Expectation of a Resurrection We shall now begin to cite our Proofs in order as they rise in other Books of the New Testament Mat. 10.15 It shall be more tolerable for the Land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of Judgement then for that City There must be a Day of Judgement and consequently a Resurrection Chap. 12. Men shall give account for every idle word at the Day of Judgement Chap. 13.39 The harvest is the end of the World the Reapers are the Angels Ver. 49. The Angels shall sever the Wicked from among the Just at the end of the World Chap. 16.27 The Son of Man shall come in glory and then shall he reward every man according to his Works Chap. 19.28 Ye who have followed me when the Son of Man shall sit on the Throne of his glory shall sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel Chap. 22.31 cites Exod. 3.6 for proof of the Resurrection against the Sadduces Chap. 24.30 Christ's Coming with the Clouds of Heaven and gathering his Elect together Chap. 25.31 Is a large Description of the Last Judgement and that all Nations shall be gathered before his Seat of Judgement Mark 8.13 Those who are ashamed of Christ he will be ashamed of them when he comes in glory with his holy Angels Chap. 13.26 Then shall they see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory and he shall send his angels and gather his elect from all parts of heaven and earth Luke 21.27 Then shall men see Christ come in a cloud with power and great glory and then their redemption draweth nigh Chap. 22.30 Ye shall eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom Ver. 69. Christ shall sit on the right hand of the power of God Chap. 24.51 Christ was parted from them and carried up into a heaven And Acts 1.11 This same Jesus shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven John 5.25 The dead shall hear Christ's voice and they that hear shall live Ver. 28. All that are in the graves shall hear his voice Chap. 6.44 He that comer to me I will raise him up at the last day without mention of a Soul in Separation Chap. 11.23 Jesus to Martha Thy brother shall rise again she replies I know he shall in the resurrection at the last day Jesus says He that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live Chap. 12.48 He that receives me not my words shall judge him at the last day not mentioning or supposing any intermediate Judgment Acts 3.21 Heaven must receive Christ until the time of the restitution of all things foretold by the prophets and so it seems must earth and the grave receive all other people Chap. 4.2 The Jews were grieved that the Apostles preached through Jesus the Resurrection of the dead Chap. 17.18 Paul preached to the Athenians Jesus and the Resurrection Chap. 23.8 The Sadduces say there is no Resurrection Angel nor Spirit but the Pharisees confess both seems confess all these but still no mention of a Separated Soul Chap. 24.14 Paul believed as the Jews also allowed that there should be a Resurrection of the Dead both of the Just and Unjust Rom. 14.8 Whether we die we die unto the Lord whether we live therefore or die we are the Lords So Ver. 9. For to this end Christ both died and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and living Ver. 10. We shall all stand before the Judgement seat of Christ 2 Cor. 5.10 We must all appear before the Judgement seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body whether good or bad thus knowing the terrour of the Lord we perswade men from that Argument to a holy life Philip. 3.10 To know the power of Christs Resurrection and by any means to attain to the Resurrection of the Dead Ver. 20. and 21. We look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ from heaven who shall change our vile body and make it like unto his glorious body Colos 3.4 When Christ who is our life shall appear then shall we also appear with him in glory Seems not before then 1. Thess 3.13 Be found in holiness at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his Saints If so we die we shall so be found Chap. 4.14 If we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him Ver. 15. And we who live at the time shall not prevent them which are asleep Ver. 16. But the dead in Christ shall rise first Chap. 5.10 Christ died for us that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him viz. at his Coming 2 Thess 1.7 God will give to you who are troubled rest with us when our Lord shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire Chap. 2.8 The Man of Sin shall be destroyed by the brightness of Christs coming Chap. 1.10 Wait for Christs coming from heaven as for the time of the Resurrection 1 Thess 4.16 The Lord himself shall descend with a shout the voice of the Archangel and the Tromp of God and these shall allarm the dead and those dead in Christ shall rise first 1 Tim. 6.14 Keep this commandment without spot unrebukable until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ which in his times he shall shew 2 Tim. 2.12 If we suffer with Christ we shall also reign with him Ver. 18. Some said the Resurrection was past already which was an errour and had an ill effect Chap. 4.1 I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdom Ver. 8. Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give to me at that day and not to me only but unto all them also that love his appearing Heb. 4.3 We which have believed in Christ do enter into his rest Ver. 9. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God Ver. 10. A ceasing from our own works as God did from his And we must labour therefore to enter into that rest Chap. 9.27 It is appointed unto men once to die but after this the Judgenment And Christ once offered for sin shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation Chap. 10.37 Yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry Ver. 35. and 36. We must wait with patience and confidence till the time promised do come Chap. 11.35 Persons were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain not a happy Separated Estate but a better Resurrection James 1.12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him Chap. 5.8 Be ye also patient stablish your hearts for the coming of the Lord
Humane Powers and Faculties have done I say they are all acted alike viz. by the Natural Contexture of Soul and Body And I thence infer that if the Humane Soul were Intelligent she would not act these Affections and Passions with the Force and Violence with which oft-times we find them to be acted but would rather chuse to act them moderately and no farther than might stand with Terms of Discretion and so as to restrain and keep them ever under Power of her own Government and Regality And because she doth not and I think cannot do this I conclude she seems to me not Intelligent but Material 6. Paragraph In the Matter of the Fathers Opinions concerning the going of Souls to Heaven upon Death of their Bodies I undertake not to speak upon my own perusal of the Fathers but as I find them Cited by other Writers I have from Peter Martyr quoted to you Irenaeus denying Souls passing to God or Heaven before the Resurrection and there Tertullian is quoted to the same purpose viz. that Heaven shall not be opened till the Resurrection Dr. Willet in his Synopsis Papismi Fol. 402. He says We confess most part of the Fathers especially the later sort of them to have been in this error Fol. 403. He says Bellarmine Cites 14 Fathers to this purpose Nay and Our Lord Joh. 14.2 3. says I go to prepare a place for you and I will come again and receive you unto my self that where I am there ye may be also Seeming to infer a Rest till Christ's Second Coming As Revel 14.13 Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord that they may rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them 1 Pet. 4.13 Rejoyce as being Partakers of Christ's Sufferings that when his Glory shall be revealed ye may be also glad with exceeding joy So 2 Pet. 3.11 Seeing all the Earth and the Heaven about it shall be Burnt up what Holy Persons ought ye to be looking for and hasting to the day of God 1 Cor. 4.5 Judge nothing before the time until the Lord come who both will bring to Light the hidden things of Darkness and then shall every deserving Man have Praise of God 1 Cor. 1. Vers 7 8. Waiting for the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Joh. 2.28 Abide in him that when he appears you may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his Coming Chap. 3.2 We know not yet what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him Joh. 6. Our Lord promises four times over to raise his Servants up at the last Day And he tells Martha her Brother shall rise again She Answers I know he shall rise again at the Resurrection of the last day All these places refer to and rest upon the Judgment of the last day or Christ's Second Coming without taking notice of any Intermediate State Nor do I meet with any Scripture asserting any Intermediate State Place or Judgment between Death and the Resurrection of the last day True it is That those who believed the Subsistence of Souls in a State of Separation from their Bodies were forced to invent some places and modes of that Subsistence Whence Heathen Divines or Poets framed their Elisiums and Fortunate Islands their Habitations of Dis and Tartarums And so have the Mahometans done and so a great part of Christians maintain their Limbus's patrum puerorum Purgatory sinum Abrahae from the Parable of Lazarus and places of other Tortures for wicked Souls but without being able to make out or prove such places or such things either from Reason Scripture or other solid and credible or faithful Ocular Testimony or Relations whatsoever And if you know of any such Proofs of those or the like places I shall be very glad to receive the Communication thereof from you You say The Fathers did not think that Souls go not to Heaven before the Resurrection You avoid saying They did think Souls went to Heaven before that time I have named to you Irenaeus and Tertullian who thought they went not to Heaven before the Resurrection And your own Second Paper Parag. 