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
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
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
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
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
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
of the Righteous and the Wicked They may I grant be alike in their ends but they will not be alike afterwards Though they may die the same kind of Death yet Death will not be the same to both the one shall be a gainer by it and be with Christ which is far better than any condition here the other shall be a looser by it and be in greater misery than any he feared in this World. That which by any means cuts the thread of his Life casts down also all the Pillars of his hope Proverbs 11.7 When a Wicked Man dyeth The Wicked Man's misery after Death his Expectation shall Perish and the hope of unjust Men Perisheth As then he is deprived of all his Wealth and Honour Sport and Pleasure and all that outward good or comfort which here he took any contentment in so his departed Soul will find nothing to supply the want of them 'T is true It hath to doe with God but not in a way of mercy and favour and therefore his presence will not comfort it in the absence of earthly comforts The Spirit says Solomon returns to God that gave it that 's spoken of the Spirit or Soul of Man in general whether good or bad The Spirit of a good Man returneth to God as to a gracious Father the Spirit of a bad Man as to a Righteous Judge and disposer of it And we cannot imagine that the Soul of one that would never return in a holy sense in his life time should return to God in a happy sense when his life is ended For he will recompense him according to his ways saith the Prophet and hath revealed his Wrath against all the ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men Rom. 1.18 'T is said of the unbeliever so continuing that the Wrath of God abideth on him John 3.36 And every ungodly Man we doubt not is an unbeliever in a Scripture sense though he cares not to think so ill of himself And what wonder is it if the holy one shew his high displeasure against the departed Soul of that Sinner that would not Religiously depart from Evil nor was ever reconciled through Jesus Christ Now what a dreadfull case will this be What a terrible taking will a guilty Impenitent Soul be in when it sees it self in the Regions of Eternal Darkness When it hath lost all comforts and comfortable Expectations and shall never see any more good when Money and Lands when Acquaintance and Friends when Time and Hope and all is gone O what deep distress what substantial sorrows will it be filled with when 't is compast about with miseries unchangeable and utterly swallowed up without help or hope in the depths of God's revenging Wrath Consider of it Reader in the fear of God and never let thy Soul be satisfied without that mercy and grace which may fit thee to escape such a fearfull condition 2. It may also keep us from wondring at or at least from stumbling at the troubles of true obedient Christians in this World. They come on them many times thick and threefold as we call it and are so far from moving the careless World to pity them that they expose them rather but too commonly to the utmost scorn and contempt Sometimes also they are ready to Blaspheme on that occasion and say Behold what good doth all their Godliness do them For how miserably do they live and who is there round about that have more sorrows and grievances than many of those that make so much adoe about Religion But assuredly all this will not warrant them to despise Religion or those that love and follow it For besides other considerations that might be urged namely Their remaining sinfulness which maketh the chastisements of their Heavenly Father needfull for them with that most wise providence and Fatherly love that ordereth and limiteth them together with the nature of Sin it self that makes them worthy of more and greater sufferings than in this mortal life they can ever bear Death eternal being the wages of Sin Rom 6.23 I say besides these and the like considerations that may be urged the shortness of their troubles and the certainty of their Souls Happiness after Death may abundantly satisfie them and is more than sufficient to countervail the saddest sufferings of this mortal State as will farther be evinced by the nature and property of that Felicity which in its place with God's Assistance I shall endeavour to explicate SECT X. Being a perswasive to several great Duties THE truth of the present point may be looked on as a true and just ground for Christian practices and 't is great pity but People should be somewhat the better for a point of so much comfort and encouragement to Goodness Here therefore I may fitly endeavour to engage my self and others to the duties following 1. Patience under God's afflicting hand whether by outward or inward troubles Men of ordinary prudence can