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
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
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
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
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
respects the excellency of the Spiritual above the Animal life not in point of Priority for that which is natural is before that which is spiritual and it must be so because the natural Soul is the recipient Subject of the spirits quickning and sanctifying operations but in point of dignity and real excellency To how little purpose or rather to what a dismal and miserable purpose are we made living souls except the Lord from Heaven by his quickning power make us spiritual and holy Souls The natural Soul rules and uses the body as * Corpus organo simile est anima Aâ—tificis ratioâ—em obtinet Irenaeus lib. 2. an Artificer doth his Tools and except the Lord renew it by grace Satan will rule that which rules thee and so all thy members will be instruments of inquity to fight against God The actions performed by our bodies are justly reputed and reckon'd by God to the Soul †Omnia quaecunque fecerit corpus sive bonum sive malum animae reputantur Origen in Job because the Soul is the spring of all its motions the fountain of its life and operations What it doth by the body its instrument is as if it were done immediately by it self for without the Soul it can do nothing Inference VII V A Spiritual Substance MOreover from the immaterial and spiritual nature of the Soul we are informed That Communion with God and the enjoyment of him are the true and proper intentions and purposes for which the Soul of Man was created Such a nature as this is not fitted to live upon gross material and perishing things as the body doth The food of every creature is agreeable to its nature one cannot subsist upon that which another doth As we see among the several sorts of Animals what is food to one is none to another In the same Plant there is found a root which is food for Swine a stalk which is food for Sheep a flower which feeds the Bee and a seed on which the Bird lives The Sheep cannot live upon the root as the Swine doth nor the Bird upon the flower as the Bee doth But every one feeds upon the different parts of the Plant which are agreeable to its Nature So it is here our bodies being of an earthly material Nature can live upon things earthly and material as most agreeable to them they can relish and suck out the sweetness of these things but the Soul can find nothing in them suitable to its nature and appetite it must have spiritual food or perish It were therefore too brutish and unworthy of a man that understood the nature of his own Soul to chear it up with the stores of earthly provisions made for it as he did Luk. 12.20 I will say to my Soul Soul thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thine ease eat drink and be merry Alas the Soul can no more eat drink and be merry with carnal things than the Body can with spiritual and immaterial things It cannot feed upon bread that perisheth it can relish no more in the best and daintiest fare of an earthly growth than in the White of an Egg But bring it to a reconciled God in Christ to the Covenant of Grace and the sweet promises of the Gospel set before it the joyes comforts and earnests of the Spirit and if it be a sanctified renewed Soul it can make a rich Feast upon these These make it a â—east of fat things full of Marrow as it is expressed Isaiah 25.6 Spiritual things are proper food for spiritual and immaterial Souls VI A Spiritual Substance Inference VIII THE spiritual nature of the Soul farther informs us That no acceptable service can be performed to God except the Soul be imployed and ingaged therein The Body hath its part and share in Gods worship as well as the Soul but its part is inconsiderable in comparison Prov. 23.26 My Son give me thy heart i. e. thy Soul thy Spirit The holy and religious acts of the Soul are suitable to the nature of the Object of worship Iohn 4.24 God is a spirit and they that worship him must worship in Spirit and in truth Spirits only can have Communion with that great Spirit They were made spirits for that very end that they might be capable of converse with the Father of Spirits They that worship him must worship in Spirit and in Truth That is with inward love fear delight and desires of Soul that is to worship him in our spirits And in Truth i. e. according to the rule of his word which prescribes our duty Spirit respects the inward power Truth the outward form The former strikes at Hypocrisie the latter at Superstition and Idolatry The one opposes the inventions of our Heads the other the loosness and formality of our Hearts No doubt but the service of the body is due to God and expected by him for both the souls and bodies of his people are bought with a price and therefore he expects we glorifie him with our souls and bodies which are his But the service of the body is not accepted of him otherwise than as it is animated and enlivened by an obedient Soul and both sprinkled with the blood of Christ. Separate from these bodily exercise profits nothing 1 Tim. 4.8 What pleasure can God take in the fruits and evidences of mens Hypocrisie Ezek. 33.31 Holy Paul appeals to God in this matter Rom. 1.9 God is my witness saith he whom I serve with my spirit q. d. I serve God in my spirit and he knows that I do so I dare appeal to him who searches my heart that it is not idle and unconcerned in his service The Lord humble us the best of us for our careless dead gadding and vain spirits even when we are engaged in his solemn services O that we were once so spiritual to follow every excursion from his service with a groan and retract every wandring thought with a deep sigh Alas a cold and wandring spirit in duty is the disease of most good men and the very temper and constitution of all unsanctified ones It is a weighty and excellent expression of the Iews in their Euchologium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b. â— qâ—a re potius praeveniâ—m faciem 〈◊〉 nisi spiritu meo nihil enim est homini praeciosius animâ suà or Prayer-Book Wherewithall shall I come before his face unless it be with my spirit For man hath nothing more precious to present to God than his Soul Indeed it is the best man hath thy heart is thy totum posse 't is all that thou art able to present to him If thou cast thy Soul into thy duty thou dost as the poor Widow did cast in all that thou hast And in such an offering the great God takes more pleasure than in all the external costly pompous ceremonies adorned Temples aâ—â— external devotions in the World It is a remarkable anâ—â—â—tonishing expression of
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
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
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
but myriads in the plural number and set down indefinitely too may note many millions of Angels and therefore we fitly tender it to an innumerable company of Angels They had the ministry of Angels as well as we thousands of them ministred to the Lord in the dispensation of the Law at Sinai Psal. 68.17 But this notwithstanding we are come to a much clearer knowledge both of their present Ministry for us on earth Heb. 1.14 and of our fellowship and equality with them in Heaven Luke 20.36 3 Ye are come to the general assembly and Church of the first-born whose names are written or enrolled in Heaven This also greatly commends and amplifies the priviledges of New Testament-Believers the Church of God in former ages was circumscribed and shut up within the narrow limits of one small Kingdom which was as a garden inclosed out of a waste wilderness but now by the calling in of the Gentiles the Church is extended far and wide Eph. 3.5 6. It is become a great Assembly comprizing the Believers of all Nations under Heaven and so speaking of them collectively it is the general convention or Assembly which is also dignified and ennobled by two illustrious characters viz. 1 that it is the Church of the first-born i. e. consisting of Members dignified and priviledged above others Primogeniti Israelitarum scripti crant in matricula terrestri hi vero in albo coelesti as the first-born among the Israelites did excel their younger Brethreâ— 2 That their names are written in Heaven i. e. registred or enrolled in Gods book as Children and Heirs of the Heavenly inheritance as the first-born in Israel were registred in order to the Priesthood Num 3.40 41. 4 Ye are come to God the Iudge of all But why to God the Judge this seems to spoil the harmony and jar with the other parts of the discourse No no they are come to God as a righteous Judge who as such will pardon them 1 Iohn 1.9 crown them 2 Tim. 4.8 and avenge them on all their oppressing and persecuting Enemies 1 Thes. 1.5 6 7. 5 And to the Spirits of just men made perfect A most glorious priviledge indeed in which we are distinctly to consider 1. The quality of those with whom we are associated or taken into fellowship 2. The way and manner of our association with them 1. The Quality of those with whom we are associated or to whom we are said to be come and they are described by three characters viz. 1 1 Spirits of Men. viz. 2 Spirits of just Men. viz. 3 Spirits of just Men perfected or consummated 1 They are called Spirits that is immaterial substances strictly opposed to Bodies which are no way the objects of our exteriour Senses neither visible to the eye nor sensible to the touch which were called properly Souls whilst they animated Bodies in this lower World but now being loosed and separated from them by death and existing alone in the World above they are properly and strictly stiled Spirits 3 They are the Spirits of just Men. Man may be termed just two ways 1 by a full discharge and acquittance from the guilt of all his sins and so believers are just men even whilst they live on Earth groaning under other imperfections Acts 13.39 or 2 by a total freedom from the pollution of any sin And though in this sence there is not a just man upon Earth that doth good and sinneth not Eccles. 7.22 yet even in this sense Adam was just before the Fall Eccles. 7.29 according to his original constitution and all believers are so in their glorified condition all sin being perfectly purged out of them and its existence utterly destroyed in them On which account 3 They are called the Spirits of just men made perfect or consummate The word perfect is not here to be understood absolutely but synecdochically they are not perfect in every respect for one part of these just Men lies rotting in the grave but they are perfected for so much as concerns their Spirit though the flesh perish and lie in dishonour yet their Spirits being once loosed from the Body and freed radically and perfectly from sin are presently admitted to the facial vision and fruition of God which is the culminating point as I may call it higher than which the Spirit of man aspires not and attaining to this it is for so much as concerns it self made perfect Even as a Body at last lodg'd in its centre gravitates no more but is at perfect rest so it is with the Spirit of man come home to God in glory 't is now consummate no more need to be done to make it as perfectly happy as it is capable to be made which is the first thing to be considered viz the Quality of those with whom we are associated 2. The second follows namely the way and manner of our association with these blessed Spirits of just Men noted iâ— this expression we are come He saith not we shall come hereafter when the Resurrection hath restored our Bodies or after the general Judgment but we are come to these Spirits of just Men. The meaning whereof we may take up in these three particulars 1 We that live under the Gospel-light are come to a clearer apprehension sight and knowledge of the blessed and happy estate of the Souls of the righteous after death than ever they had or ordinarily could have who lived under the Types and shadows of the Law Eph. 3.4 5. And so we are come to them in respect of clearer apprehension 2 We are come to those blessed Spirits in our Representative Christ who hath carried our nature into the very midst of them and whom they all behold with highest admiration and delight By Christ who is entred into that holy place where these Spirits of just Men live we are come into a near relation with them For he being the common head both to them in Heaven and to us on Earth we and they consequently make but one Body or society Eph. 2.19 whereupon notwithstanding the different and remote Countries they and we live in we are said to sit together with them in Heavenly places Ephes. 3.15 and Ephes. 2.6 3 We are come That is we are as good as come or we are upon the matter come there remains nothing betwixt them and us but a puff of breath a little space of time which shortens every moment we are come to the very borders of their Country and there is nothing to speak of betwixt them and us and by this expression we are come he teacheth us to account and reckon those things as present which so shortly will be present to us and to look upon them as if they already were which is the highest and most comfortable life of Faith we can live on Earth Hence the Note is DOCT. That righteous and holy Souls once separated from then Bodies by death are immediately perfected in themselves and associated with others alike
ejusdem animae id est informationis seu unionis erga corpus Conimâ—r Some call it the privation of the second Act of the Soul that is its Act of informing or enlivening the Body Others according to Scripture phrase the departing of the Soul from the Body So Peter stiles it 2 Pet. 1.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after my departure i.e. after my death Relictio câ—rporis depositio sarcine gravis modo aliea sarcina non patietur qâ—â homo praecipitetur in gehennem August Augustine calls it the laying down of an heavy burthen provided there be not another burden for the Soul to bear afterwards which will sink it into Hell In respect of the Body which the Soul now forsakes it is called the putting off this Tabernacle 2 Pet. 1.14 And the dissolving the earthly House or Tabernacle 2 Cor. 5.1 In respect of the terminus à quo the place from which the Soul removes at death it is called our departure hence Phil. 1.23 or our weighing Anchor and loosing from this coast or shoar to sail to another In respect of the terminus ad quem the place to which the Spirits of the just go at death it is called our going to or being with the Lord ibid. To conclude in respect of that which doth most lively resemble and shadow it forth it is called our falling asleep Acts 7. ult our sleeping in Iesus 1 Thes. 4.14 This Metaphor of sleep must be stretched no further than the Spirit of God designed in the choice of it which was not to favour and countenance the fancy of a sleeping Soul after death but to represent its state of placid rest in Jesus's bosom if it refer at all to the Soul for I think it most properly respects the Body Locus Sepulturae consecratus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hoc est dormitorium appeâ—iâ—tur and thence the Sepulchres where the Bodies of the Saints were laid got the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dormitories or sleeping places This is its last farewel to this world never more to return to a low animal life more Iob 7.9 10. 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 The Soul is no more bound to a Body nor a Retainer to Sun Moon or Stars to meat drink and sleep but is become a free single abstracted being a separate and pure Spirit which the Latins call Lemures Manes Ghosts or Souls of the dead and my Text Spirits made perfect a being much like unto the Angels who are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bodiless Powers An Angel as one speaks is a perfect Soul a Soul is an imperfect Angel I do not say that upon their Separation they become Angels for they will still remain a distinct Species of Spirits Semper à corporis compedibus nexibus liberi Max. Tyr. Angels have no inclination to Bodies nor were ever fettered with cloggs of flesh as Souls were And by this you see what a difference there is betwixt these two considerations of death How gastly and affrighting is it in its previous pangs how lovely and desireable in the issue and result of them which is but the change of Earth for Heaven men for God sin and misery for perfection and glory PROP. III. The Separation of the Soul and Body makes a great and wonderful change upon both but especially upon the Soul THere is a twofold change made upon man by death one upon his Body another upon his Soul The change upon the Body is great and visible to every eye A living Body is changed into a dead carcase A beautiful and comely Body into a loathsome spectacle that which lately was the object of delight and love is hereby made an abhorrence to all flesh Bury my dead out of my sight Gen. 23.4 What the Sun is to the greater that the Soul is to the lesser World When the Sun shines comfortably how vegete and chearful do all things look How well do they thrive and prosper The Birds sing merrily the Beasts play wantonly the whole Creation enjoyeth a day of light and joy but when it departs what a night of horror followeth How are all things wrapt up in the sable Mantle of darkness Or if it but abate its heat as in Winter the Creatures are as it were buried in the winding-sheet of Winters frost and Snow just so it is with the Body when the Soul shineth pleasantly upon it or departs from it That Body which was fed so assiduously cared for so anxiously loved so passionately is now tumbled into a pit and left to the mercy of crawling Worms The change which judgment made upon that great and flourishing City Nineveh is a fit emblemâ— to â—hadow forth that change which death makes upon humane Bodies That great and renowned City was once full of people which thronged the streets thereof there you might have seen children playing upon the Thresholds Beauties shewing themselves through the windows Melody sounding in its Palaces But what an alteration was made upon it the Prophet Zephaniah describes Chap. â— v. 14. Flocks shall lye down in the midst of her all the Beasts of the Nations both the Cormorant and the Bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it their voice shall sing in the windows desolation shall be in the thresholds for he shall uncover the Cedar work Thus it is with the Body when death hath dislodged the Soul Worms nestle in the holes where the beautiful eyes were once placed Corruption and desolation is upon all parts of that stately structure But this being a vulgar Theam I shall leave the Body to the dust from whence it came and follow the Soul which is my proper subject pointing at the changes which are made on it The essence of the Soul is not destroyed or changed by the Bodies ruine It is substantially the self same Soul that it was when in the Body The supposition of an essential change would disorder the whole frame and model of Gods eternal design for the Redemption and glorification of it Rom. 8.29 30. but yet though it undergo no substantial change at death yet divers great and remarkable alterations are made upon it by sundering it from the Body As 1. It is not where it was It was in a Body immerst in matter married unto flesh and blood but now it is out of the Body uncloathed and stript naked out of its garments of flesh like pure Gold melted out of the ore with which it was commixed or as a Birdlet out of her Cage into the open Fields and Woods This makes a great and wonderful change upon it 2. Being free from the Body it is consequently discharged and freed from all those â—ares studies fears and sorrows to which it was here enthralled and subjected upon the Bodies account It puts off all those
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
portion Else it could never be a satisfying vision Iob 19.27 Whom I shall see for my self Not look on him as anothers God but as my God and Portion for ever Balaam saw Christ by a spirit of prophecy but he had no comfort because no interest in him Numb 24.17 The wicked shall see him but without joy yea with weeping eyes and gnashing of teeth because they cannot see him as their Lord Luke 13.28 'T is but a poor comfort to starving beggars to stand quivering and famishing in the streets in a cold dark night and see the lights in the bridegrooms house the noble Dishes served in and to hear the Musick and mirth of the Guests that feast within Here it will be as clear that he is our God as that he is God Assurance is that which many Souls have desired prayed and panted for but cannot attain There be many rubbs and stumbling blocks in the way to that sweet enjoyment but here we find what we have been so long seeking there be no doubts scruples objections puzling cases to exercise your own or others thoughts But as these did arise from one of these grounds viz the working of corruption the efficacy of temptation or divine withdrawments and the hidings of Gods face so all these being removed perfectly and for ever in that state the Heavens must needs be clear and not a cloud of doubt or fear to be seen for ever 4. It will be a deeply affecting sight your eye will now so affect your hearts as they were never affected before The first view of God will snatch away your hearts to him as a greater flame doth the less Love will not now distill from the heart as Waters from a cold Still but gush out as from a Sluce or flood-Gate pulled up The Soul will not move after God so deadly and slowly as it doth now but be as the Chariots of Aminadab Can. 6.12 We may say of the fraÌ„mes of our hearts there compared with what they are here as it is said Deut. 12.8 9. You shall not love or delight in God as you do this day If the perfection of that state would admit shame or sorrow how should we blush and mourn in Heaven to think how cold our love and how low our delights in God were on Earth 1 John 4.16 God is love and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God Look as Iron put into the fire becomes all fiery so the Soul dwelling in the God of love becomes all love all delight all joy O what transports must that Soul feel that abides under the line of love feels the perpendicular beams of electing creating redeeming preserving love beating powerfully upon it and melting it into love See some of their transports Rev. 5.13 14. 5. It will be an everlasting vision of God 1 Thes. 4.17 So shall we be ever with the Lord ever with the Lord who can find words to open the deep sence of these few words Vacabimus videbimus videbimus amabimus amabimus laudabimus in fine fine fine said blessed Austine This is the everlasting Sabbath which hath no night Rev. 22.4 5. The eternal happiness purchased for the Saints by the invaluable blood of Christ. If one hours enjoyment of God in the way of faith be so sweet and no price can be put upon it nothing on earth taken in exchange for it what must a whole Eternity in the immediate and full visions of that blessed face in Heaven be Well then if such sights as these immediately succeed the sight you have on Earth either by sense of things natural or by reason of things intellectual or by faith of things spiritual who that believes the truth and expects the fulfilling of such promises as these would not not be willing to have his eyes closed by death as soon as God shall please I have read of an holy man that had sweet Communion with God in Prayer who in the close of his duty cryed out claudimini oculi mei claudimini c. be shut O my eyes be shut you shall never â—ee any thing on Earth like that I have now seen Ah little do the Friends of dead Believers think what visions of God what ravishing sights of Christ the Souls of their Friends have when they are closing their eyes with tears Argument VIII THE consideration of the evil days that are to come should make the people of God willing to accept of an hiding place in the grave as a special favour from God It is accounted an act of favour by God Isa. 57.1 2. to be taken away from the evil to come â—â—ere are two kinds of evils to come the evil of sin and the evil of sufferings Sins to come are terrible to gracious hearts when temptations shall be at their height and strength O what warping and shrinking what dissembling yea downright denying the known truths and ways of God may you see every where Many consciences will then be wounded and wasted Many scandals and rocks of offence will be rolled into the way of godliness Christ will be exposed and put to open shame Should we only be spectators of such Tragedies as these it were enough to overwhelm a gracious and tender heart but what upright heart is there without fears and jealousies of being brought under the guilt of these evils in it self as well as the shame and grief for them in others O it were a thousand times better for you to die in the purity and integrity of your consciences than to protract a miserable life without them O think what a world it is that you are like to leave behind you in respect of sin to come And as there are many evils of sin to come so there are many evils of sufferings coming on The days of visitation are come the days of recompence are come and Israel shall know it Hos. 9.7 All the sufferings you have yet met with have been in Books and Histories you never saw the Martyrdome of the Saints but in the Pictures and Stories But you will find it quite another thing to be the Subjects of these cruelties than to be the meer Readers or Relators of them 'T is one thing to see the painted Lion on a sign Post and another to meet the living Lion roaring upon you Ah! little do we imagine how the hearts of men are convulst what fears what faintings invade their Spirits when they are to meet the King of terrors in the frightful formalities of a violent death The consideration of these things will discover to you the reason of that strange wish of Job chap. 14. v. 13. Oh that thou wouldst hide me in the Grave that thou wouldst keep me in secret until thy wrath be past And it deserves a serious thought that when the holy Ghost had in Rev. 14.9 10 11 12. described the miserable plight of those poor Souls who being overcome by their own fears and the love of this this World should plunge
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
Christs Commission to preach good tidings to the meek and to bind up the broken-hearted Isa. 61.1 and not only inserts it in Christs Commission but gives the same in solemn charge to all his inferior Messengers whom he imploys about them Isa. 35.3 Strengthen ye the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees say to them that are of a fearful heart Be strong fear not 2. His special regard to Souls is evidenced in his severe prohibitions to all others to do nothing that may be an occasion of ruine to them He charges it upon all That no man put a stumbling-block or an occasion to fall in his brothers way Rom. 14.13 that by the abuse of our own liberty we destroy not him for whom Christ died Rom. 14.15 And what doth all this signifie but the precious and invaluable worth of Souls 12. Lastly It is not the least evidence of the dignity of mans Soul that God hath appointed the whole Host of Angels to be their Guardians and Attendants Are they not all ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation Heb. 1.14 Are they not It is no doubtful question but the strongest way of affirmation nothing is surer than that they are All Not one of that heavenly Company excepted The highest Angel thinks it no disparagement to serve a Soul for whom Christ die Well may they all stoop to serve them wâ—en they see Christ their Lord hath stooped even to death to save them They are all of them Ministring Spirits 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 publick Officers to whom their Tutelage is committed to them it belongs to attend serve protect and relieve them The greatest Peers and Barons in the Kingdom think it not below them to wait upon the Heir apparent to the Crown in his Minority and no less dignity is here stampt by God upon the Souls of men whom he calls Heirs of Salvation And in some respect nearer to Christ than themselves are on this account it is that the Angels delight to serve them Christs little ones upon earth have their Angels which always behold the face of God in Heaven Mat. 18.10 and therefore saith our Lord there Take heed you despise not one of these little ones they are greater persons than you are aware of Nor is it enough that one Angel is appointed to wait upon all or many of them but many Angels even a whole Host of them are sometimes sent to attend upon one of them As Iacob was going on his way the Angels of God met him and when he saw them he said This is Gods host Gen. 32.1 2. The same two offices which belong to a Nurse to whom the Father commits his Child belong also to the Angels of Heaven with respect to the Children of God viz. to keep them tenderly whilst they are abroad and bring them home to their Fathers house at last And how clearly doth all this evince and demonstrate the great dignity and value of Souls Was it an Argument of the Grandeur and Magnificence of King Solomon that he had two hundred men with Targets and three hundred men with Shields of beaten Gold for his ordinary Guard every day And is it not a mark of far greater dignity than ever Solomon had in all his glory to have Hosts of Angels attending us In comparison with one of this Guard Solomon himself was but a Worm in all his Magnificence And now lay all these Arguments together and see what they will amount to You have before you no ordinary Creature for 1. it was not produced as other Creatures were by a meer word of command but by the deliberation of the great Council of Heaven and 2. such are the high and noble faculties and powers found in it as render it agreeable to and becoming such a Divine Original Yeâ— 3. by reason of these its admirable powers it becomes a capable subject both of Grace here and Glory hereafter 4. Nor is this its capacity in vain for God hath made glorious preparations for some of them in Heaven 5. And purchased them for Heaven and Heaven for them at an invaluable price even the precious Blood of Christ. 6. And stampt immortality upon their actions as well as natures 7 Both Worlds contend and strive for the Soul as a prize of greatest value 8 Their Conversion to Christ is the Triumph of Heaven and Rage of Hell 9. The Lamps of Gospel-Ordinances are maintained over all the reformed Christian World to light them in their passage to Heaven 10. Great rewards are propounded to all that shall heartily endeavour the salvation of them 11. The care of Heaven is exceeding great and tender over them And 12. the heavenly Host of Angels have the charge of them and reckon it their honour to serve them These things duly weighed bring home the conclusion with demonstrative clearness to every mans understanding That one Soul is of more value than the whole World which was the thing to be proved What remains is the improvement of this excellent subject in these following Inferences Inference I. THE Soul of man appearing to be a Creature of such transcendent dignity and excellency this truth appears of equal clearness with it That it was not made for the body but the body for it and therefore it is a vile abuse of the noble and high-born Soul to subject it to the lusts and enslave it to the drudgery of the inferior and more ignoble part The very Law of Nature assigns the most honourable places and imployments to the most noble and excellent Creatures and the baser and inferior to things of the lowest rank and quality The Sun Moon and Stars are placed by this Law in the Heavens but the Ignis fatuus and the Glow-worm in the Fens and Ditches Princes are set upon Thrones of Glory the Beggers lodg'd in Barns and Stables and if at any time this order of Nature be inverted and the baser suppress and perk over the more noble and honourable Beings it is looked upon as a kind of Prodigy in the Civil World and so Solomon represents it Eccles. 10.7 I have seen servants upon horses and Princes walking as servants upon the earth i. e. I have seen men that are worthy of no better imployments than to rub Horses heels in the Saddle with their Trappings and men who deserve to bear rule and to govern Kingdoms men who for their great ability and integrity deserved to sit at Helm and moderate the Affairs of Kingdoms these have I seen walking as servants upon the earth and this he calls an evil under the Sun that is an Ataxie confusion or disorder in the course of Nature Now there can never be that difference and vast odds betwixt one man and another as there is betwixt the Soul and the body of every man A King upon the Throne is not so much above a Begger that cryes at our doors for a crust as the Soul is above a body for the
