to the cry of these Souls in which he speaks satisfaction to them two ways 1. By somewhat given them for present 2. By somewhat promised them hereafter 1. That which he gives them in hand White Robe were given to every one of them It is generally agreed that these white Robes given them denote heavenly Glory the same which is promised to all sincere and faithful ones who preserve themselves pure from the corruptions and defilements of the World Revel 3.4 and it is as much as if God should have said to them Although the time be not come to satisfie your desires in the final ruine and overthrow of Satans Tyrannical Kingdom in the World and Christs consummate Conquest of all his Enemies yet it shall be well with you in the mean time you shall walk with me in white and enjoy your glory in Heaven 2 And this is not all but the very things they cry for shall be given them also after a little season q. d. wait but a little while till the rest that are to follow in the same suffering path be got through the red-Sea of Martyrdome as you are and then you shall see the foot of Christ upon the necks of all his Enemies and justice shall fully avenge the precious innocent blood of all the Saints which in all Ages hath been shed for my sake from the blood of Abel to the last that shall ever suffer for Righteousness sake in the World From all which this Conclusion is most fair and obvious DOCTRINE THat the Souls of men perish not with their Bodies but do certainly over-live them and subsist in a state of separation from them Matth. 10.28 Fear not them that kill the Body but are not able to kill the Soul The Bodies of these Martyrs of Jesus were destroyed by divers sorts of torments but their Souls were out of the reach of all those cruel Engines They were in safety under the Altar and in glory cloathed with their white Robes when the Bodies they lately inhabited on earth were turned to ashes and torn to pieces by wild Beasts The point I am to discourse from this Scripture is the immortality of the Soul for the better understanding whereof let it be noted that there is a twofold Immortality I. Simple and absolute in its own Nature II. Derived dependent and from the pleasure of God In the former Sense God only hath Immortality as the Apostle speaks 1 Tim. 6.16 our Souls have it as a gift from him He that created our Souls out of nothing can if he please reduce them to nothing again but he hath bestowed Immortality upon them and produced them in a nature suitable to that his appointment fitted for an everlasting life So that though God by his absolute power can yet he never will annihilate them but they shall and must live for ever in endless Blessedness or Misery Death must destroy these mortal Bodies but it cannot destroy our Souls And the certainty of this assertion is grounded upon these reasons and will be cleared by these following Arguments Argument I. THe first Argument for proof of the Souls Immortality may be taken from the Simplicity Spirituality and uncompoundedness of its Nature It is a pure simple unmixed Being * Interitus est discessus Secretio direptuâ— earum partium qâ—ae conjuctione aliqua tenebaâ—tur Tâ—lly Death is the Dissolution of things compounded where therefore no composition or mixture is found no death or dissolution can follow Death is the great Divider but it is of things that are divisible The more simple pure and refined any material thing is by so much the more permanent and durable it is found to be The nearer it approacheth to the nature of Spirits the farther it is removed from the power of death but that which is not material or mixed at all is wholly exempt from the stroke and power of death It is from the contrariant qualities and jarring humours in mixed Bodies that they come under the Law and power of dissolution Matter and Mixture are the doors at which death enters naturally upon the Creatures But the Soul of man is a simple spiritual immaterial and unmixed Being not compounded of matter and form as other Creatures are but void of matter and altogether Spiritual as may appear in the vast capacity of its understanding faculty which cannot be straitned by receiving multitudes of Truths into it It need not empty it self of what it had received before to make way for more truth nor doth it find it self clogg'd or burthened by the greatest multitudes or varieties of Truths but the more it knows the more it still desires to know It s capacity and appetite are found to inlarge themselves according to the increase of knowledge So that to speak as the matter is if the Knowledge of all Arts Sciences and Mysteries of Nature could be gathered into the mind of one man yet that mind would thirst and even burn with desire after more knowledge and find more room for it than it did when it first sipt and relished the sweetness of truth Knowledge as Knowledge never burthens or cloys the mind but like fire increases and enlarges as it finds more matter to work upon Now this could never be if the Soul were a material Being Take the largest Vessel and you shall find that the more you pour into it the less room is still left for more and when it is full you cannot pour in one drop more except you let out what was in it befoâ—e But the Soul is no such Vessel it can retain all it had and be still receptive of more so that nothing can fill it and satisfie it but that which is infinite and perfect The natural appetite after food is sometimes sharp and eager but then there is a stint and measure beyond which it 〈◊〉 not but the appetite of the mind is more eager and unlimiâ—â—d it never
And both these viz The divine Appointment and Providence are in pursuance of a double design or for the payment of a twofold debt which God owes to the first and to the second Adam 1. By cutting off the life or dissolving the Tabernacles of wicked men God pays that debt of Justice owing to the first Adam's sinful Posterity whose sins cry daily to his Justice to cut them off â—om 6 23. The wages of sin is death and indeed it is admirable that his patience suffers ungodly men to live so long as they do for he endures with much long-suffering â—om 9.22 He sees all their sins he is grieved at the heart with them His forbearance doth but encourage them the more to sin against him Eccles. 8.11 Because Sentence c. yet forbears Forty years long was I grieved with this generation Psal. 95.10 And it 's wonderful that patience doth not crack under such a load Habakkuk admired it Habak 1.13 Thou art of purer eyes c. Yet he suffers them to spend lavishly upon his patience from year to year but Justice must do its office at last 2. By cutting off the lives of good men God pays to Christ the reward of his Sufferings the end of his death which was to bring many Sons to glory Hebr. 2.10 Alas it answers not Christs end and intention in dying to have his people so remote from him Iohn 17.24 He would have them where he is that they might behold his glory Two vehement desires are satisfied by this Appointment of God and its Execution viz. 1. Christs viz. 2. The Saints 1. Christs desires are satisfied for this is the thing he all along kept his eye upon in the whole work of his Mediation it was to bring us to God 1 Pet. 3.18 Though he be in glory yet his Mystical Body is not full till all the elect be gathered in by Conversion and gathered home by glorification Eph. 1.23 The Church is his fulness He is not fully satisfied till he see his seed the Souls he died for safe in Heaven and then the debt due to him for all his Sufferings is fully paid him Isai. 53.11 He sees the travel of his Soul As it is the greatest satisfaction and pleasure a man is capable of in this World to see a great design which hath been long projecting and mannaging at last by an orderly conduct brought to its perfection 2. The desires of the Saints are hereby satisfied and their weary Souls brought to rest O what do gracious Souls more pant after than the full Enjoyment of God and the Visions of his face The state of freedom from sin and compleat Conformity to Jesus Christ From the day of their Espousals to Christ these desires have been working in their Souls Love and Patience have each acted its part in them 2 Thess. 3.5 Love hath put them into an holy ardor and longing to be with Christ Patience hath qualified and allayed those desires and supported the Soul under the delay Love cries Come Lord come Patience commands us to wait the appointed time This appointed time on which so great hopes and expectations depend is the time of dissolving these Tabernacles for till then the Souls Rest is suspended And if it were perfectly freed from all other Loads and Burdens both of sin and affliction yet its very absence from Christ would alone make it restless For it is with the Soul in the Body as it is with any other Creature that is off its Centre it doth and must gravitate and propend it is still moving and inclining further and feels not it self easie and at rest where it is be its Condition in other respects never so easie 2 Cor. 5.6 Whilst we are at home in the Body we are absent from the Lord You have a little shadow or Emblem of this in other Creatures You see the Rivers though they glide never so sweetly betwixt the fragrant banks of the most pleasant Meadows in their Course and Passage yet on they go towards the Sea and if they meet with never so many Rocks or Hills to resist their course they will either strive to get a Passage through them or if that may not be they will fetch a compass and creep about them and nothing can stop them till by a central force they have finished their weary Course and poured themselves into the Bosome of the Ocean Or as it is with your selves when abroad from your Habitations and Relations this may be pleasing a little while but if every day might be a Festival it would not long please you because you are not at home The main Motives that perswade a gracious Soul to abâ—de here are to finish the work of their own Salvation and further other mens but as their Evidences for Heaven grow clearer to themselves and their capacity of Service less to others so must their desires to be with Christ be more and more inflamed Now the case so standing that Christs condition in Heaven being a condition of desire and longing for the enjoyment of his people there and all the Glory of Heaven would not content him without that and the condition of his people on earth being also a state of longing groaning and panting to be with him and all the Pleasures and Delights and Comforts they have on earth will not content them without it How wise and gracious an Appointment of Heaven is it that these our Tabernacles shall and must be put off and that shortly For hereby a full and mutual satisfaction is given to the restless desires both of Christs heart and of theirs See the reflected flames of love betwixt them in Revel 22. The Spirit and the Bride say Come and let him that is a thirst come Behold I come quickly even so Lord Iesus come quickly Delays make the heart sad Prov. 13.12 Should our Commoration on earth be long our Patience had need be much greater than it is but under all our burdens here this is our relief it is but a little while and all will be well as well as our Souls can desire to have it Inference I. MUst we put off these Tabernacles Is death necessary and inevitable Then 't is our wisdom to sweeten to our selves that Cup which we must drink and make that as pleasant to us as we can which we know cannot be avoided Die we must whether we be fit or unfit willing or unwilling 't is to no purpose to shrug at the name or shrink back from the thing In all Ages of the World death hath swept the Stage clean of one Generation to make room for another and so it will from Age to Age till the Stage be taken down in the general dissolution But though death be inevitable by all it is not alike evil bitter and dreadful to all Some tremble others triumph at the appearance of it Some meet it half way receive it as a friend and can bid it welcome and die by consent making that
passions and burdens with it never spends one thought more about Food and Raiment Health and Sickness Wives and Children Riches or Poverty but lives henceforth after the manner of Angels Matth. 22.30 It is now unrelated to and therefore unconcerned about all these things 3. In the unbodied state it is perfectly freed from sin both in the Acts and Habits a mercy it never enjoyed since the first moment it dwelt in the Body The cure of this disease was indeed begun in the Work of Sanctification but is not perfected till the day of the Souls glorification 'T is now and not till now a Spirit made perfect that is a Soul enjoying its perfect health and rectitude No more groans tears or lamentations upon the account of in-dwelling sin 4. The way and manner of its converse with and enjoyment of God is changed There are two mediums by which Souls converse with God in the Body viz 1 One internal sc Faith 2 The other external sc. Ordinances 1 If a man walk with God on earth it must be in the use and exercise of Faith 2 Cor. 5.7 nor can there be any communion carried on betwixt God and the Soul without it Heb. 11.6 2 The external mediums are the ordinances of God or duties of Religion both publick and private Psal. 63.2 Betwixt these two mediums of Communion with God this remarkable difference is sound the Soul may see and enjoy God by Faith in the want or absence of Ordinances but there is no seeing or conversing with God in the greatest plenty and purity of Ordinances without Faith Heb. 4.2 But in the same moment the Soul is cut off from union with the Body it is also cut off from both these ways of enjoying God 1 Cor. 13.12 Isai. 38.11 But yet the Soul is no loser nay it is the greatest Gainer by this change The Child is no loser by ceasing to derive its nourishment by the Navel when it comes to receive it by the mouth a more noble way whereby it gets a new pleasure in tasting the variety of all delectable Food Hezekiah bemoaned the loss of Ordinances upon his supposed death-bed saying I shall not see the Lord even the Lord in the Land of the living q. d. Now farewel Temple and Ordinances I shall never go any more into his Temple where my Soul hath been so often cheared and refresht with the displays of his grace and goodness I shall never more join with the Assembly of his people on earth And suppose he had not sure he would have lost nothing had he then exchanged the Temple at Ierusalem for the Temple in Heaven and Communion with sinful imperfect Saints on earth for fellowship with Angels and the Spirits of just men made perfect By this change we lose no more than he loseth who whilst he stands delightfully contemplating the image of his dearest friend in a glass hath the glass snatcht away by his friend whom he now seeth face to face Upon this change of the mediums of Communion it will follow that the Communion betwixt God and the separate Soul excells all the Communion it ever had with him on Earth in 1 The Clearness in 2 The Sweetness of it in 3 The Constancy 1 Its Visions of God in the state of Separation are more clear distinct and direct than they were on earth Clouds and Shadows are now fled away The Soul now seeth as it is seen and knoweth as it is known its apprehensions of God there differ from those it had here as the crade and confused apprehensions of a Child do from those we have in the manly state 2 They are also more sweet and ravishing As our Visions are so are our Pleasures Perfect Visions produce perfect Pleasures The faculties of the Soul now and never till now lie level to that rule Matth. 22.37 The Visions of God command and call forth all the heart and soul mind and strength into acts of love and delight It was not so here if the Spirit were willing the Flesh was weak but there the clog is off from the foot of the Will 3 More constant fixed and steddy 'T is one of the greatest difficulties in Religion to fix the thoughts and cure the wildness and roveings of the fancy The heart is not steddy with God and hence are its ups and downs heatings and coolings which are things unknown in the perfect state By all which it appears the change by Dissolution is great and marvelous both upon Body and Soul but upon the Soul more especially PROP. IV. The Souls of the Righteous at the instant of their Separation are received by the blessed Angels and by them transferred unto the place of Blessedness THough Angels are by nature a superiour order of Spirits differing from men in Dignity as the Nobles and Barons in the Kingdoms of this World differ from inferiour Subjects yet are they made ministring Spirits i.e. serviceable Creatures in the Kingdom of Providence to the meanest of the Saints Heb. 1.14 and herein the Lord puts a singular honour upon his people in making such excellent Creatures as Angels serviceable to them Luther assigns to them a double office sc. to sing the praises of God on high and to watch over his Saints here below Their Ministry is distinguished into three Branches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for Admonition or warning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for Protection and defence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for succour help and comfort This last office they perform more especially at the Souls departure Like tender Nurses they keep us whilst we live and bring us home in their arms to our Fathers house when we die They are about our death-beds waiting to receive their precious charge into their arms and bosomes When Lazarus breathed out his Soul the Text saith it was carried by Angels into Abraham's bosome Luke 10.22 And upon this account Tertullian calls them Evocatores animarum the Callers forth of Souls At the Translation of Elijah they appeared in the form of Horses and Chariots of fire 2 Kings 2. 11. Horses and Chariots are not only design'd for conveyance but for conveyance in State and truly it is no small honour to have such a noble Convoy and Guard to attend our Souls to Heaven If it be demanded Object What need is there of their help or company Cannot God by his immediate hand and power gather home the Souls of his people to himself at death He inspired them into our Bodies without their help and can receive them again when we expire them without their aid True Sâ—lâ—t he can do so but it hath pleased him to appoint this method of our Translation not out of meer necessity but bounty Souls ascend not to God in the vertue of the Angels wings or arms but of Christ's Ascension Had not he ascended as our head and representative all the Angels in Heaven could not have brought our Souls thither He ascended by his own power and we
the separate Soul is out of Gun-shot 'T were as good discharge an Arrow at the body of the Sun as a temptation at a translated Soul Consectary III. Separated Souls are more lovely Companions and their Converses more sweet and delightful than ever they were in this World It was their corruption which spoil'd their Communion on earth and it is their spotless holiness which makes it incomparably pleasant in Heaven The best and loveliest Saints have something in them which is distastful even sweet Bryars and holy Thistles have their offensive Prickles but when that which was so lovely on earth is made perfect in Heaven and nothing of that remains in Heaven which was so offensive in them on earth O what delightful Companions will they be O blessed Society O most desirable Companions let my Soul for ever be united to their assembly I love them under their Corruptions but how shall my Soul be knit to them when it seeth them shining in their Perfections PROP. IX The Pleasures and Delights of the separate Spirits of the just are incomparably greater and sweeter than those they did or at any time could experience in their bodily state WIth what a pleasant face would death smile upon Believers what Roses would it raise in its pale cheeks if this Proposition were but well setled in our hearts by faith And if we will not be wanting to our selves it may be firmly settled there by these four Considerations which demonstrate it Consideration I. Whatsoever Pleasure any man receives in this World he receives it by means of his Soul Even all corporeal and sensitive delights have no other relish and sweetness but what the Soul gives them which is demonstrable by this that if a man be placed amidst all the pleasing Objects and Circumstances in the World if he were in that Centre where he might have the confluence of all the delights of this World yet if the Spirit be wounded there is no more relish or savour in them than in the White of an Egg. What pleasure had Spira in his Liberty Estate Wife and Children These things were indeed proposed and urged again and again to relieve him but instead of pleasure they became his horrour let but the mind be wounded and all the mirth is marr'd one touch from God upon the Spirit destroys all the joy of this World Nay Let but the intention of the mind be strongly carried another way and for that time though there be no guilt or wound upon the Soul the most pleasant enjoyments lose their pleasure What Delight think you would bags of Gold sumptuous Feasts or exquisite melody have afforded to Archimedes when he was wholly intent upon his Mathematical lines By this then it is evident that the rise of all pleasure is in the mind and the most agreeable and pleasing Objects and Enjoyments signifie nothing without it The mind must be found in it self and at leisure to attend them or we can have no pleasure from them Consideration II. Of all Natural Pleasures in the World Intellectual Pleasures are found to be most agreeable and connatural to the Soul of man The more refined and remote from sense any pleasure is the more grateful it is to the Soul those are certainly the sweetest Delights that spring out of the mind A drop of intellectual pleasure is valued by a generous and well tempered soul above the whole Ocean of impure Joys which come to it sophisticated and tang'd through the muddy Channels of sense No sensualists in the World can extract such pleasure out of Gold Silver Meat and Drink as a searching and contemplating mind finds in the discovery of truth * In qua simulac pedem posui foribus pessulum obdo in ipso aeternitatis gremio inter tot illustres animas sedem mihi sumo cum ingenti quidem animo ut sâ—bindè magnaetum misereat qui hanc faelicitatem ignorant Epist. Prin. Heynsius that learned Library-keeper of Leyden professed that when he had shut up himself among so many illustrious Souls he seemed to sit down there as in the very lap of Eternity and heartily pitied the Rich and Covetous Worldlings that were strangers to his Delights †Arcana coeli naturae secreta ordinem universi scire majoris foelicitatis dulcedinis est quam câ—gitatione quis assequi potest aut mortalis sperare And Cardan tells us that to know the secrets of Nature and the order of the Universe hath greater pleasure and sweetness in it than the thoughts of Man can fathom or any Mortal hope for Yea such beauty saith * Talis est Mathematum pulchritudo ut his indignum sit divitiarum phalâ—ras istas bullas puerilia spectacula comparari Plutarch there is in the Study of the Mathematicks that it were unworthy to compare such Baubles and Bubbles as Riches with it Yea saith another †Dulce est extingui Mathematicarum artium studio Leon. Diggs it were a sweet thing to be extingnished in those Studies Iulius Scaliger was so delighted with Poetry that he protested he had rather be the Author of twelve Verses in Lucan than Emperour of Germany And to say truth there is a kind of * Talis suavitas ut cum quis ea degustaverit quasi circeis poculis captus non potest â—nquam ab illis divelli Cardan enchanting sweetness in those intellectual Pleasures and Feasts of the mind such a delight as hardly suffers the mind to be pull'd away from it These Pleasures have a finer edge an higher gust a more agreeable savour to the mind than sensitive ones as approaching much nearer to the nature of the Soul which is spiritual Consideration III. And as Intellectual pleasures do as far exceed all sensitive pleasures as those which are proper to a man do those which we have in common with Beasts So Divine pleasures do again much more surmount Intellectual ones For what compare is there betwixt those joys which surprize a Scholar in the discovery of the Secrets of Nature and those that overwhelm and swallow up the Christian in the discovery of the glorious Mysteries of Redemption by Christ and his own personal interest therein To solve the Phaenomena of Nature is pleasant but to solve all the difficulties about our Title to Christ and his Covenant that is ravishing Archimedes his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have found it was but the frisk or skip of a Boy that rapturous voice of the Spouse My Beloved is mine and I am his These are Entertainments for Angels 1 Pet. 1.12 a short Salvation for the season it is felt and tasted 1 Pet. 1.8 after these delights all others are insipid and dry And yet one step higher Consideration IV. All that divine pleasure which ever the holiest and devoutest Soul enjoyed in the Body is but a Sip or Praelibation â—ompared with those full draughts it hath in the unbodied State Whilst it is embodied it rejoyceth in the
be an alteration even in Heaven it self since the Ascension of Christ into it and such an alteration as advanceth the glory thereof both to Angels and Saints Dr. Owen's Coristologia p. 158. Heaven it self saith one who is now there was not what it is before the entrance of Christ into the Sanctuary for the administration of his Office Neither the Saints departed nor the Angels themselves were participant of that glory which now they are Neither yet doth this argue any defect in Heaven or the state thereof in its primitive constitution For the perfection of any state hath respect unto that order of things which it is originally suited unto Take all things in the order of the first Creation and with respect thereunto Heaven was perfect in Glory from the beginning Page 355. c. Whatever was their rest refreshment and blessedness whatever were their enjoyments of the presence of God yet was there no Throne of Grace erected in Heaven no High-Priest appearing before it no Lamb as it had been slain no joint ascription of Glory unto him that sits upon the Throne Priusâ—pâ—am ad noâ—tra tempora pervintum est Camero and to the Lamb for ever God having ordained some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect Heb. 11.40 Now both the Angels and Saints in Heaven do behold Christ in his Priestly Office within that Sanctuary a sight never seen in Heaven before 2 This frame of heavenly Worship will continue as it is until the end of the World and then another alteration will be made in the manner of his dispensatory Kingdom For then he must deliver up the Kingdom to God even the Father and then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him that God may be all in all as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 15.24 28. so that as the present state of Heaven is not in all respects what it was before Christ's Ascension thither so after the Consummation of the Mediatorial Kingdom and the gathering all the Elect into Glory it will not in all respects be what now it is Christ will never cease to be the immediate head of the whole glorified Creation God having gathered all the Elect both Angels and Men unto an head in him and he being the Knot or Centre of that Collective Body the whole frame of the glorified Church would be dissolved should he lose his relation of an head to it Yea I doubt not but he will for ever continue to be the medium of Communication betwixt God and his glorified Church God will still Communicate himself to us through Christ and our adherence love and delight will still be through Christ In a word whatever change shall be made the Person of Christ and therein his humane nature shall still continue to be the eternal Object of Divine Glory Praise and Worship Rev. 22.4 But when he shall have gathered home all his Elect to glory Nam si dispensativum hoc regnum nunquam traditurus esset nunquam regni naturalis usum plenum esset recepturus Junius he will resign this dispensatory Kingdom and become subject as Man and as Head of that Body which he purchased to his Father himself that God may be all in all as it is 1 Cor. 15.28 1 All in all that is All the Saints shall be filled and abundantly satisfied in and from God alone there shall be no Emptiness no want no complaint For as there is water enough in one Sea to fill all Rivers light enough in one Sun to illuminate all the World so all Souls shall be eternally filled satisfied and blessed in one God Surely there is enough in God for Millions of Souls for if there be enough in God for all the Angels Matth. 18.10 yea enough in God for Iesus Christ Col. 1.19 there must be enough for all our Souls the capacity of Angels is larger than ours the capacity of Christ is larger than that of Angels he that fills them can and will therefore fill us or be all in all to us 2 All in all that is compleat satisfaction to all the Saints in the absence of all other things out of which they were wont to suck some comfort and delight in this World He will now be instead of all Eminently all without them We shall suck no more sweetness out of food sleep Relations Ordinances c. there will be no more need or use of them than there is of Candles in the Sun-shine Rev. 22.5 3 All in all that is God only shall be loved praised and admired by all the Saints they shall love no Creature out of God but all in God or rather God in them all This is that blessed state to which all things tend for which the Angels and glorified Souls in Heaven long Hence it is that there is joy in Heaven upon the Conversion of any poor sinner on Earth because thereby the Body of Christ mystical advanceth towards its fulness and compleatness Luke 15.10 no sooner is a poor Soul struck by the word to the heart and sent home crying O sick Sick Sick of sin and sick for Christ but the news of it is quickly in Heaven and is matter of great joy there because they wait as well as Christ for the time of Consummation To conclude Those that went first to Heaven before Christ's Ascension were fully at rest in God and blessed in his enjoyment and yet upon Christ's Ascension thither their happiness was advanced 't is a new Heaven as it were to feed their eyes upon the Man Christ Iesus there Those that now stand before the Throne ravished with the face of Christ and ascribing glory to him for ever are also in a most blessed state and are filled with the joy of the Lord. And yet two things still remain to be farther done before they are as they shall be for ever viz. the Restitution of their Bodies which yet lie in the dust and the delivering up of the dispensatory Kingdom upon the coming in of the fulness of all their fellow Saints and after that no more alteration for ever But they shall be both in Soul and Body for ever with the Lord. What Tongue of Man or Angel can give us the compleat Emphasis of that word ever with the Lord or that of Gods being all in all O what hath God prepared for them that love him PROP. XII It pleaseth God at some times even in this life to give some men the foresight and foretaste of that Blessedness which holy separated Souls do now enjoy and themselves are shortly to enjoy with God in Glory SPecimens and Earnests of Heaven are no unknown things upon earth As the Grapes of Eshcol so the joy of Heaven may be tasted before we come thither and these foresights and Praelibations of Heaven are either 1. Extraordinary Or either 2. Ordinary 1. Extraordinary for the way and manner when the Soul is either 1
Rapt from the Body for a short time in an Ecstasie when in a Visional way heavenly things are presented to it Or 2 When the bodily eye is elevated and strengthened above its natural vigour and ability to behold the astonishing Objects of the other World 1 Of the first sort and rank was that famous Rapture of Paul mentioned 2 Cor. 12.2 3. I knew a man in Christ fourteen years ago whether in the Body I cannot tell or whether out of the Body I cannot tell God knoweth such an one caught up to the Third Heaven c. * Non constat an Anima Pauli fuerit tunc à corpore separata cum ipse id se nescire fatetur Unde quid illi circae absractionem à sensibus reipsa acciderit affirmare non possumus videlicet num moâ—tuo Corpore per separationâ—m animae extincti fuerint in eo sensus vel non mortuo consâ—piti duntaxat Colâ—eg Connimbr lib. 3. Art 3. p. 512. T is questionable indeed whether the Soul of the Apostle were really separated from his Body whilst he suffered that Ecstasie Or whether his senses were only laid as it were a-sleep for that time he himself could not determine the Question much less can any other but whether so or so this seems evident that his senses were for that time utterly useless to him if his Body was not dead it was all one as if it had been so for any use his Soul then made of it In ecstasi feriari omnes potentias praeter intellectum Aâ—ulen In Ecstasies all the Senses and Powers are idle except the Understanding his Soul for that time seemed to be disjoyned from his Body much as a flame of fire which you shall sometimes see to play and hover at a distance from the Wood and then catching the Fewel again Probably this was that Trance he fell into in the Temple when he was praying mentioned in Acts 22.17 In this Rapture his Soul ascended above this World it was caught up into Paradise into the Third Heaven the place in which Christ's Soul was after his death and there he heard those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter For alas poor Mortals cannot pronounce the Shibboleth of Heaven the heavenly Inhabitants talk in no other Dialect but the Language of Heaven is not properly spoken by any but the Inhabitants of Heaven Now Paul was not admitted into their Society at that time as he was at his death but was only a Spectator a stander by as the Angels are in the Assemblies of the Saints here on earth But O what a day was that day to his Soul It was as one of the days of Heaven no words could signifie to another man what he felt what he tasted in that hour Such favours will not be indulged to many he was a chosen Vessel and appointed to extraordinary Sufferings for Christ and it was necessary his Supports and Encouragements should be answerable Isaiah 6.1 2. Ezekiel 1.1 Dan. 10.8 9. Apoc. 1.17 It was no less extraordinary and wonderful a Vision which Isaiah Ezekiel Daniel and Iohn had such Representations of God as overwhelmed them and made Nature faint under them and no wonder for if the eyes of Creatures be so weak that they cannot directly behold such a glorious Creature as the Sun How much less can they bear the glorious Excellency and Majesty of God 2 And sometimes without an Ecstasie Representations of Christ and the glory of Heaven have been made and the very bodily eye fortified and elevated above its natural vigor and ability to behold them Thus it was with Stephen at his Martyrdom Acts 7.55 56. Who being full of the Holy Ghost looked up stedfastly into Heaven and saw the Glory of God and Iesus standing on the right hand of God That this was not a sight of faith but an extraordinary sight by the bodily eye is evident from its effect upon his outward man it made his face shine as the face of an Angel 2. There are also beside these ordinary and more common foretasts of Heaven and the glory to come with which many Believers are favoured in this World And such are those which come into the heart upon the steddy and more fixed views of the World to come by Faith and the more raised and Spiritual actings of grace in duty Believing we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with a glorified joy or a joy of the same kind and nature with the joy of glorified Spirits though in an inferiour and allayed degree And yet with the allowance of its allay and rebatement it is like new Wine put into old and crazy Bottles which is ready to make them fly and would do so should they be of any long continuance Stay me saith the Spouse with Flaggons comfort me with Apples I am sick of love Cant. 2.5 The sickness was not the sickness of desires or of grief of that she had complained before But the sickness of Love i. e. She was ready to faint under the insupportable weight of Christs manifested and sealed Love not able to bear what she felt pained with the Love of Christ and the desired cure speaks this to be her Case Stay me with Flaggons comfort me with Apples As if she had said Lord support and under-prop my Soul for it reels staggers and fails under the pressure and weight of thy Love Much like the case of an holy man who cryed out under the overwhelming sense of the Love of Christ shed abroad into his heart in Prayer Hold Lord hold thy poor Creature is a Clay Vessel and can hold no more Though these Joys bring not the Soul into a perfect Ecstasie they certainly bring it as near as may be to it Acts Mon. p. 811. Mr. Fox tells us of one Giles of Bruxels a godly Martyr who in Prison spent most of his time apart from the rest in secret Prayer in which his Soul was so ardent and intent that he often forgot himself and the time and when he was called to Meat he neither saw nor heard those that stood by him till he was lifted up by the arms and then he would gently speak to them as one newly awaked out of a sweet sleep These foretasts of Heaven may from the manner of their conveyance be distinguished into 1. Mediate and into 2. Immediate 1. Mediate in and by the previous use and exercise of Faith heart-Examination c. the Spirit of God concurring with and blessing of such duties as these helps the Soul by them to a sight of its interest in Christ and the glory to come which being gained joy is no more under the Souls command I have with good assurance this account of a Minister who being alone in a Journey and willing to make the best improvement he could of that days Solitude set himself to a close Examination
