Souls in separation one from another can think or love or do any thing else whatsoever and I desire to be informed of the contrary by any that know of such things separately done and without the conjunction of them both together P. 56. He says God is not prais'd by Bodies but by Souls I reply not by Souls without Bodies but by Men he is praised during the Conjunction of their Souls and Bodies but by the breaking of that Union all human actions loose their Power and Performances which by the Resurrection shall at last be restored with greater Capacities than before were enjoyed He says he desires to love God perpetually and for ever I cannot blame him for it for whilst he can do so he shall have a perpetual security from the stâ—oke of Death concerning which the Hymn of Hezekiah when he was drawn out of the jaws of Death doth sufficiently instruct us He says he cannot desire any Good but God wills it as much or more I reply he may lawfully desire a good and large Estate with design and intent to destribute liberally to the Poor but neither I nor he do think God oblig'd to will as he wills in this point or many other like occasions P. 57. He demands would God give Man a desire to a good thing and not give him the good thing desired I reply God gives and allows to Men the desire of many good things which he gives them not the power to attain unto He quotes our Lords direction to pray and promises that whatsoever we pray for in his Name he will give us Whence he may as well warrant the good success of a Prayer requesting him to give us Fortunatus's Purse or something equivalent thereunto P. 51. He says there are in the Scripture sufficient Evidences if not self evident proof that the Soul is immortal I reply I have not yet been so fortunate as to meet with sufficient Evidence to that purpose in the Scripture and much less with those self-evident proofs which he says may be found there And I lay very much blame upon him for not producing such Evidences and Self-proving Arguments as he knows to be there for the Conviction of those honest Hearts for whose sakes he hath invented all these Arguments of his own and which have very little force or coertion in them The third Argument which he calls his last for proof of the Souls Immortality he draws from the nature and manner of the Resurrection and says that if the Soul die and perish with the Body then at the resurrection the Soul which rises cannot be the same with that which dyed but one newly created for informing the rising Body and which cannot be conscious of what was done in the person formerly dead and so not deserving Reward or Punishment for works done by the Person now rising in his former Soul and Body To this I reply that nothing can have a real and true resurrection to Life which was not really and truly dead before And therefore if the Soul have a real and true Resurrection at the last day it must have had a true and real Death perishing or extinguishment before that time Whence if it be to have a true and future Resurrection it must die and perish with the Body whose amicable concomitant it always is both in the procreation at the Birth in the Life at the Death and in the Resurrection of the Person And as to the sameness of that Soul with that that perished at the death it shall be as much the same as the Body rising shall be the same with that that dyed And herein I do further conceive that we cannot properly hold a discourse concerning the Resurrection of the Body or the Soul separately consider'd there being nothing either in Reason or Scripture upon which Men can ground their Apprehensions of a Resurrection of either of them separate from the other But if we will speak properly and truly of the Resurrection we must say with St. Paul 1 Cor. 15. that it is the Resurrection of the Dead not of the Body or Soul but of the Person which comprehends them both as the two main and constituent parts thereof He says there v. 32. If the dead rise not let us eat and drink for too morrow we dye And there is an end of us then he demands if the Dead be raised with what Bodies do they come without making any enquiry concerning the Soul which I conceive he past as a necessary principle which must give Life to the Body and constitute the raâ—sed Person The Apostles Creed in our Language delivers as an Article of Faith the Resurrection of the Body but in so doing it de arts from its originals both of the Greek and Latin Languages in the express words of both which it is called and termed the Resurrection of the Flesh I find no sufficient reason why this variance from our Originals should be continued amongst us and do therefore wish the Correction or Amendment of it believing withal that the best and most proper expression of our Faith in this point used in the Niceen-creed by the words I look for the Resurrection of the Dead by which I conceive is intended the dead persons constituted of Souls and Bodies the same or after the same sort and manner as they formerly liv'd in this World able to account for all they did whilst they before lived here and to receive just Recompences according to their Works done in this Life Here when Men dye they are commonly said to sleep with their Fathers and the faithful especially are said to dye in the Lord and to rest from their Labours 1 Thess 4. They are said to sleep in Christ and Solomon directs to remember these days of darkness for that they shall be many and therefore we must remember them that we may be prepared for them by keeping our Lights and Lamps burning and shining till death extinguish them and our selves together by casting all into that sound sleep which Death only can afford us giving us thereby a perfect Rest from all Oppressions Maladies Temptations and Troubles Of which Men have an Umbrage or Similitude when they see Men folded in a very profound and sound Sleep out of which with pinching or beating they can with great difficulties be awaked And yet we find that Men roused out of such a Sleep after they have rubbed their Byes and have been throughly awakened can give a ready and reasonable account of the things which they have done before their falling asleep And of a like Nature with the rousing from such a Sleep I conceive the Resurrection of the Dead will be And if any Man will still be so curious as to puzzle himself and his opponent with the nice demands of how and by what means such things shall be done and would desire me to account de modo resurrectionis and the means by which it shall be acted and performed I shall only giving