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
drops not down from Heaven in a night-dream as the Turks fable their Alcoran to have done in that lailato hanzili night of demission as they call it no no the righteous themselves are scarcely saved many seek but few find strive therefore as men and women that are heartily concerned for their own Salvation Sit not with folded arms like so many heaps of stupidity and sloth whilst the door of Hope is yet open and such a sweet voice from Heaven calls to you saying Strive Souls strive if ever you expect to be partakers of the Blessedness that is here to be enjoyed strive to the uttermost of your abilities and opportunities Such an Heaven is worth striving to obtain such an Hell is worth striving to escape such an invaluable Soul is worth striving to save I confess Heaven is not the purchace or reward of your striving No Soul shall boastingly say there Is not this the Glory which my duties and diligence purchased for me And yet on the other side it is as true that without striving you shall never set foot there Say not it depends upon the pleasure of God and not upon your diligence for it is his declared will and pleasure to bring men to Glory in the way though not for the sake of their own striving as in the works of your civil Calling you know all the care toil and sweat of the Husbandman avails nothing of it self except the Sun and Rain quicken and ripen the Fruits of the Earth and yet no wise man will neglect plowing and harrowing sowing and weeding because these labours avail not without the influences of Heaven but waits for them in the way of his duty and diligence rational hope sets all the world awork Do they plow in hope and sow in hope and will not you pray in hope and hear in hope You that know your Souls to be hitherto strangers to Christ and the regenerating work of the Spirit how is it that you take them not aside sometimes out of the distracting noise and hurries of the world and thus bemoan them O my poor graceless Christless miserable Soul how sad a case art thou in others have but thou never feltest the burden of sin thousands in the World are striving and labouring searching and praying to make their Calling and Election sure whilst thou sittest still with folded hands in a supine regardlesness of the misery that is hastening on upon thee Canst thou endure the devouring wrath of God Canst thou dwell with everlasting burnings Hast thou fancied a tolerable Hell Or is it easie to perish Why dost thou not cast thy self at the feet of Christ and cry as long as breath will last Lord pity a sinful miserable undone and self-condemning Soul Lord smite this rockie heart subdue this stubborn will heal and save an undone Soul ready to perish The characters of death are upon it it must be changed or condemned and that in a little time Bowels of pity hear the cry of a Soul distressed and ready to perish And you that do not understand the case and slate your Souls are in you have never a Bible near you O turn to those places 1 Cor. 6.9 10. where you will presently find the more obvious marks and characters God hath set upon the children of perdition and if you find not your self in that Catalogue among the unrighteous Fornicators Idolaters Adulterers Effeminate Thieves Covetous Drunkards Revilers Extortioners c. then turn to Ioh. 3.3 and solemnly ask thy own Soul this question Am I born again Am I a new Creature Or still in the same condition I was born in What solid evidence of the new birth have I to rely upon if I were now within a few gasps of death Am not I the man or woman who live in the very same sins which the Word of God makes the Symptoms and Characters of Damnation And doth not my Conscience witness against me that I am utterly void and destitute of all that saving Grace and a meer stranger to the regenerating work of the Spirit without which there can be no well-bottom'd hope of Salvation And if so are not the tokens of death upon me Am not I a person markt out for misery And shall I sit still in a state of so much danger and not once strive to make an escape from the wrath to come Is this vile body worth so much toil and labour to support and preserve it And is not my 〈◊〉 worth as much care and diligence to secure it from the everlasting wrath of the great just and terrible God O that the consideration of the wrath to come the multitudes all the world over preparing as fuel for it and the door of opportunity yet held open to Souls by the hand of Grace to escape that wrath might prevail with thy heart Reader to strive and that to the uttermost to secure thy precious Soul from the impending ruine EPHES. 5.16 Redeeming the time or opportunity because the days are evil TIme is deservedly reckoned among the most precious mercies of this life and that which makes it so valuable are the commodious seasons and opportunities for Salvation which are vouchsafed to us therein Opportunity is the golden spot of Time the sweet and beautiful flower growing upon the stalk of Time If Time be a Ring of Gold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 opportunity is the rich Diamond that gives it both its value and glory The Apostle well knew the value of Time and seeing how prodigally it was wasted by the most doth therefore in this place earnestly press all men to redeem save and improve it with the utmost diligence In this and the former Verse We have 1. The Duty injoyned Walk circumspectly We have 2. The Injunction explained 1. More generally Not as fools but as wise 2. More particularly Redeeming the time 3. The Exhortation strongly inforced with a powerful Motive Because the days are evil Among these Particulars my Discourse is principally concerned about the Redemption of Time or Opportunities which in this life are graciously vouchsased us in order to that which is to come and here it will be needful To inquire 1. What the Apostle means by Time 2. What by the Redemption of Time 1. Time is taken more largely or strictly according to the double acceptation of the Hebrew word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth sometimes Time and sometimes Occasion Season or Opportunity and accordingly is expressed by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tempus and Tempestivitas the latter is the word here used and denotes the commodiousness and fitness of some parts of Time above others for the successful and prosperous management and accomplishment of our main and great business in this world which is to secure our interest in Christ and glorifie God in a course of fruitful obedience For these great and weighty purposes our time is graciously lengthened out and many fit opportunities presented to us in the
25 will God hear his cry when trouble cometh upon him Iob 27.9 no no he will not and this is but a just retribution from the righteous God whose calls and counsels men have set at nought but whatever men now think of it it is certainly the greatest misery incident to man in all the world for as no words can make another fully sensible what a priviledge it is to have the ear favour pity and help of God in a day of straits so it is impossible for any words to express the doleful state and case of that Soul whom God casts off in trouble and whose cryes he shuts out 5 Beware of neglecting any Call of God because that Call you are now tempted to neglect may be the last Call that ever God intendeth to give thy Soul Sure I am there is a Call which will be the last Call of God to rebellious Sinners and after that no more Calls but an eternal deep silence his Spirit shall not always strive with man and the more motions and calls you have already slighted the more probable it is that this may be the last Voice of God in a way of Mercy to thy Soul and what if after this God should seal up thy heart and judicially harden it make thy will utterly inflexible and thine ears deaf as he threatens Isa 6.10 What an undone miserable man or woman art thou then O beware of provoking the forest of all Judgments by persisting any longer in a course of rebellion against Light and Mercy 6 Whilst your hearts put off and neglect the Calls of God you can never by any means arrive to the evidence and assurance of your Election for your Election is only secured to you by your effectual calling 2 Pet. 1.10 there is no way for men to discern their Names written in the Book of Life but by reading the work of Sanctification in their own hearts Rom. 10.8 I desire no miraculous Voice from Heaven no extraordinary signs or unscriptural notices and informations in this matter Lord let me but find my heart complying with thy calls my will obediently submitting to thy commands Sin my burden and Christ my desire I will never crave a fairer or surer evidence of thy electing love to my Soul and if I had an Oracle from Heaven an extraordinary Messenger from the other World to tell me thou lovest me I have no reason to give credit to such a Voice whilst I find my heart wholly sensual averse to God and indisposed to all that is spiritual 7. What reason have you why you should not presently embrace the Call of God and thankfully lay hold upon the first opportunity and season of Salvation Have you any greater matters in hand than the Salvation of your precious Souls Is there any thing in all this world that more concerns you If the affairs of this life be so indispensably necessary and those of the world to come so indifferent if you think that meat and drink trade and business wife and children be such great things and Christ Soul and Eternity such little things or if you think the Salvation be a work of the greatest necessity yet it may safely enough be put off to a time of uncertainty I may assure you you will not long be of this mind How soon are all the mistakes of men in these matters rectified in a few moments after death Rectified I say but not remedied your opinion will be changed but not your condition 8. Do you not every day easily and readily obey the Calls of Satan and your own Lusts whilst God and Conscience are suffered to call and strive with you in vain If Satan or your Lusts call you to the Tavern to the World and your sinful Pleasures you speedily comply with their Call and yield a ready obedience if Pride call if Covetousness call if Passion and Revenge call they need not call twice and shall God call and Conscience call only in vain Lord what a Creature is Man become If a vain Companion call you have no power to deny him if God call you have no ear to hear him 9. You cannot but observe the obedience and diligence of many others how seriously painfully and assiduously they ply and follow on the work of their own Salvation and yet they are no more concerned in the events and consequences of these things than you are Doth it not trouble you when you compare your selves with them Do not such thoughts as these sometimes arise in your hearts upon such observations Lord what a difference is there like to be betwixt their end and mine when there is so apparent a difference in our course and conversation Doth not God distinguish persons in this world by the frames of their hearts and tenor of their lives in order to the great distinction he will make betwixt one and another in the Day of Judgment Have not I as precious a Soul to save or lose as any of them What is the matter that I sit with folded arms whilst they are working out Salvation with fear and trembling Why should any man or woman in the world be more careful for their Souls than I for mine Surely its capacity and excellency is equal with theirs though our care and diligence be so unequal 10. To conclude God will shortly give you an irresistible Call to the Grave and after that his Voice shall call to you in your Graves Arise ye dead and come to Iudgment but wo be to you wo and alas that ever you were born if you should hear the Call of God to dye before you have heard and obeyed his Call to Christ. Will your Death-bed be easie to you Can you with any hope or comfort shoot the Gulph of Eternity before you have done one act for the securing your Souls from the wrath to come 'T is a dreadful thing for a poor Christless Soul to sit quivering up on the lips of a dying Sinner not able to stay nor yet to endure a parting pull from the Body in such a case as it is In a word if the God that made and will shortly judge you if the Redeemer that shed his invaluable Blood and now offers you the purchaces and benefits of it if you have any love to or care of your own Souls which are more worth than the whole world if you have any value for Heaven or dread of Hell then for Gods sake for Christs sake for your precious Souls sake trifle with Heaven and Hell no longer but be in earnest to work out your own Salvation with fear and trembling Could I think of any other means or motives that might secure your Souls from danger I would surely use them Could I reach your hearts effectually I would deeply impress this great concern upon themâ—punc but I can neither do Gods part of the work nor yours it is some ease to me I have in sincerity though with much imperfection and feebleness done part of my own
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
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
of Birds Beasts and Plants indeed any thing rather than their own Souls which are certainly the most excellent Creatures that inhabit this World They know the true value and worth of other things but are not able to estimate the dignity of that high-born Spirit which is within them A Spirit which without the addition of any more natural Faculties or Powers if those it hath be but sanctified and devoted to God is capable of the highest Perfections and Fruitions even compleat Conformity to God and the satisfying Visions of God throughout eternity They Herd themselves with Beasts who are capable of an equality with Angels O what compassionate tears must such a consideration as this draw from the eyes of all that understand the worth of Souls As for me it hath been my sin and is now the matter of my Sorrow that whilst Myriads of Souls of no higher Original than mine are some of them beholding the highest Majesty in Heaven and others giving all diligence to make sure their Salvation on earth I was carried away so many years in the course of this World like a drop with the Current of the Tide wholly forgetting my best self my invaluable Soul whilst I prodigally wasted the stores of my time and thoughts upon Vanities that long since passed away as the waters which are remembred no more * Nec enim pudet Sanctoâ— viros postquam renovata corda fuerint per resipiscentiam lapsus sui dedecoris ad dei gloriam meminisse Nihil nobis decedit quod cedit in illius honorem qui praeteritis peccatis nostris ab inferno nos transfert in Coelum Brightman in Cantic p. 12. It shall be no shame to me to confess this folly since the matter of my Confession shall go to the glory of my God I studied to know many other things but I knew not my self It was with me as with a Servant to whom the Master commits two things viz. The Child and the Child's Clothes the Servant is very careful of the Clothes washes and brushes starches and steels them and keeps them safe and clean but the Child is forgotten and lost My Body which is but the Garment of my Soul I kept and nourished with excessive care but my Soul was long forgotten and had been lost for ever as others daily are had not God rouz'd it by the Convictions of his Spirit out of that deep Oblivion and deadly slumber When the God that formed it out of free grace to the work of his own hands had thus recovered it to a sense of its own worth and danger my next work was to get it united with Christ and thereby secured from wrath to come Which I found to be a work of difficulty to effect if it be yet effected and a work of time to clear though but to the degree of good hope through grace And since the hopes and evidences of Salvation began to spring up in my Soul and settle the state thereof I found these three great words viz. Christ Soul and Eternity to have a far different and more awful sound in my ear than ever they used to have I looked on them from that time as things of greatest certainty and most awful Solemnity These things have lain with some weight upon my thoughts and I have felt at certain seasons a strong inclination to sequester my self from all other Studies and spend my last days and most fixed Meditations upon these three great and weighty Subjects I know the subject matter of my Studies and Enquiries be it never so weighty doth not therefore make my Meditations and Discourses upon it great and weighty Nor am I such a vain Opinionaâ—or as to imagine my Discourses every way suitable to the dignity of such Subjects No no the more I think and study about them the more I discern the indistinctness darkness crudity and confusion of my own conceptions and expressions of such great and transcendent things as those But In magnis voluisse sat est I resolved to do what I could and accordingly some years past I finished and published in two parts the Doctrine of Christ and by the acceptation and success the Lord gave that He hath encouraged me to go on in this Second part of my work how unequal soever my Shoulders are to the burden of it The Nature Original Immortality and Capacity of mine own Soul for the present lodged in and related to this vile Body destinated to Corruption Together with its Existence Imployment Perfection Converse with God and other Spirits both of its own and of a Superiour Rank and Order when it shall as I know it shortly must put off this its Tabernacle These things have a long time been the matters of my limited desires to understand so far as I could see the Pillar of fire God in his Word enlightening my way to the knowledge of them Yea such is the value I have for them that I have given them the next place in my esteem to the knowledge of Iesus Christ and my interest in him God hath formed me as he hath other men a prospecting Creature I feel my self yet uncentred and short of that state of rest and satisfaction to which my Soul in its Natural and Spiritual Capacity hath a Designation I find that I am in a continual motion towards my everlasting abode and the expence of my time and many Infirmities tell me I am not far from it By all which I am strongly prompted to look forward and acquaint my self as much as I can with my next place state and imployment I look with a greedy and inquisitive eye that way Yet would I not be guilty of an unwarrantable Curiosity in searching into unrevealed things how willing soever I am to put up my head by faith into the World above and to know the things which Iesus Christ hath purchased and prepared for me and all the rest that are waiting for his appearance and Kingdom I feel my Curiosity checked and repressed by that Elegant Paronomasia Rom. 12.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In all things I would be wise unto Sobriety I groan under the effects of Adam's itching Ambition to know and would not by repeating his sin increase my own misery Nor yet would I be scared by his Example into the contrary evil of neglecting the means God hath afforded me to know all that I can know of his revealed Will. * Cui â—niâ— veritas comâ—erta sine Deo Cui Deus cognitus sine Christo Cui Christus exploratus sine Spiritu Cui Spiritus â—ccommodatus sine fide Tertul de Anima The helps Philosophy affords in some parts of this Discourse are too great to be despised and too small to be admired I confess I read the Definitions of the Soul given by the Ancient Philosophers with a Compassionate smile When Thales calls it a Nature without Repose Asclepiades an Exercitation of sense Hesiod a thing composed of Earth and Water Parmenides
viz. 1. That God infused it yet infused not sin into it p. 41 2. Knit it to the Body by our breath about which 4 things are opened 1. What breath is p. 70 2. Its Instruments p. 71 3. It s feebleness p. 73 4. Its Improvements p. 74 5. It s love to the Body both in the 1. Evidences of it viz. 1. Its Cares about it p. 136 2. Fears of it p. 137 3. Sympathy with it p. 138 4. Reluctancies at death p. 139 5. Inclinations to Re-union p. 140 And 2 Causes 1. Propriety in it as its Instrument 1. Of Pleasure p. 143 2. Of Service p. 143 2. Consuetude with it as its antient Companion p. 142 3. Partnership both in Redemption and in Glory p. 143 6. The Necessity of its separation grounded upon 1. The Law of God whose equity is cleared with respect to 1. The Godly p. 169 2. The Ungodly p. 169 2. The Providence of God moulding our frame suitably to the Law of our Mortality p. 169 A View of the Soul as separated considered three ways in this Table of Death First In its general Nature as a Soul separated four ways viz. 1. The Nature of Separation and that both 1. Mental and Intellectual the usefulness of which is shewed p. 192 2. Real and Physical and that either 1. In â—ieri its foregoing pains p. 195 2. In facto esse its dividing stroke p. 196 2. The Notices and Signs of approaching death where 1. The Reasons against it are weighed p. 250 2. The Evidences for it are produced p. 253 3. The Changes made by separation both upon 1. The Body visibly p. 193 2. The Soul more considerably in several respects p. 199 4. The Souls ability both to exist and act when separate proved 1. By its understanding some things now without Phantasms or help of the Body p. 205 2. The Absurdities of the contrary Hypothesis p. 207 Secondly As a Soul in Christ In eight Particulars viz. 1. The proper Season of its separation which is not 1. Till the Work of Sanctification be wrought out upon it p. 208 2. Till the whole Work of Obedience be finished by it p. 209 3. And then it goes with all its graces and Comforts with it p. 209 2. The Ministry of Angels at the time of Separation 1. Not out of pure Necessity as though it could not ascend to God without them p. 203 2. But to grace and adorn that day p. 204 3. Their Residence after death opened both 1. Negatively 1. They wander not up and down the World p. 211 2. They abide not about our Graves p. 212 3. They are not detained in Purgatory p. 212 4. They fall not into a Swoon or sleep p. 21â— 2. Positively they ascend to God immediately for 1. Heaven is ready for them p. 21â— 2. They are ready for it p. 214 3. Scriptures are for it p. 214 4. Nothing in reason against it p. 214 4. The life of holy separate Souls in respect of their 1. Pleasure which transcends 1. All the Sensitive pleasure here p. 218 2. All the Intellectual pleasure here p. 219 3. All the Spiritual Pleasure here p. 221 2. Knowledge which is 1. More perfect in degree p. 223 2. More easie in its acquisition p. 224 3. Communion with God which 1. Excels that here in ten Respects p. 227 2. Admits a double change p. 232 5. The Idea of a Soul in Glory p. 242 6. The Apparitions of departed Soulâ— where 1. The Arguments for it are produced p. 260 2. Concessions about it laid down p. 266 3. Reasons against it urged and Objections answered p. 270 7. The Discourse and Speech of the Spirits of the just 1. That they do Converse in Heaven 2. Yet without words or sound 1. More clear p. 274 c. 2. More quick p. 274 c. 3. By an act of the Will which is 8. Their desires of Re-union where 1. The Reasons against it are weighed p. 282 2. The Arguments proving it produced p. 284 Thirdly As a damned Soul in two things 1. The Idea or Representation of a damned Soul in respect of 1. The place where its Tormentâ— p. 334 2. The Misery what its Tormentâ— p. 345 3. The Instrument its Tormentâ— p. 346 4. The Aggravations of its Tormentâ— 2. The Various Methods of destroying precious Souls 1. By Satan 2. By Men. p. 398 3. By themselves 3. The only season of Salvation noted and pressed upon all p. 450 CORRIGENDA SOme mistakes have escaped the Press for which the Readers Charity is desired in a very hasty review some are noted as E. G. Pag. 33. l. 12. dele that p. 90. l. 6. for its r. his p. 98. l. 4. r. relaxed p. 108. l. 9 dele more p. 140. l. 11. for put r. pull p. 215. l. 1. add of p. 220. l. penult after Boy add to p. 241. l. 15. for sense r. suspence p. 243. l. 13. for lovely r. lonely p. 298. l. 22. add Separations p. 324. l. 17. for being r. bring GENESIS II. vers vii And the Lord formed Man out of the dust of the Ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of Life and Man became a living Soul THree things saith * Triâ— sunt quae secundum essentiam hominibus sunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deus Angâ—lus anima hominis Athanas. in Tract de deâ—â—â— Athanasius are unknown to men according to their Essence viz. God Angels and the Souls of men Of the Nature of the Divine and high-born Soul we may say as the learned †Quari facilius est quam intelligi mâ—liâ—s intelligitur quâ—m explicatur Whitaker doth of the way of its infection by Original sin It is easier sought than understood and better understood than explicated And for its Original the most fagacious and renowned for wisdom amongst the ancient * Plato doubted Aristotle denyed and Galen derided the Doctrine of the Worlds Creation Philosophers understood nothing of it It is said of Democrituâ— that there is †Nihil est in toto opificio naturae de quo non scripsit Democritus And for Aristotle they stiled him Regula Naturae naturae Miratulam ipsa eruditio Sol scientiaerum Antistes literarâ—â— sapientiae Lactantius lib. 3. cap. 17 18. nothing in the whole workmanship of Nature of which he did not write and in a more lofty and swelling Hyperbole they stile their Eagle-eyed Aristotle the Rule yea and Miracle of Nature Learning it self the very Sun of knowledge Yet both these are not only said but proved by Lactantius to be learned Ideots How have the Schools of Epicurus and Aristotle the Cartesians and other Sects of Philosophers abused and troubled the world with a kind of Philosophical Enthusiasm and a g 〈…〉 many ridiculous phancies about the Original of the Soul of Man And when all is done three words of God by the pen of his inspired Moses Veritatem quaerit Philosophia invenit Theologia Jo. Piâ—us Mirand enlightens us
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
Hebrew it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a word in thy heart so Matth. 9.3 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they spake within themselves i. e. they thought in their hearts Matth. 21.25 The Objects presented to the mind are the Companions with whom our hearts talk and converse Thoughts are the figments and Creatures of the mind They are formed within it in 〈◊〉 innumerable The power of cogitation is in the mind yea in the spirit of the mind * Phantasia mâ—nti offert phantasmata Picol The fancy indeed whilst the Soul is embodied ordinarily and for the most part presents the appearances and likenesses of things to the mind but yet it can form thoughts of things which the fancy can present no Image of as when †When we think of God saith â—â—rx Tyr. Diss. 1. we must think of nothing material 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Soul thinks of God or of itself This power of cogitation goes with the Soul and is rooted in it when it is separated from the body and by it we speak to God and converse with Angels and other spirits in the unbodied State as will be more fully opened in the process of this Discourse 2. The Conscience belongs also to this faculty What Conscience is for it being the judgement of a man upon himself with respect or relation to the judgment of God it must needs belong to the understanding part or faculty Thoughts are formed in the speculative but Conscience belongs to the practical understanding Iudicium appello conscientiam ut ad intellectâ—m eam 〈◊〉 osteâ—â—am Ames It is a very high and awful power it is solo Deo minor and rides as Ioseph did in the second Chariot The next and immediate Officer under God He saith of Conscience with respect to every man as he once said of Moses with respect to Pharaoh See I have made 〈◊〉 a God to Pharoah Exod. 7.1 The voice of Conscience is the voice of God for it is his Vicegerent and Representative What it binds on earth is bound in heaven and what it looseth on earth is loosed in heaven It observes records and bears witness to all our actions and acquits or condemns as in the name of God for them Its Consolations are most sweet and its Condemnations most terrible so terrible that some have chosen death which is the King of terrours rather than to endure the scorching heat of their own Consciences The greatest Deference and Obedience is due to its Commands And a man had better * Quas nos oportet mortes praeeligere quod non supplicium potius ferre immo iâ— quam profundam infeâ—ni Abyssum â—oâ— intraâ—e quà m coâ—tra conscientiam atteâ—tari Zuingâ— indure any rack or torture in the world than incur the torments of it It accompanies us as our shadow whereever we go and when all others forsake us as at death they will Conscience is then with us and is never more active and vigorous than at that time Nor doth it forsake us after death but where the Soul goes it goes and will be its Companion in the other world for ever How glad would the Damned be if they might but have left their Consciences behind them when they went hence but as Bernard rightly * Ipsa judicat ipsa imperat ipsa observat ipsa judicat ipsa toâ—toâ— ipsa carcer Bern. lib. de Conse cap. 9. It is both Witness Judge Tormentor and Prison it accuseth judgeth punisheth and condemneth And thus briefly of the understanding which hath many Offices and as many names from those Offices It is sometimes called Wit Reason Vnderstanding Opinion Iudgment And why we bestow so many names upon one and the same faculty the learned Author of that small but excellent †Nosce Teipsum p. 48 49. Tract de Anima gives us this true and ingenious account THe Wit the Pupil of the Souls clear eye And in mans world the only shining Star Looks in the Mirroir of the Phantasie Where all the gatherings of the Senses are And after by discoursing to and fro Anticipating and Comparing things She doth all universal natures know And all Effects into their Causes brings When she rates things and moves from ground to ground The name of Reason she obtains by this But when by reason she the truth hath found And standeth fixt she Understanding is When her Assent she lightly doth incline To either part she is Opinion light But when she doth by principles define A Certain truth she hath true Judgements fight And as from Senses Reasons work doth spring So many Reasons Vnderstanding gain And many Vnderstandings Knowledge bring And by much Knowledge Wisdom we obtain VI. 6 Endued with a Will What the Will is God hath endued the Soul of man not only with an Vnderstanding to discern and direct but also with a Will to govern moderate and over-rule the actions of Life The Will is a faculty of the rational Soul whereby a man either chuseth or refuseth the things which the understanding discerns and knows This is a very high and noble power of the Soul The understanding seems to bear the same relation to the Will as a grave Counsellour doth to a great Prince It glories in two excellencies viz 1. Liberty 2. Dominion 1. It hath Freedom and Liberty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zeno. it cannot be compelled and forced Coaction is repugnant to its very nature In this it differs from the understanding that the understanding is wrought upon necessarily but the will acts spontaneously This Liberty of the Will respects the choice or refusal of the means for attaining those ends it prosecutes according as it finds them more or less conducible thereunto The Liberty of the Will must be understood to be in things natural which are within its own proper sphere not in things supernatural It can move or not move the Body as it pleases but it cannot move towards Christ in the way of faith as it pleaseth it can open or shut the hand or eye at its pleasure but not the heart True indeed it is not compelled or forced to turn to God by supernatural grace but in a way sutable to its nature it is determined and drawn to Christ Psal. 1.10.3 It is drawn by a mighty power and yet runs freely Cant. 1.4 Draw me we will run after thee Efficacious grace and victorious Delight is a thing very different from compulsive force Pelagiuâ— as a late * Dr. Manton in Psal. 119. v. 36. Author speaks at first gave all to nature acknowledged no necessity of divine grace but when this proud Doctrine found little countenance he called nature by the name of grace And when that deceit was discovered he acknowledged no other grace but outward instruction or the benefit of external revelation to discourse and put men in mind of their duty Being yet driven farther he acknowledged the grace of Pardon and before a man could do any thing
