is that no Persecutors can damn the Souls of God's Servants I wou'd fain know why they suppose him to have taught so plain a truth in so dark a manner For how shall we be certain that killing means Damnation in that place when it signifieth no such thing in any other Scriptures Others can fancy the meaning is that men cannot kill the Soul for ever or for good and all as we say But that 's as vain as the former and appears to be so by the same reason for then there should be no more said of the Soul than may be said of the Body for they cannot kill the Body for ever it shall be alive after death has done its worst It shall be raised Incorruptible 1 Cor. 15. and this mortal must put on Immortality And that the word kill in St. Matthew must be meant of killing for ever no proof can be pretended to either from the phrase or circumstances or scope of the place and therefore it might be sufficient to deny it without confuting it Others again would evade the force of this Text of St. Matthew by comparing it with Luk. 12.4 Fear not them that kill the Body but after that have no more that they can do where there is nothing said of the Impossibility of killing the Soul. And indeed as a Kingdom is most in danger when it is divided against it self so Religion they perceive is most powerfully resisted when it is opposed by its own strength by that blessed word which is at once its rule and support But it cannot be used for so ill a purpose without gross ignorance or great perversness as may easily be exemplified in the said Objection For first both these Texts are from the same Spirit of Truth and however the latter be expressed yet the former is the word of Christ also and he really meaneth as he speaketh therein And if Men could any way make the Soul of Man to cease to be a living Soul it would signifie little to say that they cannot kill it since on that supposal they may do as much whether it be properly called killing or no nor would that Man well escape the imputation of a Blasphemer that should say the infinite wisedom would speak so vainly on any occasion Obj. But yet St. Luke doth not so express it and St. Matthew say some may be expounded by S. Luke Sol. 1. Though it be not so expressed by St. Luke yet where it is so expressed I desire the liberty of believing it true 2. There is no necessity in this affair of expounding the one by the other and if there were it may seem fitter to expound Luk. 12.4 by Mat. 10.28 than contrarily for that of Matthew is more special and particular than that of Luke And if any will say our Saviour did not intend to teach us the Souls immortality in the former because he did not mention it in the latter yet we must not suffer their confidence to carry it as we say or take their word for it Nor can they require us so to doe unless they should pretend to Mr. Hobbs's profoundness or a greater Man's infallibility Having supposed and in part proved that the Soul of Man remains alive after his Body is dead the next particular I would premise is this that it is a Subject capable of joy or sorrow after it leaves the Body according as it leaveth it in a State of Sin or a State of Grace It is not like some sort of Insects in the depth of Winter that have a vital principle without motion or operation that are alive and seem as insensible as if they were dead I know some would perswade us the Soul sleeps after Death but their great errors in other things may fully excuse us from believing them in this and I think it as strange a fancy as can enter into the Head of any Man that hath his understanding well awake for as the Psalmist says of God He that made the Eye shall he not see So we may say of the Soul that which gives sense to the Body shall not it perceive especially since it liveth after it leaves the Body as hath been proved SECT I. The Happiness of good Mens Souls in their Separation from the Body asserted and the probability of it discovered BEfore the proof and Vindication of this point it may be proper to shew the probability of it that they who are not perswaded 't is true may not be over confident that it is false by shewing the judgment of Eminent Writers that are presumed able to judge of a matter of this nature And if I were to satisfie a Romanist of it I might cite the noted Men of his Church i.e. 1. Aquin. their great Schoolman Sum. prim 2 dae quest 4. Art. 5. Aliqui dicunt quod Animae separatae ad beatitudinem non perveniunt c. Some says he tell us that good Mens Souls come not to Blessedness till the day of Judgment But this is plainly false In like manner goes Bellarmine in his tract de Arte Moriendi and especially in Lib. de ascens mentis grad 2 chap. 5. p. 35. Quid mirum ait si Angeli beatae Animae c. Where he joins together the Angels and Just Mens Souls doubting the happiness of the one no more than the other So grad 7. cap. 5. Quibus perpetuus Dies est c. Speaking of the same 'T is always day with them they know no darkness of sin or sorrow Tho. Ã Kempis de imitat Christi lib. 1. cap. 23. Sect. 6. Drexel Heliotrop l. 1. c. 1. Sect. 4. Cajetan in Philip. 1.23 most plainly in several passages that I need not transcribe But I leave these and rather cite our Protestant Worthies Musculus in Math. 17. Mors piorum Egressus est ex mundo ad patrem c. i. e. The death of Godly ones is a going out of this World to their Heavenly Father therefore to be desired more than to be dreaded Zanchius in Philip 1.23 Quanam sui parte c. In what respect did Paul desire after his dissolution to be with Christ Not in respect of his Body apparently therefore of his Soul therefore his Soul was capable of that Happiness immediately after death Others speak to the same purpose as follows D. Joh. Maccov de Anim. fept in explic Theorem 2. Ursin Catech. part 2. Resp ad quest 42. Paraeus in Rom. 6. Resp ad Dub. 9. Alsted Theol. Casuum p. 172. Piscator in Philip. 1. Essenius in Triumpho Crucis de satisf Christi lib. 1. sect 4 cap. 3 part 1. Dan. Chamiet lib. 25. cap. 2. de Beatitudine Jos Stegman Photin disp 52. q. 1. Jo. Scarpii curs theol de purgatorio Palan syntagmo l. 7 cap. 5. Arnoldus Lux. in Tenebr p. 418. D. Henr. Altingius L. C. Loc. 5. Controvers 2. To whom I may add a few of our English Worthies and those are as good as a great many Bp. Usher
I find not that the contrary minded have made any exceptions against this proof that are worthy any serious consideration And for that of the Apostle Heb. 12.23 I take it to be no less convincing For what but the Souls of good Men can be supposed to be called the Spirits of just Men made perfect For it cannot be said of the Angels they being distinguished from them in the same verse nor can it be meant of the Persons of Men Bodies and Souls united for these are called Men and not Spirits much less the Spirits of just Men. Obj. But we find in Scripture the Angels that have a charge over the faithfull are called their Angels and why may they not be called their Spirits being Spirits indeed Ans The question in this matter is not whether they may not be so called in some sense or respect but whether in that Text they are so called and I say they are not for two Reasons 1. Because the Angels are mentioned just before as was intimated and they are never called the Spirits of Men or the Spirits of the Just in Scripture 2. Because these are spoken of as made perfect as the things that are imperfect are brought to perfection by degrees for so the original signifieth now the Holy Angels never were destitute of any perfection that their nature needeth Since therefore it must be only the Souls of the Just that there are called the Spirits of the Just it will be easie to conclude the point from it For 't is evident it cannot be meant of their Spirits or Souls while in the Body here on Earth for in this state they are not made perfect but have a great deal of sinfull imperfection in them not as though I were already perfect said St. Paul of himself And 't is said they are made perfect that is already perfect and therefore is not spoken of that perfection which they shall have hereafter at the Resurrection of their Bodies nor can the scope of the place or context favour the interpreting of it concerning their state on Earth and since it cannot be understood of their Souls in their Bodies on Earth nor at the Resurrection then it must be meant of their Souls in their separated state And if in that state they are they are more perfect than before they were they must certainly be more happy also SECT V. The same Doctrine proved from Rev. 14.13 Blessed are the Dead that die in the Lord for they rest from their Labours c. HAving urged several Scriptures for my purpose I shall now only add this unto them And if any Person doubts whether this will prove the happy state of Just Mens Souls in separation from their Bodies he must be a Man of doubtfull Religion But for the business let us note in what manner the truth was manifested I heard said St. John a voice from Heaven saying to me write Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord from henceforth Note also that it is not spoken of Men as living on Earth or in Heaven but of them as dying in the Lord in his Faith and Fear Blessed are those Dead It is added from henceforth from the time of their dying And how can we think it would be said Blessed are those Dead if they did not obtain some blessed privilege by dying if death did not bring more good to their Souls than hurt to their Bodies then we have the Spirit asserting it yea saith the Spirit Together with one part or property of their blessedness they rest from their Labours from all their troubles whatsoever And this Rest must include a positive happiness in the Love and Peace of their gracious God For a meer Negative or Privative Rest consisting in a bare Freedom from Pain and Trouble is no more than the Beasts partake of when the Horse is dead there 's an end of his weariness as well as his work And I hope we may safely believe that a dead Christian that shewed himself such in his life is in a better state presently after Death than a dead Beast can be and he whose Religion is any thing stronger than his Atheism will account this Text an evidence of it And this shall suffice for Confirmation of the point and I doubt not but it may be some satisfaction to those that seek the truth in Love and humbly implore the guidance of God's Holy Spirit In the next place I am to make good my method and so to vindicate this truth from exceptions and defend it from that violence which some have offered unto it SECT VI. The Happiness of Just Mens Souls in the state of separation vindicated AS to contend for the truth is no unlawfull strife by clearing and confirming it so to maintain it against objections is not unnecessary And I know not whether some may not expect it But before I answer Mens Cavils against this comfortable Doctrine it may not be amiss to say something to those that would dissuade us from medling with matters of this nature For to what purpose say they should we trouble our selves about it For if we believe the Servants of God shall have an Eternity of Happiness after the Resurrection is not that sufficient for us whether our Souls can be happy in their separation or not Whether it is kindness or crosness Religion or Sin that moves men to talk after this rate I shall not now enquire Sure I am It is our Duty to search the Scriptures and blessed be God for the liberty of doing so And certainly 't is not below us to search them for this purpose if perhaps we may find satisfaction about it which that we may I trust will be acknowledged by the unprejudiced Reader Things revealed do belong to us and that this is revealed may easily be perceived by what has been insisted on about it And he that grants it a truth will never deny it to be a comfortable one whatsoever also Christians may undervalue methinks they should not despise the Consolations of the Scripture which will hold when other comforts fail And though it be not very delightfull to deal with the confident cavils of deceived Sinners yet to prevent their mischief I am willing to bestow a few lines upon them As for Scripture that they use to oppose this truth by 't is especially that of the Psalmist Ps 6.5 In death there is no Remembrance of thee and in the Grave who shall give thee Thanks But must not they be very quick-sighted that can find in the place of Darkness an Argument against this encouraging Doctrine But how little this Text maketh against it a few words will shew For. 1. The Psalmist doth not say there is no Remembrance of God after Death but thus In Death there is no Remembrance of thee viz. In that which is in Death or under Death's power even the Body Or then there is no such Remembrance of God as in the time of Life for the