7. say The Fathers owned a middle State which was neither Heaven nor Hell and that good Souls were in a State of Rest and Happiness but not in Heaven or the full Fruition of it The Fathers owned an Intermediate State for good Souls between Death and Heaven Our Church or the greatest part of it say They go presently upon Death to Heaven I desire to know a Reason of this Difference in Opinion viz. why we differ from the Fathers in it To this you Answer These Opinions agree well enough This gives me little Satisfaction in the Point viz. your telling me they agree well enough because I see plainly there is a wide Difference between them and still I want a Reason of that Difference 7. Paragraph You had quoted to me Solomon's Saying The Spirit returns to God who gave it as the strongest Text you could find for the Soul 's Separate Subsistence To that Text as proving this Point I sent you Three Objections never propounded to you nor Answered by you before They appear to me very Material and such as you will with great difficulty be able to make a reasonable and substantial Answer unto and therefore I desired you to bestow an Answer upon them instead of which you tell me you have said enough upon that Text before approved by the Learned of your Town as a true and Unanswerable Explication of that Text. To this I reply Those Learned were Men agreeing in Judgment with your self in our disputed Point and apt to approve what was said by you in the Confirmation of it But now if you please to Communicate these Objections to those Persons and make such Answer to them as they shall approve it will oblige me much and add great strength to the force of your Argument from that Text which I think my Objections do overthrow so long as they stand in force and remain unanswered And I allow you to think as the Jebusites expressed 2 Sam. 5.6 They challenged David conceiving as in the last clause of that Verse 8. Paragraph You say You have lately had occasion to consider a Text of Scripture which you think directly contradicts and overthrows my Opinion viz. 2 Cor. 5. Vers 6. and 8. Knowing that whilst we are at home in the Body we are absent from the Lord and are willing therefore to be absent from the Body and present with the Lord And I grant That these Words absent from the Body and present with the Lord taken singly as recited in these Two Verses seem strongly to import that a Man hath something which being absent from the Body may be present with the Lord But it is a granted and well tried and approved Rule that for the Understanding and sound Exposition of
Soul cannot be defiled but by its coming from Adam Pag. 43. Says His sort of Soul is a true Being and not only a Conceipt or Phancy It seems he suspects it looks somewhat like a Phancy and I am very apt to pass it for one notwithstanding his word to the contrary He says My Soul can and will subsist and remain what it is when separated from the Body but yet I do not believe him He says It is not my Body but my Soul which makes me a Man I say neither of them makes a Man but they must be both together for that purpose Pag. 44. Says Let an Apoplexy hinder the Operation of the Soul in my Brain and all my Organs become useless I agree this and say The Soul therefore doth not act or understand but by the Organs cannot do so without them What Man by his Rational Faculty can perform he says Is done by his Soul and I grant it but not without the Organs of the Head and especially the Brain and so for the Sensitive and Vital Faculties and their Organs Pag. 45. Grants here the Understanding to be the Guide of the Will which chuseth or refuseth as the other directs He says My Affections are the strong and sensible Motions of my Soul I grant it so in the Praecordia as the Rational is in the Head but in no other part save the Praecordia are there any Affections and there they are as properly the effect of the Organs as of the Soul they must both Operate to the Production of such Effects He says He finds his Soul could never rise out of Matter nor come into his Body by Natural Generation I will not take upon me to know what he may find of himself or say of himself but I find no such things of my self nor hath he yet enough directed other Men to find what he says he finds unless they will first accept of his phancy viz. That a Man hath within him a small Spark of a Spirit coming he knows not how nor from whence residing and governing he knows not how nor where and departing from him he knows not how nor whither And how to know that such a thing there is in a Man neither hath he shewn nor can Mans reason find out so as most likely all this is but a phancy He says Brutes are destitute of Vnderstanding Reason and Conscience c. I say they have these Faculties in a very low degree as we may know and love God in a very much lower degree than the Angels Pag. 46. Says He is made for nobler ends and uses than to eat drink sleep talk and die And I grant it and that ex hoc momento pendet eternitas at the Resurrection an account must be given and then Recompences shall be distributed 2 Tim. 4.8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but unto all them also that love his appearing All Men shall then receive acccording to their Works and Behaviour used here upon Earth and this is as true and provable as that Christ Jesus came to save Sinners or that he is the Son of God so as one who professes to believe the Gospel can have no doubt of the truth or certainty of it And yet our Author in all this proving Discourse makes no mention at all of it and the likely reason of that is the Contrariety which appears betwixt the Two Doctrines of the Soul 's going immediately to Heaven or Hell and that of the Resurrection We both agree that Sense and Perception are acted by the Soul He says By its own Efficacy I say by Assistance of Bodily Organs and not without them whence his Soul in Hell needs no Addition of Body or Organs to make it more sensible than of it self it is but mine must have a Body and Organs or it can neither do nor suffer any thing Thus a Resurrection for mine is necessary in respect to future Recompences not so for his Consider we his sort of Soul in Heaven What advantage can it expect from a Resurrection It hath already the Roal Mansions of Heaven the Society of the Holy Angels and the Beatifical Vision of God and what can any Creature or Being desire more Well but if things go on to a Resurrection the Case must be altered and for the worse as it seems for these Souls must go down again from those Glorious Mansions and enter of new into its old Body and return no more to Heaven but live upon Earth again 'T is true it shall be a new Earth wherein dwells Righteousness in a more happy and blessed state than now it is or than we at present enjoy but far short of God's Royal Mansions in Heaven the Heaven of Heavens of which he hath said Heaven is my Throne in comparison of which the Earth is but a Footstool 2 Pet. 3.13 14. We according to his promise look for new Heavens or Skies and a new Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness and seeing that ye look for such things be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless do so that ye may be Partakers of these Rewards Revel 21.1 2. I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth and a new Jerusalem coming down from God out of Heaven Upon that new Earth Vers 11. He begins to describe this Glorious City by Metaphors of Gold precious Stones Pearls c. intending the happy State and resplendent Vertues which the new raised People shall enjoy after our expected Resurrection There there shall be no more Death Sorrow Pain or Crying God shall be with them as with our First Parents in Paradise and dry up all their Tears But when all this is done and considered What Comparison can we make betwixt this new Earth and that Heaven which is the Royal Throne of God and where he is superlatively present sic parvis componere magna solemus We must say the one state and place is extraordinary happy but the other transcends Mans conceipt and is super-excellent to all Imagination I say then A Soul once received into the highest Heavens if it can be capable of a Mansion there coming at the Resurrection to be put into its Body again and made an Inhabitant of a new Earth must be apparently a Loser by that Change and Naturally or Rationally such a Resurrection cannot be grateful to it or desired by it but must be compelled and go on invita minerva which is not the State or Case of the Resurrection for that is given to Man as the greatest Benefit and Blessing which his Servants receive of God and for the most grievous Punishment of Offenders it was purchased by Christ for his Servants 1 Cor. 15.13 14. If there be no Resurrection of the Dead then is Christ not risen and if Christ be not risen then is our Preaching vain and your Faith is also vain