their own trembling and condemning Consciences There would not be so many pale sweating affrighted Consciences on Earth and in Hell if the Will had any command or power over them Tam frigida mens est Criminibus tacitâ sudaâ—t praecordia culpâ 'T is an horrible sight to see such a trembling upon all the members such a cold Sweat upon the panting bosom of a self-condemned and wrath-presaging Soul in which it can by no means relieve or help it self These things are exempt from the liberty and dominion of the Will of man but notwithstanding these exemptions it is a noble faculty and hath a vastly extended Empire in the Soul of man It is the door of the Soul at which the spirit of God knocks for entrance When this is won the Soul is won to Christ and if this stand out in rebellion against him he is barr'd out of the Soul and can have no saving union with it The truth of grace is to be judged and discerned by its compliance with his call and the measure of Grace to be estimated by the degree of its subjection to his Will VII The Soul of man is not only endued with an Vnderstanding 7 Furnished with various Affections and Passions and Will but also with various Affections and Passions which are of great use and service to it and speak the excellency of its nature They are originally designed and appointed for the happiness of man in the promoting and securing his chiefest good to which purpose they have a natural aptitude For the true Happiness and Rest of the Soul not being in it self nor in any other creature but in God the Soul must necessarily move out of it self and beyond all other created Beings to find and enjoy its true felicity in him The Soul considered at a distance from God its true Rest and happiness is furnished and provided with desire and hope to carry it on and quicken its motion towards him These are the arms it is to stretch out towards him in a state of absence from him And seeing it is to meet with many obstacles Enemies and difficulties in its course which hinder its motion and hazzard its fruition of him Passio animae nihil aliud est quam motus apâ—etitivae virtutis in prosecutione boni vel fugâ— mali God hath planted in it Fear Grief Indignation Iealousie Anger c. to grapple with and break through those intercurrent difficulties and hazzards By these weapons in the hand of grace it conflicts with that which opposes its passage to God as the Apostle expresseth that holy fret and passion of the Corinthians and what a fume their souls were in by the gracious motion of the irascible appetite 2 Cor. 7.11 For behold this self same thing that ye sorrowed after a godly sort what carefulness it wrought in you yea what clearing of your selves yea what indignation yea what fear yea what vehement desire yea what zeal yea what revenge Much like the raging and strugling of Waters which are interrupted in their course by some dam or obstacle which they strive to bear down and sweep away before them But the Soul considered in full union with and fruition of God its supream Happiness is accordingly furnished with the affections of Love Delight and Ioy whereby it rests in him and enjoys its proper blessedness in his presence for ever Yea even in this life these affections are in an imperfect degree exercised upon God according to the prelibations and enjoyments it hath of him by faith in its way to Heaven In a word The true uses and most excellent ends for which these affections and passions are bestowed upon the Soul of man are to qualifie it and make it a fit subject to be wrought upon in a moral way of perswasions and allurements in order to its union with Christ for by the affections as Mr. Fenner rightly observes the Soul becomes marriageable or capable of being espoused to him and being so then to assist it in the prosecution of its full enjoyment in Heaven as we heard but now But alas how are they corrupted and inverted by sin The concupiscible appetite greedily fastens upon the Creature not upon God and the irascible appetite is turned against holiness not sin But I must insist no farther on this subject here it deserves an intire Treatise by it self VIII 8 And an inclination and love to the Body The Soul of man hath in the very frame and nature of it an inclination to the body There is in it a certain Pondus or inclination which naturally bends or sways it towards matter or a body There are three different Natures found in living Creatures viz. 1. The Brutal 2. The Angelical 3. The Humane 1. The Soul of a Brute is wholly confined to and dependent on the matter or body with which it is united It is dependent on it both in esse in operari In its being and working it is but a material form which rises from and perisheth with the body The Soul of a Brute Lord Chief Justice Hale in his Treatise de Animâ— p. 56. saith a great Person is no other than a fluid bodily Substance the more lively subtil and refined part of the blood called spirit quick in motion and from the Arteries by the branches of the Carotides carried to the Brain and from thence conveyed to the Nerves and Muscles moves the whole frame and mass of the body and receiving only certain weak impressions from the Senses and of short continuance hindred and obstructed of its work and motion vanishes into the soft Air. 2. An Angel is a Spirit free from a body and created without an appetite or inclination to be imbodied The Stoicks call the Angels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 souly substances And the Peripateticks formas abstractas abstract forms They are Spirits free from the fetters and cloggs of the body * Angelus est anima perfecta anima est Angelus imperfectus Bell de Ascen mentis An Angel is a perfect Soul and an Humane Soul an imperfect Angel Yet Angels have no such rooted disaffection and abhorrence of a body but that they have and can in a ready obedience to their Lords commands and delight to serve him assume bodies for a time to converse with men in them i.e. Aerial Bodies in the figure and shape of humane bodies So we read Gen. 18.2 three men i.e. Angels in humane shape and appearance stood by Abraham and talked with him and at Christs Sepulchre Luke 24. There appeared two men in shining garments But they abide in these bodies as we do in an Inn for a night or short season they dwell not in them as our souls in those houses of flesh which we cannot put on and off at pleasure as they do but as we walk in our garments which we can put off without pain 3. The humane Soul is neither wholly tyed to the body as the brutal soul is nor
because there 's nothing in sight that hath a tendency to their deliverance no prepared matter for their Salvation why let them consider who it was that created the Heavens and the Earth yea and their Souls also which are so perplexed with doubts out of nothing the same God that did this can also create Deliverance for his people though there be no praeexistent matter to work it out of Râ—solâ—it Soâ—omon utramque â—ominis partem in suâ— prima principia Ut ergo corpus in terram unde sâ—mptum est resolvâ—t ita etiam si anima ex â—â—ablâ—â—tia câ—lâ—â—ti vel ex anima ut â—lato ait mâ—â—di esset facta in eam resolâ—isset Solomon 〈…〉 simpâ—iciteâ— de ipsa dicit eaâ— reditâ—ram ad Deâ—m qui dedâ—t illam docet eam è nihito in quod resolvi non possâ—t creaâ—am esse Zanch. Add to this that excellent place of Solomon in Eccles 12. 7. Then shall the Dust return to the Earth as it was and the Spirit to God who gave it Where he shews us what becomes of Man and how each part of which he consists is bestowed and disposed of after his Dissolution by Death And thus he states it These two constitutive parts of Man are a Soul and a Body These two parts have two distinct Originals The Body as to its material cause is Dust the Soul in its nature is a Spirit and as to its Origin it proceeded from the Father of Spirits 't is his own creature in an immediate way He gave it He gave it the being it hath by Creation and gave it to us i.e. to our bodies by Inspiration Now qualis Genesis talis Analysis When death dissolves the union which is betwixt them each part returns to that from whence it came dust to dust and the Spirit to God that gave it The Body is expressed by its material cause dust the Soul only by its efficient cause as the gift of God because it had no material cause at all nor was made out of any praeexistent matter as the Body was And therefore Solomon here speaks of God as if he had only to do with the Soul leaving the Body to its material and instrumental causes with whom he concurrs by a general influence 'T is God not Man alone or God by Man that hath given us these bodies but 't is not Man but God alone who hath given us these souls He therefore passeth by the Body and speaks of the Soul as the gift of God because that part of Man and that only flows immediately from God and at death returns to him that gave it All these expressions The Father of Spirits the former of the spirit in Man the Giver of the Spirit how agreeable are they to each other and all of them to the point under hand that the Soul flows from God by immediate Creation You see it hath no principle out of which according to the order of nature it did arise as the body had and therefore it hath no principle into which according to the order of nature it can be returned as the body hath but returns to God its efficient cause if reconciled to a Father not only by Creation but Adoption if unreconciled as a creature guilty of unnatural Rebellion against the God that formed it to be judged II. God created and infused it into the body with an inherent inclination and affection to it Anima quae est corporis organici perfectio corpus necessariâ—â— est non est enim forma separata i e. propriè forma est itaque materiam requirit usque adâ—o ut anima à corpore sâ—jâ—â—cta 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tamen inclinationem retine â—t suam quam corporis resurrectio coâ—seâ—uitur The nature of the Soul and Body are vastly different there is no affinity or similitude betwixt them but it is in this case as in that of Marriage Two persons of vastly different Educations Constitutions and Inclinations coming under Gods Ordinance into the nearest relation to each other find their affections knit and endeared by their relation to a degree beyond that which results from the union of blood So it is here Whence this affection rises in what acts it is discovered and for what reason implanted will be at large discovered in a distinct branch of the following Discourse to which it is assigned Mean while I find my self concerned to vindicate what hath been here asserted from the Arguments which are urged against the immediate Creation and infusion of the Soul and in defence of the opinion of its Traduction from the Parents To conceal or dissemble these Arguments and Objections Cameronis praelect in Matth. p. 121. would be but a betraying of the truth I have here asserted and give occasion for some jealousie that they are unanswerable To come then to an issue and first It is urged Object 1. that it is manifest in it self and generally yielded that the souls of all other creatures come by generation and therefore its probable that humane souls flow in the same Chanel also There is a specifick difference betwixt rational souls Sol. and the souls of all other creatures and therefore no force at all in the consequence A material form may rise out of matter but a Spiritual rational Being as the Soul of Man is cannot so rise being much more noble and excellent than Matter is What Animal is there in the world out of whose Soul the acts of reason spring and flow as they do out of humane Souls Are they capable of inventing or which is much less of learning the Arts and Sciences Can they correct their senses and demonstrate a Star to be far greater than the whole Earth which to the eye seems no bigger than the rowel of a Spurr Do they foreknow the Positions and Combinations of the Planets and the Eclipses of the Sun and Moon many years before they suffer them And if they cannot perform these acts of reason as it is sure they cannot how much less can they know fear love or delight in God and long for the enjoyment of him These things do plainly evince humane Souls to be of another species and therefore of an higher Original than the souls of Brutes If all have one common nature and Original why are they not all capable of performing the same rational and Religious Acts Object 2. But though it should be granted that the Soul of the first Man was by immediate Creation and Inspiration from God yet it follows not that the souls of all his posterity must be so too God might create him with a power of begeting other souls after his own Image The first tree was created with its seed in it self to propagate its kind and so might the first Man Sol. 1. Trees Animals and such like were not created immediately out of nothing as the Soul of Man was but the Earth was the praeexistent matter out of which they
considerations wherein there are remarkable differences betwixt Soul and Soul As 1. some Souls are much better lodged and accommodated in their bodies than others are though none dwell at perfect rest and ease God hath lodged some Souls in strong vigorous comely bodies others in feeble crazy deformed and uncomfortable ones The Historian saith of Galba Anima Galbae male habitat The Soul of Galba dwelt in an ill Body And a much better man than Galba was as ill accommodated Iohn wishes in behalf of his beloved Gaius that his body might but prosper as his Soul did Epist. 3. v. 2. Timothy had his often infirmities Indeed the world is full of instances and examples of this kind * 〈◊〉 Bp. of Abâ—lâ—m had so stroâ—g and firm a conâ—titution to eâ—dure severe studies that he is said 〈◊〉 inâ—estina 〈◊〉 to have hâ—d a body of Brass If some Souls had the advantages of such bodies as others have who make little or very bad use of them O what service would they do for God! 2. There is a remarkable difference also betwixt Soul and Soul in respect of natural gifts and abilities of mind Some have great advantages above others in this respect The natural spirits and organs of the body being more brisk and apt the Soul is more vegete vigorous and able to exert it self in its sunctions and operations How clear nimble and firm are the apprehensions fancies and memories of some souls beyond others What a Prodigy of memory fancy and judgment was Father Paul the Venetian and Suarez of whom Strada saith such was the strength of his parts that he had all S. Augustine's works the most copious and various of all the Fathers as it were by heart so that I have seen him saith he †Statim 〈◊〉 loco 〈…〉 readily pointing with the finger to any place or page he disputed of Our Dr. Reynolds excell'd this way to the astonishment of all that knew him so that he was a living Library a third Vniversity But above all the character given by Vives of Budeuâ— is amazing that there was nothing written in Greek or Latin which he had not turned over and examined That both languages were alike to him speaking either with more facility than he did the French his mother tongue and all by the penetrating â—orce of his own natural parts without a Tutor so that †Qâ—o viro Gallia aâ—â—tiore ingeâ—io 〈…〉 produxit hic 〈◊〉 atate nec Itaâ—â—a quidem Lud. Viv. in 1â— cap. de civit Deâ— France never brought forth a man of sharper wit more piercing judgement exact diligence and greater learning nor in his time Italy it self Foelix foecundum ingenium quod in se uno invenit Doctorem Discipulum A happy and fruitful wit which in it self found both a Master and a Scholar And yet Pasquier relates what is much more admirable of a young man who came to Paris in the twentieth year of his age and in the year 1445 and shewed himself so excellent and exact in all the Arts Sciences and Languages that if a man of an ordinary good wit and sound constitution should live an hundred years and during that time study incessantly without eating drinking sleeping or any recreation He could hardly attain to that perfection 3. And yet a far greater difference is made betwixt one Soul and another by the sanctifying work of the Spirit of God This makes yet a greater disparity for it alters and new moulds the frame and temper of the Soul and restores the lost Image of God to it by reason whereof the righteous is truly said to be more excellent than his neighbour Prov. 12.26 This ennobles the Soul and stamps the highest dignity and glory upon it that it is capable of in this world 'T is true it hath naturally an excellency and perpetuity in it above other Beings as Cedar hath not only a beauty and fragrancy but a soundness and durability far beyond other trees of the Wood But when it comes under the sanctification of the spirit then it is as Cedar overlaid with gold 4. Lastly a wonderful difference will be made betwixt one Soul and another by the judgement of God in the great day Some will be blessed and others cursed Souls Matt. 25. ult some received into glory others shut out into everlasting misery Matth. 8.11 12. Many shall come from the East and West and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Iacob in the kingdom of Heaven but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth And that which will be the sting and aggravation of the difference which will then be made will be this Parity and Equality in the nature and capacity of every Soul by reason whereof they that perish will find they were naturally as capable of blessedness as those that enjoy it and that it was their own inexcusable negligence and obstinacy that was their ruine Inference IV. III The Soul a created Substance IF God be the immediate Creator and Former of the Soul of Man Then sin must needs involve the most unnatural evil in it as it is an horrid violation of the very law of nature No title can be so full so absolute as that which Creation gives How clear is this in the light of reason If God created my Soul then my Soul had once no Being at all That it had still remained nothing had not the pleasure of its Creator chosen and called it into the Being it hath out of the millions of meer possible Beings For as there are millions of possible Beings which yet are nothing so there are millions of possible Beings which never shall be at all So that since the pleasure and power of God was the only fountain of my Being he needs must be the rightful owner of it What can be more his own than that whose very Being flowed meerly from him and which had never been at all had he not called it out of nothing And seeing the same pleasure of God which gave it a Being gave it also a reasonable Being capable of and fitted for moral Government by laws which other inferiour natures are incapable of it must needs follow that he is the supream Governour as well as the rightful owner of this Soul Moreover it is plain that he who gave my Soul it's Being and such a Being gave it also all the good it ever had hath or shall have and that it neither is nor hath any thing but what is purely from him And therefore he 〈◊〉 needs â—e my most bountiful benefactor as well as 〈◊〉 owner and supream Governour There is not a Soul which he hath created but stands bound to him in all these ties and titles Now for such a creature to turn rebelliously upon its absolute owner whose only and wholly it is upon its supream Governour to whom it owes intire and absolute Obedience upon its
is here if the Soul naturally looks beyond the line of time to things eternal and cannot bound and confine its thoughts and expectations within the too narrow limits of present things surely there is such a future state as well as Souls made apprehensive of it and propense to close with the discoveries thereof So natural are the notions of a future state to the Souls of men that those who have set themselves designedly to banish them and struggled hard to suppress them as things irksome and grievous to them giving intâ—rruption to their sensual lusts and pleasures Yet still these apprehensions have returned upon them and gotten a just victory over all their objections and prejudices They follow them wheresoever they go they can no more flee from them than from themselves whereby they evidence themselves to be natural and indelible things Inference XI VIII Endued with Vnderstanding Will and Affections HAth God endued the Soul of man with Understanding Will and Affections whereby it is made capable of knowing loving and enjoying God 'T is then no wonder to find the malice and envy of Satan engaged against man more than any other Creature and against the Soul of man rather than any thing else in man It grates that spirit of envy to see the Soul of Man adorning and preparing by sanctification to fill that place in glory from which he fell irrecoverably It cut Haman to the very heart to see the honour that was done to Mordecai much more doth it grate and gall Satan to see what Jesus Christ hath purchased and designed for the Souls of Men. Other creatures being naturally uncapable of this happiness do therefore escape his fury but men shall be sure to feel it as far as he can reach them 1 Pet. 5.8 Your Adversary the Devil goeth about like a roaring Lyon seeking whom he may devour He walks to and fro that speaks his diligence seeking whom he may devour that speaks his design his restlessness in doing mischief is all the rest and relief he hath in his own torments 'T is a mark of pure and perfect malice to endeavour to destroy though he knows he shall never be successful in his attempts We read of many bodies possessed by him but he never takes up his quarters in the body of any but with design to mischief the Soul No room but the best in the house will satisfie him no blood so sweet to him him as Soul-blood If he raise persecution against the bodies of men it is to destroy their souls holiness is that he hates and happiness is the Object of his envy The Soul being the Subject of both is therefore pursued by him as his prey Inference XII UPon the consideration both of its excellent nature and divine Original it follows That the corruption and deacing of such an excellent creature by sin deserves to be lamented and greatly bewailed and the recovery of it by sanctification to be studied and diligently prosecuted as the great concern of all men What a Beautiful and Blessed creature was the Soul of Man at first whilst it stood in its integrity His mind was bright clear and apprehensive of the Law and Will of God His Will chearfully complied therewith his sensitive appetite and inferiour powers stood in an obedient subordination God made man upright Eccles. 7.29 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 straight and equal bending to neither extream The Law of God was fairly engraven upon the table of his heart Principles of holiness and righteousness were inlayed in the very frame of his mind fitting him for an exact and punctual discharge of his duties both to God and Man This was the soundness of his constitution the healthful temper of his inner man Whereby it became the very region of light peace purity and pleasure For think how serene lightsome and placid the state of that Soul must be in which there was no obliquity not a jarr with the divine will But joy and peace continually transfused through all its faculties But sin hath defaced its Beauty raz'd out the divine Image which was its glory and stampt the very Image of Satan upon it Turn'd all its noble powers and faculties against the Author and Fountain of its Being Surely if all the posterity of Adam from the beginning to the end of the world should do nothing else but weep and sigh for the sin and misery of the fall it could not be sufficiently deplored Other sins like single bullets kill particular persons but Adams sin like a Chain-shot mowed down all mankind at once It murthered himself actually all his posterity virtually and Christ himself occasionally O! what a black train of doleful consequents attend this sin It hath darkned the bright eye of the Souls understanding 1 Cor. 2.14 made its complying and obedient will stubborn and rebellious Ioh. 5.40 rendered his tender heart obdurate and senseless Ezek. 36.26 filled its serene and peaceful Conscience with guilt and terror Tit. 1.15 The consideration of these things is very humbling and should cause those that glory in their high and illustrious Descents to wrap their silver Star in Cypress and cover all their glory with a mourning Vail But this is but one part of their duty How should this consideration provoke us to apply our selves with most serious diligence to recover our lost beauty and dignity in the way of sanctification This is the great and most proper use of the Fall as Musculus excellently speaks ut gratiam Christi eo subnixius ambiamus to inflame our desires the more vehemently after grace Sanctification restores the Beauty of the Soul which sin defaced Eph. 4.24 Col. 3.10 Yea it restores it with this advantage that it shall never be lost again holiness is the beauty of God imprest upon the Soul and the impression is everlasting Other beauty is but a fading flower time will plow up deep furrows upon the fairst faces But this will be fresh to eternity All moral vertues homilitical qualities which adorn and beautifie Nature and make it attractive and lovely in the eyes of men are but separable accidents which Death discinds and crops off like a sweet flower from the stalk Iob 4.21 Doth not their excellency that is in them go away But sanctification is inseparable and will ascend with the Soul into Heaven O! that God would set the glass of the Law before us that we may see what defiled souls we have by nature that we might come by faith to Jesus Christ who cometh to us by water and by blood 1 Ioh. 5.6 Inference XIII TO conclude Upon the consideration of the whole matter before us if this excellent creature the Soul receive both its Being and excellencies from God Then he that formed it must needs have the full and only right to possess and use it and is therefore most injuriously kept out of the possession of it by all unsanctified and disobedient persons The Soul of Man is a building of God he
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
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
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
everlasting Destruction from the presence of the Lord and the Glory of his Power And speaking of the Torments of the Damned Christ thus expresseth the misery of such wretched Souls in Hell Mark 9.44 Where their Worm dyeth not and the fire is not quenched But how shall the Wicked be punished with everlasting Destruction if their Souls have not an everlasting Duration Or how can it be said That their Worm viz. the remorse and anguish of their Consciences dieth not if their Souls dye Punishment can endure no longer than its subject endureth If the being of the Soul cease its pains and punishments must have an end You see then there are everlasting Promises and Threatnings to be fulfilled both upon the Godly and Ungodly He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the Son shall not see Life but the wrath of God abideth on him Iohn 3.36 The Believer shall never see spiritual Death viz. the separation of his Soul from God and the Unbeliever shall never see life viz. the blessed fruition of God but the Wrath of God shall abide on him If Wrath must abide on him he must abide also as the wretched subject thereof which is another Argument of the Immortality of Souls Argument III. THE Immortality of the Soul is a Truth asserted and attested by the universal consent of all Nations and Ages of the World Multum dare solemus praesumptioni omnium hominium câ—m de Animae Aeternitate disserimus non leve momentum apud nos habit consensus hominum aut timentium inseros aut colentium Soneca Ep. 17. We give much saith Seneca to the presumption of all men and that justly for it would be hard to think that an Error should obtain the general consent of Mankind or that God would suffer all the World in all Ages of it to bow down under an universal Deception This Doctrine sticks close to the nature of Man it springs up easily and without force from his Conscience It hath been allowed as an unquestionable thing not only among Christians who have the Oracles of God to teach and confirm this Doctrine but among Heathens also who had no other Light but that of Nature to guide them into the knowledge and belief of it In omni re coâ—seâ—sio oâ—â—ium gentiam Lex Naturae putanda est esque instar mille demonstâ—ationum talâ—â— consensio apud bonos esse debâ—t Zanch. de imâ—ort Animarum p. 644. Learned Zanchius cites out of Cicero an excellent passage to this purpose In every thing saith he the consent of all Nations is to be accounted the Law of Nature And therefore with all good Men it should be instead of a thousand Demonstrations and to resist it as he there adds what is it but to resist the voice of God and how much more when with this consent the Word of God doth also consent As for the consent of Nations in this point the learned Author last mentioned hath industriously gathered many great and famous Testimonies from the antient Chaldeans Graecians Pythagoreans Stoicks Platonists c. which evidently shew they made no doubt of the Immortality of their Souls How plain is that of Phocylides 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Speaking of the Soul in opposition to the Body which must be resolved into dust he saith But for the Soul that is immortal and never grows old but lives for ever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And Trismegistus the famous and celebrated Philosopher gives this account of Man That he consists of two parts being mortal in respect of his Body but immortal in respect of his Soul which is his best and principal part Pluto not only asserts the immortality of the Souls of Men but disputes for it and among other Arguments urges this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Si erim Mors dissolutio esset utriusque corporis sc. animae Iuâ—inâ— foret malis cuâ— moriâ—â—tur Plato in epist. That if it were not so wicked Men would certainly have the advantage of righteous and good Men who after they have committed all manner of evils should suffer none But what speak I of Philosophers the most barbarous Nations in the World constantly believe it * Quid de Tuâ—â—cis Tartaris Moschis Indis Persis aliisquâ— omnibus â—uâ—c temporis barbaâ—â—â— nationibus dicam Nemo tam barbarus aut impius est quin sentiat post montem sup 〈…〉 〈◊〉 in quibus anime aut pro Malefactis punlantur aut coâ—ountur celiciisq pâ—sâ—uantur pâ—o 〈◊〉 factis Zanch. ubi supra The Turks acknowledge it in their Alchoran and though they grosly mistake the nature of Heaven in fansying it to be a Paradise of sensual Pleasures as well as the way thither by their Impostor Mahomet yet 't is plain they believe the Souls immortality and that it lives in pain or pleasure after this life The very salvage and illiterate Indians are so fully persuaded of the Souls Immortality that Wives cast themselves chearfully into the Flames to attend the Souls of their Husbands and Subjects to attend the Souls of their Kings into the other World Two things are objected against this Argument Object 1. I. That some particular persons have denied this Doctrine as Epicurus c. and by Argument maintained the contrary Sol. To which I answer That though they have done so yet 1. this no way shakes the Argument from the consent of Nations because some few persons have denied it we truly say the Earth is Spherical though there be many Hills and Risings in it If Democritus put out his own eyes must we therefore say all the World is blind 2 It is worth thinking on whether they that have questioned the Immortality of the Soul have not rather made it the matter of their option and desire than of their Faith and Persuasion We distinguish Atheists into three Classes such as are so in Practice in Desire or in Iudgment but of the former sorts there may be found multitudes to one that is so in his setled judgment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hieroc If you think it strange that any Man should wish his Soul to be mortal Hierocles gives us the true reason of it A wicked man saith he is afraid of his Iudge and therefore wishes his Soul and Body may perish together by Death rather than it should come to Gods Tribunal Object 2. II. Nor can the strength of the Argument be eluded by saying All this may be but an universal Tradition one Nation receiving it from another Sol. For as this is neither true in it self nor possible to be made good so if it were it would not invalidate the Argument for if it were not a truth agreeable to the light of nature and so easily received by all Men upon the Proposal of it it were impossible that all Nations in the World should embrace it so readily and hold it so tenaciously as they do Argument IV. THE Immortality of the