follow very unpleasant methods of Physick from the meer prospect of that ease and health which they hope in time to find by so doing though none do promise them health much less assure them of the continuance of it How should a Christian then endeavour more and more that patience may have its perfect work when he foresees by Faith that blessed Rest which his Soul shall have after death hath seized upon his Body and hath the word of God to assure him that this happiness shall never end but be compleated at the Resurrection of the just when their wasted Bodies shall forsake their dark Prisons and Shine as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father Mat. 13.43 He may therefore say with chearfulness as once a worthy Servant of Christ Hold out Faith and Patience for your work will shortly be at an end 2. The Duty of Charity should hence be enforced upon us according to our place and power What if Men be never so unworthy or unthankfull yet Christians should be ready to extend their Charity to them in any reasonable way for the sake of that good God who will do them so much good after death How can they do less than shew forth real compassions on all fit occasions yea towards their very names if they find them wronged therein when they remember their heavenly Father's Love and consider how shortly he will receive their immortal Souls and Crown them with his tenderest mercies 3. Upright living in the general how should this engage a Christian to honour his God what he can and as the Apostle exhorts to do all to his Glory to live by Faith and walk in Love and be ready to every good work For as Samuel said 1 Sam. 12.24 Serve the Lord in truth with all your heart for consider what great things he hath done for you How fitly then may I say to such a one be diligent in thy duty and lead thy life to the glory of that gracious God who will satisfie thy Soul with his glorious
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
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
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
ensuing Assertions 1. That such a case is not inconsistent with the State of a true Christian Though the bright Morning Star Christ so called be truly risen upon any Person and hath imparted to him the Light of Life yet that doth not make it impossible for his Sun to set in a Cloud for the Word of God says nothing to the contrary Though he therein promiseth his Servants everlasting Joy after Death yet he promised not that they should have Joy the Minute or Hour before they dye And when Solomon tells us there is one Event to the Righteous and to the Wicked as to outwards he meaneth Ecl. 9.2 I cannot fansie why any uncomfortable Circumstances about Death should seem to be excepted Our Blessed Lord himself in comparison of whose Holiness the Heaven of Heavens is but unclean departed this Life in the Depths of Sorrow and cryed with a loud voice My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Math. 27.46.50 Which being intimated gave some satisfaction to a Learned and worthy Divine when in his last Sickness he asked his Friend what that man might think of the State of his Soul that is just a-dying and can find no comfort in his God Mr. Rob. Bolton mentioneth a very Religious Gentlewoman who in her latter Hours was exercised with many Sorrows and to appearance dyed in them shewing little or no Sign of any comfort in her Soul. But that judicious Man of God did not think the worse of her State or question her Salvation but rather supposed that sad Dispensation of her God to be in Judgment to those wicked People that maliciously slaundered her good Conversation in Christ that those who would not be bettered by her unblamable Life might be hardned by her uncomfortable Death But this we may account God's strange Work most commonly the way of Holiness doth end more comfortably And we are assured the upright ones end is peace Psal 37.37 though we cannot be sure of peace in his Soul just before his End because we read God's Judgments are unsearchable and his ways past finding out Thus of the first Assertion The Second is this That to be followed much with Satan's sorest Temptations is no ill Sign St. Paul himself complained of Terrours within as well as Troubles without Yea Christ himself when his Heavenly Father had solemnly owned him for his Beloved Son in whom he was well pleased Math. 3.17 the next news we hear of him was that he was led into the Wilderness to be tempted of the Devil yea 40 days as St. Mark hath it Mark 1.11.13 whilst the strong man armed keepeth possession the things he hath are in peace The Pyrate spendeth not his biggest Bullet upon the empty Ships but upon the laden and best laden So Satan doth not cast the fiery Darts of his Temptations against those that are under his accursed slavery and follow the ways he would have them at least not usually nor unless he have them at a pinch as we say under some considerable Crosses as to the World but rather against those that have