signifying a Messenger or one sent And for the mischief done by Spirits in this World the Scriptures ascribe that to the Devils those unquiet Spirits have their Walks in this World they compass the whole earth and walk up and down in it Iob 1.7 and 1 Pet. 5.8 they can assume any shape yea I doubt not but he can act their Bodies when dead as well as he did their Souls and Bodies when alive how great his power is this way appears in what is so often done by him in the Bodies of Witches They are not ordinarily therefore the Spirits of men but other Spirits that appear to us 2 If God should ordinarily permit the Spirits of men inhabiting the other World a liberty so frequently to visit this what a gap would it open for Satan to beguile and deceive the living Quid enim idololatriam inter Ethnicos Christianos magis propagavit Hinc fluxâ—runt multae perigrinationes monasteria delubra dits festi alia Lav. In Job 33. What might he not by this means impose upon weak and credulous Mortals There hath been a great deal of Superstition and Idolatry already introduced under this pretence he hath often personated Saints departed and pretended himself to be the Ghost of some venerable person whose love to the Souls of the people and care for their Salvation drew him from Heaven to reveal some special Secret to them Swarms of Errors and superstitious and idolatrous Opinions and Practices are this way conveyed by the tricks and artifices of Satan among the Papists which I will not blot my Paper withal only I desire it may be considered that if this were a thing so frequently permitted by God as is pretended upon what dangerous terms had he left his Church in this World seeing he hath left no certain marks by which we may distinguish one Spirit from another or a true Messenger from Heaven from a counterfeit and pretended one But God hath tied us to the sure and standing rule of his Word forbidding us to give heed to any other voice or spirit leading us another way Isa. 8.19 2 Thes. 2.1 2. Gall. 1.8 It was therefore a discreet reply which one of the Ancients made when in Prayer a Vision of Christ appeared to him and told him Thy Prayers are heard for thou art worthy The good man immediately clapt his hands upon his eyes and said Nolo hic videre Christum c. I will not see Christ here it is enough for me that I shall behold him in Heaven To conclude My Opinion upon the whole matter is this that although it cannot be denied but in some grand and extraordinary cases as at the transfiguration and Resurrection of Christ. God did and perhaps sometimes though rarely may order or permit departed Souls to return into this World yet for the most part I judge those Apparitions are not the Souls of the Dead but other Spirits and for the most part evil ones Lib. de cura pro mortuis Of this Judgment was St. Augustine who when he had at full related the Story above of the Fathers Ghost directing his Son to the Acquittance yet will not allow it to be the very soul of his Father but an Angel where he farther adds If saith he the souls of the dead might be present in our affairs they would not forsake us in this sort especially my Mother Monica who in her life could never be without me surely she would not thus leave me being dead Object 1. Objection 1. But it was pleaded before that we allow the Apparitions of Angels and departed Souls if they be not Angels at least are equal unto Angels and in respect of their late relation to us are more propense to help us than Spirits of another sort can be supposed to be Sol. Solution It seems too bold an imposing upon Soveraign Wisdom to tell him what Messengers are fittest for him to send and imploy in his service who hath taught him or been his Counsellor Object 2. Object 2. But these offices seem to pertain properly to them as they are not only fellow-members but the most excellent members of the mystical Body to whom it belongs to assist the meaner and weaker Sol. Sol. If there be any force of reason in this Plea it carries it rather for the Angels than for departed Souls for Angels are gather'd under the same common head with the Saints the Text tells us we are come to an innumerable company of Angels they and the Saints are fellow Citizens and we know they are a more noble order of Spirits and as for their love to the Elect it is exceeding great as great to be sure as the departed Souls of our dearest Relatives can be For after death they sustain no more civil Relations to us all that they do sustain is as fellow members of the same body or fellow Citizens which Angels also are as well as they Object 3. Object But saith the Doctor the reason why all Nations pay so great honour and religious care to the Wills of the Dead is a supposition that they still continue in the same mind after death and will avenge the Falsifications of Trusts upon injurious Executors else no reason can be given why so great a stress should be laid upon the Will of the Dead Sol. Sol. This is gratis dictum to say no worse a cheap and unwary expression can no reason be given for the religious observance of the Testaments of the dead but this Supposition I deny it for though they that made them be dead yet God who is witness to all such acts and trusts liveth and though they cannot avenge the frauds and injustice of men he both can and will do it 1 Thes. 4.6 which I think is a weightier ground and reason to inforce duty upon men than the fear of Ghosts Besides This is a case wherein all the living are concerned all that die must commit a trust to them that survive and if frauds should be committed with impunity who could safely repose confidence in another Quod tangit omnes tangi debet ab omnibus that which is of general concernment and becomes every mans interest infers a general Obligation upon all As for the Letters of Elijah 't is a Vanity to think they came Post from Heaven no no they were doubtless left behind him out of due care to the Government and produced in that fit occasion Object 4. Object 4. But what need of a Law to prohibit Necromancy or consultation with the Dead if it were not practicable Sol. Sol. I do not think the wicked art there prohibited enabled them to recal departed Souls but it was a conversing with the Devil who personated the dead and therein a kind of homage was paid him to the dishonour of God or he might possibly raise the Bodies of wicked men and appear in them but I think the Spirits of the dead return not
and it's Body in the Grave This associated with Angels that prey'd upon by Worms Ioseph's case is the liveliest Embleme that occurs to my present thoughts to illustrate the point in hand He was advanced to be Lord over all Aegypt living in the greatest pomp and splendor there Gen. 43.29 30 31. but his Father and Brethren were at the same time ready to perish in the land of Canaan He had been many years separated from them but neither the length of time nor honours of the Court could alienate his affections from them O see the mighty power of Relation No sooner doth he see his Brethren and understand their case and the pining condition of Iacob his Father but his bowels yearned and his compassions rolled together for them Yea he could not forbear nor stifle his own affections though he knew how injurious his Brethren had been to him and betrayed him as the Body hath the Soul Yet all this notwithstanding he breaks forth into tears and outcries over them which made the house ring again with the news that Ioseph's brethren were come Nor could he be at rest in the lap of honour and plenty until he had gotten home his dear and ancient Relations to him Thus stands the case betwixt Soul and Body Argument III. THE regret reluctancy and sorrows expressed by the Soul at parting do strongly argue its inclination to a re-union with it when it is actually separated from it For why should we surmise that the Soul which mourn'd and groan'd so deeply at parting which clasp'd and embraced it so dearly and affectionately which fought strugled and disputed the passage with death every foot and inch of ground it got and would not part with the Body till by plain force it was rent out of its arms should not when absent desire to see and enjoy its old and endeared friend again Hath it lost its affection though it continue its relation that 's very improbable Or doth its advancement in Heaven make it regardless of its Body which lies in contempt and misery that 's an effect which Christs personal glory never produced in him towards us nor a good mans perferment would produce in him to his poor and miserable friends in this World as we see in the case of Ioseph but now instanced in It is therefore harsh and incongruous to suppose the Souls love to the Body was extinguished in the parting hour and that now out of sight out of mind Object But was it not urged before in opposition to this assertion that the Souls of the righteous looked upon their Bodies as their Prisons and sighed for deliverance by death and greatly rejoiced in the hope and foresight of that liberty death would restore them to How doth this consist with such reluctancies at parting and inclinations to re-union Sol. The objection doth not suppose any man to be totally free from all reluctancies and unwillingness to die The holiest Souls that ever lived in Bodies of flesh will give an unwilling shrug when it comes to the parting point 2 Cor. 5.2 But this their willingness to be gone arises from two other grounds which make iâ— consistent enough with its reluctancies at parting and inclination to a second meeting 1 This willingness to die doth not suppose the Souls love to the Body to be utterly extinguished but mastered and overpowered by another and stronger love There is in every Christian a double love one natural to the Body and the things below the other supernatural to Christ and the things above the latter doth not extinguish though it conquer and subdue the other Love to the Body pulls backward love to Christ pulls forward and finally prevails This is so consistent with it that it supposes natural reluctation and unwillingness to part 2 The willingness of Gods people to be dissolved must not be understood absolutely but comparatively In that sense the Apostle will be understood 2 Cor. 5.8 We are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the Body and present with the Lord. i. e. Rather than to live always a life of sin sorrow and absence from God Death is not desireable in and for it self but only as it is the Souls outlet from sin and its inlet to God So that the very best desire it but comparatively and it is but few who find the love of this animal life subacted and overpowered by high raised acts of faith and love The generality even of good Souls feel strong renitencies and suffer sharp conflicts at their dissolution All which discovers with what lothness and unwillingness the Soul unclasps its arms to let go its Body Now as Divines argue the frame of Christs heart in Heaven toward his people on earth from all those endearing passages and demonstrations of love he gave them at parting so we here argue the continued love and inclination of the Soul to its Body after it is in Heaven from the manifold demonstrations it gave of its affection to it in this World especially in the parting hour No considerations in all the World less than the more full fruition of God and freedom from sin could possibly have prevailed with it to quit the Body though but for a time and leave it in the dust Which is our third Argument Argument IV. AND as the dolorous parting hour evidenceth it so doth the joy with which it receives it again at the Resurrection If it part from it so heavily and meet it again with joy unspeakable sure then it still retained much love for it and desires to be re-espoused to it in the interval Now that its meeting in the Resurrection is a day of joy to the Soul is evident because it is called the time of refreshment Acts 3.19 And they awake with singing out of the dust Isai. 26.19 If the direct and immediate scope of the Prophet point not as some think it doth at the Resurrection yet it is allowed by all to be a very lively allusion to it which is sufficient for my purpose And indeed none that understands and believes the design and business of that day can possibly doubt but there was reason enough to call it a time of refreshment a singing morning for the Souls of the righteous come from Heaven with Christ and the whole host of shouting Angels not to be speclators only but the subjects of that days triumph They come to re-assume and be re-espoused to their own Bodies this being the appointed time for God to vindicate and rescue them from the tyrannical power of the Grave to endow them with spiritual qualities at their second marriage to their Souls that in both parts they may be compleatly happy O the joyful claspings and dear embraces betwixt them who but themselves can understand And by the way this removes the objection forementioned of the miseries and prejudices the Soul suffered in this world in and from the Body For now it receives it a spiritual Body i.e. so
your selves out of this Reluctancy at death by this great Example and Pattern of Obedience Argument XII LAstly Let no Christian be affrighted at death considering that the death of Christ is the death of Death and hath utterly disarmed it of all its destructive power If you tremble when you look upon death yet you cannot but triumph when you look believingly upon Christ. For 1 Christ died O believer for thy sins Rom. 4.25 his death was an expiatory Sacrifice for all thy guilt Gal. 3.13 so that thou shalt not die in thy sins the pangs of death may and must be on thy outward man but the guilt of sin and the Condemnation of God shall not be upon thy inner man 2 The death of Christ in thy room hath utterly destroyed the power of death which once was in the hand of Satan Heb. 2.14 Col. 2.14 15. his power was not authoritative but executive Not as the power of a King but of a Sheriff which is none at all when a Pardon is produced 3 Christ hath assured us that his Victory over death shall be compleat in our persons It is already a compleat personal Victory in respect of himself Rom. 6.9 he dieth no more death hath no more Dominion over him It 's an incompleat Victory already as to our persons It can dissolve the Union of our Souls and Bodies but the Union betwixt Christ and our Souls it can never dissolve Rom. 8.38 39. and as for the power it still retains over our dust that also shall be destroyed at the Resurrection 1 Cor 15.25 26. comp with verses 54 55 56 57. so that there is no cause for any Soul in Christ to tremble at the thoughts of a separation from the body but rather to embrace it as a priviledge death is ours O that these arguments might prevail O that they might at last win the consent of our hearts to go along with death which is the Messenger sent by God to bring us home to our Fathers house But I doubt when all is said we are where we were all this suffices not to overcome the Regrets and Reluctancies of Nature still the matter sticks in our minds and we cannot conquer our disinclined Wills in this matter What is the matter Where lie the Rubbs and Hinderances O that God would remove them at last Object 1. This is a common Plea with many I am not ready and fit to die were I ready I should be willing to be gone Sol. 1 How long soever you live in the Body there will be somewhat still out of order something still to do for you must be in a state of imperfection whilst you remain here and according to this Plea you will never be willing to die 2 Your willingness to be dissolved and to be with Christ is one special part of your fitness for death and till you attain it in some good measure you are not so fit to die as you should be 3 If you be in Christ you have a fundamental fitness for death though you may want some circumstantial Preparatives And as to all that is wanting in your sanctification or obedience now it will be compleated in a moment upon your dissolution Object 2. Others plead the desire they have to live is in order to God's further service by them in this World O say they it was David 's happiness to die when he had served his Generation according to the Will of God Acts 13.36 If we had done so too we should say with Simeon ` Now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace Sol. 1 God needs not your hands to carry on his service in the World he can do it by other hands when you are gone Many of greater Gifts and Graces than you are daily laid in the Grave to teach you God needs no mans help to carry on his Work 2 If the service of God be so dear to you there is higher and more excellent Service for you in Heaven than any you ever were or can be imployed in here on earth O why don't you long to be amidst the thick of Angels and Spirits made perfect in the Temple-Service in Heaven Object 3. O but my Relations in the World lie near my heart what will become of them when I am gone Sol. 1 'T is pity they should lie nearer your hearts than Jesus Christ if they do you have little reason to desire death indeed 2 Who took care of you when death snatcht your dear Relations from you who possibly felt the same workings of heart that you now do Did you not experience the truth of that word Psal. 27.10 When Father and Mother forsaketh me then the Lord taketh me up and if you be in the Covenant God hath prevented this Plea with his Promise Ier. 49.11 Leave thy fatherless Children to me I will keep them alive and let their Widows trust in me But I desire to live to see the felicity of Zion before I go hence Object 4. and the answer of the many Prayers I have sowen for it I am loth to leave the People of God in so sad a condition The publickness of thy Spirit and Love to Zion Sol. is doubtless pleasing to God but it is better for you to be in Heaven one day than to live over again all the days you have lived in earth in the best times that ever the Church of God enjoyed in this World the Promises shall be accomplished though you may not live to see their accomplishment die you in the faith of it as Ioseph did Gen. 50.24 But alas the matter doth not stick here this is not the main hinderance I will tell you where I think it lies 1 In the hesitancy and staggering of our faith about the certainty and reality of things invisible 2 In some special guilt upon the Conscience which appals us 3 In a negligent and careless course of life which is not ordinarily blessed with much evidence or comfort 4 In the deep engagements of our hearts to earthly things they could not be so cold to Christ if they were not overheated with other things Till these Distempers be cured no Arguments can prosper that are spent to this end The Lord dissolve all those ties betwixt us and this World which hinder our consent and willingness to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is far better And now we have had a glance a glimmering light a faint umbrage of the state of separated Souls of the just in Heaven It remains that I shew you somewhat of the state and case of damned Souls in Hell A dreadful Representation it is but it is necessary we hear of Hell that we may not feel it 1 Pet. iii. ver 19. By which also he went and preached unto the SPIRITS in PRISON IN the former Discourse we have had a view of Heaven and of the Spirits of just men made perfect the Inhabitants of that blessed region of light and glory
chains of thy neck what will its beauty and his delight in it be in the state of perfectâ—punc Glorification As we imagine the Circles in the Heavens to be vastly greater than those we view upon the Globe so must we imagine in the case before us 4. Fourthly The preparations God makes for Souls in Heaven speak their great worth and value When you lift up your eyes to Heaven and behold that bespangled Azure Canopy beset and inlaid with so many golden Studs and sparkling Gems you see but the floor or pavement of that place which God hath prepared for some Souls He furnished this World for us before he put us into it but as delightful and beautiful as it is it is no more to be compared with the Fathers house in Heaven than the smallest ruined Chapel your eyes ever beheld is to be compared with Solomons Temple when it stood in all its shining glory When you see a stately magnificent Structure built richest Hangings and Furniture prepared to adorn it you conclude some great persons are to come thither such preparations speak the quality of the Guests Now Heaven yea the Heaven of Heavens the Palace of the great King the Presence-chamber of the Godhead is prepared not only by Gods Decree and Christs Death but by his Ascension thither in our Names and as our Forerunner for all renewed and redeemed Souls Ioh. 14.2 In my Fathers house are many mansions if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you And where is the place prepared for them but in his Fathers house the same place the very same house where the Father Son and Spirit themselves do dwell such is the love of Christ to Souls that he will not dwell in one house and they in another but as he speaks Ioh. 12.26 Where I am there shall my servant also be There is room enough in the Fathers house for Christ and all the Souls he redeemed to live and dwell together for evermore His Ascension thither was in the capacity of a common or publick person to take Livery and Seisin of those many mansions for them which are to be filled with their inhabitants as they come thither in their respective times and orders 5. Fifthly The great price with which they were redeemed and purchased speaks their dignity and value No wise man will purchase a trifle at a great price much less the most wise God Now the redemption of every Soul stood in on less than the most precious Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.18 19. You know saith the Apostle there that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold But with the precious blood of Christ as a Lamb without blemish and without spot All the gold and silver in the world was no Ransom for one Soul nay all the blood of the Creatures had it been shed as a Sacrifice to the glory of Justice or even the blood which is most dear to us as being derived from our own I mean the blood of our dear Children even of our first-born the beginning of our strength which usually have the strength of affection I say none of this could purchase a pardon for the smallest sin that ever any Soul committed much less was it able to purchase the Soul it self Micah 6.6 7. Thousands of rams and ten thousand rivers of oyl or our first-born are no ransom to God for the sin of the Soul It is only the precious Blood of Christ that is a just ransom or counterprice as it 's called Matth. 20.28 Now who can compute the value of that Blood such was the worth of the Blood of Christ which by the communication of properties is truly stiled the Blood of God that one drop of it is above the estimations of men and Angels and yet before the Soul of the meanest man or woman in the World could be redeemed every drop of his Blood must be shed for no less than his Death could be a price for our Souls Hence then we evidently discern an invaluable worth in Souls A whole Kingdom is taxed when a King is to be ransomed the delight and darling of Gods Soul must dye when our Souls are to be redeemed O the worth of Souls 6. Sixthly This evidences the transcendent dignity and worth of Souls that Eternity is stampt upon their actions and theirs only of all the Beings in this World the acts of Souls are immortal as their Nature is whereas the actions of other Animals having neither moral goodness or moral evil in them pass away as their Beings do The Apostle therefore in Gal. 6.7 compares the actions of men in this world to seed sown and tells us of everlasting fruits we shall reap from them in the next life they have the same respect to a future account that seed hath to the Harvest he that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity i. e. everlasting disappointment and misery Prov. 22.8 and they that now sow in tears shall then reap in joy Psal. 126.5 every gracious action is the seed of joy and every sinful action the seed of sorrow and this makes the great difference betwixt the actions of a rational Soul and those done by Beasts and if it were not so man would then be wholly sway'd by sense and present things as the beasts are and all Religion would vanish with this distinction of actions Our actions are considerable two ways physically and morally in the first sense they are transient in the last permanent a word is past assoon as spoken but yet it must and will be recalled and brought into the Judgment of the great Day Matth. 12.36 whatever therefore a man shall speak think or do once spoken thought or done it becomes eternal and abides for ever Now what is it that puts so great a difference betwixt humane and brutal actions but the excellent Nature of the reasonable Soul 'T is this which stamps immortality upon humane actions and is at once a clear proof both of the immortality and dignity of the Soul of man above all other Creatures in this World 7. Seventhly The contention of both Worlds the strife of Heaven and Hell about the Soul of man speaks it a most precious and invaluable Treasure The Soul of man is the Prize about which Heaven and Hell contend the great design of Heaven is to save it and all the plots of Hell to ruine it Man is a Borderer betwixt both Kingdoms he lives here upon the Confines of the spiritual and material World and therefore Scaliger fitly calls him Vtriusque mundi nexus one in whom both worlds meet his body is of the earth earthly his Soul the off-spring of a Deity heavenly It is then no wonder to find such tugging and pulling this way and that way upward and downward such â—allies from Heaven to rescue and save it such incursions from Hell to captivate and ruine it The infinite Wisdom of God hath laid the plot
and design for its Salvation by Christ in so great depth of counsel that the Angels of Heaven are astonished at it and desire to pry into it Christ in pursuance of this eternal project came from Heaven professedly to seek and to save lost Souls Luke 19.10 He compares himself to a good Shepherd who leaveth the ninety nine to seek one lost sheep and having â—ound it brings it home upon his shoulders rejoycing that he hath found it Luke 15.5 Hell imploys all its skill and policy sets a-work all wiles and stratagems to destroy and ruine it 1 Pet. 5.8 Your adversary the Devil goeth about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour The strong man armed gets the first possession of the Soul and with all his forces and policies labours to secure it as his property Luke 11.21 Christ raises all the spiritual Militia the very posse Coeli the Powers of Heaven to rescue it 2 Cor. 10.4 5. And do Heaven and Earth thus contend think you de lana caprina for a thing of nought No no if there were not some singular and peculiar excellency and worth in mans Soul both worlds would never tug and pull at this rate which should win that Prize It was a great Argument of the worth and excellency of Homer that incomparable Poet that seven Cities contended for the honour of his Nativity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Smyrna Rhodes Coâ—ophon Salamis Chins Argos and Athens were all at strife about one poor man who should crown themselves with the honour of his birth but when Heaven and Hell shall contend about a Soul certainly it much more speaks the dignity of it than the contention of seven Cities for one Homer What are all the wooings expostulations and passionate beseechings of Christs Ministers what are all the convictions of Conscience and strong impressions made upon the affections what are all strokes from Heaven upon men in the way of sin I say what are all these but the tuggings of Heaven to draw Souls out of the snares of Hell And what are the hellish temptations that men feel in their hearts the alluring objects presented to their eyes the ensnaring examples that are set round about them but the tuggings of Satan if possible to draw the Souls of men into the same condemnation and misery with himself Would Heaven and Hell be up in Arms as it were and strive at this rate for nothing Thy Soul O man how vilely soever thou depreciatest and slightest it is of high esteem a rich purchace a Creature of nobler rank than thou art aware of The wise Merchant knows the value of Gold and Diamonds though ignorant Indians would part with them for Glass-beads and Tinsel toyes And this leads us to 8. The eighth Evidence of the invaluable worth of Souls which is the joy in Heaven and the rage in Hell for the gain and loss of the Soul of man Christ who came from Heaven and well knew the frame and disposition of the Inhabitants of that City Quoties bene agimus gaudent Angeli tristantur Daemones quoties à bono deviamus Diabolum laetificamus Angelos suo gaudio defraudamus August tells us That there is joy in the presence of the Angels of God over one sinner that repenteth Luke 15.7 10. No sooner is the heart of a sinner darted with conviction broken with sorrow for sin and begins to cry Men and brethren what shall I do but the news is quickly in Heaven and sets all the City of God a rejoycing at it as is in the chief City of a Kingdom when a young Prince is born We never read that Christ laughed in all his time on Earth but we read that he once rejoyced in Spirit Luke 10.21 And what was the occasion of that his joy but the success of the Gospel in the Salvation of the Souls of men Now certainly it must be some great good that so affects Christ and all his Angels in Heaven at the sight of it the degree of a wise mans joy is according to the value of the object thereof no man that is wise will rejoyce feel his heart leap within him for gladness at a small or common thing And as there is joy in Heaven for the saving so certainly there is grief and rage in Hell for the loss of a Soul No sooner had God by Pauls Ministry converted one poor Lydia at Philippi whither he was called by an immediate Express from Heaven for that service but the Devil put all the City into an uproar as if an Enemy had landed on their Coast and raised a violent Persecution which quickly drave him thence Acts 16.9 14 22. And indeed what are all the fierce and cruel persecutions of Gods faithful Ministers but so many efforts of the rage and malice of Hell against them for plucking Souls as so many captives and preys out of his paws For this he owes them a spight and will be sure to pay them if ever he get them at an advantage But all this joy and grief demonstrates the high and great value of the Prize which is won by Heaven and lost by Hell 9. Ninthly The institution of Gospel-Ordinances and the appointment of so many Gospel-Officers purposely for the saving of Souls is no small evidence of what value and esteem they are No man would light and maintain a Lamp fed with golden Oyl and keep it burning from Age to Age if the work to be done by the light of it were not of a very precious and important nature what else are the Dispensations of the Gospel but Lamps burning with golden Oyl to light Souls to Heaven Zech. 4.2 3 4 12. compared a magnificent Vision is there presented to the Prophet viz. a Candlestick of Gold with a Bowl or Cistern upon the top of it and seven Shafts with seven Lamps at the ends thereof all lighted and that these Lamps might have a constant supply of oyl without any accessary humane help there are presented as growing by the Candlestick two fresh and green Olive-trees on each side thereof ver 3. which do empty out of themselves golden Oyl ver 12. naturally dropping and distilling it into that Bowl and the two Pipes thereof to feed the Lamps continually Under this stately Emblem you have a lively representation of the spiritual Gifts and Graces distilled by the Spirit into the Ministers of the Gospel for the use and benefit of the Church as you find not only by the Angels Exposition of it here but by the Spirits allusion to it and accommodation of it in Rev. 11.3 4. See herein what price God puts upon the salvation of Souls Gospel Lamps are maintain'd for their sakes not with the sweat of Ministers brows or the expence and waste of their Spirits but by the precious Gifts and Graces of Gods Spirit continually dropping into them for the use and service of Souls These ministerial Gifts and Graces are Christs