Soul may be evinced from the everlasting habits which are subjected and inherent in it If these habits abide for ever certainly so must the Souls in which they are planted The Souls of good Men are the good Ground in which the Seed of Grace is sown by the Spirit Matth. 13.23 i. e the subjects in which gracious properties and affections do inhere and dwell which is the formal notion of a Substance and these implanted Graces are everlasting things So Iohn 4.14 It shall be in him a Well of Water springing up into everlasting Life i. e. the Graces of the Spirit shall be in Believers permanent habits fixed Principles which shall never decay And therefore that Seed of Grace which is cast into their Souls at their Regeneration is in 1 Pet. 1.23 called incorruptible Seed which liveth and abideth for ever and it is incorruptible not only considered abstractly in its own simple nature but concretely as it is in the sanctified Soul its Subject for it is said 1 Iohn 3.9 The Seed of God remaineth in him It abideth for ever in the Soul If then these two things be clear to us viz. 1. That the Habits of Grace be everlasting 2. That they are inseparable from sanctified Souls It must needs follow that the Soul their Subject is so too an everlasting and immortal Soul And how plainly do both these Propositions lie before us in the Scriptures As for the immortal and interminable nature of saving Grace it is plain to him that considers not only what the fore cited Scriptures speak about it calling it incorruptible Seed a Well of Water springing up into everlasting life But add to these what is said of these Divine qualities in 2 Pet. 1.4 where they are called the Divine Nature and Ephes. 4.18 The life of God noting the perpetuity of these Principles in Believers as well as their resemblance of God in Holiness who are endowed with them I know it is a great question among Divines An gratia in renatis sit naturà essentià suà interminabilis Whether these Principles of Grace in the Regenerate be everlasting and interminable in their own nature and essence For my own part I think that God only is naturally essentially and absolutely interminable and immortal But these gracious Habits planted by him in the Soul are so by vertue of Gods Appointment Promise and Covenant And sure it is that by reason hereof they are interminate which is enough for my purpose if they be not essentially interminable Though Grace be but a Creature and therefore hath a pesse mori yet it is a Creature begotten by the Word and Spirit of God which live and abide for ever and a Creature within the Promise and Covenant of God by reason whereof it can never actually dye And then as for the inseparableness of these Graces from the Souls in whom they are planted how clear is this from 1 Iohn 2.27 where sanctifying Grace is compared to an Unction and this Unction is said to abide in them And 1 Iohn 3.9 't is called the Seed of God which remaineth in the Soul All our natural and moral Excellencies and Endowments go away when we dye Iob 4.21 Doth not their Excellency that is in them go away Men may out-live their acquired Gifts but not their supernatural Graces These stick by the Soul as Ruth to Naomi and where it goes they go too so that when the Soul is dislodged by Death all its Graces ascend up with it into Glory it carries away all its Faith Love Delight in God all its comfortable experiences and fruits of Communion with God along with it to Heaven For Death is so far from divesting the Soul of its Graces that it perfects in a Moment all that was defective in them 1 Cor. 13.10 When that which is perfect shall come then that which is in part shall be done away as the Twilight is done away when the Sun is up and at its Zenith So then Grace never dyeth and this never-dying Grace is inseparable from its Subject by which it is plain to him that considers That as Graces so Souls abide for ever But this only proves the Immortality of regenerate Souls Object It doth so Sol. but then consider as there be gracious habits in the regenerate that never dye so there are vicious habits in the unregenerate that can never be separated from them in the world to come Hence Iohn 8.21 They are said to dye in their sins and Iob 20.11 Their iniquities ly down with them in the dust and Ezek. 24.13 They shall never be purged Remarkable is that place Revel 22. v. 11. Let him that is filthy be filthy still And if guilt stick so fast and sin be so deeply engraven in impenitent Souls they also must remain for ever to bear the punishment of them Argument V. THE Immortality of the Soul of Man may be evinced from the Dignity of Man above all other Creatures Angels only excepted and his Dominion over them all In this the Scriptures are clear that Man is the Master-piece of all Gods other work Psal. 8.5 6. For thou hast made him a little lower than the Angels and hast crowned him with glory and honour Thou hast made him to have Dominion over the works of thy hands thou hast put all things under his feet Other Creatures were made for his service and he is crowned King over them all One Man is of more worth than all the inferiour Creatures But wherein is his Dignity and excellency above all other Creatures if not in respect of the capacity and immortality of his Soul Sure it can be found no where else for as to the Body many of the Creatures excel man in the perfections of Sense greatness of Strength agility of Members c. Nos Aper auditu praecellit aranea tactu vultur odoratu linx visu simia gustu And for beauty Solomon in all his Glory was not arrayed like one of the Lilies of the Field The Beasts and Fowls enjoy more pleasure and live divested of those cares and cumbers which perplex and wear out the lives of men It cannot be in respect of bodily perfections or pleasures that man excels other Creatures If you say he excels them all in respect of that noble endowment of Reason which is peculiar to man and his singular excellency above them all 'T is true this is his glory but if you deprive the reasonable Soul of Immortality you despoil it of all both its glory and comfort and put the reasonable into a worse condition than the unreasonable and brutish Creatures for if the Soul may dye with the Body and man perish as the Beast happier is the life of the Beast which is perplexed with no cares nor fears about futurities our Reason serves to little other purpose but to be an engine of Torture a meer Rack to our Souls Certainly the Priviledge of Man doth not consist in that as abstracted from
Religion upon which both our faith and comfort is founded and consequently it undoes and ruins us as to all solid hope and true joy The Doctrines or Principles it overthrows are among many others such as follow 1 It nullifies and makes void the great design and end of Gods eternal Election The Scriptures tell us that from eternity God hath chosen a certain number in Christ Jesus to eternal life and to the means by which they shall attain it out of his meer good pleasure and for the praise of his grace This was 1 an eternal Act of God Eph. 1.4 long before we had our being Rom. 9.11 2 This choice of God or his purpose to save some is immutable 2 Tim. 2.19 Iames 1.17 3 This choice he made in Christ Eph. 1.4 Not that Christ is the cause of Gods chusing us For we were not elected because we were but that we might be in Christ. Christ was ordained to be the Medium of the execution of this Decree and all the mercies which were purposed and ordained for us were to be purchased by the bloud of Christ He was not the cause of the Decree but the purchaser of the mercies decreed for us 4 This choice was of a certain number of persons who are all known to God 2 Tim. 2.19 and all given to Christ in the Covenant of Redemption Iohn 17.2 6. So that no Elect person can be a Reprobate no Reprobate an Elect person 5 This number was chosen to Salvation 1 Thes. 5.9 No less did God design for them than glory and happiness and that for ever 6 The same persons that are appointed to Salvation as the end are also appointed to sanctification as the way and means by which they shall attain that end 1 Pet. 1.1 2. 2 Thes. 2.13 14. 7 The impulsive cause of this choice was the meer good pleasure of his will 2. Tim. 1.9 Rom. 9.15 16. Ephes. 1.9 8 The end of all this is the praise of his glorious grace Eph. 1.5 6. to make a glorious Manifestation of the riches of his grace for ever This is the account the Scripture give us of Gods eternal choice But if our Souls be mortal and perish with our Bodies all this is a mistake and we are imposed upon and our understandings abused by this Doctrine For to what purpose are all these Decrees and contrivances of God from everlasting if our Souls perish with our Bodies Certainly if it be so he loseth all the thoughts and counsels of his heart about us and that counsel of his will which is so much celebrated in the Scriptures and admired by his People comes to nought For this is evident to every mans consideration that if the Soul which is the Object about which all those counsels and thoughts of God were imployed and laid out fail in its being all those thoughts and counsels that have been imployed about it and spent on it must necessarily fail and come to nothing with it The thoughts of his heart cannot stand fast as it s said Psal. 33.11 if the Soul slide about which they are conversant In that day the elect Soul perisheth the eternal consultations and purposes of Gods heart perish with it Kekerman tells us that Albertus Magnus with abundance of Art Albertus Magnus statuam hoâ—rinis construxit que cum libramentis quibusdam â—otis atque aliis machiâ—is iâ—tâ—a latentibus peritissimè câ—mâ—ositis liâ—guam quadam ratione disciplina noventibus articulâ—ta 〈◊〉 prenunciarit and the study of thirty years made a vocal Statue in the form of a Man It was a rare contrivance and much admired The cunning Artist had so framed it that by Wheels and other Machins placed within it it could pronounce words articulately Aquinas being surprized to hear the Statue speak was affrighted at it and brake it all to pieces Upon which Albertus told him he had at one blow destroyed the work of thirty years Such a blow would the death of the Soul give to the counsels and thoughts not of Man but of God not of thirty years but from everlasting If the Souls of men perish at death either God never did appoint any Souls to Salvation as the Scriptures testifie he did 1 Thes. 5.9 or else the foundation of God stands not sure as his word tells us it doth 2 Tim. 2.19 So then this supposition overturns the eternal Decrees and Counsels of God which is the first thing 2. It overthrows the Covenant of Redemption betwixt the Father and the Son before this World was made There was a federal transaction betwixt the Father and Son from Eternity about our Salvation 2 Tim. 1.9 Zech. 6.13 In that Covenant Christ engaged to redeem the Elect by his bloud And the Father promised him a reward of those his sufferings Isai. 53.12 accordingly he hath poured out his Soul to death for them finished the work Iohn 17.4 and is now in Heaven expecting the full reward and fruits of his sufferings which consist not in his own personal glory which he there enjoys but in the compleatness and fulness of his mystical Body Iohn 17.24 But certainly if our Souls perish with our Bodies Christ hath a very bad bargain of it Nor can that promise be ever made good to him Isai. 53.12 He shall see of the travel of his Soul and be satisfied He hath done his work but where is his reward See how this supposition strikes at the justice of God and wounds his faithfulness in his Covenant with his Son He hath as much comfort and reward from the Travel of his Soul as a Mother that is delivered after many sharp pangs of a Child that dies almost as soon as born 3. It overthrows the Doctrines of Christs Incarnation Death Resurrection Ascension and Intercession in Heaven for us And these are the main Pillars both of our faith and comfort take away these and take away our lives too for these are the springs of all joy and comfort to the people of God Rom. 8.34 His Incarnation was necessary to capacitate him for his Mediatorial work It was not only a part of it but such a part without which he could discharge no other part of it This was the wonder of men and Angels 1 Tim. 3.16 A God incarnate is the Worlds wonder No condescension like this Philip. 2 6 7. The Death of Christ hath the nature and respect of a Ransom or equivalent price laid down to the justice of God for our Redemption Matt. 20.28 Act. 20.28 It bought our Souls from under the curse and purchased for them everlasting Blessedness Galat. 4.4 5. The Resurrection of Christ from the Dead hath the nature both of a Testimony of his finishing the work of our Redemption and the Fathers full satisfaction therein Iohn 6.10 and of a Principle of our Resurrection to eternal life 1 Cor. 15.20 The Ascension of Christ into Heaven was in the capacity and relation of a forerunner Heb. 6.20 It was to prepare places for
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
oppose those things which God hath subordinated bring this home to your natural or civil actions eating drinking Plowing or Sowing and see how the consequence will look Object 3. Say not 't is a mercenary Doctrine and disparages free Grace for are not all the enjoyments and comforts of this life confessedly from free Grace though God hath dispensed them to you in the way of your diligence and industry Object 4. To conclude say not the difficulties of Salvation are insuperable 't is so hard to watch every motion of the heart to deny every lust to resist a suitable temptation to suffer the loss of all for Christ that there is no hope for overcoming them For 1 God can and doth make difficult things easie to his people who work in the strength of Christ Philip. 4.13 2 These same difficulties are before all others that are before you yet it discourageth not them Philip. 3.11 Others strive to the uttermost There are extreams found in this matter some work for Salvation as an hireling for his wages so the Papists these disparage Grace and cry up works Others cry down obedience as legal as the Antinomians and cry up grace to the disparagement of duties avoid both these and see that you strive but 1 think not Heaven to be the price of your striving Rom. 4.3 2 strive but not for a spurt let this care and diligence run throughout your lives whilst you are living be you still striving your Souls are worth it and infinitely more than all this amounts to Inference VI. DOth the Soul overlive the Body and abide for ever Then 't is a great evil and folly to be excessively careful for the mortal Body and neglective of the immortal Inhabitant In a too much indulged Body there ever dwells a too much neglected Soul The Body is but a vile thing Philip. 3.21 the Soul more valuable than the whole World Matt. 16.26 to spend time care and pains for a vile Body whilst little or no regard is had to the precious Immortal Soul is an unwarrantable folly and madness To have a clean and washed Body and a Soul all filth as one speaks a Body neatly cloathed and dressed Carzv p. 148.149 with a Soul all naked and unready a Body fed and a Soul starved a Body full of the Creature and a Soul empty of Christ these are poor Souls indeed We smile at little children who in a kind of laborious idleness take a great deal of pains to make and trim their Babies or build their little houses of Sticks and straws And what are they but children of a bigger size that keep such ado about the Body a house of Clay a weak pile that must perish in a few days 'T is admirible and very convictive of most Christians what we read in an Heathen I confess saith Seneca there is a love to the Body implanted in us all 〈◊〉 insitâ—m esse nobis corpoâ—is nostri charitatem Fateâ— nos hujus gereâ—e tutelam nec nego indulgendum illi serâ—iendum nego Multus enim serviet qui corpori servit qui pro illo nimium timet qui ad illud omnia refert hujus nos nimiâ—â— amor timoribus inquietat solicitudinibus onerat contumeliâ—s objicit bonesâ—um ei vile est câ—i corpus nimis charum est agatur ejus diligentissimè cura ita tamen ut cum exiget ratio cum dignitas cum fides mittendum in ignem sit Seneca Ep. 14. p. 545. we have the Tutilage and charge of it we may be kind and indulgent to it but must not serve it but he that serves it is a servant to many cares fears and passions Let us have a diligent care of it yet so as when Reason requires when our Dignity or faith requires it we commit it to the fire 'T is true the Body is beloved of the Soul and God requires that it moderately care for the necessities and conveniences of it but to be fond indulgent and constantly sollicitous about it is both the sin and snare of the Soul One of the Fathers being invited to dine with a Lady and waiting some hours till she was drest and fit to come down when he saw her he fell a weeping and being demanded why he wept O saith he I am troubled that you should spend so many hours this morning in pinning and trimming your Body when I have not spent half the time in Praying Repenting and caring for my own Soul Two things a Master commits to his Servants care saith one the Child and the Childs cloaths it will be but a poor excuse for the Servant to say at his Masters return Sir here are all the Childs cloaths neat and clean but the child is lost Much so will be the account that many will give to God of their Souls and Bodies at the great day Lord here is my Body I was very careful for it I neglected nothing that belonged to its content and well-fare but for my Soul that is lost and cast away for ever I took little care or thought about it 'T is remarkable what the Apostle saith Rom. 8.12 We owe nothing to the flesh we are not in its debt we have given it all more than all that belongs to it but we owe many an hour many a care many a deep thought to our Souls which we have defrauded it of for the vile Bodies sake You have robb'd your Souls to pay your flesh This is madness Inference VII HOW great a blessing is the Gospel which brings life and immortality to light the most desirable mercies to immortal Souls This is the great benefit we receive by it as the Apostle speaks 2 Tim. 1.10 Christ hath abolished death and brought life and immortality to light by the Gospel Life and immortality by a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is put for immortal life the thing which all immortal Souls desire and long for These desires are found in Souls that enjoy not the Gospel-light for as I said before they naturally spring out of the very nature of all immortal Souls But how and where it is to be obtained that is a secret for which we are entirely beholding to the Gospel-discovery It lay hid in the Womb of Gods purpose till by the light of Gospel Revelation it was made manifest But now all men may see what are the gracious thoughts and purposes of God concerning men and what that â—s he hath designed for their Immortal Souls even an Immortal life and this life is to be obtained by Christ than which no tidings can be more welcome sweet or acceptable to us O therefore study the Gospel This is life eternal to know thee the only true God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent John 17.3 And see that you prise the Gospel above all earthly Treasures 'T is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation you have two inestimable benefits and blessings by it 1 It manifests and reveals eternal life to you
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
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
the matter of their Election which in it self is necessary and unavoidable so did Paul Philip. 1.23 but others are drawn or rent by plain violence from the Body Iob 27.8 when God draws out his Soul That man is happy indeed whose heart falls in with the Appointment of God so voluntarily and freely as that he dare not only look death in the face with confidence but go along with it by consent of will Remarkable to this purpose is that which the Apostle asserts of the frame of his own heart 2 Cor. 5.8 We are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the Body and present with the Lord. Here is both Confidence and Complacence with respect to death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word signifies Courage Fortitude or if you will an undaunted boldness and presence of mind when we look the King of Terrours in the face We dare venture upon death we dare take it by the cold hand and bid it welcome We dare defie its Enmity and deride its noxious power 1 Cor. 15.55 O Death where is thy sting And that 's not all we have Complacence in it as well as Confidence to encounter it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We are willing the Translation is too flat we are well pleased it is a desirable and grateful thing to us to die But yet not in an absolute but comparative Consideration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are willing rather i.e. rather than not see and enjoy our Lord Jesus Christ rather than to be here always sinning and groaning There is no Complacency in death in it self it is not desirable But if we must go through that strait gate or not see God we are willing rather to be absent from the Body So that you see death was not the matter of his submission only he did not yield to what he could not avoid but he ballances the evils of death with the Priviledges it admits the Soul into and then pronounces 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are content yea pleased to die We cannot live always if we would and our hearts should be wrought to that frame as to say we would not live always if we could Iob 7.16 I would not live always or long saith he But why should Iob deprecate that which was not attainable I would not live alway he needed not to trouble himself about that it being impossible that he should both Statute and Natural Law forbid it Ay but this is his sense supposing no such Necessity as there is if it were pure matter of Election Upon a due ballancing of the accounts and comparing the good and evil of death I would not be confined always or for any long time to the Body It would be a bondage unsupportable to be here always Indeed those that have their Portion their All in this life have no desire to be gone hence They that were never changed by grace desire no change by death if such a Concession were made to them as was once to an English Parliament that they should never be dissolved but by their own consent when would they say as Paul I desire to be dissolved But it 's far otherwise with them whose portion and affections are in another World they would not live always if they might knowing that never to die is never to be happy If you say Qu. this is an excellent and most desirable temper of Soul but how did these holy men attain it Or what is the course we may take to get the like frame of willingness Sol. They attained it and you may attain it in such Methods as these 1. They lived in the believing views of the invisible World and so must you if ever death be desirable in your eyes 2 Cor. 4.18 It 's said of all that died comfortably that they died in faith Hebr. 11.13 You will never be willing to go along with death except you know where it will carry you 2. They had assurance of Heaven as well as Faith to discern it Assurance is a lump of Sugar indeed in the bitter Cup of death nothing sweetens like it So 2 Cor. 5.1 so Iob 19.26 27. This puts Roses into the pale Cheeks of death and makes it amiable 1 Cor. 15.55 56. and Rom. 8.38 39. 3. Their hearts were weaned from this World and the inordinate affectation of a terrene life Philip. 3.8 all was dung and dross for Christ they trampled under foot what we hug in our Bosomes So 't is said Hebr. 10.34 Ye took joyfully the spoiling of your goods knowing in your selves c. And so it must be with us if ever we obtain a Complacency in death 4. They ordered their Conversations with much Integrity and so kept their Consciences pure and void of offence Acts 24.16 Herein do I exercise my self c. and this was their Comfort at last 2 Cor. 1.12 This is our rejoycing c. So Iob 27.5 My Integrity will I not let go till I die O this unstings death of all its terrours 5. They kept their love to Christ at the height that flame was vehement in their Souls and made them despise the terrour and desire the friendly assistance of death to bring them to the sight of Jesus Christ Philip. 1.23 so Ignatius O how I long c. Thus it must be with you if ever you make death eligible and lovely to you which is terrible in it self There is a loveliness in the death as well as in the life of a Christian. Let me die the death of the righteous said Balaam Inference II. MUst we put off these Tabernacles of Flesh Many cry out on a death-bed O â—end for Ministers and Christians to pray Alas What can they do then Is that a time for so great a work to be shuffled up in a hurry amidst distractions and Agonies How necessary is it that every Soul look out in season and make provision for another habitation If you must be turned out of one house you must provide another or lie in the streets This the Apostle comforted himself with that if uncloathed he should not be found naked 2 Cor. 5.1 a building of God an house not made with hands You must turn out and that shortly from these earthly Habitations O what provision have you made for your Souls against that day The Soul of Adrian was at a sad loss when he saw he must be turn'd out of this World O Animula vagula blandula heu quo vadis But it was Abraham Isaac and Iacob's Priviledge that God had preâ—â—â—â—d for them a City Heb. 11.16 I know it 's a common presumption of most men that they shall be in Heaven when they can be no longer on earth Praesumendo sperant sperando pereunt But a few moments will convince them of their fatal mistake their poor Souls will meet with a confounding repulse like that Matth. 7.22 There is indeed a City full of heavenly Mansions prepared for some but who are they
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
implanted in a weak and imperfect Soul go with it to glory where they exert themselves in a more high and perfect way of acting than ever they did here below The languishing spark of love is there a vehement flame the saint remiss and infrequent delight in God is there at a constant ravishing and transporting height 4 To conclude As all implanted habits of grace ascend with the sanctified Soul to Heaven for the Soul ascends not thither as a natural but as a new Creature so all the effects results and sweet improvements of those Graces which we gathered as the pleasant fruits of them on earth these accompany and follow the Soul into the other World also Their Works follow them Rev. 14.13 They go not before in the notion of merits to make way for them but they follow or accompany them as Evidences and comfortable Experiences I doubt not but the very remembrance of what past betwixt God and the Soul here betwixt the day of its Espousals to Christ and its Divorce from the Body will be one sweet ingredient into their blessedness and joy when they shall be singing in the upper Region the Song of Moses and of the Lamb. They were never given to be lost or left behind us And thus you see with what a rich Cargo the Soul sails to the other World though if it had no other it would never drop Anchor there PROP. VII The Souls of the just when separated from their Bodies do not wander up and down this World nor hover about the Sepulchres where their Bodies lie nor are they detain'd in any Purgatory in order to their more perfect Purification nor do they fall asleep in a benummed stupid State But do forthwith pass into glory and are immediately with the Lord. WHen once the mind of man leaves the Scripture-guidance and direction which is to it what the Compass or Pole-star is to a Ship in the wide Ocean Whither will it not wander In what uncertainties will it not fluctuate And upon what Rocks and Quick-sands must it inevitably be cast Many have been the foolish and groundless Conceits and Fancies of men about the Receptacles of departed Souls 1. Some have assigned them a restless wandering life now here now there without any certain dwelling place any where The only ground for this fancy is the frequent Apparitions of the Ghosts or Spirits of the dead whereof many instances are given and who is there that is a stranger to such Stories Now if departed Souls were fixed any where this World would be quiet and free from such disturbances I make no doubt but very many of these Stories have been the industrious Fictions and Devices of wicked and superstitious Votaries to gain reputation to their way speaking lies in Hypocrisie to draw Disciples after them And many others have been the Tricks and Impostures of Satan himself to shake the credit of the Saints Rest in Heaven and the imprisonment of ungodly Souls in Hell as will more fully appear when I come to speak to that Question more particularly 2. Others think when they are loosed from the Body at death they hover about the Graves and solitary places where their Bodies lie as willing seeing they can dwell no longer in them to abide as near them as they can just as the surviving Turtle keeps near the place where his Mate died and may be heard mourning for a long time about that part of the Wood. This opinion seeks countenance and protection from that law Deut. 18.10 11. which prohibits men to consult with the dead of which restraint there had been no need nor use if it had not been practised and such practices had never been continued if departed Souls had not frequented those places and given answers to their Questions But what I said before of Satans Impostures is enough for present to return to this also Bell. lib. 2. de Purg. cap. 6. 3. The Papists send them immediately to Purgatory in order to their more thorough Purification This Purgatory Bellarmin thus describes It is a certain place wherein as in a Prison Souls are purged after this life that were not fully purged here to the intent they may enter pure into Heaven and though the Church saith he hath not defined the place yet the School-men say it is in the Bowels of the Earth and upon the borders of Hell And to countenance this profitable Fable divers Scriptures are by them abused and misapplied as 1 Cor. 3.15 Matth. 5.25 26. 1 Pet. 3.19 all which have been fully rescued out of their hands and abundantly vindicated by our Divines who have proved God never kindled that fire to purifie Souls but the Pope to warm his own Kitchin 4. Another sort there are who affirm they neither wander about this World nor go into Purgatory but are cast by death into a Swoon or sleep remaining in a kind of benummed condition till the Resurrection of the Body This was the Errour of Beryllus and Irenaeus seems to border too near upon it when he saith The Souls of Disciples shall go to an invisible place appointed for them of God Discipulorum Animae abibunt in invisibilem locum definitam â—is à Deo ibi usqâ—e ad Resurrectionem commorabuntar sustinentes Resurrectionem Post recipientes corpora perfectè resurgentes i. e. corporaliter quemadmodum dominus resurrexit sic venlent ad conspectum Dei Iren. lib. 5. and shall there tarry till the Resurrection waiting for that time and the receiving their Bodies and perfectly i.e. corporally rising again as Christ did they shall come to the sight of God All these mistakes will fall together by one stroak for if it evidently appear as I hope it will that the Spirits of the just are immediately taken to God and do converse with and enjoy him in Heaven Then all these Fancies vanish without any more labour about them particularly Now there are four Considerations which to me put the immediate glorification of the departed Souls of Believers beyond all rational doubt 1 Heaven is as ready and fit to receive them as ever it shall be 2 They are as ready and fit for Heaven as ever they shall be 3 The Scripture is plainly for it And 4 There is nothing in reason against it 1 Heaven is as ready and fit to receive them when they die as ever it shall be Heaven is prepared for Believers 1 By the purpose and Decree of God and so far it was prepar'd from the Foundation of the World Matth. 25.34 2 By the death of Christ whose blood made the purchace of it for Believers and so meritoriously opened the Gates thereof which our sins had barred up against us Heb. 10.19 20. 3 By the Ascension of Christ into that holy place as our Representative and Forerunner Iohn 14.2 This is all that is necessary to be done for the preparation of Heaven and all this is done as much as ever God design'd should be