the satisfaction of a deus providebit referring for the rest to 1 Cor. 15. as the best and largest account which I know to be given concerning it and as a parallel case thereunto I will point him to Jo 3. where our Lord discoursing with Nicodemus tells him the Wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but caust not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth so is every one that is born of the Spirit Nicodemus replys how can these things be And so I think may every Man reasonably do who will nicely consider the points really considerable in our great mystery of the Resurrection of the Dead If Men could reasonably discover and account for the modes and manner of such a Resurrection it would need no more to be accounted amongst the great mysteries of Christian Religion as in all times it hath been esteemed We have a Faith next unto Knowledge that our Lords humane Person was procreated in a Virgin without the Knowledge or Assistance of a Man and I may as reasonably enquire de modo hujus generationis and after what manner the same was acted or came to pass Again my Writer and I and all that I know are agreed that the humane Person is acted and moved either by a substantial intelligent Soul or by a Superfine â—et material and unintelligent Spirit but neither of us nor I think any Man else can tell any thing de modo movendi or after what manner and by what means either of them doth or can act and move the wonderful Machine of the human Body These Sciences are justly to be ranked inter arcana opificis God hath not yet revealed unto Men the manner and means of such performances and there seems to be a nimium in the re-searches of those Men who may pretend to make strict and nice enquiries into the manner and nature of such mysteries or de modo operationis thereof It seems enough for Men to know God hath declared and promised that there shall be an universal Resurrection of the Dead human Persons of all sorts without making any such Declaration or Promise to any other sort of Creature whatsoever And for this reason the Brutes are called the Beasts that perish utterly which Doctrine may be and elsewhere hath been proved by me from a clear current of Testimonies in the Old Testament and by a potent and strong stream of Testimonies in the New P. 59. He says that if the present human Soul dye or perish with the Body then there must be a new Soul created for the rising Body at the time of its Resurrection which Soul cannot reasonably be accountable for acts done in the former Body or by the person which now is to be rais'd To this I reply That this Argument is founded upon a Fallacy or Mistake of the Writer whose consequence would be apparently fallacious if he do not first pretend to believe that Adam had a Soul as well and as particularly created for him as his Body And therefore this point shall be a little further examined to which purpose shall be quoted Gen. 2.7 God formed Man of the Dust of the Ground and breathed into his Nostrils the Breath of Life and Man became a living Soul As a Preliminary to this Examination I pretend to have it granted me that the words Man became a living Soul do intend or signifie the same thing as if it had been said that Man became a living Person That the word Soul in Scripture doth commonly and even ordinarily signifie the Person I am able to prove by many hundred Instances where the same cannot be intended to signifie any other then an humane Person Abraham going with his Wife into Egypt directs her to say she was his Sister for by that means he says his Soul shall live for her sake i. e. they should save him alive for her sake or he should still remain a living Person Gen. 19.20 Lot interceeds son the preservation of Zoar saying this City is near to flee unto and it is a little One O let me escape thither is it not a little one and my Soul shall live i. e. I shall live or still remain a living Person So when Jacob went down into Egypt he carryed with him Seventy Souls And Joseph's two Sons which were born to him before that time are called two Souls So Acts 27.37 In St. Pauls dangerous Voyage there were with him in the Ship 276 Souls I say that in these places and many hundred other places in the Scripture the word Soul cannot intend or signifie any other thing then Person by one of tâ—e most ordinary Synecdoches in the World viz. partis pro toto where by the most active and living part of the Person the whole Person is intended and signified I pretend then that leaving the figurative expression of this Text it may be thus read according to the true intent of it God breathed into Adam the Breath of Life and he became a living Person And thereupon I observe that there is express mention made here of the Creation of Mans Body but that there is no mention at all of creating a Soul for him But God breathed into his Nostrils the Breath of Life and thereupon I conceive that God who had then newly created and finished his Organical Body had made his Blood and Humors pullulent and ready to be tinded and raised into a flame by the acting or fanning of such a moderate Breath as was intended to be breathed into him for that purpose whence God breathed into him the Breath of Life by whose fanning the Blood and Humors then pullulent and ready for that operation were tinded and kindled into a flame or glowing which from that time continued and resided in the Blood and Humors of the Body acting and moving Adams whole Body and every part Member and Muscle of the same the same flame of Life being fanned and revived every moment by the gusts of the ambient Air drawn through the Lungs to fann and refresh the flame of Life residing about the Heart and the other most eminent and vital parts and viscera of the Body And this Breath continued to be absolutely necessary for these purposes during the time of Adams whole Life and when he begat a Sen in his own likeness his Seed by commixtion in loco Idoneo became coagulated and by the necessary fomentation thereof fermented and in its due time became a vegitative and living Mass which by degrees grew to an embrion which daily received some degrees of growth and motion and when by such vegitation and growth it had obtained its due perfection it sought by instinct and found passage through its Mother to the open Air which after it hath once received it cannot live without it for that upon failour of fanning by the ambient Air after it hath once received the same it fails and dyes again necessarily within the space or compass of some few Moments