grave and necessary Caution of the Poet Sumite materiam vestris qui scribitis â—quam viribus versate diù quid ferre recusent quid valeant humeri Horace to wield and poise the burden as Porters use to do before I undertook it Zuinglius blamed Carolostadius as some may do me for undertaking the Controversie of that Age because saith he Non habet satis humerorum his shoulders are too weak for it And yet I know mens labours prosper not according to the art and elegancy of the composure but according to the divine blessing which pleaseth to accompany them Ruffinus tells us of a learned Philosopher at the Council of Nice who stoutly defended his Thesis against the greatest Witts and Scholars there and yet was at last fairly vanquished by a man of no extraordinary parts of which Conquest the Philosopher gave this candid and ingenuous account Against words said he I opposed words and what was spoken I overthrew by the art of speaking But when instead of words power came out of the mouth of the Speaker words could no longer withstand truth nor man oppose the power of God O that my weak endeavours might prosper under the like influence of the Spirit upon the hearts of them that shall read this inartificial but well-meant Discourse I am little concerned about the Contempts and Censures of fastidious Readers I have resolved to say nothing that exceeds Sobriety nor to provoke any man except my dissent from his unproved Dictates must be his provocation Perhaps there are some doubts and difficulties relating to this Subject which will never be fully solved till we come to Heaven For Man by the Fall being less than himself doth not understand himself nor will ever perfectly do so until he be fully restored to himself which will not be whilst he dwells in a Body of sin and death And yet it is to me past doubt that this as well as other Subjects might have been much more cleared than it is if instead of the proud Contendings of masterly Wits for Victory all had humbly and peaceably applied themselves to the impartial search of truth Truth like an Orient Pearl in the bottom of a River would have discovered it self by its native lustre and radiancy had not the feet of Heathen Philosophers cunning Atheists and daring School Divines disturbed and foul'd the stream 2. And as the difficulties of the Subject are many so many have been the interruptions and Avocations I have met with whilst it was under my hand Which I mention for no other end but to procure a more favourable Censure from you if it appear less exact than you expected to find it Such as it is I do with much respect and affection tender it to your hands humbly requesting the blessing of the Spirit may accompany it to your hearts If you will but allow your selves to think close to the matter before you I doubt not but you may find somewhat in it apt both to inform your minds and quicken your affections I know you have a multiplicity of business under your hands but yet I hope your great concern makes all others daily to give place and that how clamorous and importunate soever the Affairs of this World be you both can and do find time to sit alone and bethink your selves of a much more important business you have to do My Friends we are Borderers upon Eternity we live upon the Confines of the Spiritual and Immaterial World We must shortly be associated with bodyless Beings and shall have after a few days are past no more concerns for Meat Drink and Sleep buying and selling Habitations and Relations than the Angels of God now have Beside we live here in a State of Tryal Man as Scaliger fitly calls him is Utriusque Mundi nexus one in whom both Worlds do meet his Body participates of the lower his Soul of the upper World Hence it is he finds such tugging and pulling this way and that way upward and downward both Worlds as it were contending for this invaluable prize the precious Soul All Christs Ordinances are instituted and his Officers ordained for no other use or end but the Salvation of Souls Books are valuable according to their Conducibility to this end How rich a Reward of my Labours shall I account it if this Treatise of the Soul may but promote the Sanctification and Salvation of any Readers Soul To your hands I first tender it It becomes your Property not only as a Debt of Justice the fulfilling of a Promise made you long since upon your joynt and earnest desires for the publication of it but as an acknowledgment of the many Favours I have received from you to one of you I stand obliged in the Bond of Relation and under the sense of many Kindnesses beyond whatever such a degree of Relation can be supposed to exact You have here a succinct account of the Nature Faculties and Original of the Soul of Man as also of its infusion into the Body by God without intitling himself to the guilt and sin resulting from that their Union You will also find the breath of your Nostrils to be the Nexus Tie or Bond which holds your Souls and Bodies in a personal Union and that whilst the due Crasis and Temperament of the Body remains and Breath continues your Souls hang as by a weak and slender thread over the state of a vast Eternity in Heaven or in Hell Which will inform you both of the value of your breath and the best way of improving it whilst you enjoy it The Immortality of the Soul is here asserted proved and vindicated from the most considerable Objections so that it will evidently appear to you by this Discourse you do not cease to be when you cease to breathe And seeing they will over-live all Temporal Enjoyments they must necessarily perish as to all their Joys Comforts and Hopes which is all the Death that can be incident to an Immortal Spirit if they be not in the proper season secured and provided of that never-perishing food of Souls God in Christ their Portion for ever Here you will find the Grounds and Reasons of that strong inclination which you all feel them to have to your Bodies and the necessity notwithstanding that of their divorce and separation from their beloved Bodies and that it would manifestly be to their prejudice if it should be otherwise And to overcome the unreasonable Aversations of Believers and bring them to a more becoming chearful submission to the Laws of death whensoever the Writ of Ejection shall be served upon them You will here find a representation of that blessed life comely order and most delightful employment of the incorporeal People inhabiting the City of God wherein beside those sweet Meditations which are proper to feast your hungry affections you will meet with divers unusual though not vain or unuseful Questions stated and resolved which will be a grateful entertainment
104.29 Thou takest away their breath they dye and return to their dust 'T is neither food nor Physick but God in and by them that holdeth our Soul in life Psal. 66.9 We hang every moment of our life over the Grave and the gulf of Eternity by this slender thread of our breath but it cannot break how feeble soever it be till the time appointed be fully come if it be not extinguished and suffocated as others daily are it is because he puts none of those diseases upon us as it is Exod. 15 26. or if he do yet he is Iehovah Rophe the Lord that healeth us as it follows in that Text. We live in the midst of cruel enemies yea among them that breath out cruelty as the Psalmist complaineth Psal. 27.12 Such breath would quickly suffocate ours did not he in whose hand ours is wonderfully prevent it O! what cause have we to imploy and spend that breath in his praise who works so many daily wonders to secure it Inference II. IS it but a puff of feeble breath which holds our Souls and Bodies in union then every man is deeply concerned to make all hast to take all possible care and pains to secure a better and more durable habitation for his Soul in Heaven whilst yet it sojourns in this frail Tabernacle of the Body The time is at hand when all these comely and active bodies shall be so many breathless carkasses no more capable of any use or service for our Souls than the seats you sit on or the dead bodies that lye buried under your feet Your breath is yet in your Nostrils and all the means and seasons of salvation will expire with it and then it will be as impossible for the best Minister in the world to help your Souls as for the ablest Physician to recover your Bodies As Physick comes too late for the one so counsels and perswasions for the other Three things are worth thinking on in this matter 1. First that you are not without the hopes and possibilities of Salvation whilst the breath of life is in your Nostrils A mercy how lightly soever you value it that would ravish with joy those miserable Souls that have already shot the gulf of Eternity and turn the shrieks and groans of the Damned into joyful shouts and acclamations of praise Poor wretch consider what thou readest That thy Soul is not yet in Christ is thy greatest misery but that yet it may be in Christ is an unspeakable mercy though thy Salvation be not yet secured yet what a mercy is it that it is not desperate 2. Secondly When this uncertain breath is once expired the last hope of every unregenerate person is gone for ever It is as impossible to recover hope as it is to recover your departed breath or recall the day that is past When the breath is gone the Compositum is dissolved We cease to be what now we are and our life is as water spilt on the ground which shall not be gathered up till the Resurrection Our life is carried like a precious liquor in a brittle Glass which death breaks to pieces The Spirit is immediately presented to God and fixed in its unalterable State Hebrews 9.27 All means of Salvation now cease for ever No Ambassadors of peace are sent to the Dead No more Calls or Strivings of the Spirit no more space for Repentance O! what an inconceivable weight hath God hanged on a puff of breath 3. Thirdly And since matters stand thus it is to be admired what shift men make to quiet themselves in so dangerous a State as most Souls live in quiet and unconcerned and yet but one puff of breath betwixt them and Hell O the stupefying and besotting nature of sin O the efficacy and power of spiritual delusions Are our lives such a throng and hurry of business that we have no time to go alone and think where we are and where we shortly must be What shall I say If bodily concerns be so weighty and the matters of Eternity such trifles if meat and drink and trade and children be such great things and Christ and Soul and Heaven Hell and the world to come such little things in your eyes you will not be long in that opinion I dare assure you Inference III. IS the Tye so weak betwixt our Souls and bodies how close and near then do all our Souls confine and border upon Eternity There is no more but a puff of breath a blast of wind betwixt this world and that to come A very short step betwixt time and Eternity There is a breath which will be our last breath Respiration must and will terminate in Expiration The dead are the Inhabitants and the living are Borderers upon the invisible world This consideration deserves a dwelling place in the hearts of all men whether I. Regenerate or II. Unregenerate I. Regenerate Souls should ponder this with pleasure O 't is transporting to think how small a matter is betwixt them and their compleat Salvation No sooner is your breath gone but the full desire of your hearts is come every breath you draw draws you a degree nearer to your perfect happiness Rom. 13.11 Now is your Salvation nearer than when you believed therefore both your chearfulness and diligence should be greater than when you were * Hoâ— dicit qâ—od in fâ—dâ—i primordiis ferventiores ad opera bona alacriores faissent fideles temporis autem progressu refriguissent Estius in loc in the infancy of your Faith You have run through a considerable part of your Christian course and race and are now come nearer the Goal and prize of eternal life O despond not loyter not now at last who were so fervent and zealous in the beginning 'T is Transporting to think how near you approach the Region of light and joy O that you would distinctly consider 1. Where you lately were 2. Where now you are 3. Where shortly you shall be 1. You that are now so near Salvation were lately very near unto Damnation there was but a puff of breath betwixt you and Hell How many nights did you sleep securely in the state of nature and unregeneracy How quietly did you rest upon the brink of Hell not once imagining the danger you were in Had any of those sicknesses you then suffered been suffered by God like a candle to burn asunder this slender thread of life which was so near them you had been as miserable and as hopeless as those that now are roaring in the lowest Hell I have heard of one that rid over a dangerous Bridge in the night who upon the review of the place next day fell into a swoon when he was sensible of that danger which the darkness of the night hid from him O Reader shall not an escape from Hell affect thee as much as such an escape would do 2. 'T is no less marvelous to consider where you now are you that were afar off are now
first Seal opened Ver. 2. gives the Church a very encouraging and comfortable prospect of the Victories Successes and Triumphs of Christ notwithstanding the Rage Subtilty and power of all its Enemies He shall ride on Conquering and to Conquer and his Arrows shall be sharp in the Hearts of his Enemies whereby the People shall fall under him And this chearing Prospect was no more than was needful For Seal 2. The second Seal opened ver 3. and 4. represents the first bloudy Persecution of the Church under Nero whom Tertullian calls Dedicator damnationis nostrae Tertul. Apol. cap. 5. He that first condemned Christians to the Slaughter And the Persecution under him is set forth by the Type of a red Horse and a great Sword in the hand of him that rode thereon His cruelty is by Paul compared to the mouth of a Lion 2 Tim. 4.17 Paul Peter Bartholomew Barnabas Mark are all said to dye by his cruel hand and so fierce was his rage against the Christians that at that time as Eusebius saith * Adeo ut videret repletas humanis corporibus civitates jacentes mortuos simul cum parvulis senes foeminarumque absque ulla sexûs reverentia in publico rejesta Cadavera a man might then see Cities lie full of dead Bodies the old and young Men and Women cast out naked without any reverence of Persons or Sex in the open street Tacit. lib. 15. Annal. And when the day failed Christians saith Tacitus were burnt in the night instead of Torches to give them light in the Streets Seal 3. The third Seal opened v. 5.6 sets forth the calamities which should befal the Church by Famine Yet not so much a literal as a figurative Famine as a grave and learned Commentator * Durham in Loc. expounds it like that mentioned Amos 8.11 12. which fell out under Maximinus and Trajan The former directing the Persecution especially against Ministers in which many bright Lamps were extinguished The latter expresly condemned all Christian Meetings and Assemblies by a Law The Type by which this Persecution was set forth is a black Horse A gloomy and dismal day it was indeed to the poor Saints when they eat the bread of their Souls as it were by weight for he that sate on him had a pair of ballances in his hand Then did Iohn hear this sad voice A measure of wheat for a Penny and three measures of Barley for a penny That quantity was but the ordinary allowance to keep a man a live for a day And a Roman Penny was the ordinary wages given for a days work to a labourer The meaning is that in those days all the Spiritual food men should get to keep their Souls alive from day to day with all their travel and labour should be but sufficient for that end The fourth Seal opened Seal 4. ver 7.8 represents a much more sad and doleful state of the Church for under it are found all the former sufferings with some new kinds of trouble superadded Under this Seal death rides upon the pale Horse and Hell or the Grave follows him 'T is conceived to point at the presecution under Dioclesian when the Church was mowed down as a Meadow The fifth Seal is opened in my Text Seal 5. under which the Lord Jesus represents to his servant Iohn the state and condition of those precious Souls which had been torn and separated from their Bodies by the bloudy hands of Tyrants for his name sake under all the former persecutions The design whereof is to support and encourage all that were to come after in the same bloudy path I saw under the Altar c. in which we have an account I. Of what Iohn saw II. Of what he heard I. First we have an account of what he saw I saw the Souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held Souls in this place are not put for the Bloud or the dead Carcasses of the Saints who were slain as some have groundlessly imagined but are to be understood properly and strictly for those Spiritual and immortal substances which once had a vital Union with their Bodies but were now separated from them by a violent death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Anima proimmortali Spiritâ— hominis capituâ— sicuti Matt. 10.28 hoâ— sensu dicit hîc Iohannes se vidisse animas c. Marlorat in loc yet still retained a love and inclination to them even in the state of Separation and are therefore here brought in complaining of their shedding of their blood and destruction of their Bodies These Souls even of all that dyed for Christ from Abel to that time Iohn saw that is in Spirit for these immaterial substances are not perceptible by the gross external senses Animâ— Coâ—â—oribus exutae invisibileâ— sunt occulis corpoâ—â—is vidit ergo â—as Iohannes Spiritu Paraus in loc He had the priviledge and favour of a Spiritual representation of them being therein extraordinarily assisted as Paul was when his Soul was rapt into the third Heaven and heard things unutterable 2 Cor. 12.2 God gave him a transient visible representation of those holy Souls and that under the Altar he means not any material Altar as that at Ierusalem was but as the holy place figured Heaven so the Altar figured Jesus Christ Heb. 13.10 And most aptly Christ is represented to Iohn in this figure and Souls of the Martyrs at the foot or basis of this Altar thereby to inform us 1 that however men look upon the death of those persons and though they kill their names by slanders as well as their persons by the Sword yet in Gods account they dye as Sacrifices and their blood is no other than a drink-offering poured out to God which he highly prizeth and graciously accepteth Suitable whereunto Pauls expression is Philip. 2.17 2 That the value and acceptation their death and blood shed hath with God is through Christ and upon his account for it is the Altar which sanctifieth the gift Matth. 23.19 and 3. it informs us that these holy Souls now in a state of Separation from their Bodies were very near to Iesus Christ in Heaven They lay as it were at his foot Once more They are here described to us by the cause of their sufferings and death in this World and that was For the word of God and for the Testimony which they held i. e. They dyed in defence of the Truths or will of God revealed in his word against the Corruptions Oppositions and Innovations of Men. As one of the Martyrs that held up the Bible at the Stake saying This is it that hath brought me hither They dyed not as Malefactors but as Witnesses They gave a threefold Testimony to the truth a lip Testimony a life Testimony and a blood Testimony whilst the Hypocrite gives but one and many Christians but two Thus we have an account of what
saith till it come to rest in God it is enougâ— because the faculty which produceth it is more 〈◊〉 spiritual and immaterial All matter hath its limits bounds 〈…〉 of 〈◊〉 till we attain the desired end which is God and just measures beyond which it cannot be extended But the Soul is boundless and its appetitions infinite is rests not but in the spiritual and infinite Being God alone being is adaequate object and able to satisfie its desires which plainly proves it to be a Spiritual immaterial and simple being And being so two things necessarily follow therefrom 1. That it is void of any Principle of corruption in it self 2. That it is not liable to any stroak of death by any adverse power without it self 1. It cannot be liable to death from any seeds or Principles of Corruption within it self for where there is no composition there is no dissolution the Spirituality and simplicity of the Soul admits of no Corruption 2. Nor is it liable to death by any adverse power without it self No Sword can touch it No instrument of death can reach it 'T is above the reach of all adversaries Matt. 10.28 Fear not them that can kill the Body but cannot kill the Soul The bounds and limits of creature-power are here fixed by Jesus Christ beyond which they cannot go They can wound torment and destroy the Body when God permits them but the Soul is out of their reach A Sword can no more wound it than it can wound or hurt the light and consequently it is and must needs be of an immortal nature But there seems to be a decay upon our Souls in our old Age Object and decaies argue and imply corruption and are so many steps and tendencies towards the death and dissolution thereof The experience of the whole world shews us how the Apprehensions Judgments Wit and Memory of old Men fail even to that degree that they become children again in respect of the abilities of their minds their Souls only serving as it were to salt their Bodies and keep them from putrefaction for a few days longer 'T is a great mistake Sol. there is not the least decay upon the Soul no time makes any change upon the essence of the Soul all the alteration that is made is upon the Organs and Instruments of the Body which decay in time and become inept and unserviceable to the Soul The Soul like an expert and skilful Musician is as able as ever it was but the Body its instrument is out of tune and the ablest Artist can make no pleasing melody upon an instrument whose Strings are broken or so related that they cannot be scrued up to their due height Let Hippocrates the Prince of Physicians decide this matter for us * Anima nostra quoad essentiam mutaâ—i non potest aut alterari siâ—â— cibi siâ—â— potus sive cujuscunque rei alterius accâ—ssu referends est enim omnium alterationum causa aut ad spiritus quibus se immiscet aut ad vasa sive organa que permeat Hippocrates lib. 1. de diaeâ—a The Soul saith he cannot be changed or altered as to its essence by the access of meat or drink or any other thing whatsoever but all the alterations that are made must be referred either to the Spirits with which it mixeth it self or to the Vessels and Organs through which it streameth So that this proves not its corruptibility and being neither corruptible in it self nor vulnerable by any creature without it self seeing man cannot and God will not destroy it the conclusion is strongly inferred that therefore it is immortal Argument II. THE Immortality of the Souls of Men may be concluded from the Promises of everlasting Blessedness and the Threatnings of everlasting miseries respectively made in the Scriptures of truth to the Godly and ungodly after this Life which Promises and Threatnings had been altogether vain and delusory if our Souls perish with our Bodies 1. First God hath made many everlasting Promises of Blessedness yea he hath established an everlasting Covenant betwixt himself and the Souls of the Righteous promising to be their God for ever and to bestow endless Blessedness upon them in the World to come Such a Promise is that Iohn 8.28 I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish And Iohn 4.14 Whosoever drinketh of the Water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the Water that I shall give him shall be in him a Well of Water springing up into everlasting life And again Iohn 11.26 Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never dye And once more Rom. 2.7 To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for Glory and Honour and Immortality eternal Life with multitudes more of like nature Now if these be no vain and delusory Promises as to be sure they are not being the words of the true and faithful God then those Souls to whom they are made must live for ever for if the subject of the Promises must fail consequently the performance of the Promises must fail too For how shall they be made good when those to whom they are made are perished Let it not be objected here That the Bodies of Believers are concerned in the promises as well as their Souls and yet their Bodies perish notwithstanding For we say though their Bodies dye yet they shall live again and enjoy the fruit of the Promises in eternal Glory And whilest their Bodies lie in the Grave their Souls are with God enjoying the covenanted Blessedness in Heaven Rom. 8.10 11. and so the Covenant-Bond is not loosed betwixt them and God by Death which it must needs be in case the Soul perished when the Body doth And upon this Hypothesis that Argument of Christ is built Matth. 22.32 proving the Resurrection from the Covenant God made with Abraham Isaac and Iacob I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. God is not the God of the Dead but of the Living q. d. If Abraham Isaac and Iacob be perished in Soul as well as in Body how then is God their God what is become of the Promise and Covenant-Relation for if one Correlate fail the Relation necessarily fails with it If God be their God then certainly they are in being for God is not the God of the Dead i.e. of those that are utterly perished Therefore it must needs be that though their Bodies be naturally dead yet their Souls still live and their Bodies must live again at the Resurrection by vertue of the same Promise 2. On the contrary many threatnings of eternal misery after this life are found in the Scriptures of truth against ungodly and wicked Persons Such is that in 2 Thes. 1.7 8 9. The Lord Iesuâ— shall be revealed from Heaven in flaming Fire to render Vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Iesus Christ who shall be punished with
the redeemed who were to come after him to glory in their several generations Iohn 14.2.3 The Intercession of Christ in Heaven is for the security of our purchased inheritance to us and to prevent any new breaches which might be made by our Sins whereby it might be forfeited and we divested of it again 1 Iohn 2.1 2. All these joyntly make up the foundation of our faith and hope of glory But if our Souls perish or be annihilated at death our Faith Hope and Comforts are all Delusions vain Dreams which do but abuse our fond Imaginations For 1. It was not worth so great a stoop and abasement of the blessed God as he submitted to in his Incarnation wherein he appeared in flesh yea in the likeness of sinful flesh Rom. 8.3 and made himself of no reputation Philip. 2.7 An act that is and ever will be admired by men and Angels I say it was not worth so great a Miracle as this to procure for us the vanishing comfort of a few years and that short-lived comfort no other than a deluding Dream or mocking Phantasm For seeing it consists in hope and expectation from the world to come as the Scriptures every where speak 1 Thes. 5.8 and 2 Cor. 3.12 Rom. 5.3 4 5. if there be no such enjoyments for us there as most certainly there are not if our Souls perish it is but a vanity a thing of nought that was the errand upon which the Son of God came from the fathers bosome to procure for us 2 And for what think you was the blood of God upon the Cross what was so vast and inconceivable a treasure expended to purchase What! the flattering and vain hopes of a few years of which we may say as it was said of the Roman Consulship unius anni volaticum gaudium the fugitive joy of a year yea not only short-lived and vain hopes in themselves but such for the sake whereof we abridge our selves of the pleasures and desires of the flesh 1 Iohn 3.3 and submit our selves to the greatest sufferings in the world Rom. 8.18 for the Hope of Israel am I bound with this chain c. Acts 28.20 was this the Purchace of his bloud was this it for which he sweat and groaned and bled and died was that precious bloud no more worth than such a trifle as this 3 To what purpose did Christ rise again from the dead was it not to be the first-fruits of them that sleep did he not rise as the common Head of Believers to give us assurance we shall not perish and be utterly lost in the grave Col. 1.18 But if our Souls perish at Death there can be no Resurrection and if none then Christ dyed and rose in vain we are yet in our sins and all those absurdities are unavoidable with which the Apostle loads this supposition 1 Cor. 15.13 c. 4 And to as little purpose was his Triumphant Ascension into Heaven if we can have no benefit by it The professed end of his Ascension was to prepare a place for us Iohn 14.2 But to what purpose are those Mansions in the Heavens prepared if the Inhabitants for whom they are prepared be utterly lost And why is he called the forerunner if there be none to follow him as surely there are not if our Souls perish with our Bodies Those Heavenly Mansions that City prepared by God must stand void for ever if this be so 5 To conclude in vain is the Intercession of Christ in Heaven for us if this be so They that shall never come thither have no business there to be transacted by their advocate for them So that the whole Doctrine of Redemption by Christ is utterly subverted by this one supposition 4. As it subverts the Doctrine of Redemption by Christ and all the hopes and comforts we build thereon so it utterly destroys all the works of the Spirit upon the hearts of Believers and makes them vanish into nothing There are divers Acts and Offices of the Spirit of God about and upon our Souls I will only single out three viz. his sanctifying sealing and Comforting work all things of great weight with believers 1. His sanctifying work whereby he alters the frames and tempers of our Souls 2 Cor. 5.17 old things are past away behold all things are become new The declared and direct end of this work of the Spirit upon our Souls is to attemper and dispose them for Heaven Col. 1.12 For seeing nothing that is unclean can enter into the holy place Revel 21.27 And without holiness no man shall see the Lord Heb. 12.14 It is necessary that all those that have this hope in them should expect to be partakers of their hopes in the way of purification 1 Iohn 3.3 And this is the ground upon which the people of God do mortifie their lusts and take so much pain with their own hearts Matt. 18.8 counting it better as their Lord tells them to enter into life halt or maimed than having two eyes or hands to be cast into Hell But to what purpose is all this self-denyal all these heart-searchings heart-humblings cryes and tears upon the account of Sin and for an heart suited to the will of God if there be no such life to be enjoyed with God after this animal life is finished If you say there is a present advantage resulting to us in this world Object from our abstinence and self-denial we have the truer and longer enjoyment of our comforts on earth by it Debauchery and licentiousness do not only flat the appetite and debase and alloy the comforts of this World but cut short our lives by the exorbitances and abuses of them Though there be a truth in this worth our noting Sol. yet 1 Morality could have done all this without sanctification there was no need for the pouring out of the Spirit for so low a use and purpose as this 2 And therefore as the wisdom of God would be censured and impeached in sending his spirit for an end which could as well be attained without it so the Veracity of God must needs be affronted by it who as you heard before hath declared our Salvation to be the end of our sanctification 2. His Sealing Witnessing and Assuring work we have a full account in the Scriptures of these Offices and works of the Spirit and some spiritual sense and feeling of them upon our own hearts which are two good assurances that there are such things as his bearing witness with our Spirits Rom. 8.16 his Sealing us to the day of Redemption Eph. 4.30 his earnests given into our hearts 2 Cor. 1.22 All which acts and works of the Spirit have a direct and clear aspect upon the life to come and the happiness of our Souls in the full enjoyment of God to eternity For it is to that life we are now sealed And of the full sum of that glory that these are the pledges and earnests But if our Souls perish by
flows not so much from the nature of either as from the will and pleasure of God who hath appointed them to be so He can but never will annihilate them But the Soul depends upon matter in all its operations Object 3. nothing is in the Understanding which was not first in the Senses it useth the natural Spirits as its Servants and Tools in all its Operations and therefore how can it either subsist or act in a State of Separation 1. The Hypothesis is not only uncertain Sol. but certainly false There are acts performed by the Soul even whilst it is in the Body wherein it makes no use at all of the Body Such are the acts of Self-intuition and Self-reflection and what will you say of its Acts in Raptures and Ecstasies such as that of Paul 2. Cor. 12.2 and Iohn Revel 21.10 what use did their Souls make of the bodily senses or natural Spirits then 2. And though in its ordinary actions in this life it doth use the Body as its Tool or Instrument in working doth it thence follow that it can neither subsist or act separate from them in the other World Whilst a man is on Horseback in his Journey he useth the help and service of his Horse and is moved according to the motion of his Horse but doth it thence follow he cannot stand or walk alone when dismounted at his Journeys end We know Angels both live and act without the ministry of Bodies and our Souls are Spiritual Substances as well as they But many Scriptures seem to favour the total cessation of the Souls actions Object 4. if not of its being also after Separation as that in 2 Sam. 14.14 We must needs dye and are as Water spilt upon the ground which cannot be gathered up and Psal. 88.10 11 12. with Isaiah 38.18 19. The dead cannot praise thee Sol. Those words of the Woman of Tekoa are not to be understood absolutely but respectively and the meaning is that the Soul is in the Body as some precious liquor in a brittle glass which being broken by death the Soul is irrecoverably gone as the Water Spilt on the ground which by no humane power or art of man can be recovered again All the means in the World cannot fetch it back into the Body again She speaks not of the Resurrection or what shall be done in the World to come by the Almighty power of God but of what is impossible to be done in this World by all the skill and power of Man And for the expression of Heman and Hezekiah they only respect and relate to those services their Souls were now imployed about for the praise of God with respect to the conversion or edification of others as Psal. 30.8 9. or at most to that mediate service and worship which they give God in and by their attendance upon his ordinances in this World and not of that immediate Service and praise that is performed and given him in Heaven by the Spirits of just men made perfect such was the sweetness they had found in these Ordinances and Duties that they express themselves as loth to leave them The same answer solves also the Objections grounded upon other mistaken Scriptures as that Psal. 78.39 where man is called a wind that passeth away and cometh not again It is only expressive of the frailty and vanity of the present animal life we live in this World to which we shall return no more after death it denies not life to departed Souls but the end of this animal life at death the life we live in the other World is of a different nature Inference I. IS the Soul Immortal Then 't is impossible for Souls to find full rest and contentment in any enjoyments on this side Heaven All temporary things are inadaequate and therefore unsatisfying to our Souls What gives the Soul rest and satisfaction must be as durable as the Soul is for if we could possibly find in this World a condition and state of things most agreeable in all other respects to our desires and wishes yet if the Soul be conscious to it self That it shall and must over-live and leave them all behind it it can never reach true contentment in the greatest affluence and confluence of them Man being an immortal is therefore a prospecting Creature and can never be satisfied with this That it 's well with him at present except he can be satisfied that it shall be so for ever The thoughts of leaving our delightful and pleasant enjoyments imbitters them all to us whil'st we have them All outward things are in fluxu continuo passing away as the Waters 1 Cor. 7.31 Riches are uncertain 1 Tim. 6.17 They fly away as an Eagle towards Heaven and with Wings of their own making Prov. 23.5 i. e. as the Feathers that enable a Bird to fly from us grow out of his own substance so doth that vanity that carries away all earthly enjoyments This alone would spoil all Contentment Inference II. THen see the ground and reason of Satans envy and enmity against the Soul and his restless designs and endeavours to destroy it It grates that Spirit of envy to find himself who is by nature Immortal sunk everlastingly and irrecoverably into misery and the Souls of Men appointed to fill up those vacant places in Heaven from which the Angels fell No Creature but Man is envied by Satan and the Soul of Man much more than his Body 'T is true he afflicts the Bodies of Men when God permits him but he ever aims at the Soul when he wounds the Body Heb. 10. 37. This roaring Lyon is continually going about seeking whom he may devour 1 Pet. 5.8 'T is the precious Soul he hunts after that 's the Morsus Diaboli the Bit he gapes for as the Woolf tears the Fleece to come at the Flesh. All the pleasure those miserable Creatures find is the success of their temptations upon the Souls of Men. 'T is a kind of delight to them to plunge Souls into the same condemnation and misery with themselves This is the trade they have been driving ever since their Fall By destroying Souls he at once exercises his revenge against God and his envy against man which is all the relief his miserable condition allows him Inference III. DO the Souls of Men overlive their Bodies Then 't is the height of madness and spiritual Infatuation to destroy the Soul for the Bodies sake To cast away an Immortal Soul for the gratification of perishing flesh to ruine the precious Soul for ever for the pleasures of sin which are but for a moment yet this is the madness of millions of Men. They will drown their own Souls in everlasting perdition to procure unnecessary things for the Body 1 Tim. 6.9 They that will be rich c. Every cheat and circumvention in dealing every lye every act of oppression is a wound given the Immortal Soul for the procuring some accommodations to