Mic. 5.7 2. No grace is or can be acted here without the clog of a contrary corruption upon its heel Rom. 7.21 When I would do good evil is present with me Every beam of faith is presently darkned by a cloud of unbelief Mark 9.24 Lord I believe help thou my unbelief Saepè in libro experientiae legimus quomodo à corde nostro relinquimar nunc est nobisâ—um nunc alibi nunc avoâ—at nunc recurrit in sola lubricitate manens Bern. We often read in the Book of experience saith one what an inconstant fickle thing the heart is in duties Now it is with us by and by it 's fled away and gone we know not where to find it It is constant only in its inconstancy and lubricity There is iniquity in our most holy things which needs pardon Exod. 28.38 Our best duties have enough in them to damn us as well as our worst sins but in that perfect state above grace flows purely out of the Soul as beams do from the Sun or crystal streams from the purest Fountain No impure or imperfect acts proceed from Spirits made perfect 3. Here the graces of the Saints are never or very rarely acted in their highest and most intense degree When they love God most fervently there is some coldness in their love Who comes up to the height of that rule Matt. 22.37 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy mind and all thy strength When we meditate on God it is not in the depth of our thoughts without some wanderings and extravagancies 't is very hard if not impossible for the Soul to stand long in its full bent to God But in Heaven it doth so and will do so for ever without any relaxation or remission of its fervour Christ among the Saints and Angels in Heaven is as a mighty Load-stone cast in amongst many Needles which leap to him and fix themselves inseparably upon him They all act in glory as the fire doth here to the utmost of their power and ability There is no note lower than Glory to God in the highest 4 The most spiritual Souls on earth who live most with God have and must have their dayly and frequent intermissions The necessities of the Body as well as the defectiveness of their graces require and necessitate it to be so Our hands with Moses will hang down and grow weary Our affections will cool and fall do what we can But as the Spirits of just men made perfect know no remissions in the degree so neither any intermissions in the actings of their grace They shall serve him day and night in his Temple Rev. 7.15 You that would purchase the continuance of your spiritual comforts but for a day with all that you have in this World will there enjoy them at full without any intermitting throughout eternity 5. If the best hearts on earth be at any time more than ordinarily enlarged in spiritual comforts they need presently some humbling providence to hide pride from their eyes Even Paul himself must have a thorn in the flesh a messenger of Satan to buffet him Bernard could never perform any duty with comfortable enlargement but he seemed to hear his own heart whisper thus benè fecisti Bernarde O well done Bernard But in Heaven the highest comforts are injoyed in the deepest humility and the intire glory is ascribed to God without any unworthy defalcations Rev. 4.10 They put not the Crown upon their own heads but Christs they cast down their Crowns and fall down at the feet of him that sitteth upon the Throne 6. All Assemblies for worship in this World are mixed They consist of Regenerate and Unregenerate living and dead Souls this spoils the harmony and allays the comfort of mutual Communion In a Congregation consisting of a 1000 persons Ah! How few comparatively are there that are heartily concerned in the Duty But it is not so above There are ten thousand times ten thousand even thousands of thousands before the Throne loving adoring praising and triumphing together and not a jaring string in all their Harps 7. Here the worship of God is impured mixed and adulterated by the sinful additions and inventions of men This gracious Souls groan under as an heavy burden sighing and praying for Reformation as knowing they can expect no more of Gods presence than there is of his Order and Institution in Worship But above all the Worship is pure the least pin in the heavenly Tabernacle is according to the perfect pattern of the divine Will 8. We have here Duties of divers kinds and natures to perform All our time is not to be spent in loving praising and delighting in God but we must turn our selves also to searching watching and Soul-humbling work Sometimes we are called to get up our hearts to the highest praise and then to humble them to the dust for sin and judgments One while to sing his praises and another while to sigh even to the breaking of our loins but the Spirits of just men made perfect have but one kind of imployment viz praising loving and delighting in God There is no groaning sighing searching or watching-work in that state 9. The most illuminated Believers on Earth have but dark and crude apprehensions of Christs intercession work in Heaven or of the way and manner in which it is there performed by him We know indeed that our High-Priest is for us entred within the vail Heb. 6.20 That he appears in that most holy place for us Heb. 9.24 That he there represents his sufferings for us to God standing before him as a Lamb that had been slain Rev. 5.6 That he offers up our prayers with his incense to God Rev. 8.3 But the immediate intuition of the whole performance by the person of Christ in Heaven the beholding of him in his work there with the smiles and honours the delight and satisfaction of the Father in his Person and Work certainly this must be a far different thing and what must make more deep and suitable impressions upon our hearts than ever the most affecting view of them by Faith at this distance could do 10. In such ravishing sights and joyful ascriptions of glory to him that sâ—tteth upon the Throne and to the Lamb for evermore all the separated Spirits of the just are imployed and wholly taken up in Heaven as they come in their several times thither and will be so imploy'd in that Temple-service unto the end of the World when Christ shall deliver up the Kingdom to his Father and thenceforth God shall be all in all The illustration and confirmation of this assertion we have in these two or three particulars 1 That all the Spirits of just men from the beginning of the World until Christs ascension into Heaven did enter into Heaven as a place of rest as a City prepared for them of God Heb. 11.16 and did enjoy blessedness and Glory there but yet there seems to
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
Absent from the Body and present with the Lord. It hath now no body to clog or cloud it nor can it complain of distance from God as it did in this World O at what rate must we conceive the love and delight of a Soul under these great advantages to cast out their very Spirits as I may say in their glorious Activities and Exercises Well then here you find A Spirit naturally endued with Understanding Will and Affections in these Faculties and Affections the habits of Grace permanently rooted which therefore accompany it in its ascension to glory an ability to use and exercise these Faculties and Graces and that in a more excellent degree and manner than it did or could in this World the subject and habits inherent being now both made perfect The clog of flesh knockt off and all distance from God removed by its coming home to him even as near as the capacity of the Soul can admit Conceive such a Spirit so qualified now rankt in its proper order among innumerable other holy and blessed Spirits which surround the Throne of God beholding his face with infinite delectation and acting all its Powers and Graces to the highest in the worshipping praising loving and admiring him that sitteth on the Throne and the Lamb for evermore And then you have a true though imperfect Idea or Notion of the Spirit of a just man made perfect I will not here make use of the other Glass to represent a damned Soul separate for a time from its Body and for ever from the Lord that will be shewn you in its proper place Querie 2. QUERIE II. Whether there be any difference in the separation of Gracious Souls from their Bodies and if so in what particulars doth th◠difference appear Sol. §. 1. For the clear stating and satisfying of this Question I will lay down some things negatively and some things positively about it On the negative part I desire two things may be noted 1. First That there is no difference betwixt the separation of one gracious Soul and another in point of safety Every regenerate Soul is fully secured in and by Jesus Christ from the danger of perishing and is out of hazzard of the Wrath to come This must needs be so because all that are in Christ are equally justified by the imputation of Christ's Righteousness without difference to them all Rom. 3.22 Even the Righteousness of God which is by Faith of Iesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe for there is no difference By vertue whereof they are all equally secured from Wrath to come one as well as another as all that sailed with Paul so all that die in Christ come safe to the shoar of Glory and not one of them is lost The sting of Death smites none that are in Christ. 2. Secondly There is no difference betwixt the departing Souls of just men in respect of the supporting presence of God with them in that their hour of distress that Promise belongs to them all Psal. 91.15 I will be with him in trouble and so doth that Heb. 13.5 I will never leave thee nor forsake thee Their God is certainly with them all to order the Circumstances of their death and all the Occurrences of that day to his glory and their good Supports I have said a good man in such an hour though Suavities I want and so they have also who meet with the hardest tug at death But notwithstanding their equality in these Priviledges there is a great difference betwixt the departing Souls of just men And this difference is manifest both in the I. External Circumstances of their death II. Internal Circumstances of their death I. In the External Circumstances of their death all have not one and the same passage to Heaven in all respects for 1 First some go thither by the ordinary road of a natural death from their Beds and the arms of lamenting friends to the arms and bosome of Jesus Christ But others swim through the Red Sea to Canaan from a Scaffold to the Throne from a Gibbet or Stake to their Fathers house from insulting Enemies to their triumphant Brethren the Palm-bearing Multitude This is a rough but honourable way to Glory 2 Some lie long under the hand of death before it dispatch them it approaches them by slow and lingering paces they feel every step of death distinctly as it comes on towards them But others are favoured with a quick dispatch a short passage from hence to Glory Hezekiah feared a pineing sickness Isa. 38.10 12. what he feared many feel O how many Days yea Weeks and Months have many gracious Souls dwelt upon the brink of the Pit crying How long Lord how long 3 The pains and throes of death are more acute and sharp to some of Gods people than to others Death is bitter in the most mild and gentle form of it Two such dear and intimate Friends as the Soul and Body are cannot part without some tears groans or sighs and those more deep and emphatical than the groans and sighs of the living use to be But yet comparatively speaking the death of one may be stiled sweet and easie to anothers Latimer and Ridley found it so though burnt in the same flame In this respect all things come alike to all and the same difference is found in the worst as well as in the best men Some like Sheep are laid in the Grave Psal. 49.14 others die in the bitterness of their Soul Iob 21.25 and by this no man knows either love or hatred II. There are beside these some remarkable Internal differences in the dissolution of good men the sum whereof is in this 1. That some gracious Souls have a very hard strait difficult entrance into Heaven just as it is with Ships that sail by a very bare wind all their art care and pains will but just weather some head-land or Cape they steer fast by some dangerous Rock or Sand and with a thousand fears and dangers win their Port at last Saved they are but yet to use the Apostles phrase scarcely saved or saved as by fire And this difficulty ariseth to them from one or all these causes 1 It ordinarily ariseth from the weakness of their faith which is in many Souls without either the light of evidence or strength of reliance neither able to dissolve their doubts nor steadily repose their hearts and thus they die much at the rate they lived poor doubting and cloudy though gracious Souls They can neither speak much of the comfort of past experiences nor of the present foretasts of Heaven 2 The violent assaults and batteries of temptations make the passage exceeding difficult to some O the sharp conflicts and dreadful combates many poor Souls endure upon a death-bed O the charges of hypocrisie fortified by neglects of duty formality and bye-ends in duty falls into sin after conviction and humiliation c. all which the Soul is apt to yield to
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
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
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
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
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
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
both lived in the Womb an obscure and uneasie and unsuitable life Thou canst feed upon material bread and delight thy self amidst the variety of sensitive Objects thou findest here but what are all these things to me I cannot subsist by them that which is food to thee is but Chaff Wind and Vanity to me If I stay with thee I shall be still sinning and still groaning when I leave thee I shall be immediately freed from both and arrive at the summ and perfection of all my hopes desires and whatsoever I have aimed at and laboured for in all the duties of my life Let us therefore be content to part Shrink not at the horrour of a Grave 't is indeed a dark and solitary house and the days of darkness may be many but to thee my dear Companion it shall be a Bed of rest Yea a perfumed Bed where thy Lord Jesus lay befâ—â—e thee And let the time of thy abode there be never so long thou shalt not measure it nor find the least rediousness in it A thousand years there shall seem no more in the Morning of the Resurrection than the sweetest Nap of an hour long seemed to be when I was wont to lay thee upon thy Bed to rest The worms in the Grave shall be nothing to thee nor give thee the thousandth part of that trouble that a Flea was wont to do And though I leave thee Jesus Christ shall watch in the mean time over thy dust and not suffer a grain of it to be lost And I will return assuredly to thee again at the time appointed I take not an everlasting farewel of thee but depart for a time that I may receive thee for ever To conclude there is an unavoidable necessity of our parting whether willing or unwilling we must be separated but the consent of my will to part with thee for the enjoyment of Jesus Christ will be highly acceptable to God and as a lump of Sugar to sweeten the bitter cup of death to us both This and much more the gracious Soul hath to say for its separation from the Body by which it is easie to discern where the gain and advantage of death lies to all Believers and consequently how much it must be every way their interest to be unbodied Argument II. TO be weary of the Body upon the pure account and reason of our hatred of sin and longing desires after Jesus Christ argues strongly grace in truth and grace in strength it is both the Test of our sincerity and the measure of our attainment and maturity of grace and upon both accounts highly covetable by all the people of God It is so great an evidence of the truth of grace that the Scriptures have made it the descriptive periphrasis of a Christian so we find it in 2 Tim. 4.8 the Crown of life is there promised to all them that love the appearance of Christ i.e. those that love to think of it that delight to steep their thoughts in Subjects belonging to the other World and cast â—â—ny a yearning look that way and 2 Pet. 3.12 they are described to be such as are looking for and hastening to the coming of the day of God Their earnest expectations and longings do not only put them upon making all the hast they can to be with Christ but it makes the interposing time seem so tedious and slow that with their most vehement wishes and desires they do what they can to accelerate and hasten it as Rev. 22. Come Lord Iesus come quickly Lovers hours saith the Proverb are full of Eternity O said Mr. Rutherford That Christ would make long strides O that he would fold up the Heavens as an old Cloak and shovel time and days out of the way Such desires as these can spring from none but gracious and renewed Souls for Nature is wholly disaffected to a removal hence upon such Motives and Considerations as these if others wish at any time for death 't is but in a Pet a present passion provoked by some intollerable anguish or great distress of nature But to look and long and hasten to the other World out of a weariness of sin and an hearty willingness to be with Christ it supposes necessarily a deep-rooted hatred of sin abhorring it more than death it self the greatest of natural evils and a real sight of things invisible by the eye of Faith without which it is impossible any mans heart should be thus framed and tempered And as it evidenceth the truth so also the strength and maturity of Grace for alas How many thousands of gracious Souls that love the Lord Jesus in sincerity are to be found quite below this temper of mind O 't is but here and there one among the Lords own people that have reached this height and eminence of Faith and Love it is with the fruits of the Spirit just as it is with the fruits of the earth some are green and raw others are ripe and mellow the first stick fast on the Branches you may shake and shake again and not one will drop or as those fruits that grow in the Hedges with their Coats and Integuments enwrapping them as Nuts c. You may try your strength upon them and sooner break your Nails than disclose and separate them so fast and close do their husks stick to them but when time and the influences of Heaven have ripened and brought them to their perfection the Apples drop into your hands without the least touch and the Nut falls out of its Case of its own accord So much so doth the Soul part from its Body when it is maturated and come to its strength and vigour Argument III. IT may greatly prevail upon the Will and Resolution of a Believer to adventure boldly and chearfully upon Death that our Bodies of which we are bereaved and deprived by death shall be most certainly and advantageously restored to us by the Resurrection The Resurrection of the Dead is the encouragement and consolation of the dying The more our Faith is established in the Doctrine of the Resurrection the more we shall surmount the fears of dissolution If Paul urged it as an Argument to reconcile Philemon to his Servant Onesimus v. 15. That he therefore departed for a season that Philemon might receive him for ever the same Argument may reconcile every Believer to death and take off the prejudice of the Soul against it You shall surely receive your Bodies again and enjoy them for ever Now the Doctrine of the Resurrection is as sure in it self as it is comfortable to us the depth and strength of its foundation fully answers to the height and sweetness of its consolation be pleased to try the two pillars thereof and see which of them may be doubted or shaken Matth. 22.29 You err saith Christ to the Sadduces who denied this Doctrine not knowing the Scriptures and the Power of God this is the ground and root of their error not knowing the Scriptures
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
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
madness wilfulness and obstinacy as the cause of all that eternal misery which we have pull'd down upon our own heads What is it but the rubbing of the wound with Salt and Vinegar Of this torment holy Ioâ— was afraid and therefore resolv'd what in him lay to prevent it when he saith Iob 27.6 My heart i.e. my Conscience shall not reproach me so long as I live O the twits and taunts of Conscience are cruel cuts and lashes to the Soul Fifthly The shameings of Conscience are unsufferable torments Shame arises from the turpitude of discovered actions If some mens secret filthiness were but published in this World it would confound them what then will it be when all shall lie open as it will after this life and their own Consciences shall cast the shame of all upon them They shall not only be derided by God Prov. 1.26 but by their own Consciences also Lastly The fearful expectations of Conscience still looking forward into more and more wrath to come this is the very summ and complement of their misery What makes a Prison so dreadful to a Malefactor but the trembling expectations he there lives under of the approaching Assizes Much after the same rate or rather after the rate of condemned persons preparing for Execution do these Spirits in Prison live in the other World But alas no instance or similitude can reach home to their case PROP. VI. That which makes the torments and terrours of the damned Spirits so extream and terrible is that they are unrelievable miseries and torments for ever They are not capable either of 1. A partial relief by any mitigation or 2. A compleat relief by a final cessation 1. Not of a partial relief by any mitigation could they but divert their thoughts from their misery as they were wont to do in this World drink and forget their sorrows or had they but any hope of the abatement of their misery it would be a relief to them But both these are impossible Their thoughts are fixed and determined to remove them though but for a moment from their misery is as impossible as to remove a Mountain their sin and misery is ever before them As the blessed in Heaven are bono confirmati so fixed and setled in blessedness that they are not diverted one moment from beholding the blessed face of God for they are ever with the Lord so the damned in Hell are malo obfirmati so setled and fixed in the midst of all evil that their thoughts and miseries are inseparable for ever 2. Much less can their undone state admit the least hope of relief by a final cessation of their misery All hope perisheth from them and the perishing of their hope is the plainest proof that can be given of the eternity of their misery For were there but the remotest possibility of deliverance at last hope would hang upon that possibility and whilst hope lives the Soul is not quite dead the death of hope is the death of a mans Spirit the cutting off of the Soul from God and the last act of hope to see or enjoy him for ever is that death which an immortal Soul is capable of suffering Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire is that Sentence which strikes hope and soul dead for ever In these six Propositions you have the true and terrible Representation of the Spirits in Prison or the state of damned Souls I have not mentioned their association with Devils or the dismal place of their confinement which though they compleat their misery yet are not the principal parts of it but rather Accessories to it or Rivers running into the Ocean of their misery The summ of their misery lies in what was opened before and the improvement of it is in that which followeth Inference I. IS this the state of ungodly Souls after death Then it follows that neither death nor annihilation are the worst of evils incident to man Aristotle calls death the most terrible of all terribles and the Schoolmen affirm Annihilation to be a greater evil than the most miserable being but it is neither so nor so the Wrath of God the Worm of Conscience are much more bitter than death The pains of death are natural and bodily pains the Wrath of God and anguish of Conscience are spiritual and inward that is but the pain of a few hours or days these are the unrelieved torments of eternity And as for Annihilation what a favour would the damned account it Indeed if we respect the glory of Gods justice which is exemplified and illustrated in the ruine of these miserable souls it is better they should abide as the eternal monuments thereof than not be at all but with respect to themselves we may say as Christ doth of the Son of Perdition Matth. 26.24 Good had it been for them if they had never been born For a mans Soul to be of no other use than a vessel of wrath to receive the indignation and be filled with the fury of God surely an unâ—timely Birth that was never animated with a reasonable Soul is better than they for alas they seek for death but it flies from them The immortality of their Souls which was their dignity and priviledge above other Creatures is now their misery and that which continually feeds and perpetuates their flame Here is a Being without the comfort of it a Being only to howl and tremble under Divine wrath a Being therefore which they would gladly exchange with the contemptiblest Fly or most loathsome Toad but it cannot be exchanged or annihilated Inference II. HEnce it follows That the pleasures of sin are dear bought and costly pleasures There is a greater disproportion betwixt that pleasure and this wrath than betwixt a drop of Honey and a Sea of Gall. Could a man distil all the imaginable pleasure of sin and drink nothing else but the highest and most refined delights of it all his life though his life should be protracted to the Term of Methuselahs Yet one day or night under the wrath of God would make it a dear bargain But 1. 'T is certain sin hath no such Pleasures to give you they are all imbitter'd either by adverse stroaks of Providence from without or painful and deadly gripes and twinges of Conscience within Iob 20.14 His meat in his Bowels is turned it is the gall of Aspes within him 2. 'T is as certain the time of a sinner is near its Period when he is at the height of his pleasure in sin for look as high delights in God speak the Maturity of a Soul for Heaven and it will not be long before such be in Heaven so the heights of delight in sin answerably speak the Maturity of such a Soul for Hell and it will not be long ere it be there Sin is now a big Embryo and speedily the Soul travels with death 3 According to the measure of delights men have had in sin will be the degrees and measures
to think thus with thy self Here sit I with a joyful plenary free pardon of sin in my hand whilst many who never sinned to that height and degree I have lye groaning howling sweating and trembling under the indignation of God poured out like fire upon their Souls in Hell A greater sinner saved and lesser damned O how unspeakably sweet is that rest into which my terrified and diquieted Soul is come by faith Rom. 5.1 Heb. 4.3 We which have believed do enter into rest O blessed calm after a dreadful Tempest This poor breast of mine was lately panting sweating trembling under the horrors of wrath to come terrified with the visions of Hell No other sound was in mine ears but that of fiery indignation to devour the adversaries O what price can be put upon my quietus est What value upon a pardon delivered as it were at the ladders foot O precious hand of faith that receives it but oh the most precious blood of Christ which purchased it If Satan now come with his accusations the law with its comminations death with its dreadful summons I have in a readiness to answer them all Here is the law the wrath of God and everlasting burnings the just demerit of sin upon one side and a poor sinful creature on the other side but the Covenant of grace hath solv'd all An Act of oblivion is past in Heaven I will forgive their iniquities and their sins and transgressions will I remember no more In this Act of Grace my Soul is included I am in Christ and there is no condemnation Dye I must but damned I shall not be My debts are paid my bonds are cancelled my Conscience is quieted let death do its worst it shall do me no harm that blood which satisfies God may well satisfie me Inference V. HOw amazingly sad and deplorable is the security and stilness of the Consciences of sinners under all their own guilts and the immediate danger of Gods everlasting wrath Philosophers observe that before an Earthquake the Wind lies and the weather is exceeding calm and still not a breath of wind going So it is in the Consciences of many just before the tempest and storm of Gods wrath pours down upon them What a golden morning open'd upon Sodom and began that fatal day Little did they imagine showres of fire had been ready to fall from so pleasant and serene a skie as they saw over their heads How secure still and unconcerned are those to day who it may be shall rage roar and tremble in Hell to morrow Caesar hearing of a Citizen of Rome who was deep in debt and yet slept soundly would needs have his Pillow as supposing there was some strange charming virtue in it It is wonderful to consider what shift men make to keep their consciences in that stilness and quiet they do under such loads of guilt and threatnings of wrath ready to be executed upon them It must be some strong Opium that so stupefies and benums their Consciences and upon enquiry into the matter we shall find it to be the effect of 1. A strong delusion of Satan 2. A Spiritual judicial stroke of God 1. This stilness of Conscience upon the brink of damnation proceeds from the strong delusions of Satan blinding their eyes and feeding their false hopes he removes the evil day at many years imaginary distance from them and interposeth many a fair day betwixt them and it and in that interposed season time enough to prepare for it without such an artifice as this his house would be in an uproar but this keeps all in peace Luke 11.21 Praesumendo â—â—erâ—nt perando pereâ—nt By presuming he feeds their hopes and by their hopes destroys their Souls Some he diverts from all serious thoughts of this day by the pleasures and others by the cares of this life and so that day cometh upon them unawares Luke 21.34 2. This stilness of Conscience in so miserable and dangerous a state is the effect of a spiritual judicial stroke of God upon the children of wrath That 's a dreadful word Isaiah 6.10 Make the heart of this people fat and make their ears heavy and shut their eyes Pinguedo non refractaria solum facit animalia sed omnis expers sensus est consetientibus Physicis Glass the Eye and Ear are the two principal doors or inlets to the heart when these are shut the heart must needs be insensible as the fat of the Body is There is a Spirit of a deep sleep poured out judicially upon some men Isa. 29.10 Such as that upon Adam when God took a Rib from his side and he felt it not but this is upon the Soul and is the same as to give up a man to a reprobate sense Inference VI. THe case of distressed Consciences upon earth is exceeding sad and calls upon all for the tenderest pity and utermost help from men You see the labourings of Conscience under the sense of guilt and wrath is a special part of the Torments of Hell of which there is not a livelier Emblem or Picture than the distresses of Conscience in this World It must be thankfully confessed there are two great differences betwixt the terrours of Conscience here and there One in the degrees of anguish the other in the reliefs of that anguish The ordinary distresses of Conscience here compared with those of the damned are as the flame of a Candle to a fiery Oven a mild and gentle fire Or as the Sparks that fly out of the top of a Chimney to the dreadful eruptions of Vesuvius or Mount Aetna Beside these are capable of relief but those are unrelievable their hearts die because their hope is perished from the Lord. But yet of all the miseries and distresses incident to men in this World none like those of distressed Consciences the terrours of God set themselves in array or are drawn up in Batalia against the Soul Iob 6.4 Whilst I suffer thy terrors saith Heman I am distracted Psal. 88.15 Yea they not only distract but cut off the Spirit as he adds v. 16. They lick up the very Spirit of a man and none can bear them Prov. 18.14 for now a man hath to do immediately with God yea with the Wrath of the great and dreadful God and this wrath which is the most acute and sharp of all torments falls upon the most tender and sensible part the Spirit and Mind which now lies open and naked before him to be wounded by it No Creature can administer the least relief by the application of any temporal comfort or refreshment to it Gold and Silver Wife and Children Meat and Melody signifie no more than the drawing off a silk stockin to cure the Paroxysms of the Gout All that can be done for their relief is by seasonable judicious and tender Applications of Spiritual Remedies and what can be done ought to be done for them What heart can hear a voice like that of Iob