and casting them to the Earth or Jerusalems coming down out of Heaven and therefore this is no firm Foundation for the Souls Immortality Pag. 92. He says John saw those Souls those Spiritual Immortal he should have added Invisible Substances separated from their Bodies And these Souls says he All that had died for Christ from Abel till that time John saw in the Spirit in a rapture not under a Material Altar but Christ was represented by this Altar and the Souls were at the foot or basis of it Whereas the Text says under it The Truth is he says what he will concerning it The Souls which John saw he will have to be the very Immortal Substances separated from their Bodies but the Altar was a Parable and the Souls not under it as they might under the Mosaical or Solomon's Altars which were hollow and covered with Boards but at the Foot of it this seems a meer Invention of his own I say all this was but a Figure and Teaches no more but that they who were Martyred for Christ still lived to God under his Care and Knowledge and should be Rewarded as 2 Tim. 4.8 And in the mean time they sleep in Christ and rest as in Daniel the last verse and shall stand first in the Lot at the end of the days He makes the Things which were Visible in Nature to be Figure For he says There was neither real Altar nor White Robes but the Souls which are in Nature invisible he will have to be real it seems without Success Pag. 95. To prove the Soul is Immortal he says 't is Immaterial I say the one as much as the other and he might as well say 't is Immaterial because it is Immortal Pag. 96. Says The Appetite of the Mind is unlimited and never says it is enough I say the Eye is not satisfied with seeing nor the Ear with hearing so the Fire and the Barren Womb never say it is enough and yet these are all Material Pag. 97. Says Age makes no decay in the Soul I say it doth and both must refer our selves to the common Experiences of those who live to very great Ages and such as Converse with them Pag. 98. He propounds a Simile of a Musician and his Instrument But these I say are different Subjects and not Indentified in the same Subject as the Soul and the Body are and therefore goes not in Proof of his Point He says from Hypocrates The Soul's Essence cannot be changed I say this intends it will be still the Soul notwithstanding the Alterations by Meat Drink c. He here cites divers Texts promising Blessedness Future to this Life never taking notice of the Resurrection which answers them all but as if without the Separate Subsistence there could be no means of Future Rewards and Punishments which Error I take for the Original of the Immaterial Opinion Citing in Confirmation of Recompencing at the last Day Our Lords own Words four times repeated by him John 6.40 I will raise him up at the last Day without mention of any thing Intermediate or before that Day Pag. 99. The Promises here cited by him shall not fail but be fullfilled at the Resurrection He says Though our Bodies die yet they shall live again and I say the same of our Souls And his Quotation Rom. 8.11 agrees with me and Vers 10. which mentions a Difference intends between the Sensual Powers and the Rational Mind He cites Matth. 22.32 and says If the Patriarchs perished in Soul as well as in Body How can God be their God for he is not so of those who are utterly perished To this I say Neither their Bodies nor Souls are utterly perished for they shall both rise again the Brutes are termed the Beasts that perish viz. utterly for that no Resurrection is granted to them Pag. 100. Says How shall the Wicked be Eternally punished if their Souls have not an Eternal Duration I say as before by the Resurrection and Last Judgment and then their Bodies shall be as durable as their Souls He began this Section Pag. 94. by citing a third time Matth. 10.28 and I grant it to be his best Weapon viz. the strongest Text if not the only strong One for Proof of the Souls Separate Subsistence Now Pag. 100. He produces the strongest of his Rational Arguments for the same purpose and which also I grant to be of great Weight Pag. 101. He says The Souls Immortality hath been generally held by all Nations and Ages and thence seems likely to be a Natural Notion to all Mankind The first Assertion viz. It s Universal Prevalency amongst Men I grant not so the Second it may be demanded Whence could it so come to pass if not from Nature I say from an Humane Frailty and Ignorance of Gods Appointment People saw many times good Men Afflicted and the Wicked Prosperous in this World so living and so dying Hence arose a Rational Inference ergo There are Rewards and Punishments Future to this Life and those must be applied to the Body or to the Soul but not to the Body soon Corrupted and turned to Dust ergo to the Soul only And that so it might possibly be the Soul must have a Separate Subsistence after Death of the Man This Argument might reasonably induce Mankind to entertain the Belief of this Opinion But since the Christian Doctrine hath been received and the Belief of the Resurrection and Last Judgment accepted that Doctrine consented unto gives a Satisfactory Answer to that Argument drawn from the Congruity that reasonably there must be Recompences Future to this Life Still it may be insisted That Christians since the Resurrection revealed have as generally received and believed that Old Opinion of the Immortality And I grant that too and say they might have these Inducements so to do First They found this Opinion already rooted in the Minds of Men. Secondly They Read in St. Matthew's Gospel his Text Chap. 10.28 whose Allowance of the Separate Subsistence of Souls might likely enough pass that Opinion amongst the First Christians which were of the Jewish Nation and Read principally if not only that Gospel for that it was Written first or before the other Three and was Written in Hebrew their own Language whereas the Others are Written in Greek which the Jews generally did not understand As Acts 21.37 The Chief Captain says to Paul a Jew Canst thou speak Greek And apparent it is That the First Christians and Teachers of Christianity were Jews and such as Taught but what they had Learned were likely enough to Teach this Doctrine but St. Paul and the other Apostles were not such Teachers He says Galat. 1.12 For I neither received the Gospel of Man neither was I taught it but by the Revelation of Jesus Christ And by such Revelation he Dedicated to St. Luke that Gospel passing under Luke's Name Published divers Years after that of St. Matthew and in the Grecian Language And that Doctrine
Jesus shall God bring with him and the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout with the Voice of the Archangel and with the Tromp of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first then the Elect living Persons shall be Translated and caught up to the Clouds and both sorts together shall meet the Lord in the Air and so shall they ever be with the Lord. Here we may perceive or collect That St. Paul directs to look after the Resurrection for Comfort at or immediately after the Death of the Party Had he known or believed a Separate Subsistence of Souls and a going to Heaven of the good immediately after Death of the Party Our Author gives it us in these Words Pag. 326. Little says he do Believers think what Visions of God and Ravishing Sights of Christ the Souls of their Friends have when they are closing their eyes with tears It seems strange St. Paul did not know any thing of this delightful Scene and pity it is doubtless that he was ignorant of such Ravishing Enjoyments and the quick attainment of them Acts 20.20 He kept nothing back that was profitable to his Auditors Ver. 27. But declared to them all the Council of God Had he known or believed the Separate Subsistence or the particular Judgment or the immediate going to Heaven by Angels or the Ravishing Sights and Joys so soon accruing he would not have kept back all or any of them from his Proselites the Thessalonians But we have Reason to think he would fully and freely have communicated the same to them and have raised Edifying and Comfortable Exhortations if he had found or known of sound ground to erect them upon Our Ministers and People fetch not their Comforts so far as the Resurrection but fetch them from Heaven immediately and hope with as much likelihood that all their Friends Souls go thither by the Conveyance of Angels But because St. Paul here gives us no Encouragement to believe them for my Part I cannot do it but fix my self for Comfort in such Cases upon the Rocky Ground which our Apostle here gives us the Certainty and Assurance of a General Resurrection and Judgment Our Apostle's former Text 1 Cor. 15.32 says thus What shall all the Afflictions that I have undergone profit me if the dead rise not But if the-Case be so Let us eat and drink for to morrow we die and there 's an end casting the whole Expectation of Recompences future to this Life upon the Resurrection without mention or regard of any Intermediate State Rom. 2.5 Thou treasurest up unto thy self Wrath against the Day of Wrath and Revelation of the Righteous Judgment of God Ver. 6. Who will render to every Man according to his Deeds Honour and Immortality to some but Indignation and Wrath Tribulation and Anguish to all who work evil c. to Ver. 16. In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ Plainly the Day of the Last Judgment so as Recompences shall then be distributed according to what Men have done here and only then for any thing that appears in this Text without mention or regard to an Intermediate State 1 Cor. 1.7 8. Ye come behind in no Gift waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus who also shall confirm you unto the end that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Plainly intending his Second Coming to Judgment as the only known Time for the Expectation of future Recompences 1 Cor. 4.5 Judge nothing before the time until the Lord come who both will bring to light the hidden Works of Darkness and manifest the Counsels of Hearts and then shall every deserving Man have Praise of God Plainly denoting the Resurrection as the Time of Judgment and Recompences 2 Cor. 5.10 We must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his Body whether good or bad Still without hinting any other Time or Place for future Recompences Philip. 