Expectation of a Resurrection We shall now begin to cite our Proofs in order as they rise in other Books of the New Testament Mat. 10.15 It shall be more tolerable for the Land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of Judgement then for that City There must be a Day of Judgement and consequently a Resurrection Chap. 12. Men shall give account for every idle word at the Day of Judgement Chap. 13.39 The harvest is the end of the World the Reapers are the Angels Ver. 49. The Angels shall sever the Wicked from among the Just at the end of the World Chap. 16.27 The Son of Man shall come in glory and then shall he reward every man according to his Works Chap. 19.28 Ye who have followed me when the Son of Man shall sit on the Throne of his glory shall sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel Chap. 22.31 cites Exod. 3.6 for proof of the Resurrection against the Sadduces Chap. 24.30 Christ's Coming with the Clouds of Heaven and gathering his Elect together Chap. 25.31 Is a large Description of the Last Judgement and that all Nations shall be gathered before his Seat of Judgement Mark 8.13 Those who are ashamed of Christ he will be ashamed of them when he comes in glory with his holy Angels Chap. 13.26 Then shall they see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory and he shall send his angels and gather his elect from all parts of heaven and earth Luke 21.27 Then shall men see Christ come in a cloud with power and great glory and then their redemption draweth nigh Chap. 22.30 Ye shall eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom Ver. 69. Christ shall sit on the right hand of the power of God Chap. 24.51 Christ was parted from them and carried up into a heaven And Acts 1.11 This same Jesus shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven John 5.25 The dead shall hear Christ's voice and they that hear shall live Ver. 28. All that are in the graves shall hear his voice Chap. 6.44 He that comer to me I will raise him up at the last day without mention of a Soul in Separation Chap. 11.23 Jesus to Martha Thy brother shall rise again she replies I know he shall in the resurrection at the last day Jesus says He that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live Chap. 12.48 He that receives me not my words shall judge him at the last day not mentioning or supposing any intermediate Judgment Acts 3.21 Heaven must receive Christ until the time of the restitution of all things foretold by the prophets and so it seems must earth and the grave receive all other people Chap. 4.2 The Jews were grieved that the Apostles preached through Jesus the Resurrection of the dead Chap. 17.18 Paul preached to the Athenians Jesus and the Resurrection Chap. 23.8 The Sadduces say there is no Resurrection Angel nor Spirit but the Pharisees confess both seems confess all these but still no mention of a Separated Soul Chap. 24.14 Paul believed as the Jews also allowed that there should be a Resurrection of the Dead both of the Just and Unjust Rom. 14.8 Whether we die we die unto the Lord whether we live therefore or die we are the Lords So Ver. 9. For to this end Christ both died and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and living Ver. 10. We shall all stand before the Judgement seat of Christ 2 Cor. 5.10 We must all appear before the Judgement seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body whether good or bad thus knowing the terrour of the Lord we perswade men from that Argument to a holy life Philip. 3.10 To know the power of Christs Resurrection and by any means to attain to the Resurrection of the Dead Ver. 20. and 21. We look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ from heaven who shall change our vile body and make it like unto his glorious body Colos 3.4 When Christ who is our life shall appear then shall we also appear with him in glory Seems not before then 1. Thess 3.13 Be found in holiness at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his Saints If so we die we shall so be found Chap. 4.14 If we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him Ver. 15. And we who live at the time shall not prevent them which are asleep Ver. 16. But the dead in Christ shall rise first Chap. 5.10 Christ died for us that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him viz. at his Coming 2 Thess 1.7 God will give to you who are troubled rest with us when our Lord shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire Chap. 2.8 The Man of Sin shall be destroyed by the brightness of Christs coming Chap. 1.10 Wait for Christs coming from heaven as for the time of the Resurrection 1 Thess 4.16 The Lord himself shall descend with a shout the voice of the Archangel and the Tromp of God and these shall allarm the dead and those dead in Christ shall rise first 1 Tim. 6.14 Keep this commandment without spot unrebukable until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ which in his times he shall shew 2 Tim. 2.12 If we suffer with Christ we shall also reign with him Ver. 18. Some said the Resurrection was past already which was an errour and had an ill effect Chap. 4.1 I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdom Ver. 8. Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give to me at that day and not to me only but unto all them also that love his appearing Heb. 4.3 We which have believed in Christ do enter into his rest Ver. 9. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God Ver. 10. A ceasing from our own works as God did from his And we must labour therefore to enter into that rest Chap. 9.27 It is appointed unto men once to die but after this the Judgenment And Christ once offered for sin shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation Chap. 10.37 Yet a little while and he that shall come will come and will not tarry Ver. 35. and 36. We must wait with patience and confidence till the time promised do come Chap. 11.35 Persons were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain not a happy Separated Estate but a better Resurrection James 1.12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him Chap. 5.8 Be ye also patient stablish your hearts for the coming of the Lord