Have pity upon me have pity upon me O ye my Friends for the Hand of God hath touched me and not melt into Compassions over them Is there a word of Wisdom in thy heart let thy Tongue apply it to the relief of thy distressed Brother whilst his heart meditates terrour let thine meditate his succour It is not impossible but thou who lendest a friendly hand to another maist ere long need one thy self and he that hath ever felt the terrours of the Almighty upon his Soul hath motive enough to draw forth the Bowels of his pity to another in the like case Alas for poor distressed Souls who have either none about them that understand and are able and willing to speak a word in season to their weary Souls or too many about them to exasperate their sorrows and persecute them whom God hath smitten You that have both ability and opportunity for it are under the strongest engagements in the World to endeavour their relief with all faithfulness seriousness compassion and constancy Did Christ shed his Blood for the saving of Souls and wilt not thou spend thy breath for them Shall any man that hath found mercy from God shew none to his Brother God forbid A Soul in Hell is out of your reach but these that are in the Suburbs of Hell are not the Candle of intense sorrow is put to the thread of their miserable life and should they be suffered to drop into Hell whilst you stand by as unconcern'd Spectators of such a Tragedy will have little peace Your unmercifulness to their Souls will be a wound to your own Inference VII BE hence inform'd of the evil that is in sin be convinced of the evil that is in it by the eternal misery that follows it If Hell be out of measure dreadful then sin must be out of measure sinful the torments of Hell do not exceed the demerit of sin though they exceed the understandings of men to conceive them God will lay upon no man more than is right sin is the Founder of Hell all the miseries and torments there are but the Treasures of wrath which sinners in all Ages have been treasuring up and how dreadful soever it be it is but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the recompence which is meet Rom. 6. ult The Wages of sin is death We have slight thoughts of sin Fools make a mock of sin but if the Lord by the convictions of mens Consciences did but lead them through the Chambers of death and give them a sight of the wrath to come could we but see the Piles that are made in Hell as the Prophet calls them Isaiah 30.33 to maintain the flames of Vengeance to eternity could we but understand in what Dialect the damned speak of sin who see the treasures of wrath broken up to avenge it surely it would alter our apprehensions of sin and strike cold to the very hearts of sinners Cannot the extremity and eternity of Hell Torments exceed the evil that is in sin What words then can express the evil of it Hell flames have the Nature of a punishment but not of an atonement O think on this you that look upon sin as the veriest trifle that will sin for the value of a Penny that look upon all the humiliations broken hearted confessions and bitter moans of the Saints under sin as Frenzy or Melancholy slighting them as a Company of half-witted Hypochondriack persons You that never had one sick night or sad day in all your lives upon the account of sin let me tell thee that breast of thine must be the seat of sorrow that frothy airy Spirit of thine must be acquainted with emphatical sobs and groans God grant it may be on this side Hell by effectual repentance else it must be there in the extremity and eternity of sorrows Inference VIII WHat enemies are they to the Souls of men who are Satans instruments to draw them into sin or who suffer sin to lie upon them When there were but two persons in the World one drew the other into sin and among the Millions of Men and Women now in the World where are there two to be found that have in no case been snares to draw some into sin Some tempt designedly taking the Devils work out of his hands others virtually and consequentially by examples which have a compelling power to draw others with them into sin the first sort are among the worst of Sinners Prov. 1.10 the latter are among the best of Saints see Gal. 2.14 Whose Conversation is so much in Heaven that nothing falls out in the course thereof which may not farther some or other in their way to Hell Among wicked men there are five sorts eminently accessary to the guilt and ruine of other mens Souls 1 Loose Professors whose lives give their lips the Lie whose Conversations make their Professions blush 2 Scandalous Apostates whose fall is more prejudicial than their Profession was ever beneficial to others 3 Cruel Persecutors who make the Lives Liberties and Estates of men the occasion of the ruine of their Consciences 4 Ignorant and unfaithful Ministers who strengthen the hands of the wicked that they should not return from their wickedness 5 Wicked Relations who quench and damp every hopeful beginning of conviction and affection in their friends of all which I shall distinctly speak in the next Discourse to which therefore I remit it at present And many there are who suffer sin to lie upon others without a wise and seasonable reproof to recover them O what cruelty to Souls is here The day is coming when they will curse the time that ever they knew you 't is possible you may repent but then it may be those whose Souls you have help'd to ruine are gone and quite out of your reach The Lord make you sensible what you have done in season lest your repentance come too late for your selves and them also Inference IX HOw poor a comfort is it to him that carries all his sins out of this World with him to leave much earthly treasure especially if gotten by sin behind him It is a poor consolation to be praised where thou art not Quid prodest esse quod esse non prodest Tertul. and tormented where thou art to purchase a life of pleasure to others on earth at the price of thine own everlasting misery in Hell All the consolation sensual voluptuous and oppressing Wordlings have is but this that they were coached to Hell in pomp and state and have left the same Chariot to bring their graceless Children after them in the same Equipage to the place of Torments There be five Considerations provoking pity to them that are thus past into a miserable eternity and Caution to all that are following after in the same path First That fatal mistake in the practical understanding and judgment of man deserves a compassionate lamentation as the cause and reason of their eternal miscarriage and ruine
and the body too in the chase and prosecution of Truth Veritas in putâ—â— when it lyes deep as a subterranean treasure the mind sends out innumerable thoughts re-inforcing each other in thick successions to dig for and compass that invaluable treasure if it be disguised by misrepresentations and vulgar prejudice and trampled in the dirt under that disguise there is an ability in the mind to discern it by some lines and features which are well known to it and both owne honour and vindicate it under all that dirt and obloquy with more respect than a man will take up a pâ—ece of Gold or a sparkling Dâ—amond out of the gutter it searches after it by many painful deductions of reason 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Archim and triumphs more in the discovery of it than in all earthly treasures no gratification of sense like that of the mind when it grasps its prey for which it hunted The mind passes through all the works of Creation it views the several creatures on earth considers the fabrick use and beauty of Animals the signatures of Plants penetrating thereby into their Nature and Virtues it views the vast Ocean and the large train of Causes laid together in all these things for the good of man by God whose Name it reads in the most diminutive creature it beholds on earth It can in a moment mount it self from Earth to Heaven view the face thereof describe the motions of the Sun in the Ecliptick calculate Tables for the motions of the Planets and fixed Stars invent convenient Cycles for the computations of Time foretel at a great distance the dismal Eclipses of the Sun and Moon to the very Digâ—â— and the â—ortentous Conjunctions of the Planets to the very minute of their Ingress these are the pleasant imployments of the Understanding But there is an higher game at which this Eagle plays it reckons it self all thiâ—â—â—â—â—ile imploy'd as much beneath its capacity as Domitian in catching flies though these be lawful and pleasant exercises when it hath leisure for them yet it is fitted for a much nobler exercise even to penetrate the glorious Mysteries of Redemption to trace redeeming love through all the astonishing methods and manifold discoveries of it and yet higher than all this it is capable of an immediate sight or facial vision of the blessed God short of which it receives no pleasure that is fully agreeable to its noble powers and infinite appetite View its Will and you shall find it like a Queen upon the Throne of the Soul swaying the Scepter of Liberty in her hand Culverwell as one expresseth it with all the affections waiting and attending upon her No Tyrant can force it no torment can wrest the golden Scepter of Liberty out of its hand the keys of all the Chambers of the Soul hang at its girdle these it delivers to Christ in the day of his power victorious Grace sweetly determines it by gaining its consent but commits no rape upon it by unnatural coaction God accepts its offering though full of imperfections but no service is accepted without it how excellent soever the matter of it View the Conscience and Thoughts with their self-reflexive abilities wherein the Soul retires into it self and sits concealed from all eyes but his that made it judging its own actions and censuring its estate viewing its face in its own glass and correcting the indecencies it discovers there Things of greatest moment and importance are silently transacted in this Council-chamber betwixt the Soul and God so remote from the knowledge of all Creatures that neither Angels 1 Cor. 2.11 Devils or men can know what it is doing there but by uncertain guess or revelation from God here it impleads Rom. 2.15 condemns and acquits it self as at a privy Session with respect to the Judgment of the great Day here it meets with the best of comforts 2 Cor. 1.12 and with the worst of terrors Take a survey of its Passions and Affections and you will find them admirable see how they are placed by Divine Wisdom in the Soul some for defence and safety others for delight and pleasure Anger actuates the Spirits and rouzeth its courage enabling it to break through difficulties Fear keeps Sentinel watching upon all dangers that approach us Hope forestals the good and anticipates the joys of the next Life and thereby supports and strengthens the Soul under all the discouragements and pressures of the present life Love unites it to the chiefest Good he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him Zeal is the Dagger which love draws in Gods cause and quarrel to secure it self from sin and testifie its resentments of Gods dishonour O what a Divine spark is the Soul of man well might Christ prefer it in dignity to the whole World 3. Thirdly The worth of a Soul may be gathered and discerned from its subjective capacity and hability both of Grace and Glory It is capable of all the graces of the Spirit of being silled with the fulness of God Eph. 3.19 to live to God here and with God for ever What excellent Graces do adorn some Souls How are all the rooms richly hanged with Divine and costly Hangings that God may dwell in them This makes it like the carved works of the Temple overlaid with pure Gold here is Glory upon Glory a new Creation upon the old in the inmost parts of some Souls is a spiritual Altar erected with this Inscription Holiness to the Lord Here the Soul offers up it self to God in the sacred flames of Love and here they sacrifice their vile affections devoting them to destruction to the glory of their God here God walks with delight even a delight beyond what he takes in all the stately Structures and magnificent adorned Temples in the whole World Isa. 66.1 2. No other Soul besides mans is marriageable to Christ or capable of Espousals to the King of Glory they were not designed and therefore not endued with a capacity for such an honour as this but such a capacity hath every Soul even the meanest on Earth and such honour have all his Saints others may 2 Cor. 11.2 Eph. 5.27 but they are betrothed to Christ in this World and shall be presented without spot before him in the World to come It is now a lovely and excellent Creature in its naked natural state much more beautiful and excellent in its sanctified and gracious state but what shall we say or how shall we conceive of it when all spots of sin are perfectly washed off its beautiful face in Heaven and the glory of the Lord is risen upon it When its filthy garments are taken away and the pure robes of perfect Holiness as well as Righteousness superinduced upon this excellent Creature If the imperfect beauty of it begun in Sanctification enamouâ—ed its Saviour and made him say Thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes with one of the
Ascension-gifts Eph. 4.8 When he ascended up on high he gave gifts unto men and what were the Royal gifts of that triumphant day why he gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ. It is an allusion to the Roman Triumphs wherein the Conqueror did spargere missilia scatter abroad his treasures among the people It is reported of the Palm-tree saith one that when it was first planted in Italy they water'd its roots with Wine to make it take the better with the Soil but God waters our Souls with what is infinitely more costly than Wine he waters them with the Heart-blood of Christ and the precious Gifts and Graces of the Spirit which certainly he would never do if they were not of great worth in his eyes O how many excellent Ministers who were as is said of Iohn burning and shining Lights in their places and generations have spent themselves and how many are there who are willing to spend and be spent as Paul was for the salvation of Souls God is at great expences for them and therefore puts a very high value upon them Now all this respects the Soul of man that is the object of all ministerial labours The Soul is the terminus actionum ad intra the subject on which God works and upon which he spends all those invaluable treasures 'T is the Soul which he aims at and principally designs and levels all to and reckons it not too dear a rate to save them at No man will dig for common stones with golden Mattocks the instruments that would be worn out being of far greater value than the thing This may convince us of what worth our Souls are and at what rates they are set in Gods Book that such instruments are sent abroad into the World and such precious Gifts and Graces like golden Oyl spent continually for their Salvation whether Paul or Apollo or Cephas all are yours 1 Cor. 3.22 i. e. all set apart for the service and salvation of your Souls 10. Tenthly The great encouragements and rewards God propounds and promiseth to them that win Souls speaks their worth and Gods great esteem of them There cannot be a more acceptable service done to God than for a man to set himself heartily and diligently to the Conversion of Souls so many Souls as a man instrumentally saves so many Diadems will God crown him withal in the great Day S. Paul calls his converted Philippians his joy and his crown Phil. 4.1 and tells the converted Thessalonians they were his Crown of rejoycing in the presence of Iesus Christ at his coming 1 Thess. 2.19 There is a full reward assured by promise to those that labour in this great service Dan. 12.3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever The wisdom here spoken of I conceive not to be only that whereby a man is made wise to the salvation of his own Soul but whereby he is also furnished with skill for the saving of other mens Souls according to that Prov. 11.30 He that winneth souls is wise and so the latter Phrase is exegetical of it meaning one and the same thing by being wise and turning many unto righteousness and to put men upon the study of this wisdom he puts a very honourable title upon them calling them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the justifiers of many as in 1 Tim. 4.16 they are said to save others Here is singular honour put upon the very instruments imploy'd in this honourable service and that is not all but their reward is great hereafter as well as their honour great at present they shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and the stars for ever and ever The Firmament shines like a Saphir in it self the Stars and Planets more gloriously again but those that faithfully labour in this work of saving Souls shall shine in Glory for ever and ever when the Firmament shall be parched up as a scrowl O what rewards and honours are here to provoke men to the study of saving Souls God will richly recompense all our pains in this work if we did but only sow the seed in our days and another enters into our labours and waters what we sowed so that neither the first hath the comfort of finishing the work nor the last the honour of beginning it but one did somewhat towards it in the work of Conviction and the other carried it on to greater maturity and perfection and so neither the one or other began and finished the work singly yet both shall rejoyce in Heaven together Ioh. 4.36 You see what honours God puts upon the very instruments imploy'd in this work even the honour to be Saviours under God of mens Souls Iam. 5.20 and what a full reward of glory joy and comfort they shall have in Heaven all which speaks the great value of the Soul with God Such encouragements and such rewards would never have been propounded and promised if God had not a singular estimation of them And the more to quicken his instruments to all diligence in this great work he works upon their fears as well as hopes threatens them with Hell as well as incourages them with the hopes of Heaven tells them he will require the blood of all those Souls that perish by their negligence Their blood saith he will I require at that watch-mans hands Ezek. 33.6 which are rather Thunderbolts than words saith Chrysostom By all which you see what weight God lays upon the saving or losing of Souls such severe charges great encouragements and terrible threats had never been propounded in Scripture if the Souls of men had not been invaluably precious 11. Eleventhly It is no small evidence of the preciousness and invaluable worth of Souls that God manifests so great and tender Care over them and is so much concern'd about the evil that befals them Among many others there are two things in which the tender care of God for the good of Souls is manifested 1. In his tenderness over them in times of distress and danger as a tender father will not leave his sick child in other hands but sits up and watches by him himself and administers the Cordials with his own hands even so the great God expresseth his care and tenderness Isa. 57.15 I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones Behold the condescending tenderness of the highest Majesty Is a Soul ready to faint and fail O how soon is God with it with a reviving Cordial in his hand lest the spirit should fail before him and the Soul which he hath made as it is vers 16. yea he put it into
of the wrath to his own Soul and the astonishing love of Christ in delivering him from it by bearing that wrath in his place and room in his own person cannot chuse but estimate Christ above ten thousand Worlds Inference V. HOw great a trust and charge lyeth upon them to whom the care of Souls is committed and from whom an account for other mens as well as their own Souls shall certainly be required Ministers are appointed of God to watch for the Souls of their people and that as men that must give an account Heb. 13.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est noctes insomnes agere quod solent viri 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pernox soticitudo The word here translated watch signifies such watchfulness as that of Shepherds which keep their stocks by night in places infested by Wolves who watch whole nights together for their safety If a man were a keeper only of Sheep or Swine it were no great matter if the Wolf now and then carried away one whilst we slept but Ministers have charge of Souls one of which as Christ assures us in the Text is more worth than the whole World Hear what one speaks upon this point God purchased the Church with his own Blood Gildas Salvian p. 260. O what an Argument is here to quicken the negligent and what an Argument to condemn those that will not be quickened up to their duty by it O saith one of the Ancient Doctors if Christ had but committed to my keeping one spoonful of his Blood in a fragil glass how curiously should I preserve it and how tender should I be of that glass If the◠he have committed to me the purchace of that Blood should I not carefully look to my charge What Sirs shall we despise the Blood of Christ shall we think it was shed for them that are not worthy of our care O then let us hear those Arguments of Christ whenever we feel our selves grow dull and careless Did I dye for them and wilt not thou look after them Were they worth my Blood and are they not worth thy labour Did I come down from Heaven to Earth to seek and to save that which was lost and wilt not thou go to the next door or street or village to seek them How small is thy labour or condescension to mine I debased my self to this but it is thy honour to be so imployed Let not that man think to be saved by the Blood of Christ himself that makes light of precious Souls who are the purchace of that Blood And no less charge lyeth upon Parents to whom God hath committed the care of their Childrens Souls and Masters that have the Guardianship of the Souls as well as bodies of their Families the command is laid immediately upon you that they sanctifie Gods Sabbaths Exod. 20.10 to command your houshold in the way of the Lord Gen. 18.19 O Parents consider with your selves what strong engagements lye upon you to do all you are capable of doing for the salvation of the precious Souls of your dear Children Remember their Souls are infinitely of more value than their bodies that they came into the World under sin and condemnation that you were the instruments of propagating that sin to them and bringing them into that misery that you know their dispositions and how to suit them better than others can That the bonds of Nature give you singular advantages to prevail and be successful in your exhortations beyond what any others have that you are always with them and can chuse your opportunities which others cannot That you and they must shortly part and never meet them again till you meet at the Judgment-seat of Christ. That it will be inconceivably dreadful to see them stand at Christs left hand among the cursed and condemned there cursing the day that ever they were born of such ignorant and negligent such careless and cruel Parents as took no care to instruct reprove or exhort them O who can think without horrour of the cryes and curses of his own Child in Hell cast away by the very instrument of its Being Is this the love you bear them to betray them to eternal misery Was there no other provision to be made but for their bodies Did you think you had fully acquitted your duty when you had got an Estate for them O that God would effectually touch your hearts with a becoming sense of the value and danger of their Souls and your own too in the neglect of that great and solemn trust committed to you with respect to them And you Masters consider though God hath set you above and your Servants below yet are their Souls equally precious with your own they have another Master that expects service from them as well as you do not only allow them time but give them your exhortations and commands not to neglect their own Souls whilst they attend your business think not your business will prosper the less because it is in the hand of a praying servant their Souls are of greater concernment than any business of yours can be Inference VI. ARE Souls so precious then certainly the means and instruments of their Salvation must be exceeding precious too and the removal of them a sore Iudgment The dignity of the subject gives value to the instruments imploy'd about it It is no ordinary mercy for Souls to come into such a part of the World and in such a time as furnisheth them with the best helps for Salvation Ordinan ces and Ministers receive their value not only from their Author but their Object they have a dignity stampt upon them by their usefulness to the Souls of men Acts 20.32 it is the seed of life 1 Pet. 1.23 the regenerating instrument It is the bread of life Iob 23.12 more than our necessary food The Word is a Light shining in the dark World to direct our Souls through all the snares laid for them unto Glory It is the Souls Cordial in all fainting fits Psal. 119.50 What shall I say of the Word and Ordinances of God the Sun that shines in Heaven to give us light the Fountains Springs and Rivers that stream for our refreshment the Corn and Cattel on the Earth yea the very Air we breathe in is not so useful so necessary so precious to our bodies as the Word is to our Souls It cannot therefore but be a sore judgment and a dreadful token of Gods indignation and wrath to have a restraint or scarcity of the means of Salvation among us but should there be which God in mercy prevent a removal and total loss of these things wrath would then come upon us to the uttermost What will the condition of precious Souls be when the means of Salvation are cut off from them When that famine worse than of bread and water is come upon them Amos 8.11 When the Ark of God the Symbol of his Presence was taken it is said 1 Sam. 4.13 That
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
and plunge their Souls into guilt and danger This was the result of all their debates with the flesh in the hour of temptation Cannot we live but to the dishonour of Christ and ruine of our own Souls by sinful compliance against our Conscienceâ— then welcome the worst of deaths rather than such a life Look into the stories of the Martyrs and you shall find this was the rule they still governed themselves by a Dungeon a Stake a Gibbet any thing rather than guilt upon the inner man death was welcome even in its most dreadful form to escape ruine to their precious and immortal Souls One kissed the Apparitor that brought him the tidings of his death Another being advised when he came to the critical point on which his life depended to have a care of himself So I will said he I will be as careful as I can of my best self my Soul These men understood the value and precious worth of their own Souls and certainly we shall never prove couragious and constant in sufferings till we understand the worth of our Souls as they did Consider and compare these sufferings in a few obvious particulars and then determine the matter in thine own breast 1. How much easier it is to endure the torments of men in our bodies than to feel the terrors of God in our Consciences Can the Creature strike with an arm like God O think what it is for the wrath of God to come into a mans bowels like water and like oyl into his bones as the expression is Psal. 109.18 Sure there is no compare betwixt the strokes of God and men 2. The sufferings of the body are but for a moment When the Proconsul told Polycarp that he would tame him with fire he replied Your fire shall burn but for the space of an hour and then it shall be extinguished but the fire that shall devour the wicked will never be quenched the sufferings of a moment are nothing to eternal sufferings 3. Sufferings for Christ are usually sweetned and made easie by the consolations of the Spirit but Hell-torments have no relief they admit of no ease 4. The life you shall live in that body for whose sake you have damned your Souls will not be worth the having it will be a life without comfort light or joy and what is there in life separate from the joy and comfort of life 5. In a word if you sacrifice your bodies for God and your Souls freely offer them up in love to Christ and his Truth your Souls will joyfully receive and meet them again at the Resurrection of the Just but if your poor Souls be now ensnared and destroyed by their fond indulgence to their bodies you will leave them at death despairing and meet them at the Resurrection howling Inference IX TO conclude If the Soul be so invaluably precious how great and irreparable a loss must the loss of a Soul to all Eternity be There is a double loss of the Soul of man the one in Adam which loss is recoverable by Christ the other by final impenitence and unbelief cutting it off from Christ and this is irreparable and irrecoverable Souls lost by Adams sin are within the reach of the arms of Christ but in the shipwrack of personal infidelity there is no plank to save the Soul so cast away Of all losses this is the most lamentable yet what more common O what a shrlek doth the unregenerate Soul make when it sees whereto it must and that there is no remedy Three cries are dreadful to hear on Earth yet all three are drown'd by a more terrible cry in the other World The cry of a condemned Prisoner at the Bar the cry of drowning Seamen and Passengers in a shipwrack the cries of Souldiers conquer'd in the field all these are fearful cries yet nothing to that of a Soul cast away to all Eternity and lost in the depth of Hell If a man as Chrysostome well observes lose an eye an arm a hand or leg it is a great loss but yet if one be lost there is another to help him for omnia Deus dedit duplicia God hath given us all those members double animam verò unam but we have but one Soul and if that be damned there is not another to be saved And it is no small aggravation to this loss that it was a wilful loss We had the offers and means of Salvation plentifully afforded us we were warn'd of this danger over and over we were intreated and beseecht upon the knee of importunity not to throw away our Souls by an obstinate rejection of Christ and Grace we saw the diligence and care of others for the salvation of their Souls some rejoycing in the comfortable assurance of it and others giving all diligence to make their calling and election sure we knew that our Souls were as capable of blessedness as any of those that are in enjoying God in Heaven or panting after that enjoyment on Earth yea some Souls that are now irrecoverably gone and many others who are going after them once were and now are not far from the Kingdom of God they had convictions of sin a sense of their lost and miserable state they began to treat with Christ in Prayer to converse with his Ministers and People about their condition and after all this even when they seemed to have clean escaped the snares of Satan to be again intangled and overcome when even come to Harbours mouth to be driven back again and cast away upon the Rocks O what a loss will this be O thou that createdst Souls with a capacity to know love and enjoy thee for ever who out of thine unsearchable Grace â—entest thine own Son out of thy bosom to seek and save that which was lost pity those poor Souls that cannot pity themselves let mercy yet interpose it self betwixt them and eternal ruine awaken them out of their pleasant slumber though it be at the brink of damnation lest they perish and there be none to deliver them DOCT. II. How precious and invaluable soever the Soul of man is it may be lost and cast away for ever This Proposition is supposed and implied in our Saviours words in the Text and plainly expressed in Matth. 7.13 Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in thereat The way to Hell is throng'd with Passengers 't is a beaten rode one draws another along with him and scoffs at those that are afraid to follow 1 Pet. 4.4 Facilis descensus Averni 't is pleasant sailing with the Wind and Tide Infernus ab inferendo dicitur quia ita inferuntur praecipitantur â—t nunquam ascensuri sint Some derive the word Hell from a Verb which signifies to carry or thrust in millions go in but none return thence millions are gone down already and millions more are coming after as fast as Satan and their own lusts can