3.20 Our Conversation is in Heaven from whence we look for the Saviour the Lord of Glory who shall change our vile Body and make it like his Glorious Body according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself Still no mention of any Expectation future to this Life till our Lord's Second Coming 2 Thes 1.7 It is right for God to recompence harm to them which trouble you and to you who are troubled Rest with us when the Lord shall appear from Heaven with his mighty Angels Chap. 3.5 The Lord airect your hearts into the Love of God and unto the patient waiting for Christ His Coming again 1 Tim. 6.14 Keep this Commandment until the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ which in his times he shall shew as the only time for Recompences 2 Tim. 4.8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but unto them also that love his appearing viz. his Second Coming And this applies Chap. 1.12 I suffer without being ashamed for I know whom I have believed and that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day And so Ver. 18. The Lord grant to Onisephorus that he may find Mercy of the Lord in that day Chap. 4.1 I Charge thee before God and Christ who shall Judge the Quick and Dead at his Appearing and his Kingdom All harping upon the same string viz. the Resurrection and General Judgment without one word mentioning a Particular Judgment or an Intermediate State Tit. 2.13 Teach to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the Great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ No mention of the Hope of a Blessed Intermediate State Heb. 6.2 He will go on to the Doctrines of the main Duties to be performed in this world and to the Resurrection of the dead and that of eternal Judgment for the world to come as the only considerable things Chap. 9.27 It is appointed unto Men once to die and after that the Judgment The Last Day or Judgment Not Two one Particular and the other General No mention of more than One Chap. 11.35 Others were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain What Not an immediate going to Heaven of their Souls but a better Resurrection Chap. 12.22 Ye are come to the Heavenly Jerusalem to God and Angels to the General Assembly and Church and just Spirits made perfect And see that ye refuse not him that speaketh in the Gospel whose Voice then shook the Earth yet once more I shake not the Earth only but also Heaven which signifies the removing of them at the Last Day aad then we shall receive a Kingdom which cannot he moved And then enjoy the Heavenly Jerusalem God Christ Angels the Assembly of the Church perfected unto which things
draweth nigh 1 Pet. 1.4 and 5. Ver. We are begotten by the Resurrection of Christ to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for us who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time not already participated by Souls in separation Ver. 9. Receiving seems in the last time the end of your faith even the salvation of your souls viz. their persons or their selves Chap. 4.5 The Wicked shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead Ver. 7. The end of all things is at hand be ye therefore sober and watch unto prayer Ver. 13. But rejoyce in as much as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings that when his glory shall be revealed ye may be glad also with exceeding joy seems not before that time Chap. 5.4 Those who do well when the chief Shepherd shall appear shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away 2 Pet. 3.8 9 10. A thousand years are with the Lord but as one day therefore he is not slack but would have all come to him yet the day of the Lord will come in a terrible manner and we must wait for and haste to the coming of that day and look for New Heavens and Earth according to his promise and seeing you look for such things keep your selves without spot or blemish without mention of a Soul or its expectations 1 John 2.28 Now little children abide in him that when he shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming Chap. 2.3 We are the sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is and every one that hath this hope purifieth himself even as Christ is pure Without mention of an intermediate State betwixt Death and the Second Coming of our Lord. Revel 17. Behold he cometh with clouds and every eye shall see him and they also which pierced him and the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him even so Amen The thing is certain Chap. 3.5 I will confess the name of him who overcometh before my Father and before his Angels Chap. 20.4 Judgement importing a first Resurrection Ver. 11. and 12. The Form of the Last Judgment related where the Dead both small and great were raised and stood before God and had Doom and Judgment according to their deserts 1 Cor. 4.5 Judge nothing before the time until the Lord come who both will bring to light the hidden works of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts and then shall every deserving man have praise of God Heb. 6.2 Says Let us go on to Perfection to Doctrines of the Resurrection of the Dead and of Eternal Judgement Our Lord directs Search the Scriptures and we have followed his direction upon our present Point Not for that it is doubted that men do disbelieve or even question the truth of our Article concerning the Resurrection of the Dead but to the intent that it might more clearly appear how much better and more strong Evidence there is for this Point and the Retribution to be expected at the Resurrection Then there is for the Separate Subsistence of a Humane Soul as a Subject for the Rewards and Punishments to be expected in a State future to this Life We may perceive the Resurrection is Ordained and Appointed to the very intent that future Recompences for things done in this Life may be fitly Awarded and fully Executed Whereas we find not one Text in Scripture that says in express terms Man hath an Immaterial or Separately Subsisting or an Immortal Soul nor that tells us Recompences shall be made to it in a future State nor doth Doctrinally so Teach viz. doth utter the words from whence such Collections are made with intent to teach that Doctrine but the words whence such Collections are made are all spoken intending to Teach some other more main and principal Point and the Point concerning the Soul is but by Collection from the Expressions principally intended to teach some other Points of Doctrine So as these different ways or mediums of Rewards and Punishments future to this Life being placed and considered together Magis illucescunt that clearness and certainty of the one seems more lucid and eminent by being compared with the darkness and in certainty of the other Also the one being so clear and certain it seems very needless and somewhat Incongruous to introduce another means or medium of future Recompences neither clear in it self nor plainly asserted or precisely Taught in the Scripture as a Christian Doctrine nor yet received as an Article into any of our most Ancient and approved Creeds Whereas the Reception of our Article of the Resurrection into every one of them fixes the same in the Christian Religion like a Rock immovable And we Read that he who builds his house upon a Rock is wise but he who chuses to build upon the Sand is otherwise and what can Men otherwise think of one not able to support himself and in want of Direction and Relief being in reach or compass of a firm and strong Pillar will chuse to lean himself against a Post which if it be not rotten yet may be reasonably reputed both feeble and suspicious The censure due upon such a choice shall be left to the Consideration of every Man And thus it seems we have shewed and proved the Resurrection sufficient to answer the Worlds Expectations concerning Rewards and Punishments in a State future to this Life and that therefore there is no need of introducing a Separate Subsisting Soul to that intent And we proceed to our Authors Third Topick or Ground of Argument for proving the Separate Subsistence and Immateriality of a Humane Soul viz. to examine the tenor and intent of such Texts of the Scripture as are or may be found out and alledged to that purpose intending to offer such Answers to them severally after each quotation as shall readily occurr not presuming a likelihood to make them such as may satisfie and convince minds pre-possessed all the times of their lives that the thing is so and may be or muft be so proved it shall be enough to suppose they possibly be made such as that People who are desirous or willing to put off as much as they can the prejudices of their former Opinions in this Point drawn from their earliest Education and suck'd in with their first Milk If such Persons do not perceive the Answers made to be unreasonable fictitious or very trivial there will enough be obtained to satisfie an Expectation limited within narrow bounds and that hardly can rise to the hopes of so easie a passage under the Censures of any who shall happen to peruse the same it seems less hazard then a hard censure cannot be hoped for
