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
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
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
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
substance of Christian Religion of Judgment Bp. Prideaux Fascicul de Ecclesiâ q. 2. B. Davenant in Colos cap. 8. ver 15. Bolton de 4. Novissimis And this at least must be a probable Argument of the truth of what I contend for for that is like to be sound Doctrine which is so evidently owned by these excellent Authors so blessedly enriched with the wisedom from above And if any such or less than they had written a set Discourse on it plainly and practically and to the capacities of vulgar Christians I might have spared the little pains that I have taken about it If then I have erred in maintaining this Principle I have erred with Company and good Company too But I trust the ensuing Sections will shew it to be a truth to those that seek the truth in love SECT II. The Happy State of Good Mens Souls after death proved from Philip. 1.23 having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better together with an Answer to a Socinian exception HAving told thee Christian Reader that this Doctrine is probably true I am now to shew how certainly 't is so and that in the first place from those words of the Apostle Having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better In 1 Cor. 15. he called Death an Enemy and doubtless he was not in love with it as considered in itself But yet to die and be with Christ this he heartily desired as that which would be far better for him He tells his beloved People vers 24. that his continuance in the World would be most for their benefit To abide in the Flesh is more needfull for you But his departing would be most for his benefit being a departing and being with Christ And therefore he was in a strait as he calls it not knowing which to chuse Now if he should not upon his departure be with Christ as to his Soul he must needs have accounted a longer life to be most desireable For as to others good it was apparently so and no less for his own good also if his Soul could have no happiness in its absence from the Body for he had a great degree of comfort in Christ while he was living and could say in the midst of all his Persecutions Blessed be God who always giveth us cause to Triumph in Christ And he that had an eminent measure of Communion with Christ while living and all those strong Consolations that flowed from his assurance that nothing should separate from his love Rom. 8. would have been a great loser by dying if his Soul must then have been deprived of those precious comforts which before he had in Christ Surely St. Paul's words shew no fear of any such thing but plainly evince the contrary as the like expression in other cases would be thought to import Suppose one say I desire to go to London and see my Friends or I desire to go to Church and profit my Soul In these speeches any Man of reason would judge unless the person had the reputation of a Lyar that he certainly meant as he spake and hoped to see his Friends by doing the one and to benefit his Soul in doing the other And so in Scripture To go up and see the Land to go over and possess it Numb 13.30 Deut 3.25 are meant of going to see and possess it as the Way to the one and the other And if St. Paul's phrase to depart and be with Christ were not meant in like manner it were something more than very strange and it can be no otherwise his being with Christ after his departure being affirmed to be a better state than before he had notwithstanding the enjoyments before mentioned nor must our Opposers right reason which they talk so much of disswade us from expounding the words in that way that is most agreeable to common sense And though this may seem plain enough to any unprejudiced person yet it will not be amiss to answer what is excepted against it and to clear it from that darkness which some have so learnedly cast upon it Except And as to this I know none more considerable than V. Smalcius who in his Disputation De Judicio Extremo is pleased to present us with this Memorandum viz. 1. That St. Paul there makes no mention of his Soul but speaketh De se toto of his whole Person 2. That he might die and be with Christ at the Appointed time the Resurrection without supposing any Being with Christ presently after death Ans By this Man's temper and Tenet we may see that humane Learning and Acuteness is not sufficient to make a Man sound in the Faith and it might move our wonder that one of so much subtilty should not perceive the Apostles meaning in this particular if we did not remember the old saying None so blind as those that will not see for had it been confessedly intended to shew his Souls being with Christ or enjoying of him upon his departure yet it needed not have been expressed otherwise than by a desire to depart and be with Christ For after his departure he could not be with Christ as to his Body till the Resurrection which will be at the time appointed and cannot be hastened by his or any Man's shorter Life Nor could he desire to depart this Life if it were not for the hope of being with Christ in a better state thereby since it was more for his Peoples profit to have lived longer with them And we are satisfied he was not weary of his Life through the troubles that he met with in the service of Christ his Faith and Love was more powerfull than so nor doth he name any thing but his being with Christ which was far better as a motive to him to desire to depart this Life And to say 't is not meant of his Soul 's being with Christ because he speaks of his Person without naming his Soul is indeed to talk more like an Ignorant Man than a Divine or a Disputant for 't is spoken of his Person in respect of his Soul and nothing is more common in discourse than to speak that of Persons which holds true of them in respect of their Bodies or their Souls though not both perhaps as when we say they are Sick or Lame Wise and Knowing c. we hope we may speak true enough and proper enough too though we do not say formaliter they are Sick as to their Bodies c. but say absolutely they are sick so when Scripture says To dust thou shalt return it must be taken accordingly and my Authors Brain was not so Earthy as to think it must be so therefore with his whole Person or to argue that Man's Soul shall turn to Dust because 't is said to Dust thou shalt return More therefore I need not say upon this Argument till others think fit to say more against it Yet for the comfort of weak
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