or importance of Eternity than it is for a man to turn the Tide or course of a River with his weak breath Add to this Nemo errat sibi ipsi sed dementiam spargit in proximos Sen. That as one sinner confirms and fixeth another wedging in each other as men in a crowd who must move as it moves so they make it their business to render all that differ from them odious and ridiculous So the Apostle notes their practice and Satans policy in it 1 Pet. 4.4 wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them into the same excess of riot speaking evil of you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they gaze strangely at them as the Hen that hath hatched Partridge-eggs looks strangely after them when she seeth them take the wing and soar aloft not knowing that they are of an higher kind than her own Chickens And that is not all they not only gaze at them as a strange generation making them signs and wonders in Israel as the Prophet speaks but they defame revile and speak evil of them representing them as a pack of Hypocrites as turbulent factious seditious persons the very pests of the times and places they live in and all this not for doing any evil against them but only for not doing evil with them because they run not with them into the same excess of riot Thus the World smiles upon its own and derides those that are afraid to follow them to Hell by which it sweeps away the multitude with it in the same course The third way to Hell shut up But O if the Spirit of God would please to set on and follow home the following Considerations to your hearts you would certainly resolve to take a persecuted path to Heaven though few accompany you therein rather than to swim like dead fishes with the stream into the dead Sea of eternal misery 1. Though you go with the consent and current of the World yet you go against the express Law and prohibition of God He hath laid his command upon you not to be conformed to the world Rom. 12.2 That you live not the rest of your time to the lusts of men but to the will of God 1 Pet. 4.2 That you follow not a multitude to do evil Exod. 23.2 That you go not in the way of evil men Prov. 4.14 That you have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness All these and many more are commands flowing from the highest Soveraign Authority obliging your Consciences to obedience under the greatest penalties by them your state must be cast to all Eternity in the Day of Judgment you may make a pish of the precept but see if you can do so of the penalty 2. Other men in all Ages of the World that were as much concerned in the World as you and valued their lives liberties and estates as well as you have yet got out of the crowd disengaged themselves from the way of the multitude and taken a more solitary and suffering path out of a due regard to the safety of their Souls And why should not you love them as well and care for them as much as ever any that went before you did Noah walked with God all alone when all flesh had corrupted their ways Elijah was zealous for the Lord when he knew of none to stand by him but thought he had been left alone Iob was upright with God in the Land of Vz. Lot stood by himself a godly Non-conformist in a vile debauched Sodom David was as a wonder to many so was Ieremiah and those few with him for signs and wonders in Israel I demand of your Consciences what discouragements have you that these men had not Or what encouragements had they which you have not Why should not the Salvation of your Souls be as precious in your eyes as it was in any of theirs Shall you be impoverished and persecuted if you embrace the way of Holiness so were they Shall you be reproached scorned and reviled so were they All your discouragements were theirs and all their motives and encouragements are yours 3. Is not the way which you have chosen marked out by Christ as the way to destruction And that which you dare not chuse and embrace as the way to life See the marks he hath given you of both in that one Text Matt. 7.13 14. Enter ye in at the strait gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in thereat Because strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it And where now is your encouragement and hope that God will be more merciful than to damn so great a part of the World If you will do as the Many do dream not of speeding as well as that little flock separated by Sanctification from the multitude shall speed You have your choice to be damned with many or saved with few to take the broad smooth-beaten road to Hell or the difficult suffering self-denying path to Heaven O then make a seasonable necessary stand and pause a while consider your ways and turn your feet to Gods testimonies 't is a great and special part of your Salvation to save your selves from this untoward generation The fourth way of losing the Soul opened IV. Multitudes of Souls are daily lost by rooted Habits and long continued Custom in sin When men have been long setled in an evil way they are difficultly reclaimed Physicians find it hard to cure a Cachexy or ill habit of body but it 's far more difficult to cure an ill custom and habit in sin Ier. 13.23 Can the Leopard change his spoes or the Ethiopian his skin then may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil The spots of a Leopard and hue of an Ethiopian are not by way of external accidental adhesion if so washing would fetch them off but they are innate and contemper'd belonging to the constitution and not to be alter'd so are sinful habits and customs in the minds of sinners by this means it becomes a second Nature as it were and strongly determines the mind to sin Aâ—tâ—neris assuescero multum est It 's a great matter to be accustomed this way or that saith Senceca yea Caput rei est hoc vel illo modo hominem assuefieri 'T is the very head or root of the matter to be so or so accustomed saith Aristotle very much of the strength of sin rises from customary sinning a brand that hath been once in the fire easily catches the second time Every repeated act of sin lesseneâ—h fear and strengtheneth inclination An Horse that took an ill stroke at first breaking and hath continued many years in it is very difficulty if ever to be brought to a better way What men have been accustomed to from their childhood they are tenacious of it in their old age Hence it is that so
few are converted to Christ in their old age It was recorded for a wonder in the primitive times that Marcus Cajus Victorius became a Christian in his old age time and usage fixes the roots of sin deep in the Soul old trees will not bow as tender pliable plants do Hence it is that all essays and attempts to draw men from the course in which they have walked from their youth are frustraneous and succesless The Drunkard the Adulterer yea the self-righteous Moralist are by long continued usage so fixed in their course and all this while Conscience so stupefied by often repeated acts of sin that it is naturally as impossible to remove a mountain as the will of a sinner thus confirmed in his wickedness However let tryal be made and the success left to him to whom no length of the time or difficulty must be objected or opposed The fourth way to Hell shut up by two Considerations 1. First Let it be considered the longer any man hath been engaged in and accustomed to the way of sin the more reason and need that man hath speedily and without delay to repent and reform his course there is yet a possibility of mercy a season of Salvation left how far soever a Soul be gone on towards Hell none can say it is yet too late When Mr. Bilney the Martyr heard a Minister preaching thus O thou old Sinner that hast gone on in a course of sin these fifty or sixty years dost thou think that Christ will accept thee now or take the Devils leavings Good God! said he what preaching of Christ is here Had such Doctrine been preached to me in the day of my troubles it had been enough utterly to have discouraged me from Repentance and Faith No no Sinner it is not yet too late if at last thy heart be touched with a real sense of thy sin and danger the word is plain Isa. 55.7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon An abundant pardon thou needest thy sins by long continued custom and frequent repetitions have been abundantly aggravated and an abundant pardon is with God for poor sinners he will abundantly pardon but then thou must come up to his terms thou must not expect pardon or mercy when thy sins have forsaken thee but upon thy forsaking them yea such a forsaking as includes a resolution or decree in thy will to return to them no more Hos. 14.8 there must be a change of thy way and that not from profaneness to civility only which is but to change one false way to Heaven for another or the dirty road to hell for a cleanlier path on the other side the hedge but a total and final forsaking of every way of sin as to the love and habitual practice of it yea and thy thoughts too as well as thy ways there must be an internal as well as an external change upon thee yea a positive as well as a negative change a turning to the Lord as well as a turning from sin and then how long soever thou hast walked in the road towards Hell there will be time enough and mercy enough to secure thy returning Soul safe to Heaven 2. Secondly Canst thou not forbear thy customary siâ— upon lesser motives than the salvation of thy Soul and if thou canst wilt thou not much more do it for the saving of thy precious immortal Soul Suppose there were but a pecuniary mulct of an hundred pounds to be certainly levied upon thy Estate for every Oath thou swearest or every time thou art drunk wouldst thou not rather chuse reformation than beggery And is not the loss of thy Soul a penalty infinitely heavier than a little money But as the wise Heathen observed Senec. Ep. 42. Gratuita nobis videntur quae charissâ—mè constant quae emere nollemus si domus nobis nostra pro illis esset danda c. Ea sola emi putamus pro quibus pecuniam solvimus â—a gratuita vocamus pro quibus nos ipsos impendimus We reckon those things only to be bought which we part with money for and that we have those things gratis for which we pay our selves Is nothing cheap in our eyes but our selves our Souls Do we call that gratis that will cost us so dear Darius threw away his Massie Crown when he â—red before Alexander that it might not hinder him in his flight Sure your Souls are more worth than your money and all the enjoyments you have in this world It had been an ancient custom among the Citizens of Antioch to wash themselves in the Baths but the King forbidding it they all presently forbare for fear of his displeasure whereupon Chrysostome convinced them of the vanity of that plea for customary sinning You see 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈◊〉 14. saith he how soon fear can break off an old custom and shall not the fear of God be as powerful to over-master it in us as the fear of man O friends believe it it is better for you to cut off a right hand or pluck out a right eye than having two hands or eyes to be cast into Hell where their worm dieth not and their fire is not quenched The fifth way of losing the Soul opened V. The fifth way by which an innumerable multitude of Souls are eternally lost is by the baitâ— of sensual sinful pleasures Some customary sins have little or no pleasure in them as swearing malice c. but others aâ—sure and entice the Soul by the sensual delight that is in them This is the bait with which multitudes are enticed ensnared and ruined to all Eternity Voluptatum blanditiis deliniti ad ea garenda omnia qua prava sunt impellimur Arist l. 2. Eth. c. 3. It is a true and grave observation 〈◊〉 Philosopher That we are impelled as it were to that which is evil by the alluring blandishments of pleasure This was the first bait by which Satan caught the Souls of our first Parents in Innocency Gen. 3.6 The tree was pleasant to the eye Pleasure quickens the principles of sin in us and inflames the desires of the heart after it Every pleasant sin hath a world of Customers and cost what it will they resolve to have it I have read of a certain Fruit which the Spaniards found in the Indies which was exceeding pleasant to the taste but Nature had so fenced it and double-guarded it with sharp and dangerous thorns that it was very difficult to come at it They tore their cloaths yea their flesh to get it and therefore called the Fruit Comfits in Hell Such are all the pleasures of sin Comfits in Hell Damnation is the price of them and yet the sensitive appetite is so outragious and mad after them that at the price of their Souls they will have them Thus
graceless person in the world Poverty is no bar to Christ or Heaven though it be to the respects of men and pleasures of this life Away then with all vain pretences against a life of godliness from the meanness of your outward condition Heaven was not made for the rich and Hell only for the poor no no how hard soever you find the way thither I am sure Christ saith It 's hard for a rich man to enter into that Kingdom The seventh way of losing the Soul discovered VII The seventh beaten path to destruction is by groundless presumption praesumâ—ndo sperant spirando perâ—unt by presumption they have hope and by that hope they perish There are divers objects of Presumption amongst which these three are most usual and most fatal viz. That they have 1. That Grace which they have not 2. That Mercy in God they will not find 3. That Time before them which will fail them 1. Many presume they have that Grace in them which God knoweth they have not So did Laodicea Rev. 3.17 Thou sayest I am rich and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable poor blind and naked Here is a dangerous Conspiracy betwixt a cunning Devil and an ignorant proud Heart to ruine the Soul for ever they stamp their common Grace for special they put the old Creature by a general Profession into the new Creatures habit and lay a confident claim to all the Priviledges of the Children of God 2. They presume upon such Mercy in God as they will never find they expect pardoning and saving Mercy out of Christ in an unregenerate state when there is not one drop of Mercy dispensed in any other way The whole oeconomy of Grace is managed by the Mediator Iude v. 21. all saving Mercies come through him upon all that are in him and upon no others God is indeed a merciful God and yet presumptuous sinners will find Judgment without Mercy because they are not found in the proper way and method of Mercy Thousands and ten thousands carve out and dispose the Mercy of God at their own pleasure write their own Pardons in what Terms they think fit and if they had Gods Seal to firm and ratifie them it were all well but alas it is but a night-vision a dream of their own brain 3. But especially men presume upon Time enough for Repentance hereafter they question not but there be as fit and as fair opportunities of Salvation to come as are already past and in this snare of the Devil thousands are taken in the very prime and vigour of their youth That age is voluptuous and loves not to be interrupted with severe and serious thoughts and courses and here is a Salvo fitted exactly to suit their inclination and quiet them in their way that they may pursue their lusts without interruption I cannot follow the sin of Presumption at present in all these its courses and ways and will therefore apply my self to the case last mentioned which is so common to the world The seventh way to destruction shut up by five weighty Considerations 1. And in the first place I would beg all those young voluptuous Sinners whose feet are fast held in the snare of this Temptation seriously to bethink themselves whether they are not old enough to be damned whilst they judge themselves too young to be seriously godly There are multitudes in Hell of your age and size you may find Graves in the Church-yard of your own length and Skulls of your own size Men will not spare a nest of young Snakes because they are little If you die Christless and unregenerate 't is the same thing whether you be old or young there is abundance of young Spray as well as old Logs burning in the flames of Hell 2. If you knew the weight and difficulty of Salvation-work you would never think you could begin too soon Religion is a business will take up all your time Poenitet me Domine quod serò te amavi Aug. many have repented they began so late none that they began too soon Say not the penitent Thief found mercy at the last hour for his Conversion was extraordinary and we must not hope for Miracles Besides he could never encourage himself in sin with the hope and expectation of such a miraculous Conversion He was the only Example of a Sinner that was ever so recovered in Scripture and this was recorded not to nourish presumption but to prevent despair If ten thousand persons died of the Plague and one only of the whole number infected with it escaped it 's no great encouragement that you shall make the second O think and think again how many thousands now on earth have been tugging and striving forty or fifty years together to make their Calling and Election sure and yet to this day it is not so sure as they would have it they are afraid after all time will fail them for finishing and you think 't is too early for beginning so great a work 3. Others have begun sooner than you and finished the great and main work before you have done one stroke Abijah was very young scarce got out of his childhood when the Grace of God was found in him 1 Kings 14.13 The fear of God was in Obadiah when but a youth 1 Kings 18.12 Timothy was not only a Christian but a Preacher of the Gospel in the morning of his life 2 Tim. 3.15 What have you to plead for your selves which they had not Or what arguments and motives to godliness had they which you have not You shall be judged per pares by those of your own age and size their seriousness shall condemn your vanity 4. The morning of your life is the flower of your time the freshest and fittest of all your life for your great work now your hearts are tender and impressive your affections flowing and tractable your heads clear of distracting cares and hurries of business which come on afterwards in thick successions Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth whilst the evil days come not Eccles. 12.1 2. If a man have an important business to do he will take the morning for it knowing if that be slipt a crowd and hurry of business will come on afterwards to distract and hinder him I presume if all the Converts in the World were examined in this point it would be found that at least ten to one were wrought upon in their youth that is the moulding age 5. And if this proper hopeful season be elapsed it is very unlikely that ever you be wrought upon afterwards How thin and rare in the world are the instances and examples of Conversion in old age Long continued customs in sin harden the heart fix the will and root the habits of vice so deep in the Soul that there is no altering of them your ears then are so accustomed to the sounds of the Word that Christ and
Sin Heaven and Hell Soul and Eternity have lost their awful sound and efficacy with you But it is a question only to be decided by the event whether ever yoâ— shall attain to the years of your Fathers it is not the sprightly vigour of your youth that can secure you from death What a madness then is it to put your Soâ—ls and eternal happiness upon such a blind adventure What if your presumption of so many fair and proper opportunities hereafter fail you as it hath failed millions who had as rational and hopeful a prospect of them as you can have where are you then And if you should have more time and means than you do presume upon are you sure your hearts will be as flexible and impressive as now they are O beware of this sin of vain presumption to which the generality of the damned owe their everlasting ruine The eighth way of losing the Soul opened VIII The eighth way of ruining the precious Soul is by drinking in the Principles of Atheism and living without God in the World Atheism stabs the Soul to death at one stroke and puts it quite out of the way of Salvation Other Sinners are worse than Beasts but Atheists are worse than Devils for they believe and tremble these banish God out of their thoughts and what they can out of the world living as without God in the world Eph. 2.12 It is a sin that quencheth all Religion in the Soul he that knows not his Landlord cannot pay his Rent he that assents not to the Being of a God destroys the foundation of all religious Worship he cannot fear love or obey him whose Being be believes not this sin strikes at the Life of God and destroys the life of the Soul Some are Atheists in opinion but multitudes are so in practice The fool hath said in his heart there is no God Psal. 14.1 Though he hath engraven his Nâ—me upon every Creature and written it upon the Table of their own Hearts yet they will not read it or if they have a slight fluctuaâ—â—â—g notion or a secret suspicion of a Deity yet they neither acknowledge his Presence nor his Providence Fingunt Deum talem qui nec videt nec punit They say How doth God know can he judge through the dark clouds thick clouds are a covering to him that he seeth not Job 22.14 Others profess to believe his Being but their lives daily give their lips the lye for they give no evidence in practice of his fear love or dependence on him If they believe his Being they plainly shew they value not his favour delight not in his presence love not his ways or people but lye down and rise eat and drink live and die without the worship or acknowledgment of him except so much as the Law of the Country or Custom of the place extorts from them These dregs of time produce abundance of Atheists of both sorts many ridicule and hiss Religion out of all Companies into which they come and others live down all sense of Relion they customarily attend indeed upon the external Duties of it hear the Word but when the greatest and most important Duties are urged upon them their inward thought is this is the Preachers Calling and the man must say something to fill up his hour and get his living If they dare not put their thoughts into words and call the Gospel Fabula Christi the Fable of Christ as a wicked Pope once did or say of Hell and the dreadful Sufferings of the Damned as Calderinus the Jesuit did tunc credam cum illuc venero I will believe it when I see it yet their hearts and lives are of the same complexion with these mens words They do not heartily assent to the Truth of the Gospel which they hear and though bare assent would not save them yet their dissent or non-assent will certainly damn them except the Lord heal their understandings and hearts by the light and life of Religion To this last sort I shall offer a few things The eighth way to Hell shut up by six weighty Considerations 1. You that attend upon the Ordinances but believe them no more than so many devâ—â—â—d Fables nor heartily assent to the Truth of what you hear know assuredly that the Word shall new 〈…〉 do your Souls good it can never come to your hearts and affections in its regenerating and sanctifying efficacy whilst it is stopt and obstructed in your understandings in the act of assent And thus you may sit under the best Ordinances all your lives and be no more the better for them than the Rocks are for all the showres of rain that fall upon them Heb. 4.2 The word preached did not profit them not being mixed with faith in them that heard it This is Satans chief strength and fastness wherein he trusteth he fears no Argument whilst he can maintain this Post the Devil hath no surer Prisoner than the Atheist there 's no escaping out of his possession and power whilst this bolt of Unbelief is shut home in the Mind or Understanding An unbelieved Truth never converted or saved one Soul from the beginning of the world nor never shall to the end of it Those bodies that have the Boulema or Dog-appetite whatever they eat it affords them no nourishment or satisfaction they thrive not with the best fare just so it is with your Souls no Duties no Ordinances can possibly do them good as in Argumentation no Conclusion be it never so regularly drawn and strongly inferred is of any force to him that denies Principles 2. If you assent not to the Truth of the Gospel you not only make God speak to your Souls in vain which is fatal to them but you also make God a lyar which is the greatest affront a Creature can put upon his Maker 1 Ioh. 5.10 He that believeth not God hath made him a lyar Vile dust darest thou rise up against the God that made thee and give him the lye An affront which thy fellow-Creature cannot put up or bear at thy hands Darest thou at once stab his Honour and thy own Soul Are not the things which thou lookest on as Romances and golden Dreams a meer Artifice neatly contrived to cheat and awe the world Are they not all built upon the Veracity of God which is the firmest foundation and greatest security in the world Hath he not intermingled for our satisfaction not only frequent assertions but his asseverations and Oath to put all beyond doubt And yet dare any of you lift up your ignorant blind Understandings against all this and give him the lye Surely the wrath of God shall smoke against every Soul of man that doth so and his own bitter lamentable doleful experience shall be his conviction shortly except he repent 3. Dare any of you give the thoughts of your hearts as certain conclusions under your hand and stand by them to the last and venture all upon them Wretched
whose Name is called upon them I therefore shall first address my Discourse to the Professors of Religion beseeching them in the bowels of Christ to take pity upon the multitudes of Souls which are daily ruined and destroyed by their scandals and miscarriages Did you live according to the rules you profess your well-doing would put to silence the ignorance of foolish men 1 Pet. 2.15 and consequently the ruine of many might be prevented I remember Bernard speaking of the lewd and loose life of the Priests of his time sighs out this just and bitter complaint to God about it Bern. in Convers Pauli Ser. 1. Misera eorum conversatio plebis tuae miserabilis subversio est O Lord saith he their miserable conversation is the miserable subversion of thy people O of how many who glory in the Title of the Sons of the Church Ecce qui jactant se redemptos à tyrannide Satanae qui praedicant se mortuos mundo nihilominus à cupiditatibus suis vincuntur Salvian Vbi est catholicalex quam credunt ubi pietatatis castitatis exempla quae discant Evangilia legant impudici sunt Apoâ—olos audiunt inebriantur may Christ say as Iacob did of his two lewd Sons Simeon and Levi Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the Inhabitants of the Land Gen. 34.30 And how many Professors who pretend to more than ordinary reformation and holiness do shed Soul blood by their scandalous conversations Salvian brings in the wicked of his Age upraiding the loosness of Christians in this manner Behold those men who boast themselves redeemed from the Tyranny of Satan and profess themselves dead to the world yet are conquer'd by the lusts of it And Cyprian long before his day brings in the Heathens thus insulting over looser Christians Where is that Catholick Law which they believe Where are the Examples of Piety and Chastity which they should learn They read the Gospel yet are immodest they hear the Apostles yet are drunk O Professors where are your bowels to the poor Souls of sinners If your Neighbours Ox or Ass fall into the pit you are bound to deliver him if you can and will you not do as much for a precious Soul as you would do for a Beast Nay you dig pits by your scandalous lives to destroy them If you sin there are instruments enough to spread it and multitudes of Souls ready perpared to take the infection Say not f they do the fault is theirs for though they are Principals in the murder of their own Souls by taking the scandal yet you are Accessaries in giving it he is a mad man that will kill himself with a Sword and he no better that will put it into his hand O therefore if you have any regard to the precious Souls of men live up to the rules of your Profession O be blame less and harmless the Sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a perverse and froward generation let the heavenliness of your Conversation stop those mouths that accuse you as men of a worldly Spirit let them see by your moderation in seeking it your patience in losing it your readiness in distributing it that it is a groundless calumny under which your Names suffer Let them see by your apparel company and discourses you are not such proud lofty Spirits as you are represented to be Convince them by your flexibleness to all things that are lawful and expedient by manifesting as much as in you lieth that it is the pure bond and tye of Conscience which keeps you from compliance in all other things and by your meekness in suffering for such non-compliance that you are not such turbulent factious Incendiaries as the wicked world slanderously reports you to be Convince the world by your exact righteousness in all your civil dealings and by the lip of truth in all your promises and engagements that you have the fear of God in your hearts as well as the Livery of Christianity upon your backs In a word so live that none may have just ground to believe the impudent slanders the Devil raises in the world against you Let your light so shine before men that they may glorifie your Father which is in Heaven Without your care and circumspection the shedding of a world of precious Soul-blood can never be prevented 2. Let me advise and beseech all men to be so just to others and merciful to their own Souls as not to cast them away for ever by receiving prejudices against Godliness from the miscarriages of some that make more than a common profession of it If others stumble before you and break their shins don't you stumble at them and break your necks To prevent this fatal effect of scandal and prejudice at Religion I desire a few particulars may be impartially weighed First Very many of those Scandals bandied up and down the World against the Professors of Godliness are devised and forged in Hell as so many traps and snares to catch and destroy mens Souls to beget an irreconcileable aversation and enmity in men to the ways of God They devise deceitful matters saith the Psalmist against them that are quiet in the land Psal. 35.20 So Ier. 18.18 Come say they let us devise devices against Ieremiah and smite him with the tongue And there is as as little equity in the credulous receiver as there is honesty in the wicked forger of these slanders With one arrow of censure you wound no less than three viz. the honour of God your innocent Brother and your own Souls as to the two former wounds they will in due time be healed God will vindicate his own Name fully and the reputation of his innocent Servants shall be cleared and repaired abundantly but mean time your Souls may perish by the wounds prejudices have given so that you may never be reconciled to Godliness and its Professors whilst you live but turn Scoffers and Persecutors of them Secondly Examine whether the matters that are charged upon them as their Crimes be not their Duties Sometimes it falls out to be so and if so you fight more immediately and directly against God than men This was Davids case Psal. 69.10 When I wept and chastened my soul that was to my reproach my piety was turned to reproach They called his tears Crocodiles tears and his fastings hypocritical shadows of devotion and humility Thus the very matter of his duty was turned into reproach And so it was with the primitive Christians their very owning of themselves to be Christians was crime enough to condemn them Thirdly If Professors of Religion do in some things act unbecoming their holy Profession yet every slip and failing in their lives is no sufficient Warrant for you to censure their persons as hypocrites much less to fall upon Religion it self and condemn it for the faults of them that profess it There 's many an upright heart overtaken by temptation You see