wrath Chap. 12.7 The dust shall return to the Earth as it was and the Spirit shall return unto God who gave it We say this may be expounded by Gen. 7.22 and 1 Sam. 30.12 and Job 12.10 all before Cited Then Chap. 34.14 If God set his heart upon man if he gather unto himself his Spirit and his Breath All flesh shall perish together and man shall turn again unto Dust Psal 31. Prays Let me not be put to confusion but deliver me be thou my Rock and Defence Into thy hand I commit my Spirit for thou hast redeemed me And Psal 104.29 When thou takest away their breath they die and are turned again to their dust When thou lettest thy breath go forth they shall be made and thou shalt renew the face of the earth Zech. 6.5 These are the four spirits of the heavens noted on the Margent or Winds These places make Breath and the Spirit mentioned by Solomon to be much if not altogether the same thing And it seems remarkable that when David prays for Deliverance from Dangers that were temporal as in Psal 31. he uses this Expression Into thine Hand I commit my Spirit this makes it seem to intend his whole Person himself both Soul and Body as hath been shewn to be usual and common in the Usage of the Word Soul Isa 29.24 They who erred in Spirit shall come to Vnderstanding Here Spirit seems to signifie a Faculty of the Man viz. his Mind or Intellect Upon the Whole it seems the Spirit 's Return to God in Solomon's Sence might be a willing Submission of the Mind or Understanding to that Dissolution by Death which he hath appointed to be the Natural End of all Mankind This makes Death appear a willing Return of a meek and quiet Spirit to God by an easie Surrender of its Fort and Hold the Body when others and they if they did not so meekly surrender would be Stormed and forced against their Wills to let go their Holds and be driven out of Forts which they have not Power to defend and maintain against the violent and prevalent Assaults and Storms of Death We meet in Isaiah Ch. 53.10 such an Addition concerning the Term of Soul as we judge not fit to omit viz. When thou shalt make his Soul an Offering for Sin This intended his whole Person And he shall see of the Travail of his Soul Chap. 57.16 I will not contend for ever for so should the Spirit fail before me and the Souls which I have made viz. the People which I have made So Is it such a Day for Man to afflict his Soul viz. himself And If thou draw out thy Soul to the Hungry if thou minister unto him Ezek. 37.14 I will put my Spirit in you Bodies rising from dry Bones and ye shall live And this was executed by the Four Winds blowing upon them Whence it seems Spirit Wind and Breath have a great Congruity one with another and are put one for another divers times And this helps to declare what Solomon meant by Spirit Dan. 2.3 The King's Spirit was troubled to know the Dream viz. his Vnderstanding Chap. 5.20 An excellent Spirit Knowledge and Vnderstanding was found in Daniel One of these Words expound another Micah 6.7 Shall I give my First-born the Fruits of my Body for the Sin of my Soul seems to import Shall I give or Sacrifice my Child for my own Sin Soul being here put for Person as we have shewn was very usual Zech. 6.5 These are the Four Spirits or Winds of the Heavens Chap. 12.1 The Lord that formeth the Spirit of Man within him viz. who hath given him Faculties of Sense Memory Vnderstanding c. Thus the Texts of the Old Testament which make most for the Proof of a Separate and Self-subsisting Soul of Man have been quoted and such Expositions made of them and Answers thereby made to them as appear to us sufficient to abate and take away the Violence or proving Force of them by shewing that they do not necessarily or strongly compel to the Belief of such a Separated Subsistance of Humane Souls But that they only be solved and answered by Senses or Constructions more Natural and likely and more consentaneous to the Natural Conceptions of a Humane Reason unbiassed or distorted by the Prejudices of formerly received and radicated Opinions We proceed to Texts of the New Testament which have been or may be quoted to the same Intent and Purpose Mat. 16.25 He that will save his Life shall lose it and he that for Christ's sake loses it shall find it For what is a Man profited if he gain the whole World and lose his own Soul or what shall a Man give in Exchange for his Soul For the Son of Man shall come in the Glory of his Father with his Angels and then he shall reward every Man according to his Works Here it seems the Word Soul intends the Life or Person of the Man and what shall a Man get by grasping or gaping after the whole World if he lose his own Life for without Life to enjoy it what Profit or Benefit can one make of the whole World if it could be gotten and no Man in his Wits will take the whole World in Exchange for his Life for he can have no Profit but plain Damage and Loss by that Exchange And yet says our Lord He that loses his Life for my sake shall find it viz. shall find Profit by that Exchange For he shall be recompenced at the Resurrection For the Son of Man shall come in his Father's Glory and then he shall reward every Man according to his Works The Man shall then receive an Eternal Recompence and be made a great Gainer by that Exchange Chap. 13.42 For then the Wicked shall be cast into a Furnace of Fire and the Righteous shall shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father Next is quoted Matth. 17. the Relation of our Lord's Transfiguration repeated Mark 9. and Luke 9. There appeared to them viz. the three Disciples Moses and Elias talking with him They all saw the Appearances It must be true then that these Prophets have a Subsistence after their Departure out of this our World And for Elias his creates no great Difficulty in the Case upon Supposal that his Body went to Heaven and was changed as S. Paul says in a Moment into a Spiritual Body and there may well enough be still continuing And for Moses his Body it could never be found what became of it seems not very certain but not being to forth-come it was conjectured and concluded to be buried no Man ever knew where nor that there was or is a Certainty in that Fact It seems he went up the Hill alone and never returned nor was his Body found what therefore became of him we may think remains a Mystery and that he died may be taken for a Conjecture from common Probability He never returned nor was after to
be found therefore most likely he died in the Mount and was buried but so unknownly as they counted it by Conjecture also to be God's own doing But there was then no Witness of that Fact nor any Revelation since concerning it till this Appearance of that Prophet at our Present Transfiguration and that seems to favour rather Moses his Translation more than his Death and Burial Although the Letter of the Text stand for the Later we leave the Truth as a Mystery and accept the Proof as Mystical and therefore not to be confided in or relied upon for the Establishment of a Doctrine whose Verity and Certainty is now controverted and expected to be better proved than by mystical and untrialable Arguments Matth. 22.32 God declares himself the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob. And our Lord says He is not the God of the Dead but of the Living Ergo Abraham Isaac and Jacob are Living and do Subsist in their Separated Souls for their Bodies are long since turned to Dust and are not To this we answer That all Persons who have lived do live or shall live may be well enough said to live unto God with whom Things past and to come may be well enough said to be present for that Time cannot work or have any Effect upon Him his Being or his Knowledge And therefore Luke 20.28 relating the same Fact says God is not God of the Dead but of the Living Adds the Reason For that all live unto him All who have lived and shall live as well as those who do live those who have lived and shall live do live unto God although they do not live unto Men nor have any present Subsistence either in Soul or Body If our Lord had intended their living to God in a State of Separated Souls the Intent might easily and would likely have been declared by him But the Matter then argued did no way concern the Point of a Soul 's Separate Subsistence But the Answer was only intended to the Query put to our Lord by the Sadduces who denied the Resurrection They propounded a Case of Seven Brothers having all one same Wife upon which our Lord cites the Words of God concerning these three Old Patriarchs Luke says that they are the Children of God being the Children of the Resurrection and our Lord applies his Answer to their Question They demand whose Wife their Woman shall be in the Resurrection He replies as touching the Resurrection Have ye not read this Saying of God touching the Patriarchs and then applies that Saying to prove the Resurrection accordingly So as Question the Answer and the Application was all and for ought appears only intended concerning the Resurrection without Intent to speak here concerning any State or Condition of Souls betwixt the State of Death and that of the Resurrection and the Resurrection was the only thing intended to be proved by that Quotation Mat. 10.28 Fear not them which kill the Body but are not able to kill the Soul but rather fear him who is able to destroy both Body and Soul in Hell Luke 12.4 relates the same Doctrine thus Fear not them that kill the Body and after that have no more that they can do but fear him who after he hath killed hath Power to cast into Hell We may perceive that the Substance and Intent of Christ's Doctrine is the Same in both these Evangelists but the Words or Expression in which the same is delivered do differ very much yet not to alter the Doctrine principally