Happiness at Hand OR A Plain and Practical DISCOURSE OF THE Joy of Just Mens Souls in the State of Separation from the Body For the Instruction of Weak Christians and for the Comfort of the Afflicted By J. B. Rector of Finchamsted in the County of Berks. Psal 63.3 Thy Loving Kindness is better than Life Qui cupit dissolvi esse cum Christo haud patienter moritur sed patienter vivit delectabiliter moritur Aug. LICENSED July 2. 1686. LONDON Printed by J. H. for L. Meredith at the King's Head at the West End of St. Paul's Church-Yard 1687. THE Epistle Dedicatory To the Worshipfull and my most worthily honoured Friend Dr. Robert Woodward Chancellour of my Lord Bishop's Court at Sarum Worthy Sir AS I have adventured to make use of your Name in this way so I am perswaded 't is scarce more easie for uncharitable Minds to Blame me for it than for your Kindness and Courtesie to excuse it in some Measure And if Any should account me presumptuous in so doing I can truly tell them That I had a very great and almost Irresistible Temptation to it For Gentlemen of good Repute and Judgment do not seem to doubt but I might bear the Reflections of Ingratitude as well as Imprudence if having an opportunity I should not make some publick Acknowledgment of my Obligations to your Worship for those great Instances of your undeserved Friendship which Blessed be God I so happily received in those publick Circumstances that made me stand in need of so Good a Friend Accept therefore I beseech you Sir this plain Piece as a Pledge of the unfeigned Thanks that I must ever owe you And Sir I do the rather beg your Acceptance of it because the Doctrine defended is apparently owned by the Church of England and partly Because if it find in the Main that Honour and Favour I shall think my self sufficiently Armed against the Censures of the Profane Malignant World. The Father of Mercies follow you still with His Goodness Granting you many Happy Days here on Earth and when your Time is ended the Joys of Eternity and the Blessedness of Them that Dye in the Lord. So praying refteth Good Sir Your Worship 's most humble Servant and most effectually obliged John Brandon A Word to the READER CHristian Reader If thou askest why I publish this Discourse I can safely answer 'T is not to offend thee But possibly Thou mayst expect some further Account which take as followeth 1. The Subject here treated of is not so commonly handled as many other Points of Religion Among the Multitudes of Books abroad in the World which I have made some Enquiry about there is not so much as one Pocket-Volume that I can find written upon it purposely plainly and practically And Those that have spoken occasionally of it in larger Pieces containing various Subjects have said a great deal more than they have proved about it I could shew a prety many pages relating to it that afford not so much as one good Substantial Argument for the truth of it and yet it deserveth to be as well proved as most Doctrines that I know of and much better than some that have been sufficiently contended for 2. 'T is a Subject that seems to afford an Eminent Degree of Support and satisfaction to a Pious Soul. For though the Being for ever with the Lord be the Top of our Felicity whether we enjoy it sooner or later yet me thinks the Hope of being with Him in a little Time may be agreat Addition to a Christian's Joy. May it not be a Matter of Special yea strong Consolation to think and Believe on Scripture grounds that he shall be a Gainer by his Dissolution have his Soul with Christ and his Angels before his Body is with Worms and Dust and see the Eternal Light and Love as soon as Death has drawn the Vail of Flesh And that it may Assist thee Christian Reader in the chearfull Service of thy God which is the truest Heaven that Thou canst hope for here on Earth is so evident that it need not be proved Well may he serve his God with Gladness that hopeth so shortly to see his Salvation And I was the more encouraged to go on herein because I feared no Opposers For the Church of England teacheth its Friends to say in the Burial Service O God with whom the Souls of the Faithfull after they are delivered from the Flesh are in Joy and Felicity And if I am opposed by its Enemies it will be matter of small Regard with me yet if any man of what perswasion soever shall employ his Pen to Disprove the Main of what I have said on this Point He may be attended to if God grant Life and Leisure I can easily judge that a Work of this Nature were fitter to be managed by others than by Me yet that must not hinder me from doing it as I can And if my Imperfect Doing of it may Anger any man so far as to move him to do it Better I shall think I have written to very good purpose And now I have onely to Request of thee these few things 1. That thou wouldst reade over this Discourse when thou hast not a better at hand for which I need urge no other Motives than the Smallness of it and the Greatness of it's Subject 2. That thou reade it with a Charitable Eye and a Christian Aim receiving the Truth with all Readiness of mind not Rejecting any thing thou findest to be Sound for the Sake of any thing that thou thinkest to be weak 3. That thou wouldst beseech God of all Grace to give us such Grace as may be sufficient for us such as may fit us both in his due time for the Participation of that Felicity which this small Book is designed to Discover I add no more but to Subscribe my Self Thy Servant for the Sake of Jesus John Brandon Finchamsted Berks May 10th 1686. A Table of the Contents of this Discourse THE Introduction with some Presuppositions relating to the Point Viz. The Soul's Immortality and it's Capableness of being Happy out of the Body Page 1 SECTION I. The Happiness of good Mens Souls in their Separation from the Body asserted and the Probability of it discovered pag. 12 SECT II. The happy State of good Mens Souls after Death proved from Phil. 1.23 having a Desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better together with an Answer to a Socinian Exception pag. 17 SECT III. The Point proved from Luke 23.43 This day Thou shalt be with me in Paradise and Colos 1.20 To reconcile all things to himself whether Things on Earth or Things in Heaven with an Answer to some Exceptions pag. 26 SECT IV. The same proved from 2 Cor. 5.8 We are willing rather to be absent from the Body and present with the Lord and Heb. 12.23 The Spirits of Just Men made perfect pag. 31 SECT V. The same Doctrine proved
from Rev. 14.13 Blessed are the Dead that dye in the Lord for they rest from their Labours c. pag. 36 SECT VI. The happiness of Just Mens Souls in the State of Separation vindicated pag. 39 SECT VII The Point improved for Confutation of Errors pag. 45 SECT VIII For trial of our selves whether we are of the number of those Just ones that may justly expect this approaching Felicity pag. 48 An Appendix to the Eighth Section being a Character of that Just person whose Soul shall shortly be so happy pag. 71 SECT IX Shewing the Usefulness of the Point in two other Particulars pag. 83. SECT X. Being a Perswasive to several great Duties pag. 88 SECT XI Containing the Resolution of two great Questions pag. 95 SECT XII Treating of the Nature of this Happiness and the Joy that attends it pag. 113 SECT XIII Shewing the Greatness of the Love of Christ which the Souls of his People all enjoy after Death pag. 132 SECT XIV Discovering the Greatness of Christ's Love in what he did or suffered for Sinners pag. 142 SECT XV. Being other brief Improvements of the Point page 150. SECT XVI Being a farther Improvement of the Doctrine aforesaid as an Antidote against the Fear of Death pag. 157 A POSTSCRIPT Attempting the Resolution of a Weighty Question with an Appendix to the 13th Section concerning Christ's Filiation in a Letter to a learned Authour pag. 185 Happiness at Hand The Introduction with some presuppositions relating to the Point THAT Godliness is great gain and the ways thereof peace and pleasantness is assured to us by the Authour of that blessed Book which may save our Souls but cannot deceive them And though Religion be so good in this Life that every good action may afford some degree of comfort as Dr. Sibbs was wont to say when the Soul is not under temptations and mistakes yet the best of Religion is reserved for another World and its strongest Consolations kept in store to be enjoyed in that high and holy place where there is joy without sorrow peace without trouble Sanctification without Sin and all without end And that thy Joy may be full consider Christian Reader what grounds thou hast to believe that this Happiness is at Hand also and shall be possessed in good part by thy Soul in its separated State most certainly the love of thy Lord is better than Life and will be better to thy Spirit than the life of thy Flesh and all the comforts of this lower World the discovery of which I am not presently to attempt but rather to premise a few particulars in order to it The first thing to be supposed as the Foundation of what follows is The immortality of Mens Souls which some have been so brutish as to call in question imagining that Men die in all respects as the Beasts that perish and therefore live as if Body and Soul should rot together Whose folly therein I need on this occasion no farther to shew than by considering the words of him who is the faithfull and true Witness and knows us better than we do our selves viz. Mat. 10.28 Fear not them that can kill the Body but are not able to kill the Soul. In which words our Saviour spake plain enough nor can any subtilty in the earth evade the force of them or obscure to any purpose the clearness of that Testimony which they give to the Souls Immortality For they are brought in as an incouragement to his Apostles to preach the Gospel an incouragement I say against the fury of Persecutours of whom he spake in the foregoing verses He would not have this dishearten them Fear not says he them that can kill the Body but are not able to kill the Soul. q. d. As they can do nothing more against you than they are permitted to doe so the worst they can possibly do to you can kill no more than your Bodies your nobler parts your Souls are above the reach of all their violence therefore fear them not in any discouraging way Will not any one that readeth that Text with heedfulness and without prejudice be satisfied that this is the meaning of it And if it were designed by our Saviour to express the Souls immortality how could it be done more effectually and more plainly in a few words But nothing is plain enough to them that will not see the truth The strength of which as to this particular may appear by the weakness of those Interpretations which the contrary minded have put upon this Text. 1. Say some the killing of the Soul may be meant of Damning it They cannot kill it with Eternal Death or Damnation Ans That none of the greatest Persecutours could kill the Soul in that manner is very true but 't is not the meaning of that Text Mat. 10.28 For the Damning of the Soul is not spoken of in the word kill but in the word Destroying but fear him who is able to Destroy Body and Soul in Hell in the same verse now to kill and to Destroy are different words and as different things the disobedient are threatned with an everlasting Destruction 2 Thes 1.9 but no where with an everlasting killing 2. The killing of the Soul which is there denied to be in the power of Men is not to be understood of Damnation because that is never expressed by that word in Scripture Let any Man shew so much as one Text therein where the Damnation either of the Soul or of the Person is called a killing of the one or the other 3. The same word in the Original is used of both which shews it meant in the same sense of both So that as the word everlasting Mat. 25.46 spoken of the punishment of the wicked is the same that is spoken of the Life or Glory of the Righteous and therefore proves the perpetuity of the former as well as of the latter as is shewed elsewhere So the Original word for killing * Everlasting Fire no Fancy Cap. 1. Sect. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being the same for substance that is used in the said Text concerning the killing of the Soul and of the Body it must needs be understood accordingly So that they can kill the Body but cannot kill the Soul must needs signifie to us that the Soul continues to live the life of a Soul when the Body ceaseth to live the life of a Body And I know not how any can deny it unless he be resolved upon perverseness and will offer violence to the plainest speeches imaginable 4. At that rate of Interpretation which these Objectors use our Saviour should therein have spoken no more of the Soul than may be said of the Body For Men we know cannot Damn the Body no more than the Soul. But there we see the killing which is denied as to the Soul is granted of the Body that can says our Lord kill the Body but cannot kill the Soul. And if any yet think the meaning