which you could never have come to the knowledge of any other way those that are without it are gropeing or feeling after God in the dark Acts 17.27 Poor Souls are conscious to themselves that there is a just and terrible God and that their sins offend and provoke him but how to atone the offended Deity they know not Mica 6.6 7. But the way of Reconciliation and life is clearly discovered to us by the Gospel 2 As it manifests and reveals Eternal life to us so it frames and moulds our hearts as Gods sanctifying Instrument for the enjoyment of it 'T is not only the Instrument of Revelation but of Salvation the word of life as well as the word of light Philip. 2.16 It can open your hearts as well as your eyes and is therefore to be entertained as that which is the first rank of Blessings a peerless and inestimable Blessing Inference VIII IF our Souls be immortal certainly our enemies are not so formidable as we are apt by our sinful fears to represent them They may when God permits them destroy your Bodies they cannot touch or destroy your Souls Matth. 16.28 As to your Bodies no enemy can touch them till there be leave and permission given them by God Iob 1.10 The Bodies of the Saints as well as their Souls are within the line or hedge of Divine Providence They are securely fenced sometimes mediately by the ministry of Angels Psal. 34.7 And sometimes immediately by his own hand and power Zech. 2.5 As to their Souls whatever power Enemies may have upon them when divine permission opens a gap in the hedge of Providence for them yet they cannot reach their Souls to hurt them or destroy them but by their own consent They can destroy our perishing flesh it is obnoxious to their malice and rage they cannot reach home to the Soul no Sword can cut asunder the band of Union betwixt them and Christ they would be dreadful Enemies indeed if they could do so Why then do we tremble and fear at this rate as if Soul and Body were at their mercy and in their power and hand The Souls of those Martyrs were in safety under the Altar in Heaven they were cloathed with white Robes when their Bodies were given to be meat to the Fowls of Heaven and Beasts of the Earth The Devil drives but a poor trade by the persecution of the Saints he tears the nest but the bird escapes he cracks the Shell but loseth the Kernel Two things make a powerful defensative against our fears 1 That all our Enemies are in the hand of Providence 2 That all providences are steered by that promise Rom. 8.28 Inference IX IF Souls be Immortal Then there must needs be a vast difference betwixt the aspects and influences of death upon the Godly and Vngodly O if Souls would but seriously consider what an alteration death will make upon their condition for evil or for good how useful would such meditations be to them 1 They must be disseized and turned out of these houses of Clay and live in a state of separation from them of this there is an inevitable necessity Eccles. 8.8 'T is in vain to say I am not ready ready or unready they must depart when their lease is out 'T is as vain to say I am not willing for willing or unwilling they must be gone there 's no hanging back and begging Lord let death take another at this time and spare me for no man dies by a Proxy 2 The time of our Souls departure is at hand 2 Pet. 1.13 14. Iob 16.22 The most firm and well built body can stand but a few days but our ruinons Tabernacles give our Souls warning that the day of their departure is at hand The lamp of life is almost burnt down the glass of time almost run yet a few a very few days and nights more and then time nights and days shall be no more 3 When that most certain and near approaching time is come wonderful alterations will be made on the state of all Souls Godly and Ungodly 1 A marvellous alteration will then be made on the Souls of the Godly For 1 no sooner is the dividing stroak given by death and the parting pull over but they shall find themselves in arms of Angels mounting them through the upper Regions in a few moments far above all the aspectable Heavens Luke 16.22 The airy Region is indeed the place where Devils inhabit and have their haunts and walks but Angels are the Saints Convoy through Satans Territories from the arms of mourning Friends into the welcome arms of officious and benevolent Angels 2 from the sight and converses of men to the sight of God Christ and the general assembly of blessed and sinless Spirits The Soul takes its leave of all men at death Isa. 38.11 Farewell vain World with all the mixed and imperfect comforts of it and welcome the more sweet suitable and satisfying company of Father Son and Spirit holy Angels and perfected Saints Heb. 12.23 3 From the bondage of corruption to perfect liberty and everlasting freedom so much is implied Heb. 12.23 The Spirits of just men made perfect 4 From all fears doubtings and questionings of our conditions and anxious debates of our title to Christ to the clearest fullest and most satisfying assurance for what a man sees how can he doubt of it 5 From all burdens of affliction inward and outward under which we have groaned all our days to everlasting rest and ease 2 Cor. 5.1 2 3. O what a blessed change to the righteous must this be 2 A marvellous change will also be then made upon the Souls of the ungodly who shall then part from 1 all their comforts and pleasant enjoyments in the World for here they had their consolation Luke 16.25 here was all their Portion Psal. 17.14 And in a moment find themselves arrested and seized by Satan as Gods Gaoler hurrying them away to the prison of Hell 1 Pet. 3.19 There to be reserved to the judgment of the great day Jude v. 6. 2 From under the means of Grace Life and Salvation to a state perfectly void of all means instruments and opportunities of Salvation Iohn 9.4 Eccles. 9.10 never to hear the joyful sound of preaching or praying any more never to hear the wooing voice of the blessed Bridegroom saying Come unto me come unto me any more 3 From all their vain ungrounded presumptuous hopes of Heaven into absolute and final desperation of mercy The very sinews and nerves of hope are cut by death Prov. 14.32 The wicked is driven away in his wickedness but the righteous hath hope in his death These are the great and astonishing alterations that will be made upon our Souls after they part with the Bodies which they now inhabit O that we who cannot but be conscious to our selves that we must overlive our Bodies were more thoughtful of the condition they must enter into after that separation which is
18.14 the King of Terrors or the Black Prince or the Prince of Clouds and Darkness as some translate that place we read it the King of Terrors meaning that the Terrors at Death are such Terrors as subdue and keep down all other Terrors under them as a Prince doth his Subjects Other Terrors compared with those that the Soul conceives and conflicts with at parting are no more than a cut Finger to the laying ones Head on the Block O the Soul and Body are strongly twisted and knit together in dear Bands of intimate Union and Affection and these Bands cannot be broken without much strugling Oh 't is a hard thing for the Soul to bid the Body farewel 't is a bitter parting a doleful separation Nothing is heard in that Hour but the most deep and emphatical Groans I say emphatical Groans the deep sense and meaning of which the Living are but little acquainted with for no Man Living hath yet felt the Sorrows of a parting pull what ever other Sorrows he hath felt in the Body yet they must be supposed to be far short of these The Sorrows of Death are in Scripture set forth unto us by the bearing-Throes of a Travelling Woman Acts 2.24 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and what those mean many can tell the Soul is in labour it will not let go its hold of the Body but by Constraint Death is a close Siege and when the Soul is beaten out of its Body it disputes the passage with Death as Souldiers use to do with an Enemy that enters by Storm and fights and strives to the last It 's also compared to a Battle or sharp Fight Eccles. 8.8 that war That war with an Emphasis No Conflict so sharp each labour to the utmost to drive the other from the ground they stand on and win the field And tho' Grace much over-power Nature in this matter and reconcile it to Death and make it desire to be dissolved yet Saints wholely put not off this Reluctation of Nature 2 Cor. 5.2 Not that we would be uncloathed as it is with one willing to wade over a Brook to his Fathers House puts his Foot into the Water and feels it cold starts back and is loth to venture in Not that we would be uncloathed And if it be so with Sanctified Souls how is it think you with others Mark the Scripture-Language Iob 27.8 God taketh away their Souls saith our Translation but the Root is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 extrahere and signifies to put out by plain Force and Violence A Graceless Soul dieth not by Consent but Force Thus Adrian bewailed his Departure O Animula vagula blandula hen quo vadis Yea though the Soul have never so long a time been in the Body though it should live as long as any of the Antediluvian Father's did for many Hundred Years yet still it would be loth to part yea though it endure abundance of Misery in the Body and have little Rest or Comfort but time spent in Griefs and Fears yet for all that loth to part with it All this shews a strong inclination and affection to it 5. It 's desire of Re-union continuing still with it in its state of Separation speaks its Love to the Body As the Soul parted with it in Grief and Sorrow so it still retains even in Glory an inclination to Re-union and waits for a Day of Re-espousals and to that sense some searching and judicious Men understand those words of Iob Iob 14.14 If a Man die shall he live again viz. by a Resurrection if so then all the Days of my appointed Separation my Soul in Heaven shall wait till that Change come And to the same sense is that Cry of Separated Souls Rev. 6.9 10 11. How long O Lord how long i.e. to the Consummation of all things when Judgment shall be executed on them that killed our Bodies and our Bodies so long absent restored to us again In that Day of Resurrection the Souls of the Saints come willingly from Heaven it self to repossess their Bodies and bring them to a Partnership with them in their Glory for it is with the Soul in Heaven as it is with an Husband who is richly entertained feasted and lodged abroad but his dear Wife is solitary and comfortless it abates the compleatness of his joy Therefore we say the Saints joy is not consummate till that day There is an exercise for Faith Hope and desires on this account in Heaven The Union of Soul and Body is natural their Separation is not so many benefits will redound to both by re-union and the Resurrection of the Body is provided by God as the grand relief against those prejudices and losses the Bodies of the Saints sustain by Separation I say not that the propension or inclination of the Soul to re-union with its Body is accompanied with any perturbation or anxiety in its state of Separation for it enjoys God and in him a placid rest and as the Body so the Soul rests in hope 't is such a hope as disturbs not the rest of either yet when the time is come for the Soul to be re-espoused it is highly gratified by that second Marriage glad it is to see its old dear companion as two Friends after a long Separation And so much of the evidence of the Souls love to the Body II. Next we are to enquire into the Grounds and Reasons of its love and inclination to the Body And 1. First the fundamental Ground and Reason thereof will be found in their natural Vnion with each other There my Text lays it No man ever yet hated his own flesh Mark the Body is the Souls own And this is no more than necessary for the conservation of the spâ—cies else the body would be neglected exposed and quickly perish being had in no more regard than any other Body they are strictly married and related to each other the Soul hath a propriety in its Body these two make up or constitute one Person true they are not essentially one they have far different Natures but they are personally one and though the Soul be what it was after its Separation yet to make a Man the who he was i e the same compleat and perfect Person they must be re-united hence springs its love to the Body Every man loves his own Iohn 17.19 All the World is in love with its own and hence it cares to provide for its welfare 1 Tim 5.8 If any man provide not for his own he is worse than an Infidel For nature teacheth all men to do so Why are Children dearer to the Parents than to all others but because they are their own Iob 19.17 But our Wives our Children our Goods are not so much our own as our Bodies are this is the nearest of all natural Unions In this propriety and relation are involved the Reasons and Motives of our love to and care over the Body which is no more than what is necessary
is generally a burthened and a groaning life 2 Cor. 5.2 In this Tabernaele we groan being burthened Here the Saints feel 1 A burthen of sin Rom. 7.24 this is a dead and a sinking weight 2 A burthen of Affliction of this all are Partakers Hebr. 12. though not all in an equal degree or in the same kind yet all have their burthens equal to and even beyond their own strength to support it 2 Cor. 1.8 pressed above measure 3 A burthen of inward troubles for sin and outward Troubles in the Flesh both together so had Iob Heman David and many of the Saints Certainly this befals them not 1 Casually Iob 5.6 It rises not out of the Dust 2 Nor because God loves and regards them not for they are fruits of his love Heb. 12.6 Whom he loveth he correcteth 3 Nor because he takes pleasure in our groans Lamen 3. To tread under his feet the Prisoners of the earth the Lord hath no pleasure 'T is not for his own pleasure but his Childrens profit Heb. 12.10 And among the prâ—fits that result from these burthens this is not the least to make you less fond of the body than you would else be and more willing to be gone to your everlasting rest And certainly all the Diseases and Pains we endure in the Body whether they be upon inward or outward accounts by Passion or Compassion from God or Men will be found but enough to wean us and loose off our hearts from the fond love of life Afflictions are bitter things to our taste Ruth 1.20 so bitter that Naomi thought a name of a contrary signification fitter for her afflicted condition Call me Marah i. e. bitter not Naomi pleasant beautiful And the Church Lam. 3.19 calls them Wormwood and Gall. The great design of God in afflicting them is the same that a tender Mother projects in putting Wormwood to her Breast when she would wean the Child It hath been observed by some discreet and grave Ministers that before their remove from one place to another God hath permitted and ordered some weaning Providence to befal them either denying wonted success to their labour or alienating and cooling the affections of their people towards them which not only makes the manner of their departure more easie but the grounds of it more clear Much so it falls out in our natural death the comfort of the World is imbittered to us before we leave it The longer we live in it the less we shall like it We overlive most of our Comforts which engaged our hearts to it that we may more freely take our leave of it It were good for Christians to observe the voice of such Providences as these and answer the Designs of them in a greater willingness to die 1. Is thy Body which was once hail and vigorous now become a crazy sickly pained body to thee neither useful to God nor comfortable to thee a Tabernacle to groan and sigh in And little hopes it will be recovered to a better temper God hath ordered this to make thee willing to be divorced from it The less desireable life is the less formidable death will be 2. Is thy Estate decayed and blasted by Providence so that thy life which was once full of Creature-Comforts is now fill'd with Cares and Anxieties O 't is a weaning Providence to thee and bespeaks thee the more chearfully to bid the World farewel The less comfort it gives you the less it should entangle and engage you We little know with what aking hearts and pensive breasts many of Gods people walk up and down though for Religion or Reputations sake they put a good face upon it but by these things God is bespeaking and preparing them for a better State 3. Is an Husband a Wife or dear Children dead and with them the comfort of life laid in the dust Why this the Lord sees necessary to do to perswade you to come after willingly 'T is the cutting asunder thy roots in the earth that thou maist fall the more easily O how many stroaks must God give at our Names Estates Relations and Health before we will give way to the last stroak of death that fells us to the ground 4. Do the times frown upon Religion Do all things seem to threaten stormy times at hand Are desireable Assemblies scattered Nothing but Sorrows and Sufferings to be expected in this World By these things God will imbitter the earth and sweeten Heaven to his People 5. Is the beauty and sweetness of Christian Society defaced and decayed That Communion which was wont to be Pithy Substantial Spiritual and Edifying becomes either frothy or contentious so that thy Soul hath no pleasure in it This also is a weaning Providence to our Souls Strigelius desired to die that he might be freed ab implacabilibus Theologorum odiis from the Wranglings and Contentions that were in his time Our fond affection to the Body requires all this and much more to wean and mortifie them Inference IV. HOW Comfortable is the Doctrine of the Resurrection to Believers which assures them of receiving their Bodies again though they part with them for a time Believers must die as well as others their Union with Christ priviledges them not from a Separation from their Bodies Rom. 8.10 Heb. 9.27 But yet they have special grounds of Consolation against this doleful separation above all others For 1. Though they part with them yet they part in hopes of receiving them again 1 Thessal 4.13 14. They take not a final leave of them when they die Husbandmen cast their Seed-corn into the earth chearfully and willingly because they part with it in hope so should we when we commit our Bodies to the earth at death 2. Though death separate these dear Friends from each other yet it cannot separate either the one or other from Christ Luke 20.37 38. I am the God of Abraham c. Your very dust is the Lords and the Grave rots not the Bond of the Covenant 3. The very same Body we lay down at death we shall assume again at the Resurrection Not only the same specifical but the same Numerical Body Iob 19.25.26 With these eyes shall I see God 4. The unbodied Soul shall not find the want of its Body so as to afflict or disquiet it nor the Body the want of its Soul but the one shall be at rest in Heaven and the other sweet asleep in the Grave and all that long interval shall slide away without any afflicting sense of each others absence The time will be long Iob 14.12 but if it were longer it cannot be afflicting considering how the Soul is cloathed immediately 2 Cor. 5.1 2. and how the Body sleeps sweetly in Jesus 1 Thess. 4.14 5. When the day of their re-espousals is come the Soul will find the Body so transformed and improved that it shall never receive prejudice from it any more but a singuler addition to its Happiness and Glory Now it clogs us
death a terrible meeting again at the Resurrection and horrid reflections upon each other mutually charging their ruine upon each other to all eternity Whilst they that are in Christ part in hope meet with joy and bless God for each other for evermore TEXT 2 Peter 1.13 14. Yea I think it meet as long as I am in this Tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in Remembrance Knowing that shortly I must put off this my Tabernacle even as our Lord Iesus Christ hath shewed me AT the tenth verse of this Chapter The Apostle sums up his foregoing precepts and exhortations in one great and most important duty the making sure of their calling and election This exhortation he enforceth on them by a most solemn and weighty motive ver 11. Even an abundant entrance into the everlasting Kingdom No work of greater necessity or difficulty than to make sure our Salvation no argument more forceable and prevalent than an easy and free enterance into Glory at death an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a sweet and comfortable dissolution to enter the Port of glory before a wind with our full ladeing of comfort peace and joy in believing our Sails full and our Streamers flying Oh how much better is this than to lye Wind-bound I mean heart-bound at the Harbours mouth tost up and down with fears doubts and manifold temptations making many a board to fetch the harbour for so much is signified in his figurative and allusive expression v. 11. And for their encouragement in this great and difficult work he ingageth himself by promise to give them all the assistance he can whilst God should continue his life and knowing that would be but a little while he resolves to use his utmost endeavour to secure these things in their Memories after his death that they might not dye with him This is the general scope and order of the words Wherein more particularly we have I. His exemplary industry and diligence in his Ministerial work II. The consideration stimulating and provoking him thereunto I. His Exemplary industry and diligence in his Ministerial work in which two things are remarkable viz. 1 The quality of his work 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 excitare expergesacere i. e. mentes vestras tanquam do mitantes ac torpescentes c. Poli Synopsis which was to stir them up by putting them in remembrance to keep the heavenly flame of love and zeal lively upon the Altar of their hearts He well knew what a sleepy disease the best Christians are troubled with and therefore he had need to be stirring them up and awakening them to their duty 2 The constancy of his work as long as I am in this Tabernacle i. e. as long as I live in this World The Body is here called a Tabernacle in respect of its moveableness and frailty and in opposition to that house made without hands eternal in the Heavens And it is observeable how he limits and bounds his serviceableness to them by his commoration in his Tabernacle or Body as well knowing after death he could be no longer useful to them or any others in this World Death puts an end to all our ministerial usefulness but till that time he judged it meet and becoming him to be aiding and assisting their faith Our life and labour must end together II. We have here the Motive or consideration stimulating and provoking him to this diligence knowing that I must shortly put off this Tabernacle even as the Lord Iesus Christ hath shewed me in which words he gives an account of 1 The speediness 2 Necessity 3 Voluntariness of his death and the way and means by which he knew it All these must be considered singly and apart and then valued altogether as they amount to a weighty Argument or Motive to excite him to diligence in his his duty 1. He reflects upon the speediness or near approach of his death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 brevi suturum Every Christian knows not the time of his death as Peter did by special Revelation But though we know it not by a word spoken to us in particular we know it by a word written for all in common Eccles. 9.5 the living know that they must die I must shortly put off this my Tabernacle which is a form of Speech of the same importance with that of Paul 2 Tim. 4.6 The time of my departure is at hand my time in the Body is almost at an end 2. The necessity of his death it is not I may but I must put off this my Tabernacle yea I must put it off shortly for so the Lord had shewed him Christ had signified it expresly to him Iohn 21.18 19. And besides this most Expositors think this clause refers to some special vision or Revelation which Peter had of the time and manner of his own death so that besides the natural necessity or the inevitableness of his death by the law of Nature he was certified of it by special Revelation We have here also 3. The voluntariness of his death for voluntariness is consistent enough with the necessity of the event Deponere dicit ut significet se voluntariè mortem obiturum esse pro Christo. Pool I must put off or lay down my Tabernacle he saith not I must be torn or rent by violence from it but I must depose or lay it down Camero will have the word here used for death properly to signifie the laying down of ones Garments he made no more of putting off his Body than his Garments Upon the consideration of the whole matter the speediness of his death which he knew to be at hand the Necessity of it that when it came he must be gone from them and could be no more useful to them and his own inclination to be with Christ in a better state being as willing to be gone as a weary Traveller to be at home he judged it meet or becoming him as he was called of Christ to feed his sheep as he was gifted extraordinarily for the Churches service full of spiritual excellencies all which in a short time would be taken away from them by death I say upon all these accounts he could not but judge it meet to be stirring them up and every way striving to be as useful as he might Hence the Note will be DOCT I. How sâ—rong soever the Affections and inclinations of Souls are to the fleshly Tabernacles they now live in yet they must put them off and that speedily (1) The certaintâ— of death Ioâ— 16.22 Anni numeri i. e. qui numerati sunt adeo ut brevissimi periodo circumscripti THE point lies very plain before us in the Scriptures That is a remarkable expression we have in Iob 16.22 When a few years are come I shall go the way whence I shall not return in the Hebrew it is when the years of number or my numbred years are come years so numbred that they are circumscribed in
that are intitled to it and may confidently expect to be received into it To be sure not the presumptuous who make a Bridge of their own Shadows and so fall and perish in the waters Brethren it is one of the most solemn enquiries you were ever put upon And therefore I beseech you see whether your Characters set you among those men or no. 1. First Those that are new-born shall be cloathed with their new house from Heaven when death uncloathes them of these Tabernacles The New Ierusalem hath 〈◊〉 but new-born Inhabitants 1 Pet. 1.3 4. and Christ tells us Iohn 3.3 all others are excluded Glory is the Priviledge of Grace Let nature be adorned and cultivated how it will if not renewed by grace there 's no hope of Glory You must be born again or turned back again from the Gates of Heaven disappointed You must be regenerated or damned This alters the temper of thy heart and suits it to the life of God which is indispensably necessary to them that shall live with him Else Heaven would be no Heaven to us Rom. 8.7 and therefore we must be wrought this way to it 2 Cor. 5 5. No Priviledge of Nature no Duties of Religion avail without this Gal. 6.15 If Morality without Regeneration could bring men to Heaven Why are not the Heathens there If strictness in Duty without Regeneration Why not the Pharisees there Believe it neither Names nor Duties no nor the Blood of Christ ever did or shall bring one Soul to glory without it O then thou that boastest of an house in Heaven lay thine hand on thy heart and ask it Am I a new Creature i.e. Am I renewed 1 in my state and condition 1 Iohn 3.14 past from death to life 2 In my frame and temper Eph. 5.8 once darkness now light in the Lord. 〈◊〉 In my Practice and Conversation Eph. 2.12 13.1 Cor. 6.11 if not my Soul is destitute of an habitation in the City of God and when I die my Body must lie in the lonely house of the Grave that dark Vault and Prison and my Soul be shut out from God into outer darkness 2. Secondly Those that live as Strangers and Pilgrims on earth seeking a better place and state than this World affords them for them God hath made preparations in glory Hebr. 11.13 16. If you be strangers on earth you are the Inhabitants of Heaven Now there be six things included in this Character 1. They look not on this World as their own home nor on the people of it as their own people 2 Cor. 5.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be unpeopled These are none of my fellow Citizens we must go two ways at death 2. They set not their affections on things present as their portion 2 Cor. 4.18 Psal. 17.13 14. Their Bodies are here their Hearts in Heaven 3 Their carriage and manner of life not like the men of this World 1 Pet. 4.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So the Rule guides them Rom. 12.2 and so their course is steered at least intended Philip. 3.20 our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our Trade is in Heaven 4 Their Dialect and Language differs from the Natives of this World Their Language is earthly 1 Iohn 4.5 6. but these have a pure lip Zeph. 3.9 5 Their Society and chosen Companions are not of this World Psal. 16.3 They are a Company of themselves Act. 4 21. 6 Their Spirit and temper of heart is not after the World 1 Cor. 2.12 They have another Spirit Numb 14. 24. These things discover us to be strangers on earth and consequently the men for whom God hath prepared heavenly Habitations when we die 3. Thirdly Those that live and die by faith shall not fail to be received into a better Habitation by death This is another Character of them that shall be recâ—â—ved into glory laid down in the same place Hebr. 11.13 They lived by faith and when they died they died embracing the promises which is Characteristical of those that shall dwell in that heavenly City and implies 1 Intimate acquaintance with the promises they are things well known and familiarized to them The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Salutantes Saluting them is a Metaphor from the manner of parting betwixt two dear and intimate Friends The Faith of a Christian embraces the promises in its arms as dear friends use to do at parting and saith farewell sweet promises from which I have sucked out so much relief and refreshment in all the troubles of my life I must now live no more by faith on you but by sight O you have often cheared my Soul and been my Song in the house of my Pilgrimage 2. It implies the firm credit that a Believer gives to things unseen upon the grounds of the promises as if he did sensibly take and grasp them in his very arms and bosome They take Christ and all the invisible things in the promises into their sensible embraces 1 Pet. 1.8 faith is to them instead of eyes 3 It implies the sincerity of a Believers profession who dare trust to that at last gasp which he professed to believe in the midst of life and the Comforts of this World As he professed to believe in health so you shall find his Actings when his eye and heart strings are cracking Rom. 14.9 Christ in the promises was his professed joy in life and this is what he grasps at death and lays his last hold on 4 It shews you whence all a Believers comfort comes in life and death O 't is from the promises Christ in the promises is the Spring of their Consolation This they fetch their comfort from when the World cannot administer one drop of refreshment to them There be two great works faith performs for the Saints one in life the other in death In life it is the Principle of Mortification to their sins in death it is the spring of Consolation to their hearts It makes them die whilst they live and live when they die 4. Fourthly Those that love the Person and Appearance of Christ have a mark that sets them among the Inhabitants of Heaven and Glory 2 Tim. 4.8 but then this love must be 1 Sincere and without Hypocrisie 2 Supream and above all other beloveds 3 Conforming the Soul to Christ if sincere and supream it will be transformative 4 Longing to be with him Such love is a mark of Souls for whom Heaven is prepared Inference III. MUst we put off our Tabernacles and that shortly What a Spur is this to a diligent â—edemption and improvement of time This is the use Peter made of it here and every one of us should make It was said of Bishop Hooper he was spare in his diet spare in his words but most of all spare of his time You have but a little time in these Tabernacles what pity is it to waste much out of a little 1 Great is the worth and excellency of time all the Treasures of the World cannot
ascend by the virtue of his Ascension 'T is therefore rather for the State and Decorum than any absolute necessity that they attend us in our Ascension God will not only have his people brought home to him safely but honourably They shall come to their Fathers house in a becoming Equipage as the Children of a King This puts honour upon our Ascension day that day is adorned by the attendance of such illustrious Creatures upon us 'T is no small honour which God herein designes for us that Creatures of greater dignity than our selves shall be sent from Heaven to attend and wait upon us thither Yea That our Ascension day should in this resemble Christ's Ascension is an honour indeed When he ascended there were multitudes of these heavenly Creatures to wait upon him Psal. 68.17 18. The Chariots of God are twenty thousand even thousands of Angels the Lord is among them as in Sinai in the holy place Thou hast ascended on high c. A Cloud was prepared as a Royal Chariot to carry up the King of Glory to his Princely Pavillion and then a Royal Guard of mighty Angels to wait upon his Chariot if not for support yet for the greater State and Solemnity of their Lords Ascension And Oh what Jubilations of blessed Angels were heard that day in Heaven How was the whole City of God moved at his coming the Triumph is not ended to this day no nor ever shall Now herein God greatly honours his people that there shall be some resemblance and conformity betwixt their Ascension and Christs * Quomodo inservierunt capiti eo modo inserviunt etiam membris Gaudent inserviâ—â— iâ—lis in terris quosaliquando socios habebunt in coelis Gerhard they rejoice to attend those to Heaven who must be their fellow Citizens for ever in Heaven It is convenient also that those who had the charge of us all our life should attend us to our Fathers house at our death In the one they finish their ministry in the other they begin their more intimate Society Moreover the Angels are they whom God will imploy to gather together his Elect from the four winds of Heaven at the great day Matth. 24.31 and who more fit to attend their Spirits to Heaven singly than those who must collect them into one Body at last and wait upon that collective Body when they shall be brought to Christ Psal. 45.14 Object But the sight and presence of Angels is exceeding awful and overwhelming to humane nature it will rather astonish and terrifie than refresh and chear us to find our selves all on a suddain surrounded and beset with such Majestick Creatures We see what effects the appearance of an Angel hath had upon good men in this World We shall die said Manoah for we have seen God Judg. 13.22 So Eliphaz a Spirit passed before my face the hair of my flesh stood up Iob 4.15 Sol. True whilst our Souls inhabit these mortal and sinful Bodies the appearance of Angels is terrible to them and cannot be otherwise partly upon a natural and partly upon a moral account The dread of Angels naturally falls upon our Animal Spirits They shrink and tremble at the approach of Spirits not only the Spirits of Men but of Beasts quail at it A Dog or an Horse is terrified at it as well as a Man Numb 22.25 The dread of Spirits strikes the Animal or natural Spirits primarily and the mind or rational Soul by consent There is also another cause of fear in man upon the sight or presence of Angels viz. A Consciousness of guilt Whereever there is guilt there will be fear especially upon any extraordinary appearance of God to us though it be but imediately by an Angel But when the Soul is freed both from flesh and sin and shall enjoy it self in a nature like to these pure and holy Spirits the dread of Angels is then vanished and the Soul will take great content and satisfaction in their Company and Communion The Soul then finds it self a fit Companion for them looks upon them as its fellow Servants for so they are Revel 19.10 and the Angels look upon the Spirits of just men not as Inferiours and Underlings but with great respect as Spirits in some sense nearer to Christ than themselves So that henceforth no dread falls upon us from the presence of these excellent Creatures but each enjoyeth singular delight in each others Society And thus we see in what honourable and pleasing Company the souls of the just go hence to their Father's house and bosome PROP. V. The Soul is not so maimed and prejudiced by its separation from the Body but that it both can and doth live and act without it and performs the acts of Cogitation and Volition without the aid and ministry of the Body I Know it is objected by them that assert the Souls sleeping till the Resurrection that though its essence be not destroy'd by death yet its Operations are obstructed by the want and absence of the Body its Tool and Instrument and thus they form their Objection All that the Soul understands Object it understands by Species that is the Images of things which are first formed in the Phantasie Conditiones Intellectus sunt tres 1 Objectum ens verum intelligibile 2 Phantasma vel species sensilâ— in Phâ—ntasia latens 3 Species intelligibilis quae est accidens spirituale repraesentaâ—s idealiter intellectui rem materialem existentem extra intellectum As when we would conceive the nature of an House a Ship a Man or a Beast we first form the Image or Species thereof in our fancy and then exercise our thoughts about it But this depending upon bodily Organs and Instruments the separated Soul can form no such Images It hath no such innate Species of its own but comes into the World an abrasa tabula white paper and being deprived by separation of the help of Senses and Phantasms it consequently understands nothing Thus the Soul in its state of Separation is represented to us as wounded in its Powers and Operations to that degree which seems to extinguish the very nature of it But Sol. 1. We deny that the Soul knows nothing now but by Phantasms and Images Intellectus incorporea immaterialia contemplatur ut Deum intelligentias sed haec nullo modo in phantasiam cadunt cum sunt extra limites corporeatum viriam Conimb de Anima lib. 3. cap. 8. Q. 8. For it knows it self it s own nature and powers of which it cannot possibly feign or form any image or representation What form shape or figure can the fancy of a man cast his own Soul into to help him to understand its nature And what shall we say of its understanding during an ecstasie or Rapture Doth the Soul know nothing at such a time Doth a dull Torpor seize and benumb its intellectual powers No no the Understanding is never more bright clear apprehensive