their miscarriages but you see not their humiliations and self-condemnations before God for them Fooâ— and fearful saith a grave Divine was the scandal of David Ier. Dyke of Scandal p. 33. and what was the issue Presently the Enemies of God and Godliness began to lift their heads and fall foul upon Davids Religion 2 Sam. 12. they blasphemed the Name of God O this is he that was so grand a Zealot that the zeal of Gods house did eat him up This is the man that out of his transcendent zeal danced before the Ark. This is he that prayed thrice a day at morning noon and night This is he that was so precise and strict in his family that a wicked person should not dwell in his house This your great precise Zealot hath defiled the Wife and murdered the Husband Now you see what his Religion is now you see what comes of this profession of so much Holiness and Godliness O that men would seriously consider their evil in such censures as these What is all this to Religion Doth Religion any way countenance or patronize such practices Nay doth it not impartially and severely condemn them It is the glory of the Christian Religion that it is pure and undefiled Iam. 1.27 These practices flow from no Principle of Religion nor are chargeable upon it for it teacheth men the very contrary Tit. 2.11 12. If I see a Papist sin boldly or an Arminian slight Grace I justly condemn their Principles in and with their practices because Popery sets Pardons to Sale and Arminianism exalts Nature into the place of Grace but doth the Doctrine of the Gospel lead to any immoralities Charge it if you can Fourthly And as sensless a thing it is to condemn all for the miscarriages and faults of some which yet is the common practice of the world Are all that profess Godliness loose and careless No no many are an ornament to their holy Profession and the glory of Christianity And why must the innocent be condemned for the guilty What is your reason and ground for that Why might not the Enemies of Christianity have condemned the Eleven Apostles upon the fall of Iudas had they not as good Warrant for it as you have for this To conclude You little know what a snare of the Devil is laid for your Souls in all those prejudices and offences you take at the ways and Professors of Godliness and what a wo you bring upon your own Souls by them You speak evil of persons and things you know not and prejudice is like still to keep you in ignorance of them Wo to the world saith Christ because of offences and Blessed is he that is not offended at me The eleventh way of ruining the precious Soul opened XI The eleventh way wherein abundance of precious Souls perish in the Christianized and professing World is the way of formal Hypocrisie in Religion and Zeal about the Externals of Worship Such a generation of men have in all Ages mingled themselves with the sincere Worshippers of God and the inducement to it is obvious the form of Godliness is an honour but the power of it a burden By the former earthly interests are accommodated by the latter they are frequently exposed and hazarded We find in the Jewish Church abundance of such chaff intermixed with the wheat which the Doctrine of Christ discovered and purged out of the floor Matth. 3.9 12. Such were the Pharisees who were exceeding zealous for Traditions and the external Rites and Ceremonies of the Law but inwardly full of all filthiness Matth. 15.7 8 9. men that honoured the dead and persecuted the living Saints that reverenced the material Temple and destroyed the living Temples that strain'd at Gnats of Ceremonies and swallowed down the grossest immoralities And well had it been if this generation had ended with that state and time of the Church but we find a Prophecy of the increase of these men in the later days 2 Tim. 3.5 which is every where sadly verified Religion runs into stalk and blade into leaves and suckers which should be concocted into pith and fruit Yea it is of sad consideration that amongst many high Pretenders to Reformation their Zeal which should nourish the vitals of Religion and maintain their daily work of Mortification and Communion with God spends it self in some by opinion whilst practical Godliness visibly languisheth in their Conversations How many are there that hate doctrinal errours who yet perish by practical ones who hate a false Doctrine but mean time perish by a false heart 'T is very difficult to reclaim this sort of men from the errour of their way and thereby save their Souls from Hell However let the means be used and the success left with God The way to Hell by Formality barred up 1. No sin intangles the Souls of men faster or damns them with more certainty and aggravation than the sin of formal Hypocrisie It holds the Soul fastest on Earth and sinks it deepest into Hell There was no sort of men upon whom the Doctrine of Christ and the Apostles had so little success and effect as the Scribes and Pharisees they derided him when Publicans and sinners trembled and believed Luke 16.14 15. the form of Godliness wards off all convictions their zeal for the Externals of Religion secures them against the fears of damnation whilst in the mean while their Hypocrisie plunges them deeper into Hell than others that never made such shews of Sanctimony and Devotion He shall appoint him his portion with hypocrites Matt. 24.51 that is he shall be punished in Hell as Hypocrites are punished viz. with the greatest and forest punishment Hypocrisie is a double iniquity and will be punished with double destruction their ungrounded hopes of Heaven serve but to pully up their wretched Souls to a greater height of vain confidence which gives them the more dreadful jerk in their lamentable and eternal disappointment 2. Blind superstitious Zeal which spends it self only about the Externals of Religion usually prepares and ingageth men in a more violent persecution of those that are really godly and conscientious The Lord opened a great door of opportunity at Antioch to Paul the whole City came together to attend the discoveries of Christ in the first publication of the Gospel and the poor Gentiles began to taste the sweetness of the Gospel but the Devil perceiving his Kingdom begin to totter immediately stirred up his instruments to persecute the Apostles and drive them out of the Country and who more fit for that work than the devout and honourable women Acts 13.15 these stirred up their Husbands and all they had influence upon Satan per costam tanquam per scalam ad câ—r ascendit Gregor under a fair pretence of zeal for the Law to obstruct the progress of the Gospel No Bird saith one like the living Bird to draw others into the net Men of greatest names and pretensions to Religion if graceless are the
most dangerous instruments the Devil can imploy to the ruine and extirpation of true Godliness Such a Zealot was Paul in his unregenerate state 3. Nothing is more common than to find men hot and zealous against false Worship whilst their hearts are as cold as a stone in the Vitals and Essentials of true Religion Many can dispute warmly against Adoration of Images praying to Angels and Saints departed who all the while are like those dead Images which others worship Iehu was a Zealot against Idolatry and yet the vital power of true Godliness was a stranger to his Soul 2 Kings 10.15 16. The Pharisees spared no pains to make a Proselyte yet all the while were the Children of the Devil themselves Matt. 23.15 This is a sad case yet what more common The Lord open the eyes of these men and convince them in season that their Zeal runs in the wrong Chanel and spends it self upon things which shall never profit them O if they were but as much concerned to promote the love to God and life of Godliness in themselves and others as they are about some external accidents and appendages of Religion what blessings would they be to the World and what evidence would they have of their own sincerity The twelfth way to Hell opened XII The twelfth way to Hell in which many Souls are carried on smoothly and securely to their own destruction is the way of meer Civility and moral Honesty wherein men rest as in a safe state never doubting but a civil life will produce and issue into an happy death Moral honesty is a lovely thing and greatly tends to the peace and order of the World but it is not saving Grace nor gives any man a good Title to Christ and Salvation Indeed there can be no Grace in that Soul in which Civility and moral Honesty is not found but this may be found in thousands that have no Grace That which ruines mens Souls is not the exercise of moral Vertues but their reliance upon them they use their Morality as a shield to secure their Consciences from the convictions of the Word which would shew them their sinful and miserable state by Nature Thus the Pharisee Luke 18.11 12. God I thank thee that I am not as other men are extortioners unjust adulterers or even as this Publican he blesseth himself in the conceits of his own safety and happiness Let debauched and prophane persons look to it I am well enough though alas poor man his being less evil at best could but procure him a cooler Hell or a milder flame This was the case of the young Man Matt. 19.20 and like a young man indeed he reasons He summs up all the stock of his civil life and thinks it strange if that be not enough to make a purchace of eternal life What lack I yet Alas poor Soul every thing necessary to Salvation the very first stone was not laid when he thought the building was finished and this is the case of multitudes both young and old and that which greatly confirms and settles them in this their dangerous security is the general indistinct Doctrine of some who pretend to be Guides to the Souls of others the scope of whose Ministry aims at no higher mark than to civilize the people and press moral Duties upon them as if this were all that were necessary to Salvation nay 't is well if some do not industriously pull down the pale of distinction betwixt Morality and Regeneration and tell the world in plain English That there is no reason to put a difference betwixt men that are baptized and live morally honest and those that have saving Grace and they that do so are only a few men who are highly conceited of themselves and censorious of all others whom they please to vote formal and moral This indeed is the way to fix them where they are if Christ had not taken another method with Nicodemus and his Ministers had not pressed the necessity of Regeneration and the insufficiency of moral honesty to Salvation how thin had the number of true Converts been though at most they are but an handful in comparison of the unregenerate O that God would bless what follows to undeceive and save some poor Soul out of this dangerous snare of the Devil The twelfth way to Damnation barred by three Considerations 1. Blind not your selves with the lustre of your own moral Vertues a life smoothly drawn with Civility through the World for though it must be acknowledged there is a loveliness and attracting sweetness in Morality and Civility yet these things rather respect Earth than Heaven and are designed for the conservation of the order and peace of this World not for your Salvation and Title to the World to come Without Justice and Truth Kingdoms and Common-wealths would become Mountains of prey and Dens of robbery Where there is no trust there can be no traffick and where there is no truth there can be no trust Civility is the very Basis of humane Society a world of good accrues to men by it and abundance of mischief is prevented by it but it never gave any man an interest in Christ or a title to Salvation The Romans and Lacedemonians who perished in the darkness of Heathenism excelled in Morality there is nothing of Christ or Regeneration in these things how much of excellency soever be ascribed to them Paul the Pharisee was a blameless person touching the Law and yet at the same time not only utterly ignorant of Christ but a bitter Enemy to him and all that were his Till you can find another way to Heaven than by Regeneration Repentance and Faith never lean upon such a deceitful and rotten prop as meer Civility is 2. Civilized Nature is unsanctified Nature still and without Sanctification there is no Salvation Heb. 12.14 Civility adorneth Nature but doth not change it Moral Vertues are so many sweet flowers strawed over a dead Corps which hide the loathsomness of it but inspire not life into it Morality hides and covers Abscondit non abscindit vitia Lactant. but never mortifies nor cures the corruptions of Nature and mortified they must be or you cannot be saved Take the best Nature in the world and let it be adorned with all the ornaments of Morality which they call Homilitical Vertues and add to these all the common gifts of the Spirit which are for assistance and ministry yet all this cannot secure that Soul from Hell or be the ground-work for a just claim to any promise of Salvation all this is but Nature improved not regenerated Morality is neither produced as saving Grace is nor works such effects as Grace worketh There are no pangs of Repentance introducing it it may cost many an aking head but no asking heart for sin no such distressed out-cries as that Acts 2.37 Men and Brethren what shall we do Nor doth it produce such humility self-abasement heavenly tempers and tendencies of Soul
as Grace doth Cheat not your selves therefore in so important a concern as Salvation is with an empty shadow 3. Civility is not only found in multitudes that are out of Christ but may be the cause and reason why they are Christless Mistake not I am not pleading the Cause of Prophaneness nor disputing Civility out of the world I heartily wish there were more of it to be found in every place it would exceedingly promote the peace order and tranquility of the world but yet it is certain that the eyes of thousands are so dazled with the lustre of their own Morality that they see no need of Christ nor feel any want of his Righteousness and this is the ruine of their Souls Thus Christ brings in the Pharisee with his proud boast that he is no Extortioner Adulterer nor unjust or such an one as that Publican Luke 18.11 O what a Saint doth he vote himself when he compared his life with the others Well then beware you be not deceived by thinking you are safe because you are got out of the dirty road to Hell when all the while you are only stept over the hedge into a cleaner path to damnation You have had a short account of some few of those many ways in which the precious Souls of men are eternally lost let us briefly apply it in the following Inferences Inference I. IF there be so many ways of losing the Soul and such multitudes of Souls lost in every one of them then the number of saved Souls must needs be exceeding small The number of the saved may be considered either absolutely or comparatively In the first consideration they appear great and many even a great multitude which no man can number Rev. 7.9 but if compared with those that are lost they make but a small remnant Isa. 1.9 a little flock Matt. 12.32 For when we consider how vastly the Kingdom of Satan is extended who is called the God of this World from the world of people who are in subjection to him how small a part of this earthly Globe is enlightned with the beams of Gospel-light and that Satan is the acknowledged Ruler of all the rest Eph. 6.12 But when it shall be farther considered that out of this spot on which the light of the Gospel is risen the far greatest part are lost also O what a poor handful remains to Jesus Christ as the Purchace of his Blood 'T is of trembling consideration how many thousands of Families amongst us are meer Nurseries for Hell Parents bringing forth and breeding up Children for the Devil not one word of God except it be in the way of blasphemy or prophaneness to be heard among them How naturally their ignorant and wicked Education puts them in the course and tide of the world which carries them away irresistibly to Hell How one sinner confirms and animates another in the same sinful course till they be all past hope or remedy How the rich are taken with the baits of sensual pleasures and the poor lost in the brake of distracting worldly cares except here and there a Soul pluckt out of the snare of the Devil by the wonderful power and arm of God On the one side you may see multitudes drowned in open prophaneness and debauchery and on the other side many thousands securely sleeping in the state of Civility and Morality Some key-cold and without the least sense of Religion others Hell-hot with blind zeal and superstitious madness against true Godliness and the sincere Practitioners of it Some living all their days under the Ordinances of God and never touched with any conviction of their sin or misery others convinced and making some faint offers at Religion but their convictions like blossoms nipt with a frosty morning fall off and no fruit follows And as Rubies Saphires and Diamonds are very few in comparison of the Pebbles and common stones of the Earth so are true Christians in comparison of multitudes that perish in the snares of Satan Inference II. HOW little reason have the Vnregenerate to glory and boast themselves in their earthly acquisitions and successes whilst mean time their Souls are lost they have gotten other things but lost their Souls 'T is strange to see how some men by rolling a small Fortune up and down the World as Boys do a Snow-ball have increased the heap and raised a great Estate they have attained their design and aim in the world and hug themselves in the pleased thoughts of their happiness but alas among all the thoughts of their gains there is not one thought of what they have lost O if such a thought as this could find room in their hearts I have indeed gotten an Estate but I have lost my Soul I have much of the world but nothing of Christ Gold and Silver I have but Grace peace and pardon I have not my body is well provided for but my Soul is naked empty and destitute such a thought like the Sentence written on the wall would make their hearts quail within them What a rapture and transport of joy did the sight of a full Barn cast that Worldling into Luke 12.19 20. Soul take thine ease eat drink and be merry little dreaming that death was just then at the door to take away the cloth guest and all together that the next hour his Friends would be scrambling for his Estate the Worms for his body and the Devils for his Soul O how many have not only lost their Souls whilst they have been drudging for the world but have sold their Souls to purchase a little of the world parted by consent with their best treasure for a very trifle and yet think they have a great bargain of it Surely if poor sinners did but apprehend what they have lost as well as what they have gained their gains would yield them as little comfort as Iudas his money did for which he sold both his Soul and Saviour Instead of those pleasing Frolicks of wanton Worldlings what a cold shiver would run through all their bones and bowels did they but understand what it is to lose a gracious God and a precious Soul and both eternally and irrecoverably The just God remains still to avenge and punish the sinner but the favour of God that friendly look is gone the peace of God that Heaven upon Earth is gone the Essence of the Soul remains still but its purity peace joy hope and happiness these are gone and these being gone what can remain but a tormenting piercing sight of those things for which you have sold them Inference III. HEnce let us estimate the evil of sin and see what a dreadful thing that is which men commonly sport themselves with and make so light of it is not only a wrong and injury to the Soul but the loss and utter ruine of the Soul for ever It is said Prov. 8.36 He that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul And if this were all the mischief sin did
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
without Plea or Apology for your supine neglects of the seasons of Salvation Argument II. SEcondly The consideration of the uncertainty and slippery nature of these spiritual seasons must awaken in us all care and diligence to secure and improve them This nick of opportunity is tempus labile a slippery season it is but short in it self and very uncertain To day whilst it is said to day saith the Apostle if ye will hear his voice Heb. 3.15 q. d. you have now a short uncertain but most precious and valuable season for your Souls lay hold on it whilst it is called to day for if this season be let slip the time to come is called by another name that is not to day but to morrow Your time is the present time take heed of procrastinating and putting it off till that which is called to day which is your only season be past and gone This precious inch of time though it be more worth than all the other greater parts and portions of your time yet it is as much in fluxu in hasty motion and expence as other parts of time are and being once lost is never more to be recalled or recovered Few men know or understand it whilst it is current other seasons for natural or civil actions are known and stated but the time of Grace is not so easily discerned and therefore commonly mistaken and lost and this comes to pass partly through 1. Presumptuous Hopes 2. Discouraging Fears 1. Presumptuous Hopes which put it too far forth and perswade us this season is yet to come that we have before us Praesumendo sperant sperando perâ—unt and that to morrow shall be as to day Thus through presumption men hope and by their presumptuous hopes they perish this is the ruine of most Souls that perish 2. Discouraging Fears put it too far back and represent it as long since past and gone whilst it is yet in being and in our hands By such pangs of desperation Satan cuts the very nerves of industry and diligence and causes Souls to yield themselves as by consent for lost and hopeless even whilst the Gospel is opening their eyes to see their sin and misery which is a part of the work in order to their recovery Thus the eyes of thousands are dazled that they cannot discern the season of Mercy and so it slides from them as if it had never been God came near them in the means of their Conversion yea and nearer than that in the motions of his Spirit upon their Consciences and Affections but they knew not the time of their visitation and now the things of their peace are hidden from their eyes Had those Convictions been obeyed and those purposes that were begotten in their hearts been followed home by answerable executions of them happy had they been to all Eternity but their careless neglects have quenched them and the door is shut and who knows whether it may be opened any more O dally not with the Spirit of God resist not his calls his motions upon the Soul are tender things they may soon be quenched and never recovered Argument III. NEglect not the seasons of Mercy the day of Grace because opportunity facilitates the great work of your Salvation it is much easier to be done in such a season than it can be afterwards an impression is easily made upon wax when it is melted but stay a while till it be hardned and if you lay the greatest weight upon the seal it leaves not its impress upon it Much so it is with the heart there is a season when God makes it soft and yielding when the affections are thawed and melted under the Word Conscience is full of sense and activity the will pliable now is the time to set in with the motions of the Spirit there is now a gale from Heaven if you will take it and if not it tarrieth not for man nor waiteth for the sons of men Neglect of the season is the loss of the Soul The heart like melted wax will naturally harden again and then to how little purpose are your own feeble essays Heb. 3.15 't is both easie and successful striving when the Spirit of God strives in you and with you you are now workers together with God and such work goes on smoothly and sweetly that which is in motion is easily moved but if once the heart be set you may tug to little purpose Argument IV. THE infinite importance and weight of Salvation is alone instead of all motives and arguments to make men prize and improve every proper season for it It is no ordinary concern it is your life yea it is your eternal life The solemnity and awfulness of such a business as this is enough to swallow up the spirit of a man O what an awful found have such words as these Ever with the Lord Suppose you saw the Glory of Heaven the full reward of all the labours and sufferings of the Saints the blessed harvest of all their prayers tears diligence and self-denial in this world or suppose you had a true representation of the Torments of Hell and could but hear the wailings of the damned for the neglect of the season of Mercy and their passionate but vain wishes for one of those days which they have lost would you think any care any pains any self-denial too much to save and redeem one of these opportunities Surely you would have a far higher estimation of them than ever you had in your lives A Tryal for a mans whole Estate is accounted a solemn business among men the Cast of a Dye for a mans life is a weighty action and seldom done without anxiety of the mind and trembling of the hand yet both these are but Childrens Play compared with Salvation-work Three things put an unspeakable solemnity upon this matter it is the precious Soul which is above all valuation that lies at stake and is to be saved or lost The saving or losing of it is not for a time but for ever and this is the only season in which it will be eternally saved or cast away all hangs upon a little inch of time which being over-slipt and lost is never more to be recalled or recovered Lord with what serious spirits deep and weighty consideration fears and tremblings of heart should men and women attend the seasons of their Salvation Believe it Reader since thy Soul projected its first thought there never was a more weighty and concerning subject than this presented to thy thoughts O therefore let not thy thoughts trifle about it and slide from it as they use to do in other things of common concernment Argument V. IF we set any value upon the true pleasure of life or solid comforâ— of our Souls at death let us by no means neglect the special seasons and opportunities of Salvation we now enjoy These two things the pleasure of life and comfort in death should be prized by every
done to it in order to its preparation for our Souls So that no delay can be upon that account 2 The departed Souls of Believers are as ready for Heaven as ever they shall be For there is no preparation-work to be done by them or upon them after death Ioh. 9.3 Eccles. 9.10 Their justification was compleat before death and now their sanctification is so too Sin which came in by the Union going out at the separation of their Souls and Bodies They are Spirits made perfect 3 The Scripture is plain and full for their immediate glorification Luke 23.43 To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Luke 16.22 The Beggar dyed and was carried by the Angels into Abraham's bosome Philip. 1.21 I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is far better The Scripture speaks but of two ways by which Souls see and enjoy God viz. Faith and Sight the one imperfect suited to this life the other perfect fitted for the life to come and this immediately succeeding that for the imperfect is done away by the coming of that which is perfect as the Twilight is done away by the advancing of the perfect day 4 To conclude There is nothing in reason lying in bar to it It hath been proved before the Soul in its unbodied State is capable to enjoy blessedness and can perform its acts of Intellection Volition c. not only as well but much better than it did when embodied I conclude therefore That seeing Heaven is already as much prepar'd for Believers as it need be or can be and they as much prepar'd from the time of their Dissolution as ever they shall be The Scriptures also being so plain for it and no bar in reason against it All the forementioned Opinions are but the Dreams and Fancies of men who have forsaken their Scripture-guide and this remains an unshaken truth That the Spirits of the just go immediately to glory from the time of their Separation PROP. VIII At the time a gracious Souls separation from the Body it is instantly and perfectly freed from sin which till that time dwelt in it from its beginning But thenceforth shall do so no more IMmediately upon their separation from the Body Ideoque vocat conseâ—ratos vel perfectos quia carnis infirmitatibus non amplius sint obnoxii depositâ ipsâ carne Marl. in loc they are Spirits made perfect as my Text stiles them and that Epithet perfect could never suit them if there were any remaining root or habit of corruption in them The time yea the set time is now come to put an end to all the dolorous groans of gracious Souls upon the account of indwelling sin What the Angel said to Ioshua Zech. 3.3 4. The same doth God say of every upright Soul at the time of its separation Take away the filthy Garments from him and cloath him with change of rayments and set a fair Miter upon his head Thus the Garments spotted with the flesh are taken away with the Body of flesh and the pure unchangeable Robes of perfect holiness cloathed upon the Soul in which it appears without fault before the Throne of God Rev. 14.5 There is a threefold burdensom evil in sin under which all regenerated souls groan in this life viz. 1 The Guilt 2 The Filth 3 The Inherence of it in their nature And there is a threefold Remedy or cure of these evils The guilt of sin is remedied by justification The filth of sin is inchoatively healed by sanctification The inherence of sin is totally eradicated by glorification For as it entred into our persons by the union of our Souls and Bodies so it is perfectly cast out by their disunion or separation at death The last stroak is then given to the work of sanctification and the last is evermore the perfecting stroak Sin languished under imperfect sanctification in the time of life but it gives up the Ghost under perfected sanctification from 〈◊〉 after death Sanctification gave it its deadly wound but glorification its final Abolition For it is with our sins after Regeneration as it was with that Beast mentioned Dan. 7.12 which though it was wounded with a deadly wound yet its life was prolonged for a season And this is the appointed season for its expiration For if at their dissolution they are immediately received into glory as it hath been proved they are in our seventh Proposition they must necessarily be freed perfectly from sin immediately upon their dissolution because nothing that is unclean can enter into that pure and holy place They must be as the Text truly represents them The Spirits of just men made perfect For if so great holiness and purity be required in all that draw nigh to God upon earth as you read Psal. 93.5 certainly those who are admitted immediately to his Throne must be without fault according to Rev. 7.14 15 16 17. When a compounded being comes to be dissolved each part returns to its own principle so it is here The Spirit of man and all the grace that is in it came from God and to him they return at death and are perfected in him and by him The flesh returns to the earth whence it came and all that body of sin is destroyed with it neither the one or other shall be a snare or clog to the soul any more A Christian in this World is but Gold in the Ore at death the pure Gold is melted out and separated and the dross cast away and consumed Hence three Consectaries offer themselves to us Consectary I. That a Believers life and warfare end together We lay not down our weapons of war till we lie down in the dust 2 Timothy 4.7 I have fought a good fight I have finished my course The course and conflict you see are finished together Though they commence from different terms yet they always terminate together Grace and sin have each acted its part upon the Stage of time and the victory hovered doubtfully sâ—â—â—times over Sin and sometimes over Grace but now the â—â—r is ended and the quarrel decided Grace keeps its ground and sin is finally vanquished Now and never before the gracious Soul stands triumphing like that noble Argive In vacuo solus Sessor Plausorque Theatro not an Enemy left to renew the Combat the war is ended and with it all the fears and sorrows of the Saints Consectary II. Separated Souls become impeccable or free from all the hazard of sin from the time of their separation For there being no root of sin now inherent in them consequently no temptation to sin can fasten upon them all temptations have their handles in the Corruptions of our natures Did not Satan find matter prepar'd within us dry tinder fitted to his hand he might strike in temptations long enough before one of his hellish sparks could catch or fasten upon us Temptations are grievous exercises to Believers they are darts Eph. 6.16 they are thorns 2 Cor. 12.7 but