that it can afford for my part I must needs say I do not admire it And now I shall take leave to declare my Sentiments herein with submission to better Judgments and a Willingness to be farther informed And 1. by way of Concession I grant that the perfection of happiness properly so called or in respect of the Compositum or whole Man is reserved to the day of Judgment Then the Lord will give his Righteous Servants the Crown of Righteousness and the eternal weight of Glory as St. Paul speaketh 2. I grant there is a state of Christians in this Life that may be called a Blessedness which yet is accompanied with no small imperfection because they daily lodge an Enemy of God and have sin dwelling in them If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves But 3. that a holy Soul after death has not the perfection of Happiness or less of Happiness than it needeth or desireth this I cannot comply with Here therefore I shall attempt to prove that the departed Souls of the Just are in a State of perfect Happiness and have all that spiritual comfort from the God of all comfort which on any account they have need of and such a Happiness I think we may justly call perfect and is all that I wish to my own Soul in its absence from the Body Now for this let us consider the state of Sanctified Souls after their removal from their Bodies They have certainly Life and Sense and Knowledge and all the essential perfections that belong to them as spiritual substances St. Stephen doubtless would not have said when his Enemies were killing him Lord Jesus Receive my Spirit if he had not believed that his Soul should continue in its spiritual Being after his Body was dead Now the Souls of such if they have not all the Happiness that they need then they must know so much or not if we say they do not know it we shall hardly prove that they know any thing else and so comply with the Socinian Dream of the Souls sleeping after death And in reason what are they more like to know than their own State But if then they know themselves destitute of any Happiness that they need that knowledge must be matter of trouble and dissatisfaction unto them and so at that rate the Souls of the Just shall be in part really unhappy which those that judge of them by the Scriptures will not believe 2. If in their separated State they have a perfect enjoyment of God they must be perfectly happy by the confession of all those that know wherein Happiness consisteth And that in that State they have a perfect enjoyment of God is one would think no hard matter to make evident For nothing but sin can hinder the Soul from a perfect Communion with God and comfort in Him. The Prophet tells the People of nothing but their Iniquities that could separate between them and their God he means apparently in point of comfort Esay 59.2 But their iniquities we have seen already do not follow them into the other World their Souls are not under the defilements of sin when they leave the Body and go into the glorious presence of the holy one The Apostle calls them the Spirits of Just Men made perfect Heb. 12. and the Psalmist tells us no evil shall dwell with him 3. To be ever with the Lord in his special glorious presence is spoken of as the very top of our Felicity and the principal matter of a Christian's Comfort 1 Thes 4.17 18. And this Happiness the departed Spirits of the Just do partake of To depart and be with Christ says St. Paul Phil. 1.23 and in 2 Cor. 5.8 Desiring rather to be absent from the Body and to be present with the Lord. If therefore the one proveth the complete Happiness of the whole Man as such the other as well proveth the perfect Happiness of the Soul as such Go on therefore O Faithfull Christian in thy Christian course with Faithfulness and Diligence with Christian courage and Resolution and let thy Soul magnifie the Lord for it shall shortly want for no Felicity SECT XII Treating of the Nature of this Happiness and the Joy that attends it BEing come unto these points I am in the depths indeed and may well say as St. Paul who is sufficient for these things But having engaged in this Service 't is fit I should go on with it and perform it as God shall enable me Here then I am to consider the happy privileges of a Sanctified Soul in its state of Separation And 1. its Sanctification I mean full and perfect by which it is freed from all the evil of sin for the present and all the danger of it for the future as the Apostle calls them the Spirits of Just Men made perfect Heb. 12.23 That this is meant of the Souls of the faithfull is generally granted and 't is common in Scripture for the Soul to be spoken of under the name of Spirit The dust the Body shall return to the Earth but the Spirit shall return to God that gave it Eccles 12.7 And St. Stephen in like sort commended his Soul to his Saviour Lord Jesus receive my Spirit Acts. 7.59 And in that Text to the Hebrews The Spirits of Just Men can signifie nothing but their Souls because mention is made of Angels in the verse before from whom therefore they are plainly distinguished And their being made perfect must needs be meant of perfection in Grace and Holiness for as to any perfection in a natural sense they had it as much before in this World yea the state of the Soul in its Separation without the perfection of Grace in it may be thought to be a state of greater imperfection than before it was in Now ponder with thy self Reader of this particular and think what a blessed condition this must be If he is stiled Blessed whose Iniquity is forgiven Psal 32.1 How Blessed then may they be accounted that have all their Iniquities pardoned and removed also What a Happiness is it to be freed from all possibility of sinning If St. Paul so much lamented the In-being of Sin complaining that when he would do good evil was present with him Rom. 7. and called himself Wretched Man for that very reason How glad may we think would he have been if at that very hour he could have assured himself that he should never be troubled with it any more a privilege which after death his Soul was perfectly instated in If the poor Man that I have read of was so much delighted to behold the Face of that Physician that had cured him of his fainting Sleeps and frightfull Dreams O then with what transcendent Joy and Gladness will a gracious Soul reflect upon the Love of its Redeemer when he hath freed it from all degrees of sinfulness and healed all its Infirmities for ever Oh what sacred and satisfying Irradiations will it receive from the Sun
of Righteousness when the Spirit of Glory hath perfected all its Graces and delivered it from all the darkness of sin And in being free from sin it shall be free from all other evils as he that is freed from his Debt is secured from all arrests and troubles that relate to it for whatsoever our God may be pleased to doe out of Sovereignty and without respect to his Creature 's sin as 't is supposed Job's Afflictions came on him in that way Yet Divines agree that God did never lay Affliction on his People but while they had sin dwelling in them so that the Souls of his Servants after Death are rid of all other evil as well as of sin They shall then be no more disturbed by any Enemies of their Peace the Regions of the unseen World they are then in shall be always Serene The Ocean of Eternity shall be calm and comfortable to them Then they shall have no more to doe with the Temptations of Satan the Mocks of the Profane the Snarls and Censures of proud-hearted Hypocrites These shall follow the upright no farther than the Grave For their end is Peace Psal 37.37 How found and substantial will the Soul's Joy be when it sees it self safe in the Arms of God's Love beyond the sphere of sin and sorrow which should move it to bear the more contentedly the Troubles and Temptations of this Transitory Life In particular the gracious Soul shall then have the excellencies that are most essential to true Happiness and be perfected in the Knowledge and love of God in Christ St. Paul himself though he knew much more of Christ than most ever did or shall do in this World and had the Revelations of things too great to be uttered 2 Cor. 12. Yet his knowledge had a real imperfection at the same time We know but in part 1 Cor. 13.9 and vers 12. Now I know in part but as it follows then I shall know as I am known I will not play the Critick on that phrase nor search curiously into the depths of it 't is for our purpose clear enough for it must be meant of perfection of knowledge because 't is opposed to a knowing in part If any say it is to be understood especially of the state at the Resurrection I shall not gainsay it But I see not why it may not be applyed also to the Soul in its Separation For as the particle Now doth confessedly denote the state of this Life so the particle Then doth as plainly intimate any time or state after this Life ended And he might express it so if it were properly and primarily meant of the Soul in its Separation from the Body As when he said Phil. 1. I desire to depart and be with Christ Which Being with Christ is confessedly intended in respect of his Soul. Nor is it easie to conceive how his Soul 's being with Christ after Death should be so much a better condition than any in this Life if therein it had not perfection in the Knowledge and Love of Christ For on Earth he had a great measure of them and was daily tending forwards towards perfection and was assured that nothing should separate him from the Love of Christ Rom. 8. Surely therefore a holy Soul will not want for knowledge when it has left the World. How can it be any thing less than perfectly light in the Lord when it shall be perfectly and gloriously present with him And who is able to tell us what a Joy and Blessedness this must be If I could know my God and Saviour with such a powerfull spiritual and affecting knowledge as some good Men have had on Earth my heart should be glad and my spirit rejoyce though I were utterly despised in the World and had not one hours health all the days of my Life yet all their knowledge here was imperfect as we have seen And how much better shall that state be where all sinfull imperfections shall be done away If the Mystery of Christ and Salvation by him be such a glorious thing that the Angels of Heaven desire to look into it 1 Pet. 1.12 O then what abundant matter of satisfaction and joy will it yield to all those blessed Souls to whom it doth really and eternally belong and to whom the worth and excellency of it with their interest in it is fully discovered by the Spirit of Grace and Revelation 2. Another privilege that holy Souls shall have after their departure hence is their Company They shall then converse with the best of Creatures and such as never offended their good God I mean the Holy Angels After Death they shall be as it were made Free of that Company and see themselves Members of that Blessed Society united in and under the same Head Christ Jesus Now indeed if they should see but one of those immortal Spirits standing be fore them with his Crown of Glory compassing them about with a Light brighter than that of the Sun offering to draw nigh unto them and asking to joyn with them in the Praises of the great Jehovah such a sight probably would more astonish them than rejoyce them because the sense of their sinfulness might cast a Damp upon their Hearts and make them unfit for the heavenly employment But it shall be otherwise with their Souls when they are fully conformed to their Maker's Will and as free from sin as the Angels of his presence for the Angels of Heaven and the Spirits of Just Men made perfect are Members of that happy Society which Divines use to call the Church Triumphant and therefore are related to one another by a far nearer and nobler Relation than that of Fellow Creatures of which the learned may consult Polanus in Syntag. and H. Altingii Theol. Nov. problemat p. 616. In a word they are called in the Gospel Their Angels Math. 18.10 And we cannot think that those blessed Spirits above that have ministred to them and by Gods appointment took charge of them and especially rejoyced at their Conversion Luke 15.10 I say we cannot think they will do any thing less than joyfully congratulate their safe Arrival at the state of perfect purity and peace and chiefly as it is the proper Fruit of the Will of God and the purchase of his Christ Surely the holy Inhabitants of the best World will not be strange to Holy Souls when they come into it nor are they like the foolish Hypocrites of the Earth that delight to shew themselves proud and scornfull and look with an evil eye upon the welfare of others 3. As I question not a Holy Communion and Converse between the Angels of God and the perfected Spirits of the Just so hitherto I can as little doubt their knowledge of one another and their satisfaction in each others Happiness in their state of Separation at least and especially those of them that were before more nearly related and were wont to join together in God's Service and