intended to be taught viz. not to fear the Violence of Men whose Power is confined to this World and can extend no farther but that Men ought rather to fear God who hath Power to reward and punish after Mens Departure out of this World and in a Future State This we take for the Doctrine mainly intended by them both and therein they do fully agree but in the Collateral Doctrine endeavoured to be collected from S. Matthew's Expressions and wording of the same so separating and dividing betwixt the Soul and the Body as that one may be killed and the other not or the one be cast into Hell and the other not In this Point which I take for Collateral to the main Point intended the Words of these two Evangelists differ very much for in the Expressions of S. Luke there is no mention at all of the Soul and therefore no Division made or intended betwixt Soul and Body It seems then that it may be collected that both having a right Notion of the Doctrine mainly intended to be delivered of not fearing Men whose Power was limited to this World and fearing God who could recompence both here and hereafter S. Matthew may have worded this Matter according to his own Conception of the Thing for his Words prove at least his Opinion to have been that a Man's Soul and Body were dividable and that the Body might be killed without killing the Soul And yet he doth not say the Soul can be in Hell without the Body but God can cast them both into Hell Plain it seems S. Matthew was of Opinion that Souls were capable of Separate State but the Expressions of S. Luke give us some Warrant to think that Christ did not deliver than Doctrine in the Words used by S. Matthew but that he hath worded it according to his own Conception and Opinion and that the Doctrine of Christ taken as delivered by S. Luke is no more but that Men can only afflict and punish in this World but God can do it both here and hereafter And this all Men must agree and assent unto Luke 16.19 Begins that which Men usually call the Parable of Dives and Lazarus The foregoing Chap. 15. consists all of Parables and this Chapter begins with the Parable of the Unjust Steward and ends with this of Dives and Lazarus whose very Names seem to be some Proof that the Story is a Parable If it were a History and true Relation of a Fact it might pass for a very strong Proof of the Soul's Subsistence in a State of Separation from the Body but passing for a Parable it seems not a Foundation firm enough to bear the Weight of an otherwise unproved Structure And the like may be said for Rev. 6.10 the Souls under the Altar of those slain for the Word of God and the Testimony which they held crying with a loud Voice How long Lord dost thou not judge and avenge our Blood This was but in a Trance and no more real or true than the Appearances of the great Dragon with Seven Heads and Ten Horns and Seven Crowns whose Tail drew the Third Part of the Stars of Heaven and did cast them to the Earth or that there was a great City descending out of Heaven from God After S. John was rapt up into Heaven by the open Door all was but a Trance and may pass for a Rapture not a Ground strong enough to fix a proving Foundation upon
and therefore we are willing rather to be absent from this Body to have it changed into a Spiritual Body and therein to be present with the Lord And however in the one Body or in the other we labour present or absent to be accepted of God for we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ sooner or later that every Man Body and Soul may receive the Things done in his Body viz. when he was alive according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad And this seems to apply all that he had before spoken as designed a Relation to the Resurrection and the Last Judgment and not to make or afford any Proof of the Separate Subsistence of a Soul after Death of the Body Philip. 1.21 For me to live is Christ and to die is Gain what I shall chuse I wot not for I am in a strait between two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better Nevertheless to abide in the Flesh is more needful for you This sounds as if upon Death of the Body something were still left in such a State and Being as should immediately thereupon go to be with Christ and this can be no other but the Man's Soul subsisting in a State of Separation We read Rev. 14.13 Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord for they rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them 2 Tim. 1.10 Christ abolished Death and brought Life and Immortality to Light through the Gospel Whence Death now to the Godly is but a Sleep or Resting in Christ Acts 7.60 Stephen cried Lord lay not this sin to their charge and when he said this he fell asleep 1 Cor. 15.6 Christ risen was seen of five hundred Brethren of whom then some were fallen asleep Ver. 18. If there be no Resurrection then they who are fallen asleep in Christ are perished Ver. 51. We shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed 1 Thess 4.15 We who are alive at our Lord 's coming shall not prevent them who are asleep Ver. 14. But those who sleep in Jesus shall God bring with him 2 Thess 1.6 It is righteous with God to recompence Tribulation to them that trouble you and to you who are troubled Rest with us when Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels seems this Rest with us must be future to this World and most likely in Death Heb. 4.3 We who have believed do enter into Rest Ver. 9. There remains a Rest to the People of God Ver. 10. A ceasing from our own Works as God did from his and we must labour to enter into this Rest seems properly a Dying in the Lord. And Job testifies There the weary are at Rest Upon the Evidences thus quoted by us it seems our Proving Text may be construed in this manner I know that to die is Gain and for me to depart out of this world and to be at rest in Christ and in expectation of a joyful Resurrection is far better but for me to abide in the Flesh is more needful for you And this Consideration puts me into a Strait between two Things so as what I shall chuse I wot not and doubtless it is better and far more easie and desirable for a godly Man to sleep and be at rest in Christ than to be in the Troubles Temptations and Persecutions of this World as S. Paul was when he was in it Daniel 12.13 the Angel says to him Go thy way till the End be for thou shalt rest and stand in the Lot at the End of the Days And this hath been the Lot of the Godly in all Ages and the Wisdom of the World hath been able to teach that the Day of a Man's Death is better than that of his Birth and if generally how much better then must it needs be for a good Christian to depart and be at rest in Christ Lying down in a sure Faith and stedfast Hope of a joyful Resurrection when the Lord himself shall defend from Hevean with a shout with the voice of the Archangel and the Trump of God for then the Dead in Christ shall rise first and be caught up into the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air and so shall they ever be with the Lord. What Earthly Thing can be compared with such a State so much Joy and so great an Assuranee No wonder then that our Apostle calls his Death a Gain being then in a Condition so to die and so he continued as he says 2 Tim. 4.7 I have kept the Faith henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that Day and not to me only but unto them also that love his Appearing But it seems he did not expect it before that Day the Day of Christ's Second Coming to reward every Man according to his Works And we conclude the Apostle in our Proving Text intended rather a going to rest in Christ than a going into Heaven to him in the State of a Separated Soul Heb. 12.22 Ye are come to an innumerable Company of Angels and to the Spirits of just Men made Perfect to God the Judge and to Jesus the Mediator and to the heavenly Jerusalem Some have raised an Argument of the Souls Separate Subsistence from this Text. The Words Ye are come in the present Tense spoken unto living People cannot be literally intended unless the Words be intended of the Doctrine viz. You are come to a Gospel or Doctrine which teaches to believe and expect such Things in future Times or you are come to such Things in Faith which is the Evidence of Things not seen better things than appeared at Mount Sinay So 2 Pet. 3.12 Look for and haste unto the Coming of the Day of God wherein all shall be burnt up as in Noah 's Time it was drowned But we look for new Heavens and a new Earth wherein dwells Righteousness And seeing ye look for such Things what manner of Persons ought ye to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness without spot and blameless This expounds how we come to the Heavenly Jerusalem viz. to that Doctrine Faith and Expectation to be fulfilled and enjoyed at the Coming of the Day of God without any mention at all of a Soul in the State of a Separate Subsistence or discoverable Intention concerning it 1 Pet. 3.19 Christ was quickned in the Spirit by which also he went and preached unto the Spirits in Prison when Noah prepared the Ark. To this we say the Text is very mystical and obscure and so every Part and Sentence of it And what is here meant by the Spirits in Prison or the Preaching to them we humbly confess Ignorance and that we do not know Therefore the Text and Consequences of it shall be left to Consideration of the more Learned better versed in the Writings of Fathers and Commentators but till the Meaning of it