Earnests and Pledges of joy but when it is unbodied it receives the full summ Psal. 16.11 In thy presence is the fulness of joy This fulness of joy is not to be expected because not to be supported in this World The joy of Heaven would quickly make the hoops of Nature flie When a good man had but a little more than ordinary of the joy of the Lord poured into his Soul he was heard to cry Hold Lord hold thy poor Creature is but a clay Vessel and can hold no more These Pleasures the Soul hath in the Body are of the same kind indeed with those in Heaven but are exceeding short of them in divers other respects 1. The Spiritual Pleasures the Soul hath in the Body are but by reflection but those it enjoys out of the Body are by immediate intuition 1 Cor. 13.12 now in a glass then face to face 2. The Pleasures it hath now though they be of a Divine nature yet they are relished by the vitiated Appetite of a sick and distempered Soul the embodied Soul is diseased and sickly it hath many Distempers hanging about it Now we know the most pleasant things lose much of their pleasure to a sick man the separate Soul is made perfect throughly cured of all Diseases restored to its perfect health and consequently Divine Pleasures must needs have an higher gust and relish in Heaven than ever they had on earth 3. The Pleasures of a Gracious Soul on earth are but rare and seldom meeting with many and long interruptions and many of them occasioned by the Body which often calls down the Soul to attend its Necessities and converse with things of a far different nature But from these and all other ungrateful and prejudicial Avocations the separated Soul is discharged and set free So that its whole Eternity is spent in the highest Delights 4. The highest Pleasures of a Gracious Soul in the Body are but the Pleasures of an uncentred Soul which is still gravitating and striving forward and consequently can be but low and very imperfect in comparison with those it enjoys when it is centred and fixed in its everlasting Rest. They differ as the shadow of the Labourer for an hour in the day from his Rest in his Bed when his Work is ended 5. To conclude The Pleasures it hath here are but the Pleasures of Hope and Expectation which cannot bear any proportion to those of sight and full fruition O see the advantages of an unbodied state PROP. X. That Gracious Souls separate from the Body do attain to the perfection of knowledge with more ease than they attained any small degree of knowledge whilst they dwelt in the Body GReat are the Inconveniences and Prejudices under which Souls labour in their Pursuits after knowledge in this life Veritas in puteo Truth lies deep And it is hard even with much labour pains and study to pump up one clear Notion for the Soul cannot now act as it would but is fain to act as it can according to the Limitations and Permissions of the Body to which it is confined by heedful Observations and painful Searches it is forced to deduce one thing from another and is too often deceived and imposed upon by such tedious and manifold Connections Beside Truth now is forced in compliance with our weakness and distance from the Fountain to descend from Heaven under Vails Shadows and Umbrages thereby to contract some kind of Affinity with our Fancies and exterior Senses first that so it may with more advantage transmit it self to our Understandings Lumen supremum nunquam descendit sine indumento impossibile est aliter nobis lucere radium divinum nisi varietate Sacroâ—um velaminum circumvelatum Dionys. Areop de celoest hier cap. It must come under some vail or other to us whilst we are vailed with Mortality because the Soul cannot behold it in its native lustre nor converse otherwise with it And hence it was that Augustin made his rational Conjecture Why Men use to be so much delighted with Metaphors because they are so much proportioned to our Senses with which our reason in this embodied state hath contracted such an Intimacy and Familiarity But when the Soul lays aside its veil of Flesh Truth also puts off her veil and shews the Soul her naked beautiful and ravishing face It thenceforth beholds all truth in God the fountain of Truth There are five ways by which men attain the knowledge of God say the Schools four of which the Soul makes use of in this World but the fifth which is the most perfect is reserved for the separate state Men discern God here 1 In vestigio by his foot-steps in the Works of Creation God hath imprest the marks of his Wisdom and Power upon the Creatures by which impressions we do discern that God hath been there Thus the very Heathen arrive to some knowledge of a God Rom. 1.20 Acts 17.24 27. 2 In Vmbra by his shadow if you see the shadow of a man you guess at his Stature and Dimensions thereby Thus Christ made some discovery of himself to the World in the Mosaical Ceremonies and ancient Types and Umbrages Heb. 10.1 3 In Speculo in a Glass This gives us a much clearer representation of a person than either his foot-steps or shadow could This is an imperfect or darker Vision of his face by way of reflection And thus God is seen in his Word and Ordinances wherein as in a glass we behold the glory of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 4 In Filio In his own Son who is the living Image and express Character of his Father Thus sometimes we see a Child so lively representing his Father in Speech Gate Gesture and every Lineament of his face that we may say Sic Oculos sic ille Manus sic Ora ferebat Just so his Father spake so he went and just such an one he was Thus we know God in the face of Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4.6 who is the express image of his Father Heb. 1.3 and Iohn 14 9. This is the highest way of attaining the knowledge of God in this Life but then in the unbodied state we see him 5. Face to face with a direct vision This is to see him as he is The Believer is a Candidate for this degree now but cannot be invested with it till divested of this Body of flesh Yet the Soul when unbodied and made perfect attaineth not to a comprehensive knowledg of God for it will still remain a finite being and so cannot comprehend that which is infinite That question Iob 11.7 Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection may be put to the highest Graduate in Heaven And yet 1. To see God face to face and know him as he is will be a knowledge of the Divine Essence it self To see the Divine Essence is to see God as he is i. e. to see him so perfectly and fully that the understanding can proceed no farther
in point of knowledg concerning that great Question What is God Thus no man hath seen or can see God in this World Even Moses himself could not so see God Exod. 33.18 19 20. But the Spirits of the just made perfect have satisfying apprehensions though no perfect comprehensions of the Divine Essence 2. In this light they clearly discern those deep mysteries which they here rackt their thoughts upon but could not penetrate in this life There they will know what is to be known of the Union of the two Natures in the wonderful person of our Emmanuel and the manner of the subsistence of each person in the most glorious and undivided God-head Iohn 14.20 The several Attributes of God will then be unfolded to our understandings for his Essence and Attributes are not two things Rev. 4.8 9 10 11. O what ravishing sight will this be The mysteries of the Scriptures and providences of God will be no mysteries then Curiosity it self will be there satisfied 3. This immediate knowledge and sight of God face to face will be infinitely more sweet and ravishingly plasant than any or all the views we had of him here by Faith ever were or possibly could be There is a joy unspeakable in the visions of Faith 1 Pet. 1.8 But it comes far short of the facial vision Who can tell the full importance of that one Text Rev. 22.4 The Throne of the Lamb shall be in it and they shall see his face O for such a Heaven said one as but to look through the key-hole and get one glimpse of that lovely face Earth cannot bear such sights This light overwhelms and confounds the inadequate faculties of imperfect and embodied Souls But there it is lumen confortans a chearing strengthening pleasant light as the light of the Morning star Rev. 2.28 4. This sight of God will be appropriative and applicative We there see him as our own God and portion Without a clear interest in him the sight of him could never be beatifical and satisfying Sight without interest is like the light of a gloworm light without heat All doubts and objections are solv'd and answer'd in the first sight of this blessed face 5. To conclude This perfect and most comfortable knowledge is attained without labour by the separate Soul Here every degree of knowledge was with the price of much pains How many weary hours and aking heads did the acquisition of a little knowledg stand us in But then it flows in upon the Soul easily It was the Saying of a great Vsurer I once took much pains to get a little meaning the first stock but now I get much without any pains at all O lovely state of separation That Body which interposed clog'd and clouded the willing and capable Spirit being drawn aside as a Curtain by death the light of glory now shines upon it and round about it without any inâ—erception or lett PROP. XI The separated Souls of the Iust do live in a more high and excellent way of Communion with God in his Temple-worship in Heaven than ever they did in the sweetest Gospel-Ordinances and most Spiritual Duties in which they conversed with him here on Earth THAT Saints on earth have real Communion with God and that this Communion is the joy of their hearts the life of their life and their relief under all pressures and troubles in this life is a truth so firmly sealed upon their hearts by experience as well as clearly revealed in the Word that there can remain no doubt about it among those that have any saving acquaintance with the life and power of Religion This Communion with God is of that precious value with Believers that it unspeakably endears all those Duties and Ordinances to them which as means and instruments are useful to maintain it At death the people of God part with all those precious Ordinances and Duties they being only designed for and fitted to the present state of imperfection Eph. 4.12 13. but not at all to their loss no more than it is to his that loses the light of his candle by the rising of the Sun A Candle a Star is comfortable in the Night but useless when the Sun is up and in it's meridian Glory Christian Pray much hear much and drive as profitable a trade as thou canst among the Ordinances of God and duties of Religion For the time is at hand that you shall serve and wait on God no more this way But yet think not your Souls shall be discharged from all Worship and Service of God when you dye No you will find Heaven to be a Temple built for worship and the worship there to be much transcendent to all that in which you were here employ'd The Sanctuary was a pattern of Heaven in this very respect Heb. 9.23 And on this very account it is called Sion in my Text and the heavenly Ierusalem as denoting a Church-state and the spiritual Worship there performed by the Spirits of just men made perfect Some help we may have to understand the nature thereof by comparing it with that Worship and Service which we perform to God here in this state of imperfection and by considering the agreements and disagreements betwixt them In this they agree that the worship above and below are both addressed and directed to one and the same Object Father Son and Spirit all centers and terminates in God They also agree in the general quality and common Nature they are both spiritual Worship But there are divers remarkable differences betwixt the one and other as will be manifest in the following collation 1. All our Worship on Earth is performed and transacted by Faith as the instrument and mean thereof Heb. 11.6 He that cometh to God must believe c. In Heaven Faith ceaseth and sight takes place of it 1 Cor. 5.7 There we see what here we only believe There are now before us Ordinances Scriptures Ministers and the Assemblies of Saints in the places of worship but if we have any communion with God by or among these we must set our selves to believe those things we see not By realizing and applying invisible things we here get sometimes and with no small pains a taste of Heaven and a transient glance of that glory In this service our Faith is put hard to it it must work and fight at once Resolutely act whilst sense and reason stand by contradicting and quarrelling with it And if with much ado we get but one sensible touch of Heaven upon our Spirits if we get a little spiritual warmth and melting of our affections towards God we call that day a good day and it is so indeed But in Heaven all things are carried at an higher rate the joy of the Lord overflows us without any labour or pains of ours to procure it We may say of it there as the Prophet speaks of the dew and showres upon the grass Which tarrieth not for man nor waiteth for the Sons of men
the line of modesty in what I shall speak about them And the first is this QUERIE I. Querie 1. Whether any Notion or Conception can be formed of a separate Soul and if so how we may be assisted duely to form it and conceive of it Sol. Solution §. 1. 1. It must be acknowledged not only very difficult but an impossible task for a Soul immersed in matter and so unacquainted with its own Nature and Powers as it is in its embodied state to gain a perfect clear and adequate Conception of what it shall be in the World to come Expect not then a perfect image much less any magnificent draught of this excellent Creature This would be the same thing as to go about to depaint the Sun in its Glory Motions and Influences with a Pencil I shall think I have done enough if I can but give you any umbrage or faint representation of this sublime and Spiritual Being and the manner of its subsisting and acting out of the body For seeing it is by nature invisible and in most of its actions whilst it is in the state of composition it makes the same use of the body and natural Spirits that a Scribe doth of his Pen and Ink without which he cannot decipher the Characters which are formed in his fancy it must needs be difficult to conceive how it subsists and acts in its separate state §. 2. But though we acknowledge it to be a great difficulty to trace it beyond the Limits of this World though we perceive nothing to depart from the Body at the instant of its expiration but a puff of breath which vanishes like Smoke into the air And though Atheistical Witts daringly pronounce an immaterial substance to be a meer Iargon Hobs Leviathan cap. 34. a Contradiction in terminis which being joined together destroy one another Yet all this doth not make the Notion of a separate Soul impossible much less undermine its existence in its unbodied and lovely state the Scriptures having so abundantly obviated all these Atheistical Suggestions by so many plain Discoveries of the Happiness of some and Misery of others after this Life Yea my Text answers us That Death is so far from destroying or annihilating that it perfects the Spirits of the Just. §. 3. There can be no more difficulty in conceiving of a separate Soul than there is in conceiving of an Angel For it is certain that a separated Soul and an Angel are the liveliest and clearest representations of each other in the whole number of created Beings Dr. More 's Immortality of the Soul lib. 2. cap. 17. § 4. 8. Bell. de Ascen mentis Some make the difference betwixt them little more than of a Sword in the Scabbard from one that is naked A Soul is but a Genius in the Body and a Genius or Angel is a Soul out of a Body An Angel saith another is a compleat and perfect Soul a Soul an imperfect and incompleat Angel The separate Soul doth not become an Angel by putting off the Body they are and still will be divers Species but in this they agree that in their common nature they are both Spirits that is Immaterial Substances endued with Vnderstanding Will and active power And I know not why the one should not be as intelligible as the other or if there be any advantage the Soul certainly must have it seeing our acquaintance with Souls is much more intimate than with Angels Angels indeed have larger Capacities and have no natural inclination to be embodied as Souls have but their common Nature as they are Spirits is the same And if we can conceive of one we may also of the other §. 4. But the difficulty seems to lie in this how the Soul can subsist alone without a Body and how the habits of Grace which were infused into it in this life by Sanctification do inhere in it or can be reduced into act by it when it hath no bodily Organs to work by As to the first there is no difficulty at all if we once rightly apprehend what is meant when we call it a Spiritual Substance that is a Being by it self independent upon any other Creature as to its existence as was opened before The Soul depends not for its life upon the Body but the Body upon the Soul It is the same Sword when it is drawn as it was when sheathed in its Scabbard the Soul is as much it self when separated from the Body as it was when united with it it s Being is independent on it it can live and act in a Body and it can do so without it For it is a distinct Being from its Body a substantial Being by it self And §. 5. As for the habits of grace which accompany it to Heaven it would much facilitate our apprehension of it if we but compare acquired and infused habits with each other 'T is true they are of different Natures and Originals but the Soul is the subject of them both and their inhesion and improvement is much after the same manner Take we then an acquired habit into consideration which is nothing else but a permanent Quality rendering the subject of it prompt and ready to perform a work with ease Suppose that of Musick or Writing and we shall find these habits to be safely lodged in the Soul as well when the body is laid into the deepest sleep which is the Image of death as when it is awake and most active for they are both Artists when asleep and need learn no new Rules to play or write when you awake them which shews the habits to be permanently rooted in their minds Infused habits of grace are as deeply rooted in the Soul yea deeper than any acquired habit can be For when Knowledge and Tongues shall be done away love abideth 1 Cor. 13.8 viz. after death when the Body is asleep in the Grave §. 6. Add hereto that these habits of grace are inseparably rooted or lodged in a subject which is by nature a Spirit that is to say The Understanding and Will are the primary Faculties of the Soul and are therefore called Inorganical because not affixed to any Member of the Body as the sensitive Appetite and locomotive Powers are to their proper Organs The Soul therefore hath the free use and exercise of them in its separate state an intelligent active Being able to use its faculties of Understanding Will and Affections and consequently in their use to reduce these habits of Grace inherent in them into act without the help of the Body For to suppose otherwise were to dispirit it and destroy the very nature of it Moreover let this Spirit thus furnished with gracious habits be now considered in separation from the Body in which state it enjoyeth and rejoyceth in a double Priviledge it never had before viz. Perfection both of it self and of its Graces and the nearest access to God it is capable of 2 Cor. 5.6
his eyes upon the plaisterd wall within side the bed and whilst he was vehemently begging of God the life of his Friends there appeared upon the plaister of the wall before him the Sun and the Moon shining in their full strength The sight at first amaz'd and discomposed him so far that he could not continue his Prayer but kept his eye fixed upon the body of the Sun at last a small line or ring of black no bigger than that of a Text pen circled the Sun which increasing sensibly eclipsed in a little time the whole Body of it and turned it into a blackish colour which done the figure of the Sun was immediately changed into a perfect Death's head and after a little while vanished quite away The Moon still continued shining as before but whilst he intently beheld it it also darkned in like manner and turned also into another Death's head and vanished This made so great an impression upon the beholder's mind that he immediately awaked in confusion and perplexity of thoughts about his dream and awakning his wife related the particulars to her with much emotion and concernment but how to apply it he could not presently tell only he was satisfied that the dream was of an extraordinary nature At last Ioseph's dream came to his thoughts with the like Emblems and their interpretation which fully satisfied him that God had warned and prepared him thereby for a suddain parting with his dear Relations which answerably fell out in the same order his Father dying that day fortnight following and his Mother just a month afterwards I know there is much vanity in dreams and yet I am fully satisfied some are weighty significant and declarative of the purposes of God 3. Lastly An unusual and extraordinary elevation of the Soul to God and enlargement in Communion with him hath been a signifying forerunner of the death of some good men For as the Body hath its levamen anteferale lightning before death and is more vegete and brisk a little before its dissolution so it is sometimes with the Soul also I have known some persons to arrive on a suddain to such heights of love to God and vehement longings to be dissolved that they might be with Christ that I could not but look upon it as Christ did upon the box of Oyntment as done against their death And so indeed it hath proved in the event Thus it was with that renowned Saint Mr. Brewen of Stapleford as he excelled others in the holiness of his life so he much excelled himself towards his death his motions towards Heaven being then most vigorous and quick The day before his last sickness he had such extraordinary enlargements of heart in his Closet-Duty that he seemed to forget all the concernments of his Body and this lower World And when his wife told him Sir I fear you have done your self hurt with rising so early he answered If you had seen such glorious things as I saw this morning in private prayer with God you would not have said so for they were so wonderful and unspeakable that whether I was in the Body or out of the Body with Paul I cannot tell And so it was with learned and holy Mr. Rivet who seemed as a man in Heaven just before he went thither And so if hath been with thousands beside these I confess it is not the lot of every gracious Soul as was shew'd you in the last Question nor doth it make any difference as to the safety of the Soul whatever it makes as to comfort Let all therefore labour to make sure their Union with Christ and live in the daily exercises of grace in the duties of Religion and then though God should give them no such extraordinary warnings one way or another they shall never be surprized by death to their loss let it come never so unexpectedly upon them Quest. It may be also queried whether Satan by his Instruments may not foretel the death of some men How else did the Witch of Ender foretel the death of Saul And the Southsayers the death of Caesar upon the Ides i. e. the fifteenth day of March which was the fatal day to him Sol. Foreknowledg of things to come which appear not in their next causes is certainly the Lords Prerogative Isai. 41.23 Whatever therefore Satan doth in this matter must be done either by conjecture or commission As to the case of Saul 't is not to be questioned but that he knowing the Kingdom was made to David by promise and that the Lord was departed from Saul and saw how near the Armies were to a Battel might strongly conjecture and conclude and accordingly tell him To morrow thou shalt be with me 1 Sam. 28.19 And so for the death of Caesar The Devil knew the conspiracy was strong against him and the Plot laid for that day and so it was both easie for him to reveal it to the South-sayers and his interest to do it thereby to bring that cursed Art into reputation As for other signs and forewarnings of death by the unusual resort of doleful Creatures as Owls and Ravens vulgarly accounted Ominous Wall-watches upon this account called Death-watches and the eating of wearing-apparel by Rats I look upon them generally as supertitious fancies not worthy to be regarded among Christians God may but I know not what ground we have to believe that he doth commissionate such Creatures to bring us the message of death from him To conclude therefore Let no man expect or depend upon any such extraordinary premonitions and warnings of his change or neglect his daily work and duty of preparation for it We have warnings in the Word in the examples of Mortality frequently before us in all the diseases and decays we often feel in our own Bodies and by the signs of the times which threaten death and desolation Be ye therefore always ready for ye know not in what watch of the night your Lord cometh QUEST IV. Whether separated Souls have any knowledg of or commerce and intercourse with men in this life and if not What is to be thought of the Apparitions of the Dead 1. By separated Souls understand the departed Souls both of the Godly and Ungodly indifferently and not as it is restrained to one sort only in the Text for of both it is pretended there are frequent Apparitions after death 2. By the knowledge such Souls are supposed to have after death both of persons and things in this lower World we understand not a general knowledg which one fort of them have of the state and condition of the Church militant on earth for this we think cannot be denyed to the Spirits of the just made perfect seeing they are still fellow Members with us of the same mystical body of Christ and do behold our High-Priest appearing before God and offering up our prayers for us and long for the consummation of the Body of Christ as well as cry for vengeance
except as was before limited Object 5. Object 5. But the matters they discover are found to be true and the causes in which they concern themselves are just real Murthers are detected by them and real frauds and injuries corrected and rectified but the Devil being himself a lyar and Deceiver would never do it 't is not his interest to discover or discourage such things Sol. Sol. Though it be not his interest meerly to discover it yet it is certainly his interest to precipitate wicked men and hasten their ruine by the hand of Justice and he will speak the truth and seem to own a righteous cause to bring about his great design of ruining the Souls and Bodies of men I will shut up with three Cautions Caution I. Strain not Conscience to enrich Posterity be true to the trusts committed to you by the Dead or by the Living remembring that though they be dead and cannot avenge the wrong yet the Lord lives and will surely do it in a severer manner than they could should they appear in the most terrible and frightful forms to you Beside your own Consciences will haunt you worse than a Ghost Be just and true therefore in all your Promises and trusts for God is the Avenger Caution II. Finish your work for eternity before you die for as the Cloud is consumed and vanisheth away so he that goeth down to the Grave shall come up no more he shall return no more to his house neither shall his place know him any more Job 7.9 10. Your Souls will be fixed in eternity soon after they are loosed from your Bodies when death comes away you must go willing or unwilling ready or unready but no returning hither how willing soever Caution III. Keep your selves from that heathenish and accursed practice of consulting the Devil about your absent or dead Relations a practice too common in Sea-port Towns and of deep and heinous guilt before God Isa. 8.19 And when they shall say unto you seek unto them that have familiar Spirits and unto Wizards that peep and muter should not a people seek unto their God for the living to the dead You need not call the Devil twice that subtil and officious Spirit draws the living into his Net by such a bait as this You meet your Mortal enemy under the disguise of your dead friend QUERIE V. Whether the separated Souls of the just in Heaven have any converse or communication with each other and how that can be seeing all the Organs and Instruments of speech and hearing are laid aside with their Bodies It seems impossible that separated or unbodied Spirits should converse together seeing the instruments by which the thoughts are communicated from one to another are perished in the Grave Suppose the Tongue of a man to be cut out his eyes and hands perished or made useless whilst the Soul remains in the Body it may enjoy its own thoughts within it self but it is impossible to signifie them to another by words or signs Or suppose a man in a deep sleep wherein the Senses are only bound for a little time he may indeed exercise his own fancy in a pleasant Dream but another cannot understand how it is entertained but in death the Senses are not bound but extinguished Beside we must not think the felicity of the departed holy Souls to consist in mutual Converses one with another but in their ineffable Visions of God and Communion with him To him who is Omniscient and understands their most inward thoughts they can freely communicate them and receive his as well as pour forth their own love but to do it to their fellow Creatures who see not as God doth seems impossible Indeed it was never doubted but after the Resurrection they shall both know and talk with one another in a more excellent and perfect manner than now they do but till that time the Reasons above seem to perswade us that all the Converses above are only betwixt God and them which indeed is enough to make them happy and indeed if this ability be allowed to separated Souls it seems to render the Resurrection of their Bodies needless for they are well enough without them But certainly the Spirits of just men are not Mutes such an August Assembly of holy and excellent Spirits do not live together in their Fathers House without mutual Converse and fellowship with each other as well as with God That acute and judicious Divine Mr. Ioseph Symonds in the Epistle to his Book entitled Sight and Faith expresseth himself about this matter thus I often think saith he of the Communion of the Spirits of men which certainly is more than many are acquainted with though we act one upon another in our present state by the help of sense yet we are wrought and designed to a more excellent way Angels and the Spirits of men made perfect converse and trade in a mutual Communication not without sense but without such sense as ours This as eternal life begins here and is found in some degrees in this Mortal State though not in so visible appearances as to lie open to much observation Angels good and bad do act upon our Spirits and our Spirits hold converse with them and with the Father of Spirits which may be discerned in secret Parlies and Discourses betwixt them and us much of this appears in David's Psalms and there passeth not only an inward speech but there are invisible approaches entertainments and touches which Paul found when bound in the Spirit and under the working of God which wrought in him mightily Col. 1.29 it is also most certain that our Souls are not mute and shut out from all mutual Traffick with each other except what they have by the mediation of Senses Instances are found that as they say of two Needles toucht with the Loadstone the Spirit of one at a distance hath found it self affected with the motion and state of another And this we are all sensible of that there is a strong desire in us to Communion of Spirits and that because the way most ready and convenient to our bodily state is by sense we are carried with much inclination to maintain intercourse of our minds and Spirits by sense but as being made to a better way our Souls are not satisfied with this present way as being both painful and short we cannot give an exact Copy of our Apprehensions Desires Designs Delights and other affections by these two great Mediators of Communion the Eye and the Ear but because we are in so great a measure confin'd to this course our Souls as it were stand in these two gates to send and receive mutual Embassies each from other Which way as it is short in it self so it is much shortned by distances disaffections impotencies and disparities I cannot imagine that men in the state of imperfection should have so many ways to communicate their minds as by speaking writing c. Yea that the