And of this our daily Experience fully assures us by the sudden Death of those who pass out of this World by Hanging or Strugling which proves the want of this Breath to be a sudden and sure cause of Death Physicians have told us that if after the Childs perfection the Mother be ript open and the Child be taken from her in the Secondines it may live some Hours after without assistance from this Breath of Life but that after once it hath received this Breath whereby the flame of Life and Glowing of the Blood hath been kindled in it it can never after that live many Moments without such fanninig of the ambient Air drawn in through the Lungs as hath before been described An Umbrage or Similitude of this Operation we may read in Ezekiels Vision of the dry Bones of which there was a vast number then there was a shaking and the Bones came together Bone to his Bone then Flesh was super-induced over the Bones with the Arteries Sinues and Veins and all the rest of the Viscâ—ra to humane Bodies belonging after which the Skin was drawn over them all and yet they were still but dead Carcastes because as the Text says there was no Breath in them And therefore God directs the Pophet saying prophesie unto the Winds and say thus saith the Lord come from the four Winds O Breath and breath upon these slain that they may live and upon the Prophets doing so as he was directed the Breath came into them and they lived and stood up upon their Feet an exceeding great Army so as by the Winds breathing this Breath of Life and fanning the stems of their pullulent Blood and Humors the flame of Life was tinded and kindled in them by the Vertue and Activity of which they all aâ—ose stood up upon their Feet and became living Persons in the very same manner as Adam before had done And thus may be spared and saved that vast imployment which Men have needlesly put upon God of making or creating new Souls every day for all the several procreations in the World that bear the figure of a humane Shape be the coitions never so unlawful or bestial The sort of Soul last before described suits well with Moses Text concerning Adams Creation and agrees punctually with the resurrection of Ezekiels dry Bones and is a very probable and likely Specimen of that Resurrection which Men expect at the last Day and which we may look for with as great certainty as that there will be a too Morrow after the day now passing St. Paul thus testifying 1 Cor. 15.13 If there be no Resurrection of the Dead our Teaching is Vain and your Faith is also Vain ye are yet in your Sinns and all they that are fallen asleep in Christ are perished Whence it seems consequent that the expectations of future Recompenses to Christians is founded upon the resurrection of the Dead and if that could or should possibly happen to fail us it would make the whole Christian Religion an Oeconomy to become a vain pretence and of no benefit at all to them who profess it And our Apostle proceeds further upon this point to vers 29. and there in further proof of the Resurrection he says if in this Life only we have hope in Christ we are of all Men most miserable and the reason why Christians would be so is because that in this Life they are obliged to deny themselves and to mortifie and sometimes to crucifie the Flesh with its Affections and Lusts which Men do in expectation of great Rewards and avoiding punishments promised and threatned in a future slate to come after this Life is ended all which are here applyed to prove a necessity and certainty of the Resurrection of the Dead Then still the Apostle goes on to vers 32. where he says If I have fought with Beasts at Ephesus what advantageth it me if the Dead rise not Let us eat and drink for too morrow we dye plainly intending that let Men suffer what they will for the Name and Faith of Christ those sufferings shall profit them nothing unless there be a Resurrection of the Dead And then the Apostle proceeds to say something concerning the manner of this Resurrection and to give further proof of the same from other Topicks And the same Apostle 1 Thess 4. directs the Disciples not to sorrow very much for their dead Friends because they shall have a Resurrection those who sleep with Jesus shall Christ bring with him at his second coming after he hath raised them by the voice of the Arch-Angel and the trump of God and then shall they be caught up into the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air and so shall we ever be with the Lord adding comfort one another with these words He doth not say comfort your selves or one another with the hopes or expectations of your dead Friends Souls being gone to Heaven although if that were a Truth and known to him I think he could not reasonably or even possibly have omitted it in this place 2 Tim. 1.16 The Lord give Mercy to the House of Onesiphorus the Lord grant unto him that he may find Mercy of the Lord in that day chap. 4.7 I have fought a good fight c. and henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but to 〈◊〉 them who love his appearing which words plainly intend our Lords second coming Whence that day must intend the last Judgment 1 Pet. 4.13 Rejoyce in as much as ye are made partakers of Christs Suffering that when his Glory shall be revealed ye may be glad also with exceeding great Joy cap. 5.4 He exhoâ—ts the Elders to be careful in their Offices and when the chief Shepherd shall appear ye shall receive a Crown of Glory that fadeth not away 2 Pet. 3 The same Apostle exhorts seeing the earthly World and all that is in it shall be burnt up and dissolved what manner of Persons ought ye to be in all holy Conversation and Godlyness looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God which though it be terrible to others shall to them be a great Recompence and Reward without mentioning an intermediate State of departed Souls 1 John 2 28. He exhorts the Disciples to abide in Châ—ist that when ye shall appear ye may have Confidence and not be ashamed before him at his Coming cap. 3.2 Beloved now are we the Sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is mentioning no expectations of future Recompences till our Lords second Coming and time of our own Resurrection when we shall see him as he is and be made like unto him Jam. 5.7 exhorts the Disciples that under all their Afflictions they should be patient unto the