Praises here on Earth For it was the design of Christ to bring his People into a nearer Union with each other as well as himself that they may be one as we are one John 17.22 And those Arguments Divines bring for the Saints knowledge of one another after the Resurrection may seem almost as strong for their Souls Acquaintance with one another in their absence from their Bodies The Scripture speaking of the death of the faithfull says that therein they are gathered to their Fathers the holy Patriarchs and other their Religious Predecessours But they are not gathered to them in respect of their Bodies therefore in respect of their Souls 4. Holy Souls after Death shall be with Christ Phil. 1.23 When absent from the Body they are present with the Lord 2 Cor. 5.8 And oh what a thing is this 1. To be with Christ in his special and blisfull presence to know love and enjoy him fully clearly continually as the same Apostle maketh it the Crown of all Comforts To be for ever with the Lord 1 Thes 4.17 Thus I say to be with Christ must needs be a matter of purest and persectest Joy to a Christian's Soul. Oh that thou couldest fully understand good Reader the preciousness of such a privilege But Alas I want words to express it much more a heart to conceive it I am my self too little a Christian to tell thee the sweetness of this Consolation to discover the depths of this purest River of the Water of Life If the holy Apostle could solace himself in the hope of having the Company of his converts at Rome If the Lord Chancellour of England in the Reign of King Henry the 8th was so much delighted to see in London the Florentine Merchant that in some difficult cases had befriended him beyond Sea the expressions of whose joy and gratitude were so memorable that the Learned Dr. Hakwell thought good to record them in his Apology of God's power and providence If the Hearts of the weak have gathered strength and revived to admiration at the coming of some eminent unexpected Friends though these were but dying Dust and had not any degree of comfort absolutely at their command How unspeakably then must a gracious Soul be refreshed and most superlatively satisfied by the presence and favour of that immortal Majesty who suffered Death and the Curse to make it happy Surely it must needs be an inestimable benefit to be in the happiest manner present with him who is the King of Glory the Consolation of Israel the joy of Angels and the Saviour of the World. This therefore as he was a Mediatour was his great desire for his People That they might be with him where he is John 17.24 The joy of which we may a little guess at by the things that shall accompany this their Presence with him As 1. a full Deliverance from all Doubts and Fears and all things that may cause or occasion them Here how hard a thing was it for them to get an assurance of their interest in Christ and Salvation by him and when they had it t' was no easie matter to maintain and preserve it yea the best on Earth are not so privileged but that if they be not carefull and watchfull over themselves they may fall into such sins as may darken all their evidences for Heaven and deprive them of the Joy of their Salvation It was David's case Psal 51. But when once their Souls come to dwell with Christ then they shall be ever secured from all possibility of doubting about their spiritual and eternal welfare no such sad mist can cloud that Soul which lives under the Rayes of the Sun of Righteousness Here as they may have assurance so they may loose it again But to be with Christ is far better in that respect and they then Rest from their Labours from all that may be tedious and tiresome unto them Rev. 14.13 2. Their Presence with the Lord in St. Paul's sense will set them free from all manner of cares not only from disorderly and distrustfull cares but also from all natural necessary and prudential cares which their present state doth expose them to And the reason is plain because then their Souls are above all wants and necessities They want not for Monies when they are fully possest of the riches of Christ They want for no Friendship and good Company when they are happily joyned to the whole Family of Heaven They take no care for Food or Sleep when they enjoy him who is the Bread of Life and partake of that eternal Rest which he hath purchased for them 3. In a word Then they shall be freed from taking any care about doing their Duty and pleasing their God For the Difficulty of Duty will then be over and the Comfort of it only shall remain When they thus dwell with the holy one they shall be fully framed to his holy Will. To love God in perfection and delight in him without which Heaven it self cannot make us happy These things I say will be as natural and easie to holy Souls after death as it is to a thirsty man to drink or to the eye to behold the desired Light There being no sin then remaining in them to alienate and estrange them from their gracious God as hath been already proved And as their Being with Christ secureth them from all Trouble so it shall afford them the truest and strongest Consolation and that on these following grounds 1. Because they shall then see Christ to be their Own for ever And in all their knowledge of him they shall know him to be Theirs Propriety is in it self a pleasant thing with what content do Men many times speak even of those outward insufficient comforts which they can truly call their own My Mony and my Lands my Relations and my Friends c. Do usually sound with an Accent of Pleasure O what blessed Delight then must a pious Soul be elevated with when it dwells with Christ in a better World What Triumphant exultation will it be filled with when it can say with full assurance My Rock and my Refuge my Lord and my King my God and my Saviour my great High Priest and my Redeemer 2ly When they are with Christ in the sense aforesaid they shall possess the eternal Treasure and know perfectly the Love of Christ which passeth knowledge Eph. 3.19 The very Being with him necessarily implies the enjoying of his Love as the Departing from him imports the want of it Mat. 7.23 And how great a Happiness must that be And though I cannot comprehend it yet I may fitly take occasion to consider it and it shall be the substance of the following Section SECT XIII Shewing the Greatness of the Love of Christ which the Souls of his People shall enjoy after Death WIthout this my small Book would be too small and would speak me guilty of too great an oversight to be handsomly excused For how should I make
Blessedness indeed If the People of Israel after the Dedication of the House of God went away so glad and merry in heart for the Goodness that the Lord had shewed them therein 2 Chron. 7.10 If they had so much comfort in their Souls when Providence had delivered them from the sorrows of their Captivity and made them sit in peace under their own Vines Neh. 8.17 If the Wisemen rejoyced so exceedingly when they saw but our Saviour's Star appear Math. 2.10 O then what blessed Joy may we conceive to possess those happy Souls that partake of the sweetest Influences of that Sun of Righteousness and enjoy those Rivers of sacred pleasures that flow from his everlasting Love being perfected at the same time in their Love towards him This must needs be far better than the best condition here and how much better thou shalt know Christian Reader at the fittest Season in a far better manner than I am able to tell thee SECT XV. Being other Brief Improvements of the Point THIS Truth will truly serve for other good purposes besides those already mentioned and in the next place it may assure us of the comfortableness of a Christian Life The Enemies of Religion being as St. Paul speaketh unreasonable and wicked men instead of Reasons against it do rather deal in Reproaches and Slanders And there 's scarcely a greater reproach cast on it by the Men of the World than the unpleasantness of it as they imagine and the opposition they suppose it to carry against Mens present Comfort and Content Religion they confess is many times like Fire a good Servant as we use to say and therefore they think good it may be to have something of it and make a profession of it for their Credit sake or other earthly Ends But in the mean time they are loth to account it a good Master For if they came under the power of it and be ruled by it in their general Course they think it would make them melancholy and robb them of the very Joy of their Lives But assuredly there is no more reason why we should be asraid of Piety for the causeless Censures of ungodly Sinners than why we should despise the Light of the Sun for a mad Man's mocking and railing at it Let men but try the good way in truth and walk uprightly in it and then my Life upon it it shall not in the main make them sad It shall much rather make them glad yea it shall one day be the Joy of their Hearts to remember that they walked therein 2 Cor. 1.12 This is our rejoycing the Testimony of our Consciences that in Simplicity and godly Sincerity we have had our Conversation And the reason of it may in part be seen from hence for the good Way shall have a good End and bring them that walk in it to a happy State in spight of all that Death can do yea after it has done its worst upon them When they depart this Life they shall be with Christ which is far better Phil. 1.23 2. We may here inform our selves of the Nature of those Troubles that come upon good Christians in this Life viz. That they are but Crosses and not Curses Trials of Grace and mercifull Visitations not Vengeances in the least Degree or any Effects of destructive wrath for surely that mercifull Father that will make them so happy after Death doth not mean any mischief to them in the Afflictions he layeth on them in this present Life But will make all things work together for good unto them that love him Rom. 8.28 3. It may encourage Christians in their Spiritual Warfare and make them to run with patience the Race that is set before them How strenuously should they now strive against Sin since they shall shortly be more than Conquerours through him that loved them what Difficulties should make them weary of well doing since they shall so certainly and so speedily enter upon the Eternal Rest 4. Let Christians seriously consider this point and endeavour by Prayer and Meditation and all other good means to get their Hearts more affected with this Happiness that is so near at hand And to this end compare we the Joy of Just Mens Souls made perfect with other matters of Consolation that the Scripture offers unto our thoughts O what gladness would it have put into the Heart of a pious Christian to have seen the Saviour of the World in the Temple to have heard him preach the Doctrine of Salvation and speak as never Man spake To have seen the Multitudes that were miraculously fed and the Dead that were raised by him To have seen him invite poor Sinners to himself standing in the most solemn Day of the Festival and crying with a loud Voice whosoever is a-thirst let him come unto me and drink especially if at the same time he could have known his need of him and interest in him And what a Joy would it have been to have seen him after his Conquest over Death ascending to the high and holy Place To have stood among the Celestial Orbs to behold how he passed through the Regions of the Air how dark the brightest Stars were made by the presence of their Maker's Glory But chiefly what a thing would it have been to have seen the Blessed Jesus at his Entrance into the Heaven of Heavens To have seen the Everlasting Doors set open for that King of Glory to enter in together with that unconceivable welcome which he then received of all the Heavenly Hierarchy Angels and Archangels Cherubins and Seraphins all the innumerable Armies of immortal Spirits congratulating his incomparable Victories over Sin the Devil and Death offering up their praises to him and casting all their Crowns before him How joyfull a thing may we well conceive this would have been or rather joyfull beyond all our present conceptions And yet I think we may easily believe that the perfected Spirits of the Just do enjoy more comfort than all this could amount to for though in such Cases a Godly Man's Eye would in a great Measure affect his Soul yet while his Soul is sinfull 't is impossible it should be so perfectly joyfull as when it is freed from all Sin And while Sin is in it self Enmity against God it abiding in us must needs be an Enemy to our Comforts and withhold in some measure Good things from us SECT XVI Being a farther Improvement of the Doctrine aforesaid as an Antidote against the fear of Death HE that dwells in a World where Dying is so much in fashion should be one would think very inquisitive after something if possible to be found that may comfort him against that fatal stroke which he has so little hopes of escaping nor can I apprehend how any Man should be able to lead a truly comfortable Life that is not above the fears of Death in some good measure because there is no Place or Case no Company or Condition no Day nor