do deny and he proves it not For other Brute Creatures I say it is very probable God gave them their first Breath though Moses have not expressed it He says The Opinion of the Souls Propagation from the Parents by Generation is very Antient and Tertullian and divers of the Western Fathers closed with it And so do I. He says Antiquity is no pasport for errors and so say I He cites an Objection against the daily Creation of Souls and in Proof of their Generation out of Dr. Brown's Religio Medici Pag. 32. He pretends to Answer this Objection but uses to that purpose only Scholastical Distinctions and Niceties and brings no material or solid Reason from Nature so as I think the Objection is not enough Answered but holds still good against the Creation and for the Generation of the whole both Body and Soul Pag. 33. Cites Gen. 22. God rested on the seventh day from all his Work which he had made Pag. 34. This says he Intends he ceased from making any new Species or Kinds of Creatures but he still creates Individual Souls of the same kind and nature with Adam 's Soul and he means all Humane Souls So as upon Fruitful Coition of Man and Woman or of Man and Beast where the product is of Humane shape God creates a new young Soul to enliven and inform every such Body whence every day hour and moment he is creating such Souls for all the Earth over I would know where he found his Distinction of God's ceasing from Creation of New Species but not of New Individuals he quotes no Author or Original for it and till he so do it will pass with Readers for his own Fiction and do him no service at all And his Proof of his New Creation is a kin to this Distinction he cites for Proof of it Our Lord's Words My Father worketh hitherto and I work How this proves Gods Continual New Creation of Souls I do not perceive and I suppose sew others will be drawn to believe such New Creations upon this Proof He says To me it is clear that the Soul is not generated for that which is generable is corruptible This I agree and thence infer The Humane Soul both generable material and extinguishable He Reasons against this but by Arguments before Answered Pag. 35. Farther to prove a New Creation of Souls he quotes again Heb. 12.9 Men must be in subjection to the Father of Spirits intending it to signifie the Father of their Spirits or Souls This I do not grant but say This Sense restraining to Humane Spirits only is against the express Words of the Text as well as the intent of it He quotes again Zech. 12.1 before examined he quotes Isa 42.5 God that giveth Breath unto the people upon the Earth and Spirit to them that walk therein I take Breath and Spirit here for the same thing Here he cites Chap. and Vers of four places more I have searched them and find no mention of Spirit or Soul in any of them Pag. 36. He says These Texts speak of Creating Heaven and Earth yea and their Souls also Of Heaven and Earth they all speak but of Souls not a word whence it is not safe to take even a good Mans word in Matter of Controversie Pag. 36. Cites Solomon's Text again Dust returns to the Earth and the Spirit to God who gave it The Soul and Body says he Are the two Constitutive Parts of Man and have two distinct Originals the Body is of the Earth the Soul a Spirit given by God who gave it Being by Creation I say God gave the Body a Being by Creation as well as the Soul and as the Elements of the Body are Earth and Moisture so that of his Soul are likely Air and Fire and at Death the Body goes to the Earth the Fire extinguisheth and Air vanisheth What Solomon's Expression intended and the manner of that Expression hath been before disputed Pag. 37. Says The Soul hath no Principle out of which by Order of Nature it did arise I say the Body had no such Principle neither God created it of the Earth and breathed into Adam 's Nostrils the Breath of Life and he became a living Soul whence the Man was created Body as well as Soul He agrees the Souls of Brutes are generated but says he There is a Specifick Difference betwixt the Brutal and Rational Soul This I deny and say The Soul is not Rational but is so in the Head only where there are Organs created proper for that Faculty and in no part of the Body can the Soul act rationally but in the Head Pag. 38. He demands Why are not Brutes capable of performing Rational and Religious Acts I Answer because God hath not given them Rational Powers and Organs in so high a degree as he hath done to Men nor can one Man perform like another in such occasions But whatsoever their Souls are the People can act but according to the Capacity of their Organs and the Temperament of their Bodies and Complexions and Humours Men have a different Posture of Body from other Creatures more Capacious Heads in Proportion and store of Brains and finer Matter and they have Heads and Tongues whereby they can better learn direct and act than any Brutes These Differences set Humane Bodies far above the Brutes and yet it seems they may be acted as the Brutes are by a Material Spirit for the Flesh and Blood are Materials of both sorts and that which nourishes is alike in both without Breath Blood and Food both sorts perish and their Souls depart or vanish and yet as Mens Bodily Organs exceed the Brutes for Use and Aptitude so may their Spirits for fineness of Matter and plenty of it and purity and brightness of that flame of Life in them Pag. 39. Says Seed of the Soul is not to be found in Man because the Soul is a Spiritual Essence I say this begs the Question but if this Spirit be Material he will not deny that the Seed of it may be found in Man Pag. 40. Upon this I say Remove the Opinion or later Invention of the new Creation of Souls for all Adulterous Incestuous Buggerly Humane Procreations and then all his Questions here argued are needless and useless He confesses he cannot tell how a Newly Created Spirit should come to be defiled with Original Sin I say he need not trouble himself about it for that the thing is not at all so Pag. 41. He asks How so many Souls become foolish forgetful injudicious It seems he means Men. He supposes it to come from the Bodily Temper and Organs and I grant that very often it doth so But yet I say that my sort of Soul viz. the Flame of Life or the Material Spirit is subject to Defects Infirmities and Obstructions as well as the Body Pag. 42. His Deduction of Original Sin upon Man draws it only from his being a Child of Adam whence it seems his
be obtained presently upon the Death of the Body I say The Words mention neither the one time nor the other nor it seems do intend the one any more than the other for they import a present Being come to those Advantages and not a future He confesses here That Humane Wisdom cannot Penetrate into the Future State of Souls and that Men know but little of them I say can know just nothing of his sort of Souls Pag. 192. He cites 1 Joh. 3.2 It doth not yet appear what we shall be I ask whence that will appear the Text says it will appear at Christ's Second Coming that when he shall appear we know we shall be like him which intimates Men must stay till that time for such Knowledge Pag. 196. He says When Death comes the Soul disputes its Possession of the Body with him from Member to Member like Soldiers in a Stormed Garrison and at last loses the Royal Fort Intimating that his Soul 's Being is like that of Death's Being viz. no Real Subsistence but an Imagination Pag. 197. Says The falling asleep in Death or sleeping in Jesus must not be stretched to a length in respect of the Soul but offers no Proof of this I say That it concerns the whole Person Soul as well as Body and likely will strech it self to the very time of the Resurrection Pag. 202. Says Angels carry our Souls to God And for Proof cites the Parable of Dives his only Ground for that Opinion which I say is too sandy to support it for that here was no real Fact related but only a Similitude fitted to the common Jewish Opinion of that time Pag. 203. Grants there is no necessity of such Conveyance of the Soul but it is used for State or Decorum All this seems but his Phancy and he gives no other Proof either of the one viz. that there was such a Fact or of the other viz. that it is for State and Decorum Pag. 204. Says The presence of Angels or Spirits affright the Spirits not only of Men but of Beasts and thence the Soul of Man by consent But of such a Consent he offers no Proof nor that there is a Soul different from the Material which I say is of the same Nature both in Man and Beast which by the Production of like fears both in Man and Beast at the appearance of Spirits seems to me somewhat confirmed Pag. 205. Delivers but his own Phancy thereupon Pag. 206. He asks What Form Shape or Figure can the Phancy of Man cast his own Soul into as an help to understand its Nature I answer into none at all mine hath no certain Form of it self and of his may be said ex nihilo nihil fit But if such a Soul there be one may Form an Idea of it as well as of any other Spirit And for Raptures I have said the Understanding Phancy and Memory may be effectually Wrought upon and affected Pag. 214. Says The Souls of the Just go immediately to Glory from the time of the Persons Death And offers Proof Luk. 23.43 of the Thief also Luk. 16.22 of Lazarus being carried and Phil. 2.23 a desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ all cited and answered before Pag. 215. Speaks but his own Phancy and without Proof Pag. 225. Says Good Souls departed have a satisfying Apprehension though no perfect Comprehension of the Divine Essence and mentions the seeing God Face to Face Whereas St. John teaches We know that when he shall appear at his Second Coming we shall see him as he is Christ doth not say see God But the Author produces no Proof of any sort of seeing after Death Pag. 234. Says Those who went to Heaven before Christ's Ascension were fully at rest in God and yet upon Christ's Coming to Heaven their Happiness was advanced Cites to prove this Heb. 11.40 God having provided some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect To this I say it rather seems to prove a stay of Perfection till the whole Number be accomplished at the Resurrection as the Answer to the Souls in the Revelation also doth Pag. 243. Says It is too great a dificulty to trace the Soul beyond the limits of this World I say it is so to trace his sort of Soul in this World and I deny that his Text proves that Death perfects the Spirits of the Just which shall not be done till the Number be compleated at the Resurrection Pag. 244. Says We have more Acquaintance with Souls than with Angels He means with his sort of Souls and then I deny it for Angels and Spirits have appeared and been otherwise sensibly perceived to act but we know not that ever an Humane Soul by it self was known or perceived so to do Pag. 252. He says The Radical Moisture which is daily consuming by the Flame of Life must needs be spent ere long Here we agree Pag. 266. Says Separated Souls are capable af performing God's Commands as well as Angels are This I deny and he offers no Proof He says Some departed Souls have returned and appeared in this World Instances in Moses and Elias and the Bodies of Saints which appeared at Christ's Resurrection To this I say All these Appearances were of Bodies except Moses and of him it may be doubted what appeared Pag. 267. Says Apparitions as of Dead Persons are not indeed so but are acts of other sorts of Spirits To this I agree Pag. 273. Men oft meet a Mortal Enemy's Spirit in the disguise of a dead Friend Pag. 274. Says That after the Resurrection the Raised shall know one another and talk and converse but till that time Souls departed do converse only with God How proves he this not at all ergo it is a bare Invention Yes says he it must needs be so for if Souls could act thus before the Resurrection would be needless and to no purpose I say Souls going to Heaven and seeing and enjoying God and Heaven before that time makes the Resurrection of small value and little signification Pag. 284. Says 'T is confest that the Soul concerning it self singly is made perfect and enjoys Blessedness in the absence of the Body He tells us not who hath made this Confession He quotes Words of Alstedius here but they do not import such a Confession but whosoever did confess it I am sure that I deny it mente manu and he should prove it but doth not Pag. 285. Cites 2 Thes 4.15 It says Those which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him This says he must properly respect the Body for the Soul sleeps not I say as much as the Body doth Pag. 304. He says I should rather chuse to live meanly then to die easily and if both Parts were to perish no Man would die or desire it And the Opinion of the Immortality say I prevails not with those who live at ease to desire Death He says It would be a madness for
we are now come in Faith Hope and Expectation having received a full and true Declaration of them We have thus traversed the large Fields of St. Paul's Epistles collecting Evidences concerning his Doctrine and Opinion touching the Future State of Mankind after a Death in this World The Texts of his which have been quoted treat particularly of such Future State and intend to teach concerning the same delivering thereupon according as in the said Quotations hath been expressed Before have been quoted on the other hand Four Texts of his said Writings alledged in Proof of the Immateriality viz. 2 Cor. 5. Ver. 6. 8. and Phil. 1.23 and Heb. 12.9 and Heb. 12.22 To these I say none of those Places treat particularly of the Future State of Mankind or intend to Teach or Examine what the same shall be Next I say that of these four Places none speak Provingly But Phil. 1.23 viz. His desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ I say the Question made thereupon is concerning the Meaning or Sense of the Expression of being with Christ It intends a State more desireable than that which at that time he enjoyed I take a sleeping in Jesus to be so viz. a more desireable State than that which at that time he enjoyed That this is a Blessed State we read Revel 14.13 after mentioning the Patience and Faith of the Saints under Persecutions the Text says Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord that they may rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them And that it is a State cared for by God and under his Protection appears Rom. 14.7 None of us liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself Ver. 8. For whether we live we live unto the Lord and whether we die we die unto the Lord Whether we live therefore or die we are the Lord 's Verse 9. For Christ died rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and living Ver. 10. We shall all stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ So Chap. 4.17 God who quickneth the dead and calleth those things that be not as though they were and so he is the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob for all live unto him though the Body turn to dust and the Soul expire yet neither of then are lost Joh. 11.23 Our Lord says to Martha Thy Brother shall rise again She Answers I know that he shall rise again at the Resurrection of the Last Day He Replies I am the Resurrection and the Life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live and whoso liveth and believeth in me shall never die Viz. So as to fall out of my Care or Protection or Knowledge thy Brother shall rise again speedily and for others Joh. 6.39 Of that which my Father hath given me I will lose nothing but will raise it up at the Last Day Ver. 40. All who believe in me shall have Everlasting Life and I will raise them up at the Last Day Which Paul to Tim. calls That Day So Ver. 44. 54. All speak of raising Believers up at the Last Day to receive Blessings and Rewards whereas the rising of the Wicked shall be attended with a Second Death This intends an Answer additional to Paul's Desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ And touching the whole Course of this Apostle's Writings concerning a State of Mankind after Death my Quotations make it appear That either he knew of no Intermediate State betwixt Death and the Resurrection or else he did not Acknowledge or Believe it For his Knowledge that there was an Opinion in the World of Souls Subsisting in a Separate State from their Bodies there are great Probabilities as that Solomon's Text The Spirit returns to God And St. Matthew's Text of Cannot kill the Soul And both Heathen and Jewish Opinions to that purpose it seems could hardly escape his Knowledge But most likely it is that he did not acknowledge or believe the Truth of that Opinion for that in any of his Writings upon that Subject he doth neither relate to it nor mention it much less doth he confirm or approve it but puts all Expectation of Rewards or Punishments Future to this World upon the Score and Account of the Resurrection And upon the foot of that Account I leave it with this Apostle intending to Examine what other Apostles have written to the same Purpose I proceed to the Epistle of St. James and quote out of it Chap. 1.12 Blessed is the Man that endureth Temptation for when he is tried he shall receive the Crown of Life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him In Words very like 2 Tim. 4.8 and of the same Import and that applies the receiving of the Crown to that Day or the Last Day So Chap. 5.7 Be patient Brethren unto the coming of the Lord. Ver. 8. Again Be patient for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh Gives no Expectatation of Recompences till the coming of the Lord. I go on to St. Peter 1 Pet. 1.4 You are begotten to an Inheritance incorruptible reserved in Heaven for you Ver. 5. Who are kept by the power of God through Faith unto Salvation ready to be revealed in the last time Does not say to be revealed at the times of your Death So Chap. 5.4 When the chief Shepherd shall appear ye shall receive a Crown of Glory that fadeth not away Agreeing with Paul and James just before Chap. 4.5 Those who speak evil of you shall give account to him who is ready to judge the quick and the dead This must intend the Resurrection for that no Judgment shall pass of the quick and the dead together till that time Ver. 13. Rejoyce in as much as ye are Partakers of Christ's Sufferings that when his Glory shall be revealed you may be glad also with exceeding Joy This proves to my understanding that the Ravishing Joys of a newly departed Soul were unknown to this Prime Apostle 2 Pet. 2.9 The Lord knows to deliver the Godly and to reserve the Vnjust unto the day of Judgment to be punished So Ver. 4. Evil Angels are delivered into Chains of Darkness to be reserved unto Judgment Jude Ver. 6. Those Angels are reserved in everlasting Chains under darkness unto the Judgment of the Great Day This shews what sort of Judgment was before intended Chap. 3.12 What manner of Persons ought ye to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God wherein all shall be burnt up but we look for new Heavens and Earth and seeing ye look for such things be diligent that ye may be found of him in Peace without spot and blameless Thus he exhorts to a Holy Life from the expectation of the Great Day of Judgment and Dissolution of the Earth Sky and Elements about it without a word of Separated Souls or a particular Judgment or an Intermediate State between Death and Judgment