chosen a better Master and turned through grace into the Holy Path. The third Assertion in answer to the said Objection is thus That a Christian's Fear of Dying uncomfortably is no sign that he shall Dye so As God bids his Prophet say to them that are of a fearfull heart Be strong and fear not So he is pleased many times to strengthen and encourage them abundantly and do for them above all they could ask or think He that had his Spirit overwhelmed in him and walked mournfully all the year round by reason of those blasphemous Suggestions that the unclean Spirit had so constantly exercised him with yet at length was enabled to offer up joyfull Praises to his God and Saviour and ended his days in a blessed peace as a great Authour hath testified The like is recorded of Mr. Saunders viz. That though he was sometimes much concerned as we call it to think what he should do if he should be brought to the fiery Trial yet when he was brought to it he had his Fears removed and being strengthened with God's Spirit of Might passed as comfortably through that Sea of Blood as the rest of that noble Army of Martyrs The fourth Assertion God often worketh by contraries and brings about his gracious purposes by means that seem the most unlikely As he brought water for his People not out of the Sea or the River but out of the Rock so he often suffers those People to be most shaken with Temptations whom he meaneth most to establish to make most grounded and rooted in the Faith. Of which I might instance in Luther and others if it were my purpose to enlarge on this particular The fifth Assertion The Arm of God's Love is infinitely stronger than the Arm of a Christian's Faith If therefore he be such in sincerity he may be sure that either he shall not Dye in despair or Discomfort or else that he shall not be ruined by Dying so For if his Graces be never so much opposed yet God's Kindness to his Servants is absolute and unconquerable If their Faith and Hope should seem to be shaken beyond recovery yet compassion cannot fail in the Father of Mercies and his Covenant of Peace shall not be removed Esay 54.10 so Rom. 8.38 What shall separate us so speaking of the rest of the faithfull as of himself from the Love of Christ Neither Death nor Life nor things present nor things to come that is they shall never do it by any means or any sad Circumstances that can attend them The sixth Assertion Despair in all kinds and cases is no such heinous and dangerous Sin as some have imagined And it were to be wished that some Authours otherwise learned and good had written more cautiously about it than they have done And those that despaired of Francis Spira's Salvation because he ended his days in the darkness of Despair may seem as unskilfull as uncharitable and I believe they have been blamed for it by many Divines besides and since Mr. Perkins But to come directly to the point it self Despair therefore may be considered in several sorts of People and on several grounds or occasions of it As to the first Despair in a wicked man if total and ordinary I confess must needs be a very sad matter because it hinders him from using the means of Salvation Yet it doth not make his Salvation impossible because 't is not impossible for it to be removed 2. To despair of Salvation out of a conceit that there is not in Christ a sufficient Power and Merit for that purpose This I say is no less dangerous because it is grounded on a prevalent Unbelief and argues the Person under it to have no right Apprehensions of the Person of Christ or the Excellency and Alsufficiency of his Merit and Righteousness 3. But for a true Christian to be brought into Despair by Temptations and Mistakes
good its Title Page of the Joy of Just Mens Souls after Death if I should not treat of that Love of his which shall surely be their Glory and Joy And though it may be somewhat difficult to resolve in what method to discourse of his unmeasurable Love yet I think the main of what concerns me to say may be reduced to these two Heads 1. What Christ is in Himself 2. What he hath done and suffered for Sinners First let us consider for this purpose what Christ is in himself For as it was said of old as the Man is such is his Strength so we may say herein as the Person is such is his Love the more excellent any Person is the more excellent and valuable is his Kindness in what way soever it be expressed towards his Inferiours It were a greater matter for one that is a King to hazard his Health for the good of any People than for an ordinary Person to venture his Life for them Now on this account the Love of Christ towards Sinners must needs be worthy of everlasting Admiration because he was a Person of infinite excellency the Eternal Son of God of the same substance with his heavenly Father Reader I beseech thee Hold fast this Principle and part not with it as thou lovest the life of thy precious Soul. For the contrary opinion is not only an errour but such an errour as striketh at the very heart of Christianity and overthrows the very Foundation of our Faith. 