late Metaphysical Pen has laid it down as a Theorem Desiderat Anima separata iterum cum corpore conjngi i.e. The separated Soul desires to be united to its Body Answ As to this I think that of St. Paul to the Coloss may fitly be remembred Take heed lest any man spoyle you through Philosophy and vain Deceit For indeed Some things that go under that Name are sufficiently vain and deceitfull And as to this the Soul's desire to be united to the Body again if meant of the Souls of the Just to me seemeth no excellent Notion nor can I conceive how men should know it if it were so indeed Their Arguments for it I am not satisfied in and I hope it is excusable if I venture to urge one or two against it 1. If a good Christian's Soul when absent from the Body doth actually and properly desire to be joyned to it as a sick man desireth health or a Prisoner Liberty then whilst separate it must wish to be in another condition as the Sick wisheth his health But the separated Soul of a good Christian doth not wish it self at that time any other condition for being perfectly sanctified it is perfectly satisfied in the Will of God who crowneth it with his loving kindness and is better unto it than the Body and all the comforts here below 2. If such a Soul thus desireth to be in the Body then the Being in the Body seems to it a better and more desirable State but that it doth not nor cannot without Delusion for St. Paul tells us to depart and be with Christ is far better Philip. 1. And if in any sense it desires to be joyned to its Body yet it desires this only in God's appointed time for the reason afore given Ob. 4. But may it not grieve a Man to think of leaving his old Friends and Acquaintance and going into that World and State which he never saw nor ever spake with any that did Answ Doubtless this is that which lyeth hid in the hearts of many though they speak not to any such purpose And an evil Heart of unbelief may be much moved by it But how little cause a Godly Christian hath to be unwilling to dye on this Account a few words may suffice to make manifest For 1. He that is such indeed hath his Will in some good measure resigned up to his God whose Will is that He and his Friends should not dwell always together in this World. 2. The Friends that he leaveth at Death are but fellow Creatures and sinfull ones too such Friends as may afflict him as well as comfort him in a word such as may hinder as well as help in the way towards Heaven Nor can their greatest Friendship be firm and constant to him any farther than God's Favour doth make it so nor do them any good without his good providence But by Death the Sanctified Soul is translated into a far better condition to enjoy that most gracious glorious God who was his first and best Friend to whose undeserved goodness he was absolutely beholding for all the kindness that ever any Creature shew'd him In short that blessed God to whom all Nations as the Prophet speaks are as nothing and vanity that God whose Name alone is excellent and his Glory above the Heavens whose Power is Omnipotency whose Time is Eternity whose Bounty is unspeakable and whose Benignity is better than Life Psal 63.3 And touching the other part of the Objection viz. the Strangeness of the State that the Soul doth enter upon nothing but gross infidelity can make it seem of any weight For 1. Strangeness in it self hath no harm in it When the man that was born blind had Sight given him by Our Saviour it was doubtless a Strange thing to him to perceive the Light which he never did before nor could have any Ideas of yet the change was not grievous but joyous unto him How much more must it be so with that blessed Change to a Blessedness that changeth not which a gracious Soul shall find after Death And 2. as to such a Strangeness as consisteth in unacquaintedness I take it to be a strange Fancy without any ground at all in Scripture or Reason yea the contrary seems very evident from Scripture For as to their God the Case is clear in their absence from the Body they are present with the Lord 2 Cor. 5.8 And that it is meant of a more special and comfortable presence with him than before they had may easily be gathered from the Apostle's Scope in that place and is partly proved in a foregoing Section where that most comfortable Text is insisted on And how can they but have a nearer Communion with him when they are freed from Ignorance and Unbelief and all those things that are offensive in his Sight And concerning the Creatures also I humbly conceive that the Souls of such Persons do not want for Acquaintance with them How can we imagine that those Holy Angels should desire to be strange to those Souls in another World that delighted to do them good in this World and rejoyced in their Grace and Repentance Luke 15.10 Will those heavenly Inhabitants chuse to be at a Distance with them when they are most perfectly united to their glorious Lord and Head Jesus Christ the Righteous This let them believe that can for my part I hate the Thoughts of so gross a Solecism And I see no cause to doubt of the spiritual Communion and Converse of Holy Souls with each other in this their State of Separation The knowing one another can be no inconvenience when they are compleated in Grace and perfected in Love. That Charity and Joy are found in the perfected Spirits of the Just is confessed by all that believe them to such and to partake of any Happiness after Death And how can these Affections more properly be exercised among them than in Rejoycing at each others Happiness And how can that be without the Knowledge of each other and of their happy State And to this I shall only add the position of the Learned Maccovius Communicant Animae Separatae c. Separated Souls do communicate their minds to one another De Anima Sep. Cap. 4. Ob. 5. But say some it is not Dying but sorrowfull Dying that we are so unwilling of Alas we are so haunted with horrible Temptations and our Faith and Hope are so sadly shaken therewith that we fear lest we should dye in Despair which also we are the more amazed at because we are told that Despair is a most horrid Sin such as spoileth all at once as we say and stops up as it were the current of God's Mercy towards us Answ This Objection I cannot but think fit to deal with and I am the more willing to do so for the Satisfaction of those whose Religious Friends may have dyed in Doubts and Fears and with no Appearance of comfort For which end I lay down the
substance of Christian Religion of Judgment Bp. Prideaux Fascicul de Ecclesiâ q. 2. B. Davenant in Colos cap. 8. ver 15. Bolton de 4. Novissimis And this at least must be a probable Argument of the truth of what I contend for for that is like to be sound Doctrine which is so evidently owned by these excellent Authors so blessedly enriched with the wisedom from above And if any such or less than they had written a set Discourse on it plainly and practically and to the capacities of vulgar Christians I might have spared the little pains that I have taken about it If then I have erred in maintaining this Principle I have erred with Company and good Company too But I trust the ensuing Sections will shew it to be a truth to those that seek the truth in love SECT II. The Happy State of Good Mens Souls after death proved from Philip. 1.23 having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better together with an Answer to a Socinian exception HAving told thee Christian Reader that this Doctrine is probably true I am now to shew how certainly 't is so and that in the first place from those words of the Apostle Having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better In 1 Cor. 15. he called Death an Enemy and doubtless he was not in love with it as considered in itself But yet to die and be with Christ this he heartily desired as that which would be far better for him He tells his beloved People vers 24. that his continuance in the World would be most for their benefit To abide in the Flesh is more needfull for you But his departing would be most for his benefit being a departing and being with Christ And therefore he was in a strait as he calls it not knowing which to chuse Now if he should not upon his departure be with Christ as to his Soul he must needs have accounted a longer life to be most desireable For as to others good it was apparently so and no less for his own good also if his Soul could have no happiness in its absence from the Body for he had a great degree of comfort in Christ while he was living and could say in the midst of all his Persecutions Blessed be God who always giveth us cause to Triumph in Christ And he that had an eminent measure of Communion with Christ while living and all those strong Consolations that flowed from his assurance that nothing should separate from his love Rom. 8. would have been a great loser by dying if his Soul must then have been deprived of those precious comforts which before he had in Christ Surely St. Paul's words shew no fear of any such thing but plainly evince the contrary as the like expression in other cases would be thought to import Suppose one say I desire to go to London and see my Friends or I desire to go to Church and profit my Soul In these speeches any Man of reason would judge unless the person had the reputation of a Lyar that he certainly meant as he spake and hoped to see his Friends by doing the one and to benefit his Soul in doing the other And so in Scripture To go up and see the Land to go over and possess it Numb 13.30 Deut 3.25 are meant of going to see and possess it as the Way to the one and the other And if St. Paul's phrase to depart and be with Christ were not meant in like manner it were something more than very strange and it can be no otherwise his being with Christ after his departure being affirmed to be a better state than before he had notwithstanding the enjoyments before mentioned nor must our Opposers right reason which they talk so much of disswade us from expounding the words in that way that is most agreeable to common sense And though this may seem plain enough to any unprejudiced person yet it will not be amiss to answer what is excepted against it and to clear it from that darkness which some have so learnedly cast upon it Except And as to this I know none more considerable than V. Smalcius who in his Disputation De Judicio Extremo is pleased to present us with this Memorandum viz. 1. That St. Paul there makes no mention of his Soul but speaketh De se toto of his whole Person 2. That he might die and be with Christ at the Appointed time the Resurrection without supposing any Being with Christ presently after death Ans By this Man's temper and Tenet we may see that humane Learning and Acuteness is not sufficient to make a Man sound in the Faith and it might move our wonder that one of so much subtilty should not perceive the Apostles meaning in this particular if we did not remember the old saying None so blind as those that will not see for had it been confessedly intended to shew his Souls being with Christ or enjoying of him upon his departure yet it needed not have been expressed otherwise than by a desire to depart and be with Christ For after his departure he could not be with Christ as to his Body till the Resurrection which will be at the time appointed and cannot be hastened by his or any Man's shorter Life Nor could he desire to depart this Life if it were not for the hope of being with Christ in a better state thereby since it was more for his Peoples profit to have lived longer with them And we are satisfied he was not weary of his Life through the troubles that he met with in the service of Christ his Faith and Love was more powerfull than so nor doth he name any thing but his being with Christ which was far better as a motive to him to desire to depart this Life And to say 't is not meant of his Soul 's being with Christ because he speaks of his Person without naming his Soul is indeed to talk more like an Ignorant Man than a Divine or a Disputant for 't is spoken of his Person in respect of his Soul and nothing is more common in discourse than to speak that of Persons which holds true of them in respect of their Bodies or their Souls though not both perhaps as when we say they are Sick or Lame Wise and Knowing c. we hope we may speak true enough and proper enough too though we do not say formaliter they are Sick as to their Bodies c. but say absolutely they are sick so when Scripture says To dust thou shalt return it must be taken accordingly and my Authors Brain was not so Earthy as to think it must be so therefore with his whole Person or to argue that Man's Soul shall turn to Dust because 't is said to Dust thou shalt return More therefore I need not say upon this Argument till others think fit to say more against it Yet for the comfort of weak