very Birds and Beasts are by nature enabled to signifie to each other their Inclinations and that the Spirits of just men which are the best of all humane Spirits and that when made perfect too which is the best and highest state attainable by them should have none but live at a greater disadvantage in this respect than they did or the very Birds and Beasts in this World do The summ of my thoughts about this matter I will lay down in the following Sections §. 1. The state of Heaven as was at large open'd in our eleventh Proposition being an Association of Angels and blessed Souls for the glorifying and praising of God in his Temple there and this Worship being carried on by joint consent as appears by their joint ascriptions of Glory to God Rev. 7.9 10 11 12 they must of necessity for the orderly carrying on of this heavenly Worship understand each others mind and communicate their thoughts for without this 't is not imaginable how a joint or common service in which thousands of thousands are imployed can be decorously and orderly managed except we conceive of them as so many Machines or wind-instruments that are managed by an intelligent Agent though themselves be senseless and meerly passive certainly their consent is a different thing from that of the Keys of an Harpsicord or strings of a Lute they are Intelligent Beings who understand their own and each others mind and beside without this ability that Society in Heaven would be less comfortable as to mutual refreshing fellowship than the Society of the Saints is here So that it is not to be doubted but these Noble and Excellent Spirits can and do Communicate their thoughts to each other and that in a most excellent way §. 2. But yet we cannot imagine these Communications betwixt them to be by words formed by such instruments and Organs of Speech as we now use for they are bodiless Beings words and articulate sounds are fitted to the use and service of embodied Spirits It is therefore probable that they conveigh and communicate their minds to one another as the blessed Angels do Ceâ—â—tat Angelos linguas non habâ—â—e est autem in 〈◊〉 aliqâ—â—d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 linguis per quod conceâ—tas sibi muâ—â— tradunt Lights not with Tongues of flesh though we read of the Tongues of Angels 1 Cor. 13.1 but in a way somewhat analogous to this though much more noble and excellent For look as the Scripture stiles the most excellent food Angels food so the most excellent Speech or most eloquent Tongues Angels Tongues The purest Rhetorick that ever flowed from the lips of the most charming Orator is but babling to the Language of Angels or of Spirits made perfect When Paul was rapt into the third Heaven where he was admitted to the sight and hearing of this blessed Assembly it 's said he heard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 words unspeakable Spiritual Language such as his Tongue neither could or ought to utter such as none but heavenly Inhabitants can speak and Dan. 8.13 I heard saith Daniel one Saint speaking and another Saint said unto that certain Saint that spake c. He heard the enquiries of the Angels desiring to know the Mystery from the Mouth of Christ. A Language they have but not like ours §. 3. The Communications of Angels and Souls in Heaven is therefore conceived to be an ability in those blessed Spirits silently and without sound to instil and insinuate their minds and thoughts to each other by a meer act of their Wills just as we now speak to God or our selves in our hearts Dicimur nobis ipsis in animo loqui cum aliquid actu cogitamus animo volvimus cogitamus autem actu ex voluntatis imperio hoc est cum volumus Zanch. when our lips do not move or the least outward sign appears There are two ways by which the Souls of men speak one outwardly by the Instruments of Speech or sensible signs the other inwardly without sound or sign This inward silent Speech is nothing else but an act of the Will calling forth such things into our actual Thoughts and Meditations which before lay hid and quiet in the Memory or habit of knowledge These thoughts or actual revolvings of things in the mind is in Scripture called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Word or Speech in the heart Deut. 15.9 Take heed to thy self that there be not a wicked word in thy heart we translate a wicked thought thoughts are the words and voice of the Soul and so Matth. 9.3 they spake within themselves i.e. their Souls spake though their lips moved not all Meditation is an inward Speech in the Soul and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indifferently signifies both to speak 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cum puncto sinistro locutus est oâ—e aut corde cogitavit meditatus est and to meditate The Objects which we revolve in our thoughts are so many Companions with whom we converse and thus a man like Heinsius may be in the midst of abundance of excellent Company when he is all alone And this is silent talk to our selves without any sound or noise Object But you will say though the Spirit of a man can thus talk to or with it self Duo sunt oâ—lia aliorum respectu quorum nisi utrumque à te referetur fieri non potest ut que tu habes in intellecta corde tuo oâ—culta â—a alius habere cognosâ—ere queat urum ex parte animi est voluntas nisi enim quae occulâ—a latent in corde tuo ea vilis aliis patefieri quis ea percipiatâ— alterum est ipsum corpus carniâ—m ac proindè licèt quasi aperto priori interiorique ostio velis que in animo volvis alicui patefacere nisi tamen hoc etiam alterum externum reâ—eres nullo modo ab aliis hominibus cognosci poterunt Zâ—nch de operibus Dei lib. 3. cap. 19. yet this can signifie nothing to others For what man knoweth the things of a man save the Spirit of man that is in him 1 Cor. 2.11 It is not therefore enough to open this internal door of the Will for except we open also the external door of the lips no man can know our minds or be admitted into the secrets of our Souls should we never so earnestly desire that another should know our mind except we please also to discover it by word or sign he cannot know it and therefore an act of the Will is not sufficient without some external signification superadded And these Souls being bodiless can give no such outward signification There is indeed a necessity among men in this World to unlock another door beside that of their Will Sol. to communicate the Secrets of their hearts to others Quoniam igitur Angeli iis carent crassis corporibus idcirco nihil impedit quo minus qâ—â— unus Angelus in sua versat mente
ea alter videat nisi ejus voluntas si enim ea nolit ab altero resciri Nunquam nisi Deo reâ—â—ilante rescientur Zanch. ubi supra but Angels and the Spirits of men having no Bodies consequently have but one door to wit that of the Will to open and the opening thereof which is done by one act or desire in a moment is enough to discover so much of their minds as they would have discovered to another Spirit If they keep the door of their Will shut no Angel or Spirit can know what is in their thoughts without a Revelation from God and if they but will or desire others should know no words can so fully manifest one mans mind to another as such an act of the will doth manifest theirs And this saith learned Zanchy is the Tongue of Angels and the same way the Spirits of men have to make known their minds in the unbodied state It is but the turning of the Key of the Will and their thoughts or desires are presently seen and known by others to whom they will discover them as a mans face is seen in a glass when he pleaseth to turn his face to it Would one Spirit make known his mind to another it is but to will he should know it and it is immediately known §. 4. This Internal way of speaking and Communication among Spirits is much more noble perfect and excellent than that which is in use among us by words and signs and that in two respects viz. in respect 1. Of clearness in respect 2. Of dispatch and speed 1. Spiritual Language is more clearly expressive of the mind and thoughts than words writings or any other External signs can be The greatest Masters of Language do often cloud their meaning for want of words fit and full enough to express it truth suffers by the Poverty and Ambiguity of words many Controversies are but meer strifes about words and scufflings in the dark by the mistakes of each others sense and meaning few have the ability of putting their own meanings into apt proper and full expressions and if they can yet others to whom they speak want an answerable ability of understanding and clearness of apprehension to receive it If we could discern the true and natural sense of things just as it is in the mind of the Speaker or Writer How many Controversies would be thereby quickly ended But Spirits unbodied so conveigh their sense and mind to one another that there can be no mistakes no darkning of Counsel by words without knowledge but one receives it just as it lies in the others mind 2. Spiritual Language is more easie and of quicker dispatch Some men have voluble Tongues and are much more ready and presential than others their Tongues are as the Pen of a ready Scribe and others no less ready with their hands which keep pace with yea out-run the Tongue of the Speaker as Martial notes Martial Epig. lib. 14. Ep. 176. Currant verba licet manus est velocior illis Nondum lingua suum dextra peregit opus Yet all this is but bungling work to the ready dispatch of Spirits one act of the Will opens the Window to discern the mind of another clearly so that the converse of Spirits must needs be more excellent in both respects than any we are accustomed to or acquainted with in this World I will shut up this Question with One COROLLARY Long to be associated with the Spirits of just men made perfect You that are going to joyn that blessed Assembly will even in this respect gain an invaluable advantage 'T is true there is much of comfort in the present Converses of embodied and imperfect Saints 't is sweet to fast and pray to sigh and groan together 't is sweeter to rejoyce and praise our God together 'T is sweet to talk of Heaven with our faces thitherward but alas what is this to the converses that are among the Spirits of just men made perfect With what melting hearts have we sometimes sate under the doctrine of the Gospel How have our ears been chained with delight to the Preacher's lips whilst he hath been discoursing of those ravishing subjects Christ and Heaven But alas How dry and dull a thing is the best of this to the language of Heaven Three things debase and spoil the communications of the Saints on Earth viz. the darkness dulness and frothiness thereof 1. The darkness and ignorance of our understanding How crude weak and indigested are our highest and purest notions of spiritual things We speak of them but as children 1 Cor. 13.11 For alas the vail is yet upon our faces The Body of sin and the Body of flesh cast a very dark shadow upon the world to come But the apprehensions of separated Souls are most bright and clear This darkness begets mistakes mistakes beget so many quarrels and janglings that our fellowship on earth loseth at once both its profit and pleasure 2. There is much dulness and deadness accompanying the Communion of Saints on earth abundance of precious time is wasted among us in unprofitable silence and when we engage in discourses of Heaven that discourse is often little better than silence Our words freeze betwixt our lips and we speak not with that concernedness and warmth of Spirit which suits with such subjects It is not so among our brethren above their affections are at the highest peg giving glory to God in the highest 3. To conclude in the discourses of the best men on Earth there is too much froth and vanity Many words like water run away at the wast spout but there God is the Centre in which all terminates O therefore let us long to be among the unbodied people This World will never suit us with companions in all things agreeable to the desires of our hearts The best company are got together in the upper room an hour there is better than an Age below What ever fellowship Saints leave on earth they shall be sure to find better in Heaven QUERIE VI. Whether the separated Souls of the just in Heaven do incline to a re-union with their own Bodies and how that re-union is at last effected That these blessed Souls have no such inclination or desire these reasons seem to perswade 1. That their Bodies whilst they lived in them were no better than so many Prisons Many were the prejudices damages and miseries they sustained and suffered in them Animam conceptu suo obstruit obscurat concretione carnis inâ—aecat unde illi velut per carneum specular obsoletior lux verum est Proculdubio cum vi mortus exprimitur de concretione carnis ipsa expressione colatur certè de oppanso corporis â—râ—mpit in apertam ad meram puram suam lucem Tertul. de Anima It kept them at an uncomfortable distance from the Lord 2 Cor. 5.6 Their bemoaning cries spake their uneasie state How often hath every gracious Soul
thus lamented it self Wo is me that I dwell in Mesheck It inclosed their Souls within it's mud walls which intercepted the light and joy of God's face Death therefore did a most friendly office when it set it at liberty and brought it forth into its own pure and pleasant light and liberty These blessed Spirits now rejoyce as Prisoners do in their recovered liberty and can it be supposed after all these sufferings groans and sighs to be dissolved they can be willing to be embodied again Surely there is as little reason for Souls at liberty to desire to be again embodied as there is for a Bird got out of the Snare or Cage to flie back again to its place of confinement and restraint Yea when we consider how loth some holy Souls when under the excruciating pains of sickness and as yet in the sight of this alluring World have been to â—ear of a return to it by the recovery of their health we cannot think but being quite out of the sight of this and in the fruitions of the other World the thoughts of the Body must needs be more loathsome to them than ever We read that when a good man in time of his sickness was told by his friends that some hopeful signs of his recovery began now to appear he answered And must I then return to this Body I was as a sheep driven out of the Storm almost to the Fold and then driven back into the storm again Or as a weary Traveller near his home who must go back again to fetch something he had neglected or as an Apprentice whose time was almost out and then must begin a new Term. Of some others it hath been also noted that the greatest infirmities they discovered upon their death-bed have been their too passionate desires to be dissolved and their unsubmissiveness to Gods will in their longer stay in the Body Now the Bodies of the Saints being so cheerfully forsaken and that only upon a foretaste of Heaven by Faith how can it be thought they should find any inclination to a re-union when they are so abundantly satisfied with the joys of his face in Heaven Certainly the Body hath been no such pleasant habitation to the Soul that it should cast an eye or thought that way when it is once delivered out of it If it were burdensome here a thought of it would be loathsome there 2. We have shew'd before that the separate Soul wants not the help of the Body but lives and acts at a more free and comfortable rate than ever before 'T is true it is not now delighted with meat and drink with smells and sounds as it was wont to be but then it must be considered that it is happiness and perfection not to need them It is now become equal to the Angels in the way and manner of its living and what it enjoyed by the ministry of the Body it eminently and more perfectly injoys without it What perfections can the Soul receive from matter Anima rationalis nihil perfectionis recipit à materia quod extra ilâ—am non posset recipeâ—â— ergo cum sepâ—rata fuerit in ilâ—am propensa non dicetur Conimbr What can a lump of flesh add to a Spirit And if it can add nothing to it there is no reason why it should hanker after it and incline to a re-union with it It added nothing of happiness to it but much of trouble and therefore becomes justly undesireable to it 3. The supposition of such a propension and inclination seems no way to suit with that state of perfect rest which the Souls of the just enjoy in Heaven The Scriptures tell us that at death they enter into rest Isa. 57.2 Heb. 4.9 That they rest from their labours Rev. 14.13 But that which inclines and desires especially when the desired enjoyment as in this case is suspended so long must be as far from Rest as it is from satisfaction in the enjoyment of the thing desired We know what Solomon hath observed of such a life and his observation is experimentally true that hope defer'd makes the heart sick Prov. 13.12 Who finds not his own desires a very rack to him in such cases If we be kept but a few days in earnest expectation and desire of an absent Friend and he comes not what an uneasie life do we live But here we must suppose some have such an unsatisfied life for hundreds and others for thousands of years already and how much longer they may remain so who can tell We use to say lovers hours are full of Eternity These reasons seem to carry it for the Negative But if the matter be weighed once more with the following reasons in the counter scale and prejudice do not pull down the balance we shall find the contrary conclusion much more strong and rational For Argument I. THE Soul and Body are the two essential constitutive parts of Man either of these being wanting the Man is not compleat and perfect The good of the whole is the good of the parts themselves and every thing hath a natural desire and appetite to its own good and perfection Anima separata ad unionem corporis propeâ—sa est nam illa vult totius compositi actualem constitutionem cum propter hanc tanquam finem illa sit in entium latitudine inveniatur Atque haec est illa perfectio quam anima obtinet ex illo appetitu nam bonum totius compositi est bonum ipsarum partium Affirmandum itaque est animan separatam naturaliter desiderare resurrectionem Alstedii Nat Theol. pars prima p. 214 215. 'T is confessed the Soul for as much as concerns it self singly is made perfect and enjoys blessedness in the absence of the Body but this is only the perfection and blessedness of one part of man the other part viz the Body lies in obscurity and corruption and till both be blessed and blessed together in a state of composition and re-union the whole man is not made perfect For this therefore the Soul must wait Argument II. THough death hath dissolv'd the Union yet it hath not destroyed the relation betwixt the Soul and Body that dust is more to it than all the dust of the whole earth Hence it is that the whole person of a Believer is sometimes denominated from that part of him namely his Body which remains captivated by death in the grave Hence 2 Thes. 4.15 dead believers are called those that sleep which must needs properly respect the Body for the Soul sleeps not and shews what a firm and dear relation still remains betwixt these absent Friends Now we all know the mighty power of relation if it be least among entities yet surely it is one of the greatest things in the World in efficacy It is difficult to bear the absence of our dear Relatives especially if we be in prosperity and they in adversity As the case here is betwixt the Spirit in Heaven
subdued to and fitted for the use of the Spirit as never to impede clog or obstruct its motions and inclinations any more 1 Cor. 15.44 In this hope it parted from it and with this consolation it now receives it again Argument V. THere are many Scriptures which very much favour if they do not positively conclude the Souls inclination to and desire to be re-united with its own body even whilst it is in the state of its single glorification in Heaven certainly our Souls leave not our Bodies at death as the Ostrich doth her Egg in the sand without any farther regard to it or concernment for it but they are represented as crying to God to remember aveâ—â—â— and vindicate them Rev. 6 1â— 11. How long Lord how long wilt thou not avenge our blood our blood speaks both the continued Relation and suitable affection they have to their absent Bodies And to the same sense a judicious and learned Pen expounds that place Iob 14.14 which is commonly but I know not how fitly accommodated to another purpose all the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come which words by a diligent comparing of the Context appear to have this for their proper scope and sense Iob in the former verse had expressed his confidence by way of Petition Mr. How 's Blessedness of the Righteous p. 170 171. that at a set and appointed time God would remember him so as to recal him out of the Grave and now minded to speak out more fully puts the Question to himself If a man die shall he live again And thus answers it all the days of my appointed time that is of the appointed time which he mentioned before when God should revive him out of the dust will I wait till my change come that is that glorious change when the corruption of a loathsome Grave should be exchanged for immortal glory which he amplifies and utters more expresly Ver. 15. Thou shalt call and I will answer thou shalt have a desire to the work of thy hands thou wilt not always forget to restore and perfect thine own Creature And surely this waiting is not the act of his inanimate sleeping dust but of that part which should be capable of such an action q. d. I in that part which shall be still alive shall patiently wait the appointed time of reviving me in that part also which Death and the Grave shall insult over in a temporary triumph in the mean time Upon these grounds I think the inclination of the separated Spirits of the just to their own Bodies to be a justifiable Opinion As for the damned we have no reason to think such a re-union to be desireable to them for alas it will be but the increase and aggravation of their torments which consideration is sufficient to over-power and stifle the inclination of nature and make the very thoughts of it horrid and dreadful To what end as the Prophet speaks in another case is it for them to desire that day It will be a day of darkness and gloominess to them re-union being designed to compleat the happiness of the one and the misery of the other But before I take off my hand and dismiss this question I must remember that I am Debtor to two Objections Objection 1. The Soul can both live and act separate from the Body it needs it not and if it don't want why should it desire it Solution The life and actings of the glorified are considerable two ways 1 Singly and abstractly for the life and action of one part and so we confess the Soul lives happily and acts forth its own powers freely in the state of separation 2 Personally or concretely as it is the life and action of the whole man and so it doth both need and desire the Conjunction or re-union of the Body for the Body is not only a part of Christs purchace as well as the Soul and is to have its own glory as well as it but it is also a constitutive part of a compleat glorified person and so considered the Saints are not perfectly happy till this re-union be effected which is the true ground and reason of this its desire Object 2. But this Hypothesis seems to thwart the account given in Scripture of the rest and placid state of separate Souls for look as Bodies which gravitate and propend do not rest so neither do Souls which incline and desire Solution There is a vast difference betwixt the Tendencies and Propensions of Souls in the way to glory and in glory we that are absent from the Lord can find no rest in the way but those that are with the Lord can rest in Jesus and yet wait without anxiety or self torturing impatience for the accomplishment of the promises to their absent Bodies Rev. 6.10 11. COROLLARY Let this provoke us all to get sanctified Souls to rule and use these their Bodies now for God this will abundantly sweeten their parting at death and their meeting again at the Resurrection of the just Else their parting will be doleful and their next meeting dreadful And so much for the Doctrine of Separation The USES of the Point OUr way is now open to the improvement and Use of this excellent Subject and Doctrine of Separation and certainly it affords as rich an entertainment for our affections as for our minds in the following Uses Of which the first will be for our information in six practical Inferences Inference I. IF this be the life and state of gracious Souls after their separation from the Body Then holy persons ought not to entertain dismal and terrifying thoughts of their own dissolution The Apprehensions and thoughts of death should have a peculiar pleasantness in the minds of Believers you have heard into what a blessed Presence and Communion death introduceth your Souls how it leads you out of a Body of sin a World of sorrows the Society of imperfect Saints to an innumerable Company of Angels and to the Spirits of just men made perfect To that lovely Mount Sion to the heavenly Sanctuary to the blessed Visions of the face of God O methinks there hath been enough said to make all the Souls in whom the well-grounded hopes of the life of glory are found to cry out with the Apostle We are conâ—ident I say yea and willing rather to be absent from the Body and present with the Lord 2 Cor. 5.8 When good Musculus drew near his end how sweet and pleasant was this Meditation to his Soul Hear his Swan-like Song Melchior Adams in vita Musculi p. 385 386. Nil superest vitae frigus praecordia captat Sed tu Christe mihi vita perennis ades Quid trepidas anima ad sedes abitura quietis En tibi ductor adest Angelus ille tuus Linque domum hanc miseram nunc in sua fata ruentem Quam tibi fida Dei dextera restituet Peccasti Scio sed Christus credentibus
in se Peccata expurgat sanguine cuncta suo Horribilis mors est Fateor sed proxima vita est Ad quam te Christi gratia certa vocat Praesto est de Satana peccato morte triumphans Christus ad hunc igitur laeta alacrisque migra Which may be thus translated Cold death my heart invades my life doth flie O Christ my everlasting life draw nigh Why quiver'st thou my soul within my Breast Thine Angel's come to lead thee to thy rest Quit chearfully this drooping house of clay God will restore it in the appointed day Has't sinn'd I know it let not that be urg'd For Christ thy sins with his own blood hath purg'd Is death affrighting True but yet withal Consider Christ through death to life doth call He triumphs over Satan sin and Death Therefore with joy resign thy dying breath Much in the same chearful frame was the heart of dying Bullinger when his mournful friends expressed their sense of the loss they should sustain by his reâ—â—val Si Deo visum fuerit mea opera ulterius in Ecclesia ministerio uti ipse vires suffiâ—iet libens illi parebo sin me voluerit quod opto ex hac vita evocare paratus sum illius voluntati obsequi ac nihil est quod jâ—cundius possit mihi contingere quam ex hoc misero corruptissimo seculo ad Christum Servatorem mâ—um migrare idem ibid. Why said he If God will make any farther use of my labours in the Ministry he will renew my strength and I will gladly serve him But if he please as I desire he would to call me hence I am ready to obey his Will and nothing more pleasant can befal me than to leave this sinful and miserable World to go to my Saviour Christ. O that all who are out of the danger of death were thus got out of the dread of death too Let them only tremble and be convuls'd at the thoughts and sight of death whose Souls must fall into the hands of a sin-revenging God by the stroke of death who are to breathe out their last hope with their last breath Death is yours saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 3.22 your Friend your Priviledge your passage to Heaven 't is your ignorance of it which breeds your fears about it Inference II. GAther from hence the absolute indispensable necessity of your Vnion with Christ before your dissolution by death Wo to that Soul which shall be separated from its Body before it be united with Christ none but the Spirits of just men are made perfect at death Righteous Souls are the only qualified Subjects of blessedness 'T is true every Soul hath a natural capacity of happiness but gracious Souls only have an actual meetness for glory The Scriptures tell us in round and plain words that without holiness no man shall see the Lord Hebr. 12.14 that except we be regenerate and born again we cannot see the Kingdom of God John 3.3 You make the greatest adventure that ever was made by man indeed an adventure infinitely too great for any man to make when you shoot the Gulph of vast eternity upon terms of hazard and uncertainty What thinkest thou Reader darest thou adventure thy Soul and eternal happiness upon it that the work of Regeneration and Sanctification that very same work of Grace which the Spirit of God hangs all thy hopes of Heaven upon in these Scriptures is truly wrought by him in thy Soul Consider it well pause upon it again and again before thou go forth Should a mistake be committed here and nothing is more easie or common all the World over than such mistakes thou art irrecoverably gone This venture can be made but once and the miscarriage is never to be retrieved afterwards thou hast not another Soul to adventure nor a second adventure to make of this Well might the Apostle Peter call for all diligence to make our calling and our election sure That can never be made too sure which is so invaluable in its worth and to be but once adventured Inference III. HOw prejudicial is it to dying men to be then encumbered diverted and distracted about earthly concernments when the time of their departure is at hand The business and imployment of dying persons is of so vast importance and weight that every moment of their time need to be carefully saved and applied to this their present and most important concern How well soever you have improved the time of life believe it you will find work enough upon your hands at death dying hours will be found to be busie and laborious hours even to the most painful serious and industrious Souls whose life hath been mostly spent in preparations for death Leave not the proper business of other days to that day for that day will have business enough of its own Sufficient for that day are the labours thereof Let a few Considerations be pondered to clear and confirm this Inference Consideration I. The business and imployment of dying persons is of the most serious awful and solemn nature and importance it is their last preparatory work on earth to their immediate appearance before God their Judge Heb. 9.27 It is their shooting the Gulph into eternity and leaving this World and all their acquaintance and interests therein for ever Isai. 28.11 It is therefore a Work by it self to die a Work requiring the most intense deep and undisturbed exercises of all the Abilities and Graces of the inner man and all little enough Consideration II. Timâ— is exceeding precious with dying men the last sand is ready to fall and therefore not to be wasted as it was wont to be When we had a fair prospect of many years before us we made little account of an hour or day but now one of those hours which we so carelessly lavished away is of more value than all this World to us especially if the whole weight of eternity should hang upon it as often times it doth then the loss of that portion of time is the loss of Soul Body and hope for evermore Consideration III. Much of that little precious time of departing Souls will be unavoidably taken up and imployed about the inexcusable pressing calls and necessities of distressed nature all that you can do for your Souls must then be done only by fits and snatches in the midst of many disturbances and frequent interruptions So that it is rarely found that a dying man can pursue a serious Meditation with calm and fixed thoughts for besides the pains and faintings of the Body the Abilities of the mind usually fail Here also they fall into a sad Dilemma if they do not with utmost intention of mind fix their hearts and thoughts on Christ they lose their comfort if godly and their Souls if ungodly and if they do Friends and Physicians assure them they will destroy their Bodies These are the straits of men bordering close upon eternity they must hastily
catch a few moments in the intervals of pain and then are put by all again Consideration IV. There is no man living but hath something to do for his own Soul in a dying hour and something for others also Suppose the best that can be supposed that the Soul be in real Union with Christ and that Union be also clear yet it is seldom found but there are some assaults of Satan or if not yet how many Relations and Friends need our experiences and Counsels at such a time How many things shall we have to do after our great and main work is done And others have a great deal more to do though as safe as the former O the Knots and Objections that are then to be dissolv'd and answered The unusual Onsets and Assaults of Satan that are then to be resisted And yet most dying persons have much more upon their hands than either of the former The whole work of Repentance and Faith is to do when time is even done Consideration V. Few yea very few are found furnished â—â—â—h Wisdom Experience and Faithfulness to give dying Persons any considerable assistance in Soul affairs it may be there may be found among the Visitants of the Sick now and then a person who hath a word of Wisdom in his heart but then either he wants opportunity or courage and faithfulness to do the part of a true Spiritual friend Elihu describes the person so qualified as he ought for this work Iob 33.23 24. and calls him one among a thousand Some are too close and reserved others too trifling and impertinent Some are willing but want Ability others are able but want faithfulness Some cut too deep by uncharitable censoriousness others skin over the wound too slightly speaking Peace where God and Conscience speak none So that little help is to be expected Consideration VI. How much therefore doth it deserve to be lamented that where there is so much to do so little time to do it and so few to help in the best improvement of it all should be lost as to their Souls by earthly incumbrances and wordly affairs which may have been done sooâ—â—â—nd better in a more proper season O therefore let mâ—â—â—erswade all men to take heed of bringing the proper business of healthful days to their sick beds Inference IV. What an excellent creature is the Soul of man which is capable not only of such preparations for God whilst it is in the Body but of such sights and enjoyments of God when it lives without a Body Here the Spirit of God works upon it in the way of grace and sanctification Eph. 2.10 The scope and design of this his workmanship is to qualifie and make us meet for the life of Heaven 2 Cor. 5.5 For this self same thing or purpose our Souls are wrought or moulded by grace into quite another frame and temper than that which nature gave them and when he hath wrought out and finished all that he intends to be wrought in the way of sanctification then shall it be called up to the highest injoyments and imployments for ever that a creature is susceptible of Herein the dignity of the Soul appears that no other Creature in this World beside it hath a natural capacity either to be sanctified inherently in this World or glorified everlastingly in that to come to be transformed into the image and filled with the joy of the Lord. There are Myriads of other Souls in this World beside ours but to none of them is the Spirit of sanctification sent but only to ours The Souls of Animals serve only to move the dull and sluggish matter and take in for a few days the sensitive pleasures of the Creation and so expire having no natural capacity of or designation for any higher imployment or enjoyment And it deserves a most serious animadversion that this vast capacity of the Soul for eternal blessedness must of necessity make it capable of so much the more misery and self torment if at last it fail of that blessedness For it is apparent they do not perish because they are uncapable but because they are unwilling not because their Souls wanted any natural faculty that others have but because they would not open those they have 〈◊〉 â—â—ceive Christ in the way of faith and obedience as others did Think upon this you that live only to eat and drink and sleep and play as the Birds and Beasts of the field do what need was there of a reasonable Soul for such sensual imployments do not your noble faculties speak your designation for higher uses and will you not wish to exchange Souls with the most vile and despicable Animal in this World if it were possible to be done Certainly it were better for you to have no capacity of eternal blessedness as they have not if you do not enjoy it and no capacity of torment beyond this life as they have not if you must certainly endure it Inference V. IF our Souls and Bodies must be separated shortly how patiently should we bear all lesser that may or will be made betwixt us and any other enjoyments in this World No union is so intimate strict and dear as that betwixt your Souls and Bodies All your relations and enjoyments in this World hang looser from your Souls than your Bodies do and if it be your duty patiently and submissively to suffer a painful parting pull from your Bodies it is doubtless your duty to suffer meekly and patiently a separation from other things which are but a prelude to it and a meer shadow of it 'T is good to put such cases to our selves in the midst of our pleasant enjoyments I have now many comfortable Relatives in the World Wife Children Kindred and Friends God hath made them pleasant to me but he may bereave me of all these Doth not Providence ring such changes all the World over Are not all Kingdoms Cities and Towns full of the sighs and laments of Widows Orphans and Friends bereaved of their pleasant and useful Relations But if God will have it so 't is our duty to bound our sorrows remembring the time is short 1 Cor. 7.29 In a few days we must be stript much nearer even out of our own Bodies by death God may also separate betwixt me and my health by sickness so that the pleasure of this World shall be cut off from me but sickness is not death though it be a prelude and step towards it I may well bear this with patience who must submissively bear sharper pains than these ere long Yea and well may I bear this submissively considering that by such imbittering and weaning providences God is preparing me for a much easier dissolution than if I should live at ease in the Body all my days till death come to make so great and suddain a change upon me God may also separate betwixt me and my liberty by restraint It hath been the lot of the best men that ever