will not suffer his faithful Servants to go unrewarded and therefore hath promised the Resurrection inserted into all our Creeds Now though I be not certain of my immediate departing to Christ at my dissolution yet I have an end intended which will make me Godly Charitable Just and Happy so far as I am made for Happiness supposing that to please God is the right end of all To this he replies We must desire to please God better then we can do in this Life This I do not grant for neither Nature nor Scripture do teach or require such desires Secondly He says It s own Felicity is so necessary to the Soul of Man as a desire to please God cannot stand without it This is denied but yet we do believe God to be a beatifying Rewarder of them who diligently seek him yet not of Debt but of Grace and so the Articles of the Resurrection do prove being assurances of future rewards and punishments Pag. 4. He says If a man have not his aim level'd at the reward he can have no certain end of his endeavour as if a design and intention to please God and serve to his Glory were to little or no purpose without a profitable consequent reward Pag. 5. He says Men use not to serve God for nought and specially not to their loss and yet I say it is the duty of all Creatures so to do to please God and serve to his Glory without other reward or intention to obtain it and yet the Resurrection is for reward and punishment and they are Lawful but neither the only nor the principal Considerations of Mans obedience to God And says If sin overspread the World notwithstanding the hopes and fears of a Life to come what would it do if there were no such things in that case I say Still it could but overspread the World and yet I do agree that hopes and fears are well grounded upon the Article of our Resurrection Pag. 6. He says No Blessing of God can be rightly esteemed and used but by him who sees it leads to a better Life I say Divers Blessings may be rightly esteemed and used without farther references than the thankful receiving them as Gods Favours beneficial to Men in this Life He says No wonder if Unbelievers be unthankful no nor that Believers are so too nor that he and his Proselites take every Blessing and prosperous Success here for an assurance of Gods Love and Acceptance and that their ways and doings are pleasing to him and an earnest penny of Eternal Glory which they earnestly covet and for which they slavishly serve as their Teachers direct them and without which hopes neither he nor they pretend to serve or honour God or to perform any other Duties of their Christian Religion And he exclaims against the Miseries of this Life not to be abidd'n but for the hopes of a future Glorious Life not considering that this later Life was not revealed to the World 'till our Lord Discovered it not 1700 Years ago and yet Men lived as happily in the World before that time as they have done since and submitted to their several Conditions and Circumstances with as much quietness and content of mind as Christians do at this Day serving God under enjoyment and expectation of Temporal rewards propounded by Moses and many other Law-givers of the World But he it seems found himself apt to murmur against God upon account of Cares and Worldly Griefs and the fears of Death and future Events but that was his infirmity at the best and perhaps a perverse humour in him for he might remember that Moses Laws revealed from Heaven Propounded no Rewards beyond the Happiness of this World nor Punishments but of the same nature and yet that People lived often very Happily under them and might always have done so by being Obedient to them Pag. 7. But to his Proposal Concerning the Behaviour of his good Old Women I say the part which they Acted upon the Stage of this World was very convenient for their Circumstances which require of them to take upon Trust and the Credit of their Teachers and other Informers the Rules both of their Faith and Manners and likely it is no more will be required of them at the Day of the Great Audit But their constancy in their Opinions and the sure expectation of Heaven and Happiness at their Deaths Creates no manner of Assurance that they were in the Right or were not deceived in their most assured expectations for Ages and the present World abound with Evidences that false Tenets and very Gross Errors are believed and maintained by misguided and deceived People with as much assurance and establish'd Confidence as the very Truth it self can by any means be Men Women and Children have died bravely in maintenance of gross mistakes and evident untruths And few Turks are found at this Day who will not rather part with Life and all other Worldly Comforts then renounce their Mahomet and his Alchoran Arrians were Anciently and some of them in our times so resolute in their Opinion as to submit to Death rather than to recant it Indian Idolaters daily offer their Lives in honour of their Idols as the most assured means of obtaining a Blessed and Happy State immediately upon their Dissolution with as little doubt as any of our Authors Old Women could possibly attain unto Hence the Author may perswade himself that seing the Old Womens Confidence is no certain Evidence that they were not in an Error and that their Ignorance was more excusable than his would be it becomes him better to enquire after the direct and attainable truth of things and particularly concerning Souls