Christians I think fit to add that this privilege of being with Christ after Death is not peculiar to St. Paul but belongs also to all that are truly Godly Death as well as Life is yours said he to the believing Corinthians and in them to all other faithfull Christians and certainly he meant t' was theirs in a comfortable sense for their good and leading to their happiness 1 Cor. 3.22 And if all things work for good to them that love God Death shall also and do them a kindness as well as the Apostle Rom. 8.28 nor doth the Apostle make any comparison between himself and the rest of the faithfull in this case or set himself above them in any respect as also in other places he declares them to have the same interest in him and Acceptance for his sake Christ who is our Life Colos 34. He made us accepted in the Beloved Eph. 1.6 Phil. 4.19 My God shall supply all your need according to his Riches in Glory through Christ Jesus Yea He is made unto us Wisedom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 And that the Souls of other Christians are capable of happiness after death as well as S. Paul's I will undertake to prove when I can think worth while so to doe SECT III. The point proved from Luke 23.43 This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise and Colos 1.20 To reconcile all things to himself whether things on Earth or things in Heaven with an Answer to some exceptions AMong the many Scriptures that confirm this comfortable Doctrine these are very considerable In the former our Saviour tells the dying Penitent the joyfull News This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise but he was not so in respect of his Body therefore in respect of his Soul. Whether his Soul was to be that day in Heaven or only tending to it I shall not here enquire 'T is enough for my purpose that it was to be in Paradise for that can signifie no less than a place and state of happiness And we doubt not but Christ's favourable presence could make any place a Paradise for delight and more delightfull than the Earthly Paradise ever was This Text is so strong on our side that our greatest opposers can hardly tell what to say to it any otherwise than by espousing that wretched evasion of the foresaid Racovian Doctor Val. Smalcius viz. Changing the Sentence by misplacing the Comma and reading the words thus Verily I say to thee this day Thou shalt be with me in Paradise namely some time or other as if this day were meant of Christ's speaking and not of the Penitent's enjoying Modus loquendi Hebraicus c. It is says he a speaking after the manner of the Hebrews who use to express themselves so when they would tell us matters of special remark as Deut. 30.18 If ye Worship other Gods and serve them I denounce unto you this day that ye shall surely perish But if they gain the cause at such a rate Luk. 23.43 cleared let them take all and set up their own Heresie for sacred and saying truths For 't is easie to turn â—â—â—th into errour and sense into non-â—â—â—se by mis-pointing any places of Scripture or any other Books and when Men make so bold with the words of our Lord we may fitly call them to account for it and censure their presumption and perverseness which in this case seems very plain For first they shew us no good reason why it should be read I say unto thee this day nor was there need that Christ should tell him that he said so in that day nor do we find him use such an expression in any place or on any great occasions For when he would tell us the necessity of Conversion he says not I say unto you this day but Verily I say unto you except ye be converted ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and the like of his being owned by the Angels Verily Verily I say unto you hereafter ye shall see Heaven open and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man Joh 1.51 Vain enough therefore is that Author's suggestion that it was so spoken for the weightiness of the matter And though in the Old Testament there were such phrases used I say to thee this day yet it was in matters of threat or of command but not in matters of promise or comfort Our Lord also hath it Verily I say c. now as there was no need at all of such a solemn Asseveration to tell the Penitent Thief when it was he spake unto him his own Ears being sufficient so it was very proper to be used in telling him of the happy change that he should make so speedily and tended much to satisfie him in it So that of the Apostle Colos 1.20 to reconcile all things to himself whether things on Earth or things in Heaven Here what can we suppose meant by things in Heaven reconciled Piscator expoundeth tam fideles c. as well the faithfull received to Heaven as those still on Earth If this be the sense of it 't is full enough to prove the faithfull Christians Soul to be happy after death and if it be not I almost despair of knowing it As to the Holy Angels it seems very improper to interpret it of them for how are they Things reconciled that never offended their God and so needed not any reconciliation And there is in that Chapter no discourse of Enoch and Elias or any thing to enforce it to be meant of them and whether the expressing it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all things not all Persons he may not have a special respect to the Souls of the faithfull departed I leave to others to consider of SECT IV. The same proved from 2 Cor. 5.8 we are willing rather to be absent from the Body and present with the Lord and Heb. 12.23 The Spirits of just Men made perfect IF other places should not satisfie Men as to this particular yet these one would think could not fail of so doing In the former St. Paul speaks nothing that was peculiar to himself but joyneth the rest of the faithfull in the very same privilege with himself We says he are willing to be absent from the Body and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore it must needs be granted that the Apostle did believe that when they were as he calls it absent from the Body they should be present with the Lord not only in a general sense as all things are but in a gracious and spiritual manner and such as containeth more comfortable Communion with him than any they could have in this mortal Life and that their being thus present with them when absent from the Body is to be understood in respect of their Souls is that which needeth not to be proved to any that make use of sober reason and are willing to understand the plainest words and
Edification of others or the like and we know Negatives in Scripture are sometimes meant only in some respect or kind as when the Prophet says there is no Peace to the Wicked that is no sound well-grounded Peace for they may have Peace such as it is yea till sudden destruction come upon them 1 Thes 5.3 It follows Who shall give thee Thanks in the Grave very sure that 's no place for Praise Yet nothing hinders but that the Soul after its departure may have a blessed Remembrance of the goodness of its God and give him perpetual thanks in its way and according to its capacity Nor do those words of the Psalmist import any thing to the contrary For as it was no part of the Psalmist's design to enquire into the state of a separated Soul in that Text so the Soul it self when separated from the Body is not in the Grave Nor doth it answer to the word Who for the Soul is not a Person but only a Constitutive part of the Person With no less vanity is Psal 146.4 objected against this point His Breath goes forth he returneth to his Earth and in that very day his thoughts Perish for Man 's thoughts in that Scripture need be extended no farther than his Earthly Thoughts his Counsels Projects and Policies as to this world Moller in loc which is enough to dissuade us from putting our trust in Man. Which also to doe was the purpose of the Psalmist in that place The Soul of the best Man would be pitifull Poor indeed if after Death it should be deprived of all its thoughts or thinking power and I am very confident the Apostle would not have desired to depart this Life if after Death his Soul should not have so much of Life as a thinking faculty containeth In the new Testament also there are some Texts urged by these Men but chiefly that of St. Paul 2 Tim. 4.8 Henceforth is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me in that Day meaning the day of Judgment Therefore that Blessedness signified thereby say they is reserved till that day and not given before But this Argument is so far wide that no art can make it come any thing close for their purpose For though we grant that the Faithfull have not their Happiness till then which is the most that it can prove Yet that doth not contradict the Happiness of their Souls in their separated state And how happy soever their Souls be in that case yet their Persons cannot enjoy the State of Glory till they are in the State of Personality in the Union of their Bodies and Souls which will not be till the Resurrection There be I confess other Texts that some can fansie this Doctrine to be opposed by but I pass them because they are so far from confuting it that in my Opinion they do not so much as seem to concern it SECT VII The point improved for Confutation of Errours AMongst the many good purposes for which the truth in hand may be serviceable it may fitly be considered for the disproving some principles that some People have too gladly entertained 1. That of the Libertines that the Soul at Death looseth its very being and vanisheth into Air or what they please or that it then hath a drowsie state if any and sleeps as it were in the Grave or other places Doctrines exactly calculated for the Meridian of Profaneness and may indifferently serve for all bad practices They are indeed of such a dismal Aspect and Malign Influence that I can hardly compare them to any more fitly than those that came out of the mouth of the Leviathan for they look as ugly though not just like them And as one day their folly shall be manifested to all Men so the present truth doth fully discover it For if the Soul in its separated state be capable of Joy and Happiness as was proved certainly then it looseth not its Being nor its Apprehension And well may he be deemed a senseless Man here that thinketh his Soul shall be so insensible hereafter And as plainly doth it oppose the Doctrine of Purgatory which though Bellarmine and his Brethren say hath its difficulties as to those questions about it which the Church has not determined yet is strongly asserted by them as a place of real punishment for the Souls of such as shall see Happiness at last but must in order to it be Purged and Purified in that place of Suffering Which can hardly need any other confutation than the proof of the happy state of the Spirits of the just in their departure from their Bodies which I hope hath been given from the Texts urged for that purpose SECT VIII For Trial of our selves whether we are of the number of those just ones that may justly expect this approaching Felicity SInce there is such a happy state for the just after Death yea presently after it so as that Death it self becomes their advantage and leadeth their Souls into the blessed presence of their Saviour Since it is thus I say methinks it should mightily move considering People to search and try their ways and states and see whether they are in such a state as may warrant them to lay claim to this Happiness at Hand which the word of our God discovers to us If it be reported any thing credibly that they who are so and so qualified shall have Honours and Preferments how easily would they be brought to consider whether they have the supposed Qualifications at least if they think themselves capable of them though at the same time they are not ignorant that Death will shortly disgrace all worldly glory Much more should Men try whether they can yet lay claim to that real Happiness that shall come quickly and last for ever Now as to this They need no more to prove their Interest in it upon the account of Christ than to prove themselves to be truly Just or Righteous Persons For 't is the Just that shall come out of Trouble Prov. 12.13 'T is the upright one whose end is Peace Ps 37.37 'T is the Righteous that hath hope in his Death Prov. 14.32 'T is the same also that the Prophet tells us shall enter into Peace Esa 57.2 And we know by a Just or Righteous Man the Scripture meaneth a Godly or Religious Man. There are but two sorts the Good and the Bad in Scripture which are commonly called the Righteous and the Wicked Malachi 3. Psal 37. The Just and the Unjust Math. 5. So that the question will be who are these Just Righteous Religious People To which I shall Answer 1. Negatively 2. Positively 1. Negatively They are not the Just ones that laugh at Religion and mock at all that is called Holy that are more taken with the principles of the Leviathan than with the precepts of the Bible that are Enemies to the word of Righteousness and had rather hear of any
goodness when once it hath left this sinfull World. 4. It should make a Christian willing yea glad to glorifie his God by dying for his truth if providence should call him to it Life is sweet says the Proverb and to part with it when we can keep it is commonly counted a hard Chapter and 't is really a principal part of self denial But 't is no more than a Christian ought to be content to practise though Mr. Hobbs his Leviathan would render it needless when God calls him to it and when he cannot keep his Life without renouncing the truth or doing wickedly some other way and as in such cases he should think himself bound to it by Christ's dying for him whose death was more grievous than the death of any Man else and whose life was more precious than the life of all created Beings so he should be encouraged to it by acting his faith upon the truth in hand for why should he either think it much or think it sad to part with his life for the honour of that immortal Majesty whose presence and favour is his whole Felicity and shall surely be to his departed Soul an Ocean of Eternal Peace and Pleasures 5. It should move a Christian to be content under the ordinary crosses of this life and particularly pains and sicknesses and spightfull causeless aspersions and disgraces No Affliction we confess is in it self joyous but grievous and therefore People are not to be blamed for being sensible of them nor are those kind of Persons wonderfull wise nor yet very charitable that censure their Neighbours of gross impatience for crying out in an extremity of pain though I say no Afflictions or those instanced in are in themselves any other than matters of grievance yet a Christian has no cause to be discontent or discouraged for his mind may receive great satisfaction when his Body can receive no ease and why should he faint at those Tribulations that shall so shortly have an end and a happy end too For however his Body be tired with Sicknesses and his Name abused by the basest Tongues yet e're long his Soul shall have Rest enough yea and credit enough also amongst