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
acute Thalyaeus in Anat. Samosat quaest 2. And whereas some do much urge Luke 1.35 to prove that Christ was the Son of God by reason of his miraculous Conception because 't is immediately added Wherefore also that holy thing that shall be Born of Thee shall be called the Son of God. This I say will not serve their purpose And if from hence they could make such a knot as we could not untie yet that would not make the matter e're the clearer on their side And whether we can search the depth of that sacred Text or no yet we may soon be perswaded that this his miraculous conception was not the chief reason of his being or being called the Son of God. For if so he must have been the Son of the Holy Ghost because this work is peculiarly ascribed to him in the foregoing verse But Christ we are told is the Son of the Father John 2.3 and the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of the Son Gal. 4.6 2. If Christ was the Son of God on account of his miraculous conception then he began to be so when that began But 't is not so certainly For he was the Son of God long before and was so called Psal 2.7.12 and he had Glory with his Father before the World was Joh. 17.5 He was therefore the Eternal Son of the Father as our Church speaketh on account of an eternal and unspeakable Generation And being a Person of infinite Dignity his Love must needs be of infinite value so that the utmost conceivable kindness of all the Angels in Heaven if they were as many as the drops in the Sea and the Sands on the Shore would be utterly inconsiderable in comparison of His and exceed the Understandings of mortal Men almost as far as it doth their Deservings which by the next Section may farther appear SECT XIV Discovering the Greatness of Christ's Love in what he did and suffered for Sinners That the sense of the love of Christ will be the special matter of the joy of Just Mens Souls after Death will easily be granted and may in its place be farther proved At present I think it my Duty and full enough to my purpose to set forth the greatness of his Love in the great things that he did and suffered for Sinners sake And first I may fitly instance in his taking our nature into unity with his own Divine Person so as to become true and very Man like unto us Sin excepted If St. John so much admired that such as we should be called the Sons of God by Adoption Behold what manner of Love is this 1 John 3.1 How then may we wonder at that Love that moved the Son of God from Everlasting to become the Son of Man in Time What a height of kindness and condescension was that which moved the most High and Holy one to stoop so low for our sakes and Salvation Sure the utmost kindness that the best of Creatures can have towards us in comparison of this Love of Christ is but as a drop to the Sea or as a Mote in the Sun to the whole frame of Nature For let us but think with our selves what a wondrous thing it was that the Son of God should vouchsafe to take our Nature on him and be made in the likeness of sinfull Flesh Rom. 8.3 well may we say in this as the Psalmist doth Lord what is Man that thou art mindfull of him For the Nature of Man that is corrupt with sin and subject to the darkness of the Grave what is this I say to him who is the Light of the City of God and had Glory with the Father before the World was John 17.5 Thus therefore to assume our Nature might seem a matter infinitely below him but that his love thought nothing so And as he took Humane Nature to himself so in it he did those excellent things that expressed the greatness of his Love towards Men and the care he took of their eternal Salvation He came into the World to save Sinners 1 Tim. 1.15 He went about doing good preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom and working the most absolute uncontrollable miracles for Confirmation of his holy Doctrine leading them in the way to Heaven by his own blessed example bearing patiently the greatest Slanders and suffering the contradictions of Sinners against himself Heb. 12.3 Overcoming daily their evil with good and inviting them to himself to come unto him that they might have Life And the eminency of his Love and Goodness will be especially visible in the evils that he suffered and voluntarily exposed himself to for the sake of Sinners which being compared with the excellency and innocency of his Person will easily appear to exceed the most enlarged thoughts of Men and Angels As to this therefore I must say with the Apostle who is sufficient for these things And as it was said of old who hath declared his Generation So I may as justly who can declare his Humiliation and Passion and that Sacred Depth of Divine Love that was discovered therein That he whom the Heaven of Heavens could not contain and of whom they borrow their Brightness and Glory should be laid in a Manger and live in Meanness and Obscurity That He who is Rich from all Eternity should in time become poor for our Sakes That He who was the God of Israel the Author and Maintainer of the Water of Life Rev. 22.1 should Himself be subject to Weariness and Thirst and be fain to refresh himself with so weak a Cordial as the Water of Jacob's Well John 4. That He whom the Highest Angels worshipped should be abused by the basest Men be reviled and scorn'd buffeted and spitted on and at last be Crucified between two Malefactours as if he had been the worst of the Three That He who was purer than all the created Inhabitants of the high and holy Place should suffer himself to be tempted to Sin and bear Day by Day the vilest Assaults of the unclean Spirit Math. 4. That He who upholdeth all things by the word of his power Heb. 1. should be weak and faint and in the midst of sorrows give up the Ghost That He who was the Heir of all things and the Son of the Blessed should be deprived of all Comforts and cry out upon the Cross My God my God why hast thou forsaken me and in a word fall under Condemnation and be made a Curse Gal. 3.13 Wonder Christian Reader wonder evermore at that Superlative Love which moved him to do and suffer such marvellous things for such as we Methinks our Hearts should be mightily affected with it and our whole Souls be swallowed up as it were in this blessed and boundless Ocean And because we can know but little of it whilst we live let us be content to dye that our Souls may know it better For certainly the perfect Knowledge and Enjoyment of this transcendent Love of Christ must needs be no less than
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
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