'T is not my present Design to prove this at large yet something shall be said of it in due place And by the way we may perceive how necessary the Knowledge of it is by considering that of our Saviour Mat. 16.13 He asked his Disciples Whom do Men say that I the Son of Man am q. d. They are very well satisfied that I am indeed the Son of Man true and very Man as really as any of you is But what do they think of my Person Do they take me to be a Humane Person and so no more than a Man or the Son of Man To which the Disciples answered Some say Thou art John the Baptist some Elias c. Persons very eminent and as great in God's account as any of the Sons of Men. But yet they did not therein think highly enough of him and therefore vers 15. He asked his Disciciples Whom say ye that I am To which Peter in the name of the rest giveth answer saying Thou art Christ the Son of the living God vers 16. which Answer Christ so well approved of that he pronounced him blessed vers 17. and intimated this Truth to be the Rock on which the Church is built and assureth him that against it the Gates of Hell shall not prevail vers 18. And now that his being the Son of the living God which he took to himself so apparently is meant of being his Son properly by eternal and unspeakable Generation of the same substance with his Father This I say is now to be cleared and confirmed and it may be so from those Scriptures wherein he is called The Son of the Father 2 John 3. His own Son Rom. 8. His only begotten Son John 3. who had Glory with the Father before the World was Joh. 17.5 who thought it no Robbery to be or declare himself to be equal with God viz. God the Father Phil. 2. Titles certainly too high for any mere Creature whatever Satan and Socinians suggest to the contrary The Jews supposed him guilty of Blasphemy because he being a Man made himself God that is declared himself so to be which they did not charge him with on any other ground than his owning himself to be the Son of God John 5.18.10.33 compared with Mark 14 61 64. And if our Saviour had not been the Son of God in such a sense as imported him to be true and very God as the Jews conceived him to mean there is no doubt but he would have shewed them their mistake yea quickly too and have disowned that Title in the sense that they took it being Lowly in Heart and filled with the highest Zeal for his Father's Glory And that he was not called the Son of God upon the account of his miraculous conception or any privileges that a meer Creature may partake of as too many would perswade us may be easily manifested on these two grounds 1 Because he was the Son of God before these things could be said of him As in the fullness of time he came of the Lineage of David according to the Flesh and was called the Son of David So before his Incarnation he was David's Lord. David in Spirit called him Lord Mat. 22.43 compared with Psal 110.1 Surely therefore he was a Person in David's time And what Person was he then Surely the same that now he is even the Son of God The same in all times past present and to come Jesus Christ the same yesterday and to day and forever H. 13. Nor do I yet find that the Socinians themselves ever were so senseless as to say that Christ was the Son of Man or one of the Angels in David's time And if then he were not a Humane Person nor an Angelical Person what remains but that he was a Divine Person at that time therefore at all times In a word he was then such a Son as the same Kingly Prophet calls upon Men to trust in and calls them blessed that do so Psal 2.12 and therefore God the Son of the same substance with his Father and so above the rank of meer creatures for to trust in a meer creature is so far from blessedness that it is in it self an accursed thing Jer. 17.5 2. Such things are said of Christ the Son of God as no temporal excellencies privileges or qualifications can possibly entitle him to as To have his outgoings from everlasting Micha 5.2 compared with Mat. 2.6 To be the First and the Last Rev. 1. To have all things consist in him or by him Col. 1. To have all things created by him and for him Col. 1.16 Not to insist on those places where he is called God absolutely and solemnly see John 20.28 and Heb. 1.8 Unto the Son he saith Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever If any can convince me that all this will not prove Christ to be the Son of God in a higher sense and manner than any temporal privileges or created excellencies can make him to be they then may have hope enough to make me believe that my Right Hand is my Left or any other piece of the profoundest Non-sense that their pretended Right Reason can impose upon me Yet it being a matter above the reach of natural Reason I must say with him in the Gospel Lord I believe Help thou my unbelief They that would see more on this great subject may consult Stegman-photin Refut Disp 5. quaest 7. Jacobi ad part Def. Fidei and especially the