the excellent Inhabitants of the unseen-World when once it hath put off its Earthly Tabernacle 6. It should move Christian Parents to take care of their Childrens spiritual welfare and see that they be brought up in the Knowledge of God and the Instructions of that sacred word Which is able to make them Wise to Salvation 2 Tim 3.15 And so tends to prepare them for a happy immortality when this mortal life is passed away SECT XI Containing the Resolution of two great Questions I thought to have gone on in the smooth track of duties and comforts arising from the Doctrine in hand but on second thoughts I was willing to resolve so far as the giving my opinion of some Queries relating to the present point 1. Whether the Souls of the Just after Death do go so immediately and directly to Heaven or are so confined and limited as to have nothing to do e at any time in this lower World 2. Whether the Rest and Joy which they have after Death be perfect or not Concerning these I desire the Reader to be of my mind no farther than he can see some reason for it As to the former the most common opinion I think is that such departed Souls have no more to doe with any on Earth or have no presence with them nor appearance to them at any time or on any account But with me the saying of it without the proving of it signifies but little and I know no Argument they being for it that my reason is satisfied in I therefore conceive the contrary to be true that holy Souls after death may be at some times and on some occasions present with Men in this World appear to them and converse with them though I believe it is not ordinary nor ought to be expected by any And since there 's noâ— better way to prove a thing may be than to prove that it hath been I shall therefore offer what to me seemeth considerable for that purpose And first That Text of St. Matthew 17.3 There appeared says the Evangelist unto them Moses and Elias talking with them Moses then appeared at Christ's Transfiguration now we read that Moses dyed and was buried in the Land of Moab Deut. 34.5 And if then he appeared in his Body he must have been raised from the Dead at that time but Scripture tells us no such thing which in all probability it would have done if it had been so There is therefore as great a probability that he then appeared in his Soul only And I find the Reverend Bishop Hall in Contempl. on the Transfiguration express himself in this sort Moses did then appear but whether in the Body or out of the Body I cannot tell Thereby granting the latter might be as well as the former and it is no absurdity for me to suppose that possible which so excellent an Author judged so If any should ask how can a Soul being a spiritual substance appear in the World perhaps I may answer in like manner I cannot tell and if I nor others cannot tell the manner of it yet that disproves not the reality of the thing I know the Spider makes his Web yet I do not tell Men nor they me how he makes it nor yet of what matter And if such Cavillers would tell us how Angels do appear that are as far from all essential corporeity as the Souls of Men we might the easier shew them how Souls may appear And thus much also I will add that an eminent Divine assured me that the best Philosophers he knew were of opinion that the Souls of Men removed from their Natural Bodies are embodied as it were in Aerial Vehicles and that he himself was of the same Judgment 2. That of Samuel appearing to Saul 1 Sam. 28.12 13 14. may fitly be urged For the Scripture gives no cause to believe that Samuel's Body was then raised from the Dead nor do I find Expositors supposing such a thing it may therefore well be thought it was Samuel in Soul only For the context seems to evince that it was Samuel really The Apparition being called by no other name as oft as 't is mentioned vers 12. When the Woman saw Samuel vers 14. And Saul perceived it was Samuel and thrice more in the other verses 't is so called I know the contrary minded will have Samuel to be meant of somewhat else either the Witches Familiar or Satan in his shape or some cunning piece that was to deceive Saul with I know not what extraordinary Arts and Tricks as Mr. Scott and Mr. Webster are willing we should think But if this be a warrantable way of interpreting Scripture I shall hardly know what is not and let any intelligent Person judge whether by such a way of interpreting
the plainest History in Scripture or elsewhere may not be spoiled And let it be remembred that He that called it Samuel so often was the holy Pen-man of that part of Scripture And the Letter is to be insisted on if there be nothing in that context or in other Scripture to enforce the contrary I am also the proner to think there is no such thing when I consider the insufficiency if I much mistake not of the best Answers that are given by Writers of great Judgment and Acuteness in other matters as Dr. Willet Chamierus and the Anti-Racovianist Nichol. Arnoldus in his Notes upon the place Whose Answer being brief and yet the substance of what the others say I shall with due respect to his Name and Works humbly take leave to examine Well then in Lib. cui tit Lux in Tenebris It must not be thought that it was Samuel in his Soul that there had to doe with Saul This the learned Author will not grant and gives the following reasons as 1 Quia sic subjectus fuisset Pythonissae Because says he if so he should have been Subject to the Witch of Endor whereas such a Servant of God was not in his Soul subject to her Reply True indeed He was not thus subject to her nor doth that Scripture imply any such thing For it is not said that Samuel came at her command yea the contrary is intimated for when he that is called Samuel appeared the Woman 't is said cryed out with a loud voice a sign she was surprised by seeing what she was not wont to see and perhaps before she had gone over all the methods of her Inchantments doubtless the appearance of her Familiar in humane shape or any thing else that was usual in her Magical Contrivances was not like to have been such an Afrightment to her 2. Ans Passus est se Adorari c. The Samuel here says he suffered Saul to worship him But true Samuel though in Soul only would not have suffered such a thing Reply Indeed the holy Soul of Samuel Would not have consented to such a thing but 't is possible for it for ought I know to have suffered such a thing The best of God's Servants in some cases may let a Sin pass without a formal reproof Not to espouse the opinion of those that say Duty properly respects the Person not a part of him Lex datur personis 2. How knows any Man that this apparition did not reprove Saul for Worshipping it if he did so indeed For there is no necessity of supposing that not to have been done which the Scripture doth not say was done We read of our Saviour that he did many things meaning no doubt many great and wonderfull ones that are not written or recorded John 21. And whereas some conceive that Saul's act was only an act of reverence and respect and not of worship or adoration they are like enough to be in the right and I am confident the expression in the 14 verse He stoopt with his Face to the ground and bowed himself doth not enforce the contrary His 3d. Ans Quia Sauli non Respondebat c. Because says he God refused to Answer Saul by any of the Prophets then living much less then would he do it by the dead and Luke 16. Such a thing was denied to the rich Man that requested it Reply That saying The Lord answered him not may according to the scope of the place be interpreted of answering Saul as he expected or in a comfortable way as t' was said to a wicked People When ye make many Prayers I will not hear Esay 1.15 And though Luk. 16. we are taught to attend to the Scripture and not to expect information from Saints departed yet this hinders not but that the Soul of a Saint in an extraordinary case may have some converse with the living in this World. And I have read in a good Author that some of those Angels that Scripture tells us appeared to People were probably the Spirits of Just Men called Angels only from their Office of Message and Ministration Thus Reader I have given thee my thoughts in this matter and if thou shewest me that I have erred herein I shall willingly owe thee and pay thee my thanks And if I am herein out of the way yet I am not alone some of my betters are of the same mind and particularly the famous Philosopher and Divine Dr. Henry More I shall now only as to this add a remarkable History mentioned by a good Author as followeth One Mr. Watkinson a Religious Man had a Daughter whom he dearly loved married to a Man at York He then living in London She came several times to visit her Father and the last visit she made she said at parting that she feared she should never see him more in this World. To which he answered if he died before her in case God would permit the Dead to see the Living he would surely see her once more When he had been dead about half a year in a night when shecould not sleep the Chamber grew lighter and lighter and being perfectly awake she saw her Father stand by her who called her as he used to do saying Did I not tell you I would see you again She called him Father and talked of many things He bad her be Patient and Dutifull to her Mother He also bad her speak what she desired at that time because he must shortly leave her and then he should meet her no more till they met in the Kingdom of God and so at length the Chamber grew darker and he was gone I know very well that Men of large Consciences have a very narrow belief of matters of this nature for the most part And I doubt not but the Atheistical Leviathanists of this Age are ready to laugh at such a Relation but I dare say 't is not the less credible for that For as it was the substance of a Letter written to a Doctor of Divinity so 't is recorded by a very ingenious and judicious Author Mr. Joseph Glanvil with these words at the end of it I was told this with great assurance by Dr. Rust afterwards Bishop of Dromore and was not credulous in these things Now though these Men had a design to promote the interest of Religion yet 't is verily thought they were not so unwise or unworthy as to endeavour it by frivolous and ungrounded reports Thus to the first Question Quest 2. Whether the Rest and Joy of Just Mens Souls in their separated State be perfect or not Ans This is proposed by several Writers and particularly Buchan in Loc. Com. and Alstedius in Theol. Polemicâ and is determined in the Negative Inchoatâ Beatitudine c. Others use the word Incompleta They enjoy say these the beginning of Blessedness or an imperfect Blessedness Those that like this Notion for me may make the most of it and reap all the comfort
this I cannot conceive to be such a heinous Sin or such a dangerous Case For example If through Melancholy or Satan's Suggestions he be brought to think that he is under the guilt of the unpardonable Sin then he cannot chuse but despair of being pardoned And though I believe it is a great truth that no true Christian shall ever be guilty of the unpardonable Sin having an interest in Christ and there being no condemnation to them that are in Christ even such as walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8.1 2. and for other reasons that need not now be named Yet I doubt not but such a one may fear he is under it and verily think so I remember Mr. Fox tells us it was the case of Mr. John Glover a Person of exemplary Piety So that Despair in such persons and on such grounds may be reckoned amongst those Frailties and Infirmities which our God doth pardon of course to his adopted Children in Christ He is what he is stiled their Heavenly Father Mat. 6. and we can easily understand that the Child is incomparably safer by his Father's Hold of him than by any Hold that he can take of his Father He is their God for ever Ps 48.14 and no Darkness or Discomfort no Terrour of Life or shadow of Death shall ever deprive them of their Interest in him or disanull his purpose of Grace which was towards them in Christ Jesus before the World began Ob. 6. But after all this you may perhaps when your turn comes be as much afraid to Dye as others are Answ Very like so I can say nothing to the contrary nor can I tell in the least how it will be with me in point of comfort at my last Hour I well know that of my self I am as nothing and all my Sufficiency is of God. I shall therefore fear the last Enemy either much or little or not at all according as that King Eternal shall be pleased to grant or to withhold the Influences and Assistances of his Holy Spirit If he should leave me to my self to the Power of Temptation to the Doubts and Sins of my own Heart I know my Spirit would fail on a suddain and I should look like those that have been seven Days dead But good Reader how weak soever I or others may be yet our God is Strong and Faithfull and True and the Empyrean Heaven may sooner fall and perish than the least part of his promised Goodness fail Go on therefore O Christian in the good Way with a good Courage and Resolution Live upon Christ and live unto him and serve that blessed Lord with Joyfulness of Heart Fear not the Reproach of Men nor be afraid of their Revilings Endeavour to bring Glory to the Name of Christ by walking more and more as becomes his Gospel and then never value a thousand hard Censures and disgracefull Names or any other cruel Arts that Hell can invent to discourage Religion by For e're long through the tender Mercies of our God thou shalt be above the reach of all thy Enemies when thou removest from the best of thy Friends on Earth thou shalt dwell with those that Love thee better When thy Soul shall leave this malignant World it shall see the Love of the Lord Jesus that free that full that glorious Love which is better than Life and stronger than Death which makes the Host of Heaven glad and fills the Seraphins with Sacred Joy. A POSTSCRIPT Attempting the Resolution of a weighty Question with an Appendix to the 13th Section concerning Christ's Filiation in a Letter to a Learned Authour SIR I am satisfied in your Opinion of the Necessity or at least the Expediency of Answering those Opposers who enquire how 't is likely the Soul can Act when 't is without its Body to act in since it apparently dependeth on the Body in its Operations and its actings are evidently hindered when the Body is indisposed by Sleep or Sickness c. Which I hope may in part be solved by the ensuing Considerations 1. That the Soul 's depending on the Body in some of its Actings doth only prove that it hath need of the Body in it's present State wherein it was appointed to act in it and by it 2. That the Soul doth act in some ways very much when the Body least contributes to its Operation Even in Sleep it self the Soul is not wholly unactive for it then acteth by Thoughts and Dreams And as some tell us they seldom wake but out of some Degree of Dreaming So 't is impossible for any to prove that they did not dream or exercise a thinking power in their deepest Sleeps for that may be though they do not remember it Some Mens Fancies and Consciences have acted most strangely when their Bodies have lain as dead many Hours together declaring when they came to their Senses what a sad case they had been in and thought themselves to have been in Hell. 3. That its Dependance on the Body in some of its Operations doth not prove its Dependance on it in All or in those that are most natural to it as Understanding and Willing Hoping or Fearing Joying or Sorrowing 4. That God who hath told us in his word that it is Immortal and cannot be Killed Math. 10.28 doth know how to preserve its operating power without the help of a Weak and Dying Body If its Life and Being doth not depend upon its union with the Body why should we conceive its Operation and Apprehension to depend on it 5. Though the Soul in its Separation be without its Terrestrial Body yet it may not therefore be concluded to have No Body to Act in for it may have an Aërial Body which was so far from being counted absurd by the Ancients that they did suppose the Angels themselves to be in some sense embodied Creatures And perhaps it may be hard to prove that the Holy Apostle doth not mean some such thing when he saith we desire to be cloathed upon with our House which is from Heaven 2 Cor. 5.2 and verse 4. not that we would be uncloathed but cloathed upon 6. When the same Apostle had in his Rapture to the third Heaven such Divine Discoveries as he could not utter he assures us that he could not tell us in what State he had them Whether in the Body or out of the Body I cannot tell 2 Cor. 12.2 3. Which it seems was very remarkable since it is mentioned twice in those verses Now how can it be imagined that the Apostle should make it his business to declare that he knew not whether he had those Revelations in the Body or out of it if the Soul without its Terrestrial Body were an Unactive and Insensible thing Sir I have also considered farther about the great Point we were discoursing of whether Christ be the Son of God on the Account of his miraculous Conception and for the Negative I would humbly offer these Reasons 1. Because the Affirmative seems to enervate the Arguments that Orthodox Divines use to prove him the Son of God by Real and Eternal Generation or at least to take away the necessity of arguing about it For they will say what need any Man seek such a ground of his Sonship if he may fitly be called the Son of God upon a far different Account 2. Because Christ is not therefore called the Son of God in any Scripture unless it be in Luke 1.35 And I think it hath not yet been proved that he is so called in that place on that Account for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is the only Nerve that the proof of the contrary-minded is fastened on which methinks should afford no cogent Argument For the Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be consequential as well as causal And 't is hard to find any thing in that Text or context that will prove it to be causal And possibly the Conjunctive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may make against it 3. Relationes se mutuò ponunt If therefore Christ be the Son of God upon several grounds he must have several Filiations in Respect of God and so should be more than one Son of God unless a Man suppose his miraculous Conception to be the only Reason why he is called the Son of God which as it will never be granted by the Orthodox so I think it is not asserted by any at all 4. It seems needless for Christ to have any other Filiation in Respect of God than what is grounded on Eternal Generation As to himself 't is plain he hath no need And there seems to be as little need of it as to us Because his Eternal Sonship is every way sufficient to enoble the Humane Nature and to put a glorious Value upon what he did and suffered for us I have not consulted Authours upon this Occasion So that this is but the Result of my own Thoughts which may have need of Rectification and the whole Sir is humbly submitted to your favourable yet impartial Censure by Your Obliged Servant J. B. FINIS Books Printed for Luke Meredith at the King's Head at the West End of St. Paul's Church-Yard A Dialogue between a Pastor and Parishioner touching the Lord's Supper Wherein the most material Doubts and Scruples about Receiving that Holy Sacrament are removed and the Way thereto discovered to be both Plain and Pleasant Very usefull for private Christians in these Scrupulous Times With some short Prayers fitted for that Occasion and a Morning and Evening Prayer for the Vse of Private Families By Michael Altham Vicar of Latton in Essex The Second Edition Rest for the Heavy-Laden Promised by our only Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ to all Sincere Believers Practically discoursed upon By Clement Elis Rector of Kirkby in Nortinghamshire Author of the Gentile Sinner Some Queries to Protestants Answered And an Explanation of the Roman Catholick's Belief in Four Great Points considered 1. Concerning their Church 2. Their Worship 3. Justification 4. Civil Government ERRATA Page 56 Line 20 for greatest reade grossest
Hour wherein it may not overtake him for ought he knows to the contrary And though what I am now to add can be but little comfort to the careless ungodly World because Religion will comfort none whom it doth not rule yet to the true conscientious Christian I hope it may afford even strong consolation For what more effectual Armor against the fears of Death can be shewed to such a one or be wished by him than this Truth before us That Death it self shall be his advantage and prove a Friend unto his Soul. If a Man have an Antipathy against Bleeding so as to saint almost at the very thought of it yet he that can prove that it is necessary for him as a means against those difficult and dangerous distempers that he feels or fears and can demonstrate the safety of it also may thereby reconcile him to it and make him not only content but glad also to part with a little of his Blood. Much more may a Godly Christian be content to part with his Life when God calls for it while his Faith and his Reason is really satisfied by the word of truth that his Death shall be safe and gainfull and that his Lord and Saviour will be better to his Soul than the Life of his Body and all created comforts whatsoever For a wicked Man to be afraid of dying is no wonder at all nor no Absurdity neither well may he fear Death that shall feel Damnation after it if he dye in the State he is yet in but for a Religious Person that placeth his Happiness in God through Christ and desires nothing more than to be fitter to serve and enjoy him For such a one to be afraid of dying O what pity is it I do not say 't is strange For alas it is but too common with the best Many are now of a fearfull Heart that shall stand without Fear at the Day of Judgment but I may safely say that such Fears in such Persons are very needless and strangely unreasonable As yet I know nothing that a good Christian is less concern'd to fear than dying For when he is absent from the Body he shall be present with the Lord 1 Cor. 5.8 that is in a more excellent manner than he was or could be in this mortal Life in a State far better as 't is expressed elsewhere Philip. 1.23 God hath often said by his Prophets Fear not and in Esay 40.10 He urged it to his Servant with the Reason of it Fear not for I am with thee Be not dismayed for I am thy God c. Now if any shuld say this may excuse them perhaps from fearing ordinary Evils but not from fearing Death I wou'd then demand the Reason of his Speech and can perswade my self that he cannot shew any Reason truly so called in defence of it And I need say no more to confute him therein than to tell him that God is the God of his People as truly and as comfortably at a dying Hour as at any other time and that Death shall not separate them from the Love of God Rom. 8.38 But possibly it may be expected that I should answer some objections which also with God's Assistance I shall endeavour to do Obj. 1. When you have said all you can yet say some we know very well that Dying is a Hard word and a Harder thing and hath such Difficulties accompanying it as are puzling and unpleasing to the most of Men. Answ What it may be to the most is little to my purpose to enquire of For 't is not most Men but good and upright Christians that here I speak of And that Dying is so hard a thing to such persons I think I am not obliged to believe 'T is confessed it may seem so unto them but it is not so indeed for the Difficulties are more fancifull than real And when they are most troubled at the thoughts of Death yet in that Case it is not Dying it self but Snning and Doubting that is the cause of their Distress which as to the weakest true Christian they are pardoned for Christ's Sake so at Death there is an end of them See before Sect. 12. Christ's Death for them has taken away the Sting of Death 1 Cor. 15.56 57. So that they have more cause to be afraid of Living than of Dying For in Life they are liable to variety of Troubles and may often be in heaviness through manifold Temptations But in Dying they are subject to none of them From thence forth their Souls shall never see one evil Hour They that dye in the Lord are blessed from thence forth and they rest from their Labours Rev. 14.13 Obj. 2. But at a dying Hour we may expect Satan's fiercest Assaults and strongest Temptations For he is never more apt to assail us than when we are at the weakest as some report of the Learned and Pious Mr. Pemble that when he lay on his Death-bed the wicked one managed his subtilest Suggestions against him even in way of Argument to baffle his Faith in the Blessed Jesus to keep his Soul from resting on that Rock of Salvation Answ This needs not to trouble any true hearted Christian For first he cannot conclude it shall therefore be his own case or that his last Hour shall be in any sad sense an Hour of Temptation God deals very variously with his People and ordereth all their Affairs according to the Methods of his own most mercifull Will and Wisdom Mr. Pemble and others had manifold Temptations in their latter Hours Mr. Holland Molinaeus Mr. Robert Bolton and multitudes more had their Hearts then filled with Heaven's Peace and though Satan wants not malice or knowledge to take advantage of their weaknesses and to oppose them with his fiery Darts when he sees them least able to resist yet we are sure his Power is limited so that he cannot give them one Minutes disturbance more than God is pleased to permit whose mercy we are told is to everlasting upon them that fear him Psal 103.17 and therefore shall not be turned from them by all the Power of Hell. How well would they be satisfied if some of their best friends whose kindness they have most experienced had a power given them to order all circumstances that concern their Death Behold the matter is much safer than so and all their Affairs in a better hand Sure I am the truest Affection and heartiest Love of the most compassionate Parent upon Earth is as nothing and vanity to the tender Mercy of that Great High Priest and gracious Saviour with whom they have to do Nor would he be called the Shepherd of their Souls 1 Pet. 2.25 if he did not mean to take care of them accordingly and help them in their greatest need Ob. 3. But the mere Absence of the Soul from its Body may seem to make its condition somewhat uncomfortable for Philosophers commonly write of the Desire it hath to the Body and a