is the lot of all his to be in a state of sorrow in the Body In the World saith he you shall have trouble When I consider how often the Candle of Sorrow is held to the thread of life I justly wonder how it is protracted to such a length What Friend what Enjoyment had we ever in this World from which no sorrow nay many Sorrows have not sprung up to us And if the best Comforts bring forth Sorrows What do the worst things we meet with here bring forth I suppose there are many thousands of God's People this day in the World that have as much reason to assume the same new Name that Naomi did and say call me Marah Look as Day and Night divide all time betwixt them so do our Comforts and our Sorrows only with this difference That our Nights of Sorrow like Winter Nights are long cold and dark and our days of Comfort short and frequently over-cast But when we put off these Bodies we put off our mourning Garments with them and shall never sorrow any more thenceforth God wipes away all tears from his Peoples eyes Rev. 21.4 and that is not all but they enter into their Masters Joy even fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore Groans are turned into Triumphs and Sighs and Tears into joyful Acclamations and Songs of praise O that we were once made sensible throughly of the advantages that come by this exchange 3. From entangling Temptations into everlasting Freedom 'T is this Body and the interest and concerns of it upon which Satan raises most of his Batteries against our Souls 't is our Flesh that causeth our Soul to sin and whilst the Soul dwells in the Body it is within Satans reach to tempt and defile and trouble it O what grievous things do the best Souls endure and suffer on this account Temptations are of two sorts Ordinary and mediate by Satans exciteing and manageing our Corruptions by presenting Objects to them or extraordinary and immediate like fiery darts shot immediately out of Hell into the Soul which puts it all into a flame and Combustion Of the former you read in Iam. 1.14 the latter in Eph. 6.16 and upon the account of the one and other the People of God are weary of their lives think what a grief it must be to a Soul that loves God to feel in it self such things as militate against and wound the Name and Honour of God which is and ought to be dearer to it than its life But by the door of Death every gracious Soul makes it escape from the tempting power of Satan he can no more touch or affect the Soul with any temptation than we can batter the Body of the Sun with Snow-balls for as Satan can have no access to that place of Blessedness where the Souls of the Saints are so if he could he can find nothing in them to fasten a temptation upon The Schoolmen give this as the reason why the Saints in Heaven are impeccable because all their thoughts and affections are everlastingly fixed in and imployed about the blessed God whose face they continually behold in Glory 4. From distressing Persecutions into full and perfect rest As Death sets us free from the Power of Satan so from the reach of all Persecutors There the wicked cease from troubling and there the weary are at rest as it is in Iob 3.17 The price of one Ahab who had sold himself to work wickedness was a stock sufficient to purchase many years trouble to all Israel 1. King 18.17 Wicked men are as the unquiet troubled Sea which cannot rest Isai. 57.20 They cannot rest from troubling the Saints till they cease to be wicked or to live when God puts out the Candle of their lives they are silent in darkness 1 Sam. 2.9 And when God puts out the Candle of our life we are at rest though they rage never so much in this World Death is the Saints quietus est their full and final discharge from persecuting Enemies When we are dying we may say as Psal. 9.6 O thou Enemy Destructions are come to a perpetual end God may put an end to these Persecutions before Death and such a time according to promise is to be expected when our officers shall be peace and our Exactors Righteousness Isa. 60.17 but if the accomplishment of the promise be reserved for Ages to come and we must spend our days under the oppression of the wicked yet this is our comfort we know when we shall be far enough out of their reach 5. From pinching wants to universal Supplies This is the day in which the Lord abundantly satisfies the desires and supplies the needs of all his people there are two sorts of wants upon the People of God Spiritual and Temporal Spiritual wants are the just Complaints of all gracious Souls You read 1 Thes. 3.10 of that which is lacking in the Faith of the Saints there are none but find many things lacking to the perfection of every Grace Our knowledge of God wants clearness and efficacy Our Love to God fervour and constancy our Faith wants strength and stability Darkness mixes it self with our knowledge deadness with our love Unbelief with the purest acts of Faith Go where you will you shall find Gods People every where complaining of their Spiritual wants One of a dark head another of a dead heart another of a treacherous Memory Thus they are loading one another with their Complaints Temporal outward wants pinch hard also upon many of Gods People the greatest number of them consist of the Poor of this World Iam. 2.5 Those whose Souls are discharged and acquitted by God whose Debts are paid by Jesus Christ may yet be intangled in a brake of Cares and Troubles in the World and not know which way to turn themselves in their straits and difficulties But by death the Saints pass from all their wants inward and outward to a state of compleat satisfaction where nothing is lacking from that day all their Spiritual wants are supplied for they are now arrived to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ to a perfect man Eph. 4.13 Now that which is perfect is come and all that was in part is done â—way 1 Cor. 13.10 And for outward wants they shall feel them no more for putting off the Body we must needs put off all cares and concerns about it Meats for the Belly and the Belly for Meats God shall destroy both it and them 1 Cor. 6.13 6. From distracting fears into highest security and rest of thoughts for ever more The fears of God's People are either about their Souls or about their Bodies the fears they have about their Souls are inexpressible Two things especially exercise their fears about their Souls 1 Whether they be really united to Christ. 2 Whether they shall be able to continue and persevere in the ways of Christ to the end they are afraid of their sincerity and of their stability and
these fears accompany many of Gods People from their Regeneration to their Dissolution O what would they not give what would they not do yea what would they not endure to get full satisfaction in those things Every working of Corruption every discovery made by Temptation puts them into a fright and makes them question all that ever was wrought in them And as their fears are great about the inward man so also about the outward man especially when such bloody preparations seem to be making by the same Enemies that have acted such and so many bloody Tragedies already in the World But at death they enter into perfect peace and security Isai 57.2 No wind of fear shall ever ruffle and disturb their Souls and put them into a storm any more 7. From deluding shadows into substantial good This World is the World of Shadows and delusive appearances Here we are imposed upon and baffled by empty and deceitful Vanities All we have here is little else but a Dream at death the Soul awakes out of its Dream and finds it self in the World of Realities where it feeds upon substantial good to satisfaction Psal. 17.15 Now the advantages accrewing to the Soul by death being so great and many though the Medium be harsh and ungrateful in it self yet there is all the reason in the World we should covet it for the benefits that come by it Argument V. THe foretasts we have had of Heaven already in the Body should make all the Saints long to be unbodied for the full and perfect fruition of that Joy seeing it cannot be fully and perfectly enjoyed by the Soul till it hath put off the Body by death That there are Praelibations First-fruits and Earnests of future glory given at certain seasons to Believers in this life is put beyond all doubting not only by Scripture-Testimonies but frequent experiences of God's People I speak not only with the Scriptures but with the clear experience of many Saints when I say there are to be felt and tasted even here in the Body the Earnests of our Inheritance Eph. 1.14 The first-fruits of the Spirit Rom. 8.23 The sealing of the Spirit Eph. 1.13 The very Ioy of the Lord 1 Pet. 1.8 of the same kind though in a remisser degree with that of the glorified That the fulness of this joy cannot be in us whilst we tabernacle in Bodies of flesh is as plain When Moses desired a sight of that face which the spirits of just men made perfect do continually behold and adore the Answer was No Man can see my face and live Exod. 33.18 19 20. q. d. Moses Thou askest a great thing and understandest not how unable thou art to support that which thou desirest should I shew thee my Glory in this compounded state thou now art it would confound thee and swallow thee up Nature as now constituted cannot support such a weight of Glory a Ray a glimpse of this light overpowers Man and breaks such a clay Vessel to pieces which is the reason why the Resurrection must intervene betwixt this state and that of the Bodies glorification And it is not to be doubted but one main end and reason why these foretasts of Heaven are given us in the Body is to embolden the Soul to venture through death it self for the full enjoyment of those Delights and Pleasures They are like the Grapes of Eshcol to the faint-hearted Israelites or the sweet Wines of Italy to the Gauls which once tasted made them restless till they had conquered that good Countrey where they grew Rom. 8.23 We which have the first-fruits of the Spirit even we our selves do groan within our selves waiting for the Adoption viz. The Redemption of our Bodies Well then reflect seriously upon those sweet tastes that you have had of God and his love in your sincere and secret addresses to him and converses with him What an holy forgetfulness of all things in this World hath it wrought How insipid and tastless hath it rendered the sweetest Creature-enjoyments What willingness to be dissolved for a more full fruition of it God this way brings Heaven nigh to your Souls out of design to overcome your Reluctancies at death through which you must pass to the enjoyment of it And after all those sights and tastes both of the truth and goodness of that state shall we still reluctate and hang back as if we had never tasted how good the Lord is O you may justly question whether you ever had a real taste of Jesus Christ if that taste do not kindle Coals of fire in your Bosomes I mean ardent longings to be with him and to be satiated with his love If you have been priviledged with a taste of thaâ— hidden Manna with the sight of things invisible with Joys unspeakable and full of glory and yet are loth to be gone to the fountain whence all this flows certainly you herein both cross the design of the spirit in giving them and cast a vile disgrace and reproach upon the blessed God as thinking there is more bitterness in death than there is sweetness in his presence Yea it argues the strength of that unbelief which still remains in your hearts that after so many tastes and tryals as you have had you still remain doubtful and hesitating about the certainty and reality of things invisible O what adoe hath God with his froward and peevish Children If he had only revealed the future state to us in his Word as the pure Object of Faith and required â—s to die upon the meer credit of his promise without such Pawns Pledges and Earnests as these are were there not reason enough for it But after such and so many wonderful and amazing Condescentions wherein he doth as it were say Soul if yet thou doubtest I will bring Heaven to thee thou shalt have it in thy own hand thy eyes shall see it thy hands shall handle it thy Mouth shall taste it how inexcusable is our Reluctancy Argument VI. IT should greatly fortifie the People of God against the fears of Dissolution to consider that death can neither destroy the being of their Souls by Annihilation nor the hopes and expectations they have of blessedness by disappointment and frustration Prov. 14.32 The Righteous hath hope in his death Though all earthly things fail at death upon which account dying is expressed by failing Luke 16.19 Yet neither the Soul nor the well grounded hopes can fail The Anchor of a Believers hope is firm and sure Hebr. 6.18 It will not come home in the greatest Storm that can beat upon the Soul For 1 God hath foreknown and chosen them to Salvation before the World was 1 Pet. 1.2 And this Foundation of God standeth sure having this Seal the Lord knoweth who are his 2 Tim. 2.19 His Decrees are as firm as Mountains of Brass Zâ—ch 6.1 2 God hath justified their persons and therein destroyed the power of death over them 1 Cor. 15.55 56 57. O death
themselves first into a deep guilt by compliance with Antichrist and receiving his mark then into an Hell upon Earth the remorse and horrour of their own consciences which gives them no rest day nor night he immediately subjoyns v. 13. Blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord yea from henceforth saith the spirit c. Oh 't is a special blessing and favour to be hid out of the way of those temptations and torments in a seasonable and quiet grave Argument IX YOur fixed aversation and unwillingness to die will provoke God to imbitter your lives with much more affliction than you have yet felt or would feel if your hearts were more mortified and weaned in this point You cannot think of your own deaths with pleasure no nor yet with patience Well take heed lest this draw down such troubles upon you as shall make you at last to say with Iob chap. 10. v. 1. My Soul is weary of my life An expression much like that 2 Sam. 1.9 Anguish is come upon me because my life is whole in me My Soul is hardened or become cruel against my life as the Chaldee renders it There is a twofold weariness of life one from an excellency of spirit a noble principle the ardent love of Jesus Christ Phil. 1.23 I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ. Another from the meer pressures of affliction and anguish of Spirit under heavy and successive stroaks from the hand of God and men Is it not more excellent and desireable to groan for death under a pressure of love to Christ than of afflictions from Christ I am convinced that very many of our afflictions come upon this score and account to make us willing to dye Is it not sad that God is forced to bring death upon all our comfortable and desireable things in this World before he can gain our consents to be gone Why will you put God upon such work as this Why cannot he have your hearts at a cheaper rate If you could dye many of your comforts for ought I know might live Had Iacob come to Absalom when he sent for him the first or second time Absalom had never set his field of Barly on fire 2 Sam. 14.30 And if we were more obedient to the will of God in this matter 't is likely he would not consume your health and Estates and Relations with such heavy strâ—â—ks as he hath done and will yet farther do except your wills be more compliant Alas To cut off your comforts one after another and make you live a groaning life the Lord hath no pleasure in it but rather he had you should lose these things than that he should lose your hearts on Earth or company in Heaven Impatiens aegrotus crudelem facit Medicum Argument X. THe decree of death cannot be reversed nor is there any other ordinary passage for the Soul into Glory but through the gates of death Heb. 9.27 It is appointed for all men once to die but after that the Iudgment There is but one way to pass out of the obscure suffocating life in the Womb into the more free and nobler life in the World viz. through the Throes and Agonies of Birth And there is ordinarily but one way to pass from this sinning groaning life we live in this World to the enjoyment of God and the Glory above but through the Agonies of death You must cast as it were your Secundine once again I mean this vile body before you can be happy Heaven cannot come down to you you cannot see God and live Exod. 33.20 It would certainly confound and break you to pieces like an earthen Pitcher should God but ray forth his Glory upon you in the state you now are and it is sure you cannot expect the extraordinary savour of such a translation as Enoch had Hebr. 11.5 Or as those Believers shall have that shall be found alive at Christ's coming 1 Thes. 4.17 You must go the common road that all the Saints go but though you cannot avoid you may sweeten it God will not reverse his Decree but you may and ought to arm your selves against the fears of it Ahashuerus would not re-call the Proclamation he had emitted against the Iews but he gave them full liberty to take up arms to defend themselves against their Enemies 'T is much so here the Sentence cannot be revoked but yet he gives you leave yea he commands you to arm your selves against death and defie it and trample it under the feet of Faith Argument XI WHen you find your hearts reluctate at the thoughts of leaving the Body and the comforts of this World then consider how willingly and chearfully Iesus Christ left Heaven and the Bosome of his Father to come down to this World for your sakes Pr. 8.30 31. Ps. 40.7 Loe I come c. O compare the frames of your hearts with his in this point and shame your selves out of so unbecoming a temper of Spirit 1 He left Heaven and all the Delights and Glory of it to come down to this World to be abased and humbled to the lowest you leave this World of sin and misery to ascend to Heaven to be exalted to the highest He came hither to be impoverished you go thither to be enriched 2 Cor. 8.9 yet he came willingly and we go grudgingly 2 He came from Heaven to Earth to be made sin for us 2 Cor. 5.21 we go from Earth to Heaven to be fully and everlastingly delivered from sin yet he came more willingly to bear our sins than we go to be delivered from them 3 He came to take a body of Flesh to suffer and die in Heb. 2.24 you leave your Bodies that you may never suffer in or by them any more 4 As his Incarnation was a deep abasement so his death was the most bitter death that ever was tasted by any from the beginning or ever shall to the end of the World and yet how obediently doth he submit to both at the Father's Call Luke 12.50 I have a Baptism to be baptized with and how am I straitened till it be accomplished Ah Christians your death cannot have the ten thousandth part of that bitterness in it that Christ's had I remember one of the Martyrs being asked why his heart was so light at death returned this answer because Christs heart was so heavy at his death O there is a vast difference betwixt one and the other the Wrath of God and Curse of the Law was in his death Gal. 3.13 but there is neither Wrath nor Curse in your death who die in the Lord Rom. 8.1 God forsook him when he hanged upon the Tree in the Agonies of death Matth. 27.46 My God my God why hast thou forsaken me But you shall not be forsaken He will make all your Bed in sickness Psal. 41.3 He will never leave you nor forsake you Heb. 13.5 Yet he regretted not but went as a Sheep or Lamb Isa. 53.7 O reason
In this Scripture we have the contrary glass representing the unspeakable misery of those Souls or Spirits which are separated by death from their Bodies for a time and by sin from God for ever Arrested by the Law and secured in the prison of Hell unto the judgment of the great day A Sermon of Hell may keep some Souls out of Hell and a Sermon of Heaven be the means to help others to Heaven The desire of my heart is that the conversations of all those who shall read these discourses of Heaven and Hell might look more like a diligent flight from the one and pursuit of the other The scope of the context is a perswasive to patience upon a prospect of manifold tribulations coming upon the Christian Churches strongly enforced by Christs example who both in his own person ver 18. and by his spirit in his Servants ver 19. exercised wonderful patience and long suffering as a pattern to his people This 19. ver gives us an account of his long-suffering towards that disobedient and immorigerous generation of sinners on whom he waited 120 years in the Ministry of Noah There are difficulties in the Text. Estius reckons no less than ten expositions of it Locus â—iâ—c omnium penè interpretum judicio difficillimus Estius and saith it is a very difficult Scripture in the judgment of almost all Interpreters But yet I must say those difficulties are rather brought to it than found in it It is a Text which hath been rackt and tortured by Popish Expositors to make it speak Christs local descent into Hell and to confess their Doctrine of Purgatory things which it knew not But if we will take its genuine sense it only relates the sin and misery of those contumacious persons on whom the spirit of God waited so long in the Ministry of Noah giving an account Of 1. Their sin on Earth Of 2. Their punishment in Hell 1. Their sin on Earth which is both specified and aggravated 1 Specified Namely their disobedience They were sometimes disobedient or unperswadeable neither precepts nor examples could bring them to repentance 2 This their disobedience is aggravated by the expence of God's patience upon them for the space of an hundred and twenty years not only forbearing them so long but striving with them as Moses expresseth it or waiting on them as the Apostle here but all to no purpose they were obstinate stubborn and unperswadeable to the very last 2. Behold therefore in the next place the dreadful but most just and equal punishment of these sinners in Hell they are called Spirits in prison i e. Souls now in Hell At that time when Peter wrote of them they were not intire men Psal. 31.6 Eccles. 12.7 Acts. 7.50 but Spirits in the proper sense i.e. separated Souls bodiless and lonely Souls whilst in the Body it is properly a Soul but when separated a Spirit according to Scripture-language and the strict notion of such a Being These Spirits or Souls in the state of separation are said to be in a Prison that is in Hell as the word elsewhere notes Rev. 20.7 and Iude v. 6. comp Heaven and Hell are the only receptacles of departed or separated Souls Thus you have in a few words the natural and genuine sense of the place and it is but a wast of time to repeat and refel the many false and forced interpretations of this Text which corrupt minds and mercenary Pens have perplext and darkned it withal That which I level at is comprized in this plain Proposition DOCT. That the Souls or Spirits of all men who dye in a state of unbelief and disobedience are immediately committed to the Prison of Hell there to sufferr the wrath of God due to their sins Hell is shadowed forth to us in Scripture by diverse Metaphors for we cannot conceive spiritual things unless they be so cloathed and shadowed out unto us Spiritualia capere non possumus nisi adumbrata Augustine gives this reason for the frequent use of Metaphors and Allegories in Scripture because they are so much proportioned to our senses with which our senses have contracted an intimacy and familiarity and therefore God to accommodate his truth to our capacity doth as it were this way embody it in earthly expressions according to that celebrated observation of the Cabalists lumen supremum nunquam descendit sine indumento The pure and supream light never descends to us without a garment or covering In the old Testament the place and state of damned Souls is set forth by Metaphors taken from the most remarkable places and exemplary acts of vengeance upon sinners in this World as the overthrow of the Giants by the flood those prodigious sinners that fought against Heaven and were swept by the flood into the place of Torments Hell called the place of Giants and why to this Solomon is conceived to allude in Prov. 21.16 The man that wanders out of the way of understanding shall remain in the congregation of the dead in the Heb. it is they shall remain with the Rephaims or Giants These Giants were the men that more especially provoked God to bring the flood upon the World they are also noted as the first inhabitants of Hell therefore from them the place of Torments takes its name and the damned are said to remain in the place of Giants Hell called Tophet and why Sometimes Hell is called Trophet Isa. 30.33 This Tophet was in the valley of Hinnom and was famous for divers things There the children of Israel caused their children to pass through the fire to Moloch or sacrificed them to the Devil drowning their horrible shrieks and ejulations with the noise of Drums In this valley also was the memorable slaughter of eighteen hundred thousand of the Assyrian Camp by an Angel in one night There also the Babylonians murthered the people of Ierusalem at the taking of the City Ier. 7.31 32. So that Tophet was a meer Shambles the publick chopping block on which the limbs both of young and old were quartered out by thousands it was filled with dead Bodies till there was no place for burial By all which it appears that no spot of ground in the World was so famous for the fires kindled in it to destroy men for the doleful cries that echo'd from it or the innumerable multitudes that perished in it for which reasons it is made the embleme of Hell Sometimes it is called a lake of fire burning with brimstone Hell a lake of fire Rev. 19.20 denoting the most exquisite torment by an intense and durable flame And in the Text it 's called a prison A prison where the Spirits of ungodly men are both detained and punished This notion of a Prison gives us a lively representation of the miserable state of damned Souls and that especially in the following particulars First Prisoners are arrested and seized by authority of Law 't is the Law which sends them
of their torment in Hell Rev. 18.7 so much torment and sorrow as there was delight and pleasure in sin 4. To conclude the pleasures of sin are but for a season as you read Heb. 11.25 but the wrath of God in Hell is for ever and ever There is a time when the pleasures of sin cannot be called pleasure to come but the Wrath of God that will still be wrath to come O consider for what a trifle you sell your Souls When Lysimachus parted with his Kingdom for a draught of water he said when he had drank it For how short a pleasure have I sold a Kingdom And Ionathan lamented 1 Sam. 14.43 I tasted but a little Honey and I must die Satan would not charm so powerfully as he doth with the pleasures of sin if this point were well believed and heartily applied Inference III. WHat a matchless madness is it to cast the Soul into Gods Prison to save the Body out of Mans Prison Men have their Prisons and God hath his but because the one is an Object of Sense and the other an Object of Faith that only is feared and this slighted all over this unbelieving World except by a very small number of men who tremble at the Word of God Now this I say is the height of madness and will appear to be so in a just Collation of both in a few Particulars 1 Mans Prison restrains the Body only Gods Prison Soul and Body Matt. 10.28 The Spirits of Men as my Text speaks are the Prisoners there O what a vast odds doth this single difference make A thousand times more than the captivating and binding of the greatest King or Emperour differs from the imprisonment of a poor Mechanick or Vagrant Beggar 2 In Mans Prison there are many comforts and unspeakable refreshments from Heaven but in Gods Prison none but the direct contrary You read of the Apostles Acts 16.25 how they sang in the Prison the Spirit of God made them a Banquet of heavenly Ioys and they could not but sing at it though their feet were in the stocks their Spirits were never more at liberty Algerius dated his Letters from the delectable Orchard of the Leonine Prison where saith he flows the sweetest Nectar Another tells us Christ was always kind to him but since he became a Prisoner for him he even overcame himself in kindness I verily think saith he the Chains of my Lord are all overlaid with pure Gold and his Cross perfumed but the worst terrours of the Prisoners in Hell come from the presence of the Lord 2 Thes. 1.9 God is a terrour to them 3 The cause for which a man is cast into Prison by men may be his Dâ—ty and so his Conscience must be at least quiet if not joyful in such Sufferings So it was with Paul Acts 28.20 For the hope of Israel am I bound with this Chain This diffuses Joy and Peace through the Conscience into the whole man but the cause for which men are cast into Gods Prison is their sin and guilt which armes their own Consciences against them and makes them as you heard before Self-tormentors terrours to themselves What odds is here 4 In Mans Prison the most excellent Company and sweet Society may be found Paul and Silas were fellow Prisoners In Queen Maries days the most excellent Company to be found in England was in the Prisons Prisons were turned into Churches But in Gods Prison no better Society is to be found than that of Devils and damned Reprobates Matth. 25.41 5 In Mans Prison there is hope of a comfortable deliverance but in Gods Prison none Matt. 5.26 Thou shalt not come out thence till thou hast paid the last Mite 'T is an everlasting Prison Compare these few obvious Particulars and judge then what is to be thought of that man who stands readier to cast himself into any guilt than into the least Suffering What is it but as if a man should offer his Neck to the Sword to save his hand The Lord convince us what trifles our Estates Liberties and Lives are to our Souls or to the peace and purity of our Consciences Inference IV. WHat an invaluable mercy is the pardon of sin which sets the Soul out of all danger of going to this prison When the debt is satisfied a man may walk as boldly before the prison door as he doth before his own they that owe nothing fear no Bayliffs 'T is the Law as I said before that commits men to Prison a Mittimus is but an instrument of Law but the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in them that believe Rom. 8.4 Yea they are made the righteousness of God in him 2 Cor. 5.21 There can be no process of Law against them For who shall condemn when it is God that justifieth Rom. 8.33 34. And that divine justice might be no bar to our faith or comfort he adds It is Christ that died and yet farther to assure us that his death hath made plenary satisfaction to God for all our sins and debts it added Yea rather that is risen again q. d. If the debts of believers to God were not fully paid and satisfied for by the blood of Christ how comes it to pass that our Surety is discharged as by his Resurrection he appears to be O Believer thy Bonds are Cancelled the hand-writing that was against thee is nailed to the Cross the blood of Christ hath done that for thee that all the Gold and Silver in the World could not do 1 Pet. 1.18 19. It is a counter price 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eâ—t pretium ex adverso respondent fully answering to thy debts Matth. 20.28 And hence to the Eternal joy of thy heart result three properties of thy pardon which are able to make thine eyes gush out with tears of joy whilst thou art reading of it 1. It is a free pardon to thy Soul though it cost Christ dear it costs thee nothing We have redemption even the remission of sins according to the riches of his grace Eph. 1.7 The project of it was Gods not thine the price for it was Christs blood not thine the glory and riches of free grace are illustriously displayed in thy forgiveness 2. It is as full as it is free a compleat and perfect cause produceth a compleat and perfect effect Acts 13.39 Iustified from all things what ever thy sins be for nature number or circumstances of aggravation they cannot exceed the value of the meritorious cause of Remission The blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin 3. It must be as firm as it is free and full even an irrevocable pardon for ever more Christ did not shed his blood at an hazzard the way of justification by faith makes the promise sure Rom. 4 16. The justified shall never come again under condemnation O the unspeakable joy that flows from this Spring O the triumphs of faith upon this foundation It is not ravishing melting overwhelming and amazing
all the city cryed out When Paul tooâ— his leave of Antioch and told them they should see his face no more how did the poor Christians lament and mourn as cut at the heart by that killing word Acts 20.37 38. It made Christs bowels to yearn and roll within him when he saw the multitude scatter'd as sheep having no shepherd Matth. 9.36 Matthew Paris tells us in the year 1072. when preaching was supprest at Rome Letters were then framed as coming from Hell wherein the Devil gave them thanks for the multitude of Souls sent to him that year but we need no Letters from Hell we have a sad account from Heaven in what a sad state those Souls are left from whom the means of Salvation are cut off Where no vision is the people perish Prov. 29.18 and Hosea 4.6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge 'T is sad when those Stars that guide Souls to Christ as that which the Wise-men saw did are set and wandring Stars shall shine in their places O if God remove the golden Candlestick out of its place what but the desolation and ruine of millions of Souls must follow We account it insufferable cruelty for a man to undertake the pilotting of a Ship full of Passengers who never learnt his Compass or an ignorant Empirick to get his living by killing mens bodies but much more lamentable will the state of Souls be if ever they fall which God in mercy prevent into the hands of Popish Guides or blind Leaders of the blind Inference VII IF the Soul be of so precious a Nature it can never live upon such base and vile food as earthly things are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id quod à nobis rejectum projicitur canibus The Apostle Phil. 3.8 9 calls the things of this World Dogs meat and judge if that be proper food for such noble and high-born Creatures as our Souls are An immaterial Being can never live upon material things they are no bread for Souls as the Prophet speaks Isa. 55 2. Why do ye spend money i. e. time and pains thoughts and cares for that which is not bread Your Souls can no more live upon carnal than your bodies can upon spiritual things Earthly things have a double defect in them by reason whereof they are called things of nought Amos 6.13 of no worth or value they are neither suitable nor durable and therefore in the Souls eye not valuable 1. They are not suitable What are Corn and Wine Gold and Silver Pleasures and Honours to the Soul The body and bodily senses can find somewhat of refreshment in them but not the Spirit that which is bread to the body affords no more nourishment to the Soul than wind or ashes Isa. 44.20 Cinis est crassior illa materia in quam combustum redigitur He feedeth of ashes Ashes are that light and dry matter into which fuel is reduced by the fire the fuel before it was burnt had nothing in it fit for nourishment or if the sap or juice that was in it might in any respect be useful that way yet all that is devoured and lickt up by the fire and not the least nutriment left in the ashes and such are all earthly things to the Soul of man I am the bread of life saith Christ. A Soul can feed and feast it self upon Christ and the Promises these are things full of marrow and fatness substantial and proper Soul-nutriment 2. As earthly things are no way suitable to the Soul so neither are they durable The Apostle reduceth all earthly things to three Heads the lusts of the Eye the lusts of the Flesh and the pride of Life 1 Ioh. 2.16 he calls them all by the name of that which gives the lustre and beauty to them and pronounceth them all fading transitory vanities they all pass away as time so these things that are measured by time are in fluxu continuo always going and at last will be all gone Now the Soul being of an immortal Nature and these things of a perishing nature it must necessarily and unavoidably follow that the Soul must overlive them all and if it will do so what a dismal case are those Souls in for whom no other provision is made but that on which it cannot subsist whilst it hath them no more than the body can upon ashes or wind and if it could yet they will shortly fail it and pass away for ever So then it is beyond debate that there lies a plain necessity upon every man to make provision in time of things more suitable and durable than earthly treasures are or the Soul must perish as to its comfort to all Eternity Hence is that weighty counsel of him that came to save them Luke 12.33 Provide your selves bags that wax not old a treasure in Heaven that saileth not i. e. an happiness which will last as long as your Souls last Certainly the moth-eaten things of this World are no proâ—â—sion for immortal Spirits and yet multitudes think of â—â—â—ther provision for them but live as if they had nothing to do in this World but to get an Estate Alas what are all these things to the Soul They signifie somewhat indeed to the body and that but for a little time for after the Resurrection the bodies of the Saints become spiritual in their qualities and no more need these material things than the Angels do 'T is madness therefore to be so intent upon cares for the body as to neglect the Soul but to ruine the soul and drown it in perdition for the sake of these provisions for the flesh is the height of madness Inference VIII IF the Soul be so invaluably precious then it is a rational and well advised resolution and practice to expose all other things to hazard yea to certain less for the preservation of the more precious Soul 'T is better our bodies and all their comforts should perish than that our Souls should perish for their sakes Nature it self teacheth us to offer an hand or arm to the stroke of a Sword to save a blow from the head or put by a thrust at the heart It is recorded to the praise of those three Worthies Dan. 3.28 That they yielded their bodies that they might not serve nor worship any God except their own God By this rule all the Martyrs of Christ governed themselves still slighting and exposing to destruction their bodies and Estates to preserve their Souls reckoning to save nothing by Religion but their Souls and that they had lost nothing if they could save them They loved not their lives unto the death Rev. 12.11 Then do we live like Christians when the cares of our bodies are swallowed up and subdued by the cares of our Souls and all Creature-loves by the love of Christ those blessed Souls hated their own bodies and counted them their enemies when they would draw them from Christ and his Truths
Neighbourhood and yet saith I believe the grace and fear of God was in him for when he heard any to swear or take the Name of God in vain he would throw stones at them and shew his indignation against sin by all the signs he could make 2. You that are so grosly ignorant in the matters of your Salvation are many of you very knowing prudent and subtle persons in the affairs of the world Luke 16.8 The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light Had those parts which you have been improved and heightned by study and observation about spirituals as they have been about earthly things you had neither been so ignorant or dead-hearted as you are you might have been as well verst in your Bibles as you are in the Almanacks you yearly buy and study you might have understood the proper seasons of Salvation as well as of Husbandry The great and necessary points on which your Salvation depends are not so many or so abstruse and intricate but your plain and inartificial heads might have understood them and that with less pains than you have been at for your bodies What though you cannot comprehend the subtleties of Shoolmen you may apprehend the Essentials of Christianity If you cannot strictly and scholastically define Faith what hinders if your hearts were set upon Christ and Salvation but you may feel it which is more than many learned men do that can define and dispute about it You cannot put an Argument in Mood and Figure no matter if you can by comparing your Bibles and hearts together draw savingly and experimentally this conclusion I am in Christ and my sins are pardoned You cannot determine whether Faith goes before Repentance or Repentance before Faith but for all that you might feel both the one and the other upon your own Souls which is infinitely better 'T is not therefore your incapacity but negligence and worldiness that is your ruine 3. How many are there of your own rank order and education all whose external advantages and helps you have and all your incumbrances and discouragements they had who yet have attain'd to an excellent degree of saving knowledge and heavenly wisdom How often have I heard such spiritual savoury experimental Truths in Conference and Prayer from plain Rusticks such spiritual Reasonings about the great concerns of Salvation such judicious and satisfying resolutions of Cases depending upon the sensible and experimental part of Religion as hath humbled convinced and shamed me and made me say Surgunt indocti c. these are the men that will take Heaven from the proud and scornful Ingeniosi of the World not many wise not many learned and acute many knowing and learned heads are in Hell and many illiterate and weak ones gone to Heaven and others in the way thither who never had better education stronger parts or more leisure than your selves so that you are without excuse 4. To conclude Would you heartily seek it of God and would the Spirit which he hath promised to give them that ask him become your Teacher how soon would the light of the saving knowledge of God in the face of Christ shine into your hearts No matter how ignorant dull and weak the Scholar be if God once become the Teacher You are not able to purchase or want time to read many Books but if once you were sanctified persons the anointing you would receive from the Father would teach you all things 1 Ioh. 2.27 your own hearts would serve you for a Commentary upon a great part of the Bible it would make you of a quick understanding in the fear of the Lord one drop of your knowledge would be more worth than all learned Arts and Sciences in the world to you And is God so far from you and his illuminating Spirit at such a distance that there is no hope for you to find him Is there never a private corner about your Houses or Barns or in the fields where you can turn aside if it be but a quarter of an hour at a time to pour out your Souls to God and beg the Spirit of him Miserable Wretch is thy whole life such a cumber and clatter of cares and puzzles about the World that thou hast no leisure to mind God Soul or Eternity O doleful state the Lord in mercy pity and awaken thee Wilt thou not once strive and struggle to save thy Soul What perish as it were by consent how great then is thy blindness The third way to Hell discovered Quam frigida jejuna sit eorum desensio qui exemplo c. potentiorum se tutos pu 〈…〉 Jun. Paâ—â—â— lib. 2. III. A vast multitude of precious Souls are lost for ever by following the Examples and being carried away with the course of this World 'T is indeed a poor excuse a silly Argument that the multitude do as we do yet as Iunius rightly observes Mens Consciences take Sanctuary here and they think themselves safe in it for thus they reason If I do as the generality do Argumentum turpissimum est turba Seneca I shall speed no worse than they speed and certainly God is more merciful than to suffer the greatest part of Mankind to perish they resolve to follow the beaten road let it lead whither it will Thus the Ephesians in their unregenerate state walked according to the course of this world Eph. 2.2 and the Corinthians were carried away unto dumb Idols even as they were led 1 Cor. 12.2 just as a drop of water is carried and moved according to the course and current of the Tide For look as every drop of water in the Sea is of one and the same common nature so are all carnal and unsanctified persons and as these waters being collected into one vast body in the Ocean unite their strength and make a strong current this way or that so doth the whole collective body of the unregenerate World all the particular drops move as the Tide moveth Hence they are said to have received the spirit of the world 1 Cor. 2.12 one common Spirit or Principle acts and rules them all and therefore they must needs be carried away in the same course And there are two special considerations that seem to determine them by a kind of necessity to do as the multitude do the one is that they find it the easiest and most commodious way to the flesh here they meet with quietness and safety hereby they are exempt from reproaches losses persecutions and distresses for Conscience sake rest is sweet and here only they think to find it The other is the prejudice of singularity and manifold tribulations they see that little handful that walk counter to the course of the World involved in this startles them from their company and fixes them where they are Against such sensible Arguments it is to no more purpose to oppose spritual Considerations motives drawn from the safety of the Soul
us it were bad enough a wrong to the Soul is a greater evil than the ruine of the body or estate and all the outward enjoyments of this life can be but to lose the precious Soul and destroy it to all Eternity O who can estimate such a loss Now the result and last effect of sin is death the death of the precious Soul Rom. 6.21 The end of those things is death So Ezek. 18.4 The soul that sinneth shall dye Sin doth not destroy the Being of the Soul by annihilation but it doth that which the damned shall find and acknowledge to be much worse it cuts off the Soul from God and deprives it of all its felicity joy and pleasure which consists in the enjoyment of him Such is dolefulness and fearfulness of this result and issue of sin that when God himself speaks of it he puts on a passion and speak of it with the most feeling concernment Ezek 33.11 As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked turn ye turn ye for why will ye dye O house of Israel q. d. why will ye wilfully cast away your own Souls why will ye chuse the pleasures of sin for a season at the price of my wrath and fury poured out for ever O think upon this you that make so light a matter of committing sin We pity those who in the depth of melancholy or desperation lay violent hands upon themselves and in a desperate mood cut their own throats but certainly for a man to murder his own Soul is an act of wickedness as much beyond it as the value of the Soul is above the body Inference IV. WHat an invaluable Mercy is Iesus Christ to the World who came on purpose to seek and to save such as were lost In Adam all were shipwrackt and cast away Christ is the plank of Mercy let down from Heaven to save some The loss of Souls by the Fall had been as irrecoverable as the loss of the fallen Angels had not God in a way above all humane thoughts and counsels contrived the method of their Redemption 'T is astonishing to consider the admirable Harmony and glorious Triumph of all the Divine Attributes in this great project of Heaven for the recovery of lost Souls 'T is the wonder of Angels 1 Pet. 1.21 the great Mystery of Godliness 1 Tim. 3.16 the matter and burden of the triumphant Song of redeemed Saints Rev. 1.5 and well it may when we consider a more noble Species of Creatures finally lost and no Mediator of reconciliation appointed betwixt God and them this is to save an earthen Pitcher whilst the Vessel of Gold is let fall and no hand stretched out to save it But what is most astonishing is that so great a Person as the Son of God should come himself from the Futhers bosom to save us by putting himself into our room and stead being made a Curse for us Gal. 3 13. he leaves the bosom of his Father and all the ineffable delights of Heaven disrobes himself of his Glory and is found in fashion as man yea becomes as a worm and no man submits to the lowest step and degree of abasement to save lost sinners What a low stoop doth Christ make in his Humiliation to catch the Souls of poor sinners out of Hell Herein was love that God sent his own Son to be the propitiation for our sins 1 Ioh. 4.10 and so God loved the world Ioh. 3.16 at this rate he was content to save lost sinners How seasonable was this work of Mercy both in its general Exhibition to the World in the Incarnation of Christ and in its particular Application to the Soul of every lost sinner by the Spirit When he was first exhibited to the world he found them all as lost sheep gone astray every one turning to his own way Isa. 53.6 he speaks of our lost estate by Nature both collectively or in general we all went astray and distributively or in particular every one turned to his own way and then in the fulness of time a Saviour appeared And how seasonable was it in its particular application How securely were we wandering onwards in the paths of destruction fearing no danger when he graciously opened our eyes by conviction and pulled us back by heart-turning Grace No Mercy like this it 's an astonishing act of Grace that stands alone Inference V. IF there be so many ways to Hell and so few that escape it how are all concerned to strive to the uttermost in order to their own Salvation In Luke 13.23 a certain person proposed a curious question to Christ Lord are there few that be saved He saw a multitude flocking to Christ and thronging with great zeal to hear him and he could not conceive but Heaven must fill proportionably to the numbers he saw in the way thither but Christs answer ver 24. at once rebukes the curiosity of the Questionist fully solves the question propounded and sets home his own duty and greatest concernment upon him It rebukes his curiosity and is as if he should say Be the number of the saved more or less what is that to thee strive thou to be one of them It fully solves the question propounded by distinguishing those that attend upon the means of Salvation into Seekers and Strivers In the first respect there are many who by a cheap and easie profession seek Heaven but take them under the notion of Strivers i. e. persons heartily ingaged in Religion and who make it their business and so they will shrink up into a small number and it presseth home his great business and concern upon him Strive to enter in at the strait gate By Gate understand whatsoever is introductive to Blessedness and Salvation By the Epithet strait understand the difficulties and severities attending Religion all that suffering and self-denial which those that are bound for Heaven must count and cast upon And by striving understand the diligent and constant use of all those means and duties how hard irksom and costly soever they be The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath a deep sense and Emphasis and imports striving even to an agony and this duty is enforced two wayes upon him and every man else first by the indisputable Soveraignty of Christ from whom the command comes and also from the deep interest and concern every Soul hath in the commanded duty It is not only a simple compliance with the will of God but what also involves our own Salvation and eternal Happiness in it our great duty and our great interest are twisted together in this command your eternal happiness depends upon the success of it A man is not crowned except he strive lawfully i. e. successfully and prevalently O therefore so run so strive that ye may obtain If you have any value for your Souls if you would not be miserable to Eternity strive strive Believe it you will find that the assurance of Salvation
revolutions thereof 2. By the Redemption of Time we must understand the study 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 care and diligence of Christians at the rate of all possible pains at the expence of all earthly pleasures ease and gratifications of the flesh to rescue their precious seasons both of Salvation and service out of the hands of temptations which so commonly rob unwary Souls of them Satan trucks with us for our time as we did at first with the silly Indians for their Gold and Diamonds who were content to exchange them for Glass-Beads and Tinsil Toyes Many fair seasons are forced or cheated out of our hands by the importunity of earthly cares or deceitfulness of sensual pleasures at the expence and loss of these we must redeem and rescue our time for higher and better uses and purposes We must spend those hours in prayer meditation searching our hearts mortifying our lusts which others do and our flesh fain would spend in sensual pleasures and gratifications of the fleshly appetite If ever we expect to win the Port of Glory we must be as diligent and careful as Sea-men are to take every gale that blows directly or obliquely to set them forward in their Voyage The note from hence is this DOCTRINE That the wisdom of a Christian is eminently discovered in saving and improving all opportunities in this World for that World which is to come God hangs the great things of Eternity upon the small wyers of times and seasons in this world that may be done or neglected in a day which may be the ground-work of joy or sorrow to all Eternity There is a nick of opportunity which gives both success and facility to the great and weighty affairs of the Soul as well as body to come before it is to seek the bird before it be hatcht and to come after it is to seek it when it is fled There is a twofold season or opportunity of Salvation 1. One was Christs season for the Purchace of it 2. The other is ours for the Application of it 1. Christ had a season assigned him for the impetration and purchace of our Salvation so you hear his Father bespeaking him Isa. 49.8 Thus saith the Lord In an acceptable time have I heard thee and in a day of salvation have I helped thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in tempore opportuno voluntatis vel placito It was the wisdom of the Lord Jesus Christ to set in with the Fathers time to comply with his season and it became a day of Salvation because it was the acceptable time which Christ took for it 2. Men have their seasons and opportunities for the application of Christ and his benefits to their own Souls 2 Cor. 6.1 2. We then as workers together with God beseech you also that you receive not the grace of God in vain for he saith I have heard thee in a time accepted and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee Behold now is the accepted time now is the day of salvation He exhorts the Corinthians not to dally or trifle any longer in the great concerns of their Salvation for now saith he is your day Christ had his day to purchase it and he procured a day also for you to apply it and this is that day you enjoy it you live under it that golden day is now running O see that you frustrate not the design thereof by receiving the Gospel-grace in vain Now two things concur to make a fit season of Salvation to the Souls of men 1. The external Means and Instruments 2. The Agency of the Spirit internally by or with those external Means 1. Men have then an opportunity for Salvation when God sends the means and instruments of Salvation among them When the Gospel is powerfully preached among a people then there is a door opened to them 2 Cor. 2.12 When I came to Troas to preach the Gospel a door was opened to me of the Lord. God doth as it were unlock the door of Heaven by the preaching of the Gospel Souls have then an opportunity to step in and be saved 2. But yet this is not a wide and effectual door â—s the Apostle phraseth it 1 Cor. 16.9 till the Spirit of God joyns with and works upon the heart by those external means and instruments As the waters of the Pool of Bethesda had no inherent fanative virtue in themselves untiâ— the Angel of the Lord descended and troubled them but both together make a blessed season for the Souls of men then he stands at the door and knocks by convictions and perswasions Rev. 3.20 strives with men as he did with the old world by the Ministry of Noah Gen. 6.3 Now the door of opportunity is indeed opened but this will not always last there is a time when the Spirit ceaseth to strive and when the door is shut Luke 13.25 There is a season when by the fresh impression of some Ordinance or Providence of God mens hearts are awakened and their affections stirred It is now with the Souls of men as it is with Fruit-trees in the Spring when they put forth blossoms if they knit and set fâ—uit follows if they be nipt and blasted no fruit can be expected For all convictions and motions of the affections are to Grace much the same thing as blossoms are to Fruit which are but the rudiment thereof fructus imperfectus ordinabilis somewhat in order to it and look as that is a critical and hazardous season to Trees so is this to Souls I do not say it is in the power of any Soul to make the work of the Spirit effectual and abiding by adding his endeavours to the Spirits motions for then conversion would not be the free and arbitrary act of the Spirit as it is Ioh. 3.8 neither would Souls be born of God but of the will of man contrary to Ioh. 1.13 And yet it is not to be thought or said that mens endeavours and strivings are altogether vain needless and insignificant because though they cannot make the grace of God effectual his Grace can make them effectual they are our duty and God can bless them to our great advantage Now there are among others five remarkable essays efforts or strivings of a Soul under the impression and hand of the Spirit which greatly tend to the fixing settling and securing of that great work upon the Soul and it is seldom known that any Soul miscarries in whom these things are found 1. Deep serious and fixed consideration which lets conviction deep into the Soul and settles it and roots it fast in the heart Psal. 119.59 I thought upon my ways and turned my feet unto thy testimonies There are close and anxious debates in those Souls in whom convictions prosper to full conversion they sit alone and think close to their great and eternal concerns they carry their thoughts back to the evils of their life past then smite on the thigh and cry What have I done
more than all their subtil Notions of the accidental concretion of Atoms their materia subtilis and Anima Mundi and the rest of their unintelligible phancies could ever do The account Moses gives us in this context of the Origin of the World and of Man the Epitome of it is full of Sense Reason Congruity and Clearness and such as renders all the Essays of all the Heathen Philosophers to be vain inevident self-repugnant and inexplicable Theories The inspired Pen-man gives us in this context a Compendious Narrative of the Worlds Creation relating more generally the rude inform and indigested Chaos and then more particularly the specificating and diversifying of the various beautiful Beings thence educed by the motion of the Spirit of God upon the face of the Waters When the first Matter was strictly created out of Nothing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Motus commotus agitatus fuit noâ— sâ—mplicem motum denotat sed ejusmâ—di quam Columba peragit cum ovis ad 〈◊〉 câ—udendum pullos incâ—bat Rab. Sol. the Spirit as Moses excellently expresses it chap. 1. vers 2. hovered or moved over it as a bird over her Eggs and as it were by way of Incubation cherishing and influencing it did thereby draw forth all the creatures into their several forms and distinct particular natures wherein we now with delight and admiration behold them In this manner and order was the stately Fabrick of the World produced and erected but as yet it remained as a fair and well furnished house without an Inhabitant God had imployed infinite wisdom and power about it and ingraven his name upon the meanest creature in it but there was no creature yet made except Angels the inhabitants of another City to read the name and celebrate the praises of the Almighty Creatour He therefore thought the World imperfect till there was a Creature made that could contemplate praise and worship the Maker of it for this very use and purpose was man created that he might not only see but consider the things he saw discourse and rationally collect out of them the things he saw not and both praise and love the Maker for and in them all The Palaces of Princes are not beautified and adorned to the intent men should pay their respects and honours to the Walls but to shew the Grandeur and Magnificence of the King to whose person their honour is due as Athenagoras in his excellent * Est sanè palcherrimus hie mundus non ipse tamen mundus sed artificiosus ille condiâ—or adorandus est ut nequâ— vestro Imperio subditi cum aliqua re indigent ut assequantur cum vos editrint omissiâ— vobis Dominis aâ— Principibus nulloque affectis honore ad Palatii veâ—tâ—i magnifiâ—entiaâ—â—se convenant sed Aedificii regii tam elegantem structuram obitet pratereuntes admirati vos ipsos ante supraque omnia honorant Athen. Apol. Apology for the Christians speaks The World is a glorious and magnificent Pile raised designedly to exhibit the wisdom and power of its Creatour to the reasonable creature Man that from him God might receive the glory of all his other works Of this creature man the Master-piece of all the visible world and therefore crowned King over it the first moment he was made Psal. 8.5 Moses in the next place gives us the account both of his Original whence he came and of his Dignity what he is The Lord God formed man out of the dust of the Ground and breathed into his Nostrils the breath of Life and man became a living Soul Where we find The Original I. Of the body of Man The Original II. Of the Soul of Man I. The Original of the body of Man Formed out of the dust of the ground Dust was its Original matter of Dust it was made and into Dust it must be resolved Gen. 3.19 The consideration is humbling and serves to tame the pride of Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pulverem tenuissimam ad domandam saperbiam Fagius who is apt to dote upon his own beauty Mans body was not made of heavenly matter as the radiant Sun and sparkling Stars No nor yet of the most precious and Orient earthly matter God did not melt down the pure and splendid Gold and Silver or pouder the precious Pearls and sparkling Diamonds but he formed it of the vile and despicable Dust. We find that the sprinkling of dust upon new writing prevents many a foul blot I am sure the sprinkling of our Originary dust upon our minds by serious consideration is the way to prevent many a proud boast However the baseness of the matter and courseness of the stuffe serves to set off the admirable skill of the most wise and powerful Architect who out of such mean and despicable materials hath fashioned so exact and elegant a piece The Lord God formed man out of the Dust. The Lord God The name of God is here set down at full * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dominus Deus Nomen Dei hic plenum est propter hominis dignitatem Nachm to set forth the dignity of man the subject matter wrought upon as some conceive Formed Fashioned Pressit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Compressit per Metalepsin premendo comprimendo â—uxit formavit or curiously moulded and figured it The Hebrew verb primarily signifies to press compress or squeeze together and by a Metalepsis by pressing and compressing to mould or fashion as thâ—â—â—otter doth his Clay The Psalmist useth another word to express the. artificial elegancy of the body of man Psal. 139.15 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 acupictus sum I am embroidered painted or flourished as with a needle We render it curiously wrought Whatsoever Beauty and comely proportion God hath bestowed by creation upon it Imagineâ— mente divina conceptam quasi manu format Fagius 't is all â—â—swerable to that excellent Idea or model before conceived in his mind and purpose All this care and cost was bestowed upon the body of man which when all is done is but the Case in which that inestimable Jewel the Soul was to be lodged This therefore I must lay aside and come to the more noble Subject II. The Soul of Man About which we have before us four things to ponder in this Text viz. 1. The Nature and Property the Soul of Man 2. The Descent and Original the Soul of Man 3. The manner of Infusion the Soul of Man 4. The Nexus or bond that unites the Soul of Man 1. The Nature and Property of it a living Soul The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as also the Chaldee Naph-sha and the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have one and the same Etymology all signifying to breathe or respire Not that the breath is the Soul but denoteing the manner of its Infusion by the breath of God and the means of its continuation in the body by the breath of our nostrils Gods breath infused it and our breath
at hand Inference X. IF our Souls be Immortal Then death is neither to be feared by them in Heaven nor hoped for by them in Hell The being of Souls never fails whether they be in a state of blessedness or of misery O mors dulcis es quibus amara fuisti te solum desiderant qui te solum oderunt August In glory they are ever with the Lord 1 Thes. 4.17 There shall be no death there Revel 21.4 And in Hell though they shall wish for death yet death shall flee from them Though there be no fears of annihilation in Heaven yet there be many vain wishes for it in Hell but to no purpose there never will be an end put either to their being or to their torments In this respect no other Creature is capable of the misery that wicked men are capable of when they die there is the end of all their misery but it is not so with Men. Better therefore had it been for them if God had created them in the basest and lowest order and rank of Creatures a Dog a Toad a Worm is better than a Man in endless misery ever dying and never dead And so much of the Souls Immortality TEXT Ephesians V. 29. For no Man ever yet hated his own Flesh but nourisheth and cherisheth it even as the Lord the Church HAving given some account of the Nature and Immortality of the Soul we next come to discourse its Love and Inclination to the Body with which it is united from this Text. The scope of the Apostle is to press Christians to the exact Discharge of those Relative Duties they owe to each other particularly he here urgeth the mutual Duties of Husbands and Wives v. 22. Wives to an Obedient Subjection Husbands to a tender Love of their Wives This Exhortation he enforceth from the intimate Union which by the Ordinance of God is betwixt them they being now one Flesh and this Union he illustrates by comparing it with 1. The Mystical Union of Christ and the Church 2. The Natural Union of the Soul and Body And from both these as excellent Examples and Patterns he with great strength of Argument urgeth the Duty of Love v. 28. So ought Men to love their Wives as their own Bodies he that loveth his Wife loveth himself Self-love is naturally implanted in all Men and it is the Rule by which we measure out and dispense our Love to others Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self This Self-love he opens in this place by 1. The Universality of it 2. The effects that evidence it 1 The Universality of it No Man ever yet hated his own Flesh. By Flesh understand the Body by a usual Metonymy of a part for the whole called Flesh. By hating it understand simple hatred or for hatred it self 'T is usual for Men to hate the Deformities and Diseases of their own Bodiâ—s and upon that account to deal with the Members of their own Bodies as if they hated them hence it is they willingly stretch forth a gangren'd Leg or Arm to be cut off for the preservation of the rest but this is not simple hatred of a Mans Self but rather an Argument of the strength of the Souls Love to the Body that it will be content to endure so much Pain and Anguish for its sake And if the Soul be at any time weary of and willing to part not with a single Member only but with the whole Body and loaths its Union with it any longer yet it hates and loaths it not simply in and for it self but because it is so filled with Diseases all over and loads the Soul daily with so much Grief that how well soever the Soul loves it in it self yet upon such sad Terms and Conditions it would not be tied to it This was Iob's Case Iob 10.1 My Soul is weary of my Life yet not simply of his Life but such a Life in Pain and Trouble Except it be in such Respects and Cases No Man saith he ever yet hated his own Flesh i. e. No Man in his right Mind and in the Exercise of his Reason and Sense for we must except Distracted and Delirious Men who know not what they do as also Men under the Terrors of Conscience when God suffers it to rage in Extremity as Spira and others who would have been glad with their own Hands to have cut the Thred that tied their miserable Souls to their Bodies Supposing that way and by that Change to find some relief Either of these Cases forces Men to act beside the stated Rule of Nature and Reason 2 This Love of the Soul to the Body is further discovered by the effects which evidence it viz. It s Nourishing and Cherishing the Body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These Two comprize the Necessaries for the Body viz. Food and Rayment The first signifies to nourish with proper Food the latter to warm by Cloathing as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rendered Iames 2.16 to which the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 answers Iob 31.20 The Care and Provision of these things for the Body evidences the Souls Love to it DOCTRINE That the Souls of Men are strongly inclined and tenderly affected towards the Bodies in which they now dwell THE Souls Love to the Body is so strong natural and inseparable that it is made the Rule and Measure by which we dispence and proportion our Love to others Matth. 19.19 Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self And the Apostle Gal. 5.14 tells us that the whole Law i.e. the Second Table of the Law is fulfilled or sum'd up in this Precept Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy Self The meaning is not that all and every one who is our Neighbour must be equally near to us as our own Bodies but it intends 1. The Sincerity of our Love to others which must be without Diâ—â—â—mulation for we dissemble not in Self-love 2. That we be as careful to avoid injuring others as we would our selves Matth. 7.12 To do by others or measure to them as we would have done or measured unto us for which Rule Severus the Heathen Emperour honoured Christ and Christianity and caused it to be written in Capital Letters of Gold 3. That we take direction from this Principle of Self-Love to measure out our Care Love and Respects to others according to the different degrees of nearness in which we stand to them As 1. The Wife of our Bosome to whom by this Rule is due our first Care and Love as in the Text. 2. Our Children and Family 1 Tim. 5.8 3. To all in general whether we have any Bond of Natural Relation upon them or no but especially those to whom we are Spiritually related as Gal. 6.10 And indeed as every Christian hath a right to our Love and Care above other Men so in some Cases we are to exceed this Rule of Self-love by a transcendent act of Self-denyal for them 1 Iohn 3.16