and whether they have a separate subsistance after Death of the Body or not than to sit down contented with his own present conceit or apprehensions concerning the same without making such farther search as he is able into the truth and certainty of such Opinions Pag. 8. He says well That a Faith not upheld by such Evidence of Truth as reason can discern and justifie is joyned with such doubting as though Men dare not open yet they do not therefore overcome and this doubting may likely prove prejudicial both to their Faith and Performance Pag. 10. And things it too much trouble to consider how Souls out of the Body do Subsist and Act But that the Soul of Man doth subsist seperately from the Body and Act in that State he takes upon him to prove Pag. 11. To that intent he undertakes to define what a Humane Soul is and says It is a Spiritual Pure Invisible Substance naturally endowed with the Power Virtue or Faculty of Vital Action Intellection and Volition not destroyed by seperation of Parts or loss of Power Species Individuation or Action and therefore it is an Immortal Spirit He says in proof that it is a Substance that which is nothing can do nothing but the Soul doth move understand and will for that is done
Sort but only in the Body and by the Organs of it so as the Soul cannot act them in any other Part of the Body but only in those very Organs ordained by God and Nature for those Purposes viz. not see but in the Eyes remember but in the Memory not understand but in the Intellect Any such Parts or Organs harmed or lost the Soul can only work with what is left or cannot work at all to those Purposes Hence it seems these second Sort of Powers in Man do not more proceed from the Soul than those of the first Sort do The Soul in the Head and Intellectual Organs there produces and acts the Intellectual Powers and Faculties of the Man and the same Soul in the Vital Parts and Organs of the Body produces and acts Affections and Passions and Sensual Appetites which solicit the Judgment that the Whole may be employed so far as may be needful for the Procuring their Satisfaction And all these Repetitions tend to prove that the terming these first sort of Faculties the Flesh and the second sort of Faculties the Spirit cannot reasonably be made an Argument inducing to believe an easie natural or feasible Separation of the Flesh and Spirit and that one of them can have a Subsistence without the other And thus we conclude the Examination of such Texts of Scripture as are alledged for Proofs of the Subsistence of a Humane Soul in a State of Separation from the Body And we proceed to produce Arguments which work in Debilitation of such a Separate Subsistence of Souls First We say it seems a great Weakening of that Opinion That there is not in the whole Bible to be found one Text which doth expresly affirm that the Soul of Man hath a Separate Subsistence after Death of the Man nor that it is Immaterial or Immortal Secondly None of the Texts before quoted nor any other from which the Separate Subsistence is endeavoured to be proved did principally intend the Teaching or Proving of the Doctrine but all such Texts do principally aim at some other End or Design and what is drawn from those Texts in Proof of this Point is but Collateral to the Intent of such Texts and rises only upon a Collection drawn from Inferences The Parable of Dives and Lazarus Luke 16. looks most like a Design to that Purpose And yet Ver. 15. our Lord teaches That what is highly esteemed amongst Men is Abomination in the sight of God And then speaks of the Power of the Law And in Ver. 19. begins this Parable intending thereby to dilucidate his Assertion of Ver. 15. that Men may be and often are greatly deceived in their Opinions concerning Things and particularly in Judging of the Happiness of Mens Conditions for Illustration of which Doctrine he places Dives in as high a Degree of Happiness as Men ordinarily do desire He was richly arrayed and fared sumptuously every day and had Health withal And Lazarus he puts down as low in Comparison He was a Beggar a Lazar and full of Sores who was brought and laid at Dives his Gate and fed with the Crumbs that fell from his Table Here was Dives his Condition highly esteemed and desired amongst Men but he shewed by the Sequel of the Parable that it was abominated in the Sight of God for the Poor Man was comforted and Dives tormented So as the Illustration of this Doctrine seems to have been the main Intent of the Parable and what is spoken of Discourse betwixt Abraham and Dives and the seeing Lazarus in Abraham's Bosom afar off seems like the Pomp of Dives and the Misery of Lazarus not real but parabolical or Invention Like the falling of the Seed some amongst Thorns some on a Rock some upon one sort of Ground and some upon another A third Disability upon the Tenet of Separate Subsistence is that in all our Evidences concerning the Resurrection very copious and full there is no mention of an Intermediate State betwixt the Man's Death and his Resurrection nor concerning the Separate State of Humane Souls or their being in that Estate or Capacity of being in it We may to this purpose look back upon 1 Cor. 15. If there be not a Resurrection all Christian Religion is vain our Preaching and your Faith Christians are of all Men most miserable and you are yet in your Sins Here appears no Help from the Separate Estate or Subsistence of a Soul nor Mention of such a thing And Ver. 18. All that are fallen asleep in Christ are perished if there be no Resurrection What then becomes of Souls subsisting in a State of Separation It seems S. Paul knew nothing of such an Estate or made small Account of it or else very likely he would have made some mention of it Phil. 3.20 Our Conversation is in Heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ who shall change our vile Body and make it like his glorious Body according as he is able to subdue all things to himself Here is no mention of Soul but as in Conjunction with the Body and Flesh is not a Body without a Soul therefore the Soul in Conjunction is here intended but no Room seems to be left here for a Separate Subsistence of Souls 1 Pet. 1.4 We are begotten by the Resurrection of Christ to an Inheritance in Heaven ready to be revealed in the last Time Ver. 9. Receiving the End of your Faith even the Salvation of your Souls Here Soul is mentioned intended in Conjunction with the Body Soul for Person As Gen. 46.26 All the Souls which came with Jacob into Egypt all the Souls were threescore and six and the two Sons of Joseph were two Souls as before hath been largely quoted And the Apostle refers here to the Resurrection to be revealed in the last Time Whence Body must be conjoined and no mention of an intermediate State or a Soul in that State Chap. 5.4 Those who do well when the chief Shepherd shall appear shall receive a Crown of Glory that fadeth not away 2 Tim. 4.8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord shall give me at that Day and not to me only but to them also that love his Appearing Here is no Notice taken of intermediate Time or Estate but when the chief Shepherd shall appear and at that Day Coloss 3.4 When Christ who is our Life shall appear then shall ye also appear with him in Glory 1 Joh. 3.2 It doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him It seems he knew not of a Separate Subsistence of Souls but expected to learn at the Appearance of Christ what himself should be Heb. 9.27 It is appointed unto Men once to die and after this the Judgment Nothing here betwixt Death and Judgment and expounds his Meaning to be of the general Judgment Ver. 28. Christ once offered for sin shall appear the second
but a Trust in God supports all It seems he knew of no Revelation Primitive or Modern that could give Satisfaction in that Point Page 372. Says God doth his own Works in a Causal Order one Work prepares for another and he makes Varieties of Capacities which occasion Varieties of Gifts and of Receptions and he useth to give every one that unto which he hath brought him into a next Capacity for the Reception of And granted it is That all is Acted by Energy from God and his Spirit But say I as he also by giving Capacities and advancing them to Degrees of Perfection in an Ordinary and Natural Course producing Effects from their Natural and Proper Causes And that when he goes beyond this Course or out of this Way the Proceeding is Extraordinary Supernatural Miraculous such as we have no Warrant to expect or depend upon in the ordinary Course of our Conduct True it is God's Arm is not shortned and therefore in all Cases of great Exigency we know he can work by Natural Causes beyond Mens Expectations or by Miracles at his own Pleasure We read of such Procedure in the Primitive Times since which the Signs and Wonders are ceased and so the Perceptible Actings of God's Spirit ordinarily And it seems we are not any more reasonably or warrantably to expect them or to depend upon them but to wait upon God's ordinary Dispensations in his Ordinances Hearing Reading Praying Practising Living and Dying in him to him and if need be for him so as Living we may repose upon him and Dying we may rest in him 1 Joh 2.28 So as in all Conditions are abide in him that when he shall appear we may have Confidence and not be ashamed before him at his Coming And this is the Fruit of our Labour and Conflicts in this World that we may have the Hope and Courage at our Awaking to come before him with Confidence and without being ashamed in his Presence Pag. 374. Says We must not have slight Thoughts of the Office and Work of the Holy Ghost on Souls and our Necessity of it but must beg and wait for the Spirit 's Special Help That Spirit is not impotent or inexorable he hath appointed us Means for so high a State and he appoints no Means in vain Page 375. Says Let thy Dependance on the Holy Ghost as given from Christ be as serious and constant to thee as the dependance of the Eye is upon the Light Beg hard for the Holy Spirit and gladly entertain it All these Expressions of our Author seem to intend some eminent and perceptible Motions or Actings of God's Spirit if so he do there are divers Testimonies in this Book which shew he did not attain unto them We have shown the Thing to be a Miracle common in Primitive Times of the Church but ceasing by degrees until no Signs of it were left But the Fruits the extraordinary Appearances are failed long since and the like Effects do not now shew themselves Where the Spirit is it works and if it be present in an extraordinary and miraculous Manner it will produce sutable Effects as it did in those Primitive Times and where such do not appear such Pretences are not to be believed If our Author intend the Ordinary Gifts and Graces of God's Spirit working in us to will and to do what God hath appointed us in his Holy Word by Illumination Rectification Melioration and Direction of our Natural Faculties Powers and Capacities all his Exhortations may pass for good and Men may pray in Faith for such Assistances and Graces and may likely find a good Return upon them Our Author says no more upon this Point and we shall therefore follow it no farther but return with him to our first Design Page 380. He says The Sensible Souls of Brutes are Substances and therefore not animated at their Deaths God tells us not what he doth with them after Death and it is likely they are after Death in a State still of Service unto Man but how we know not It seems the same Scruple which troubled him at the Beginning of his Book hath stuck to him all along and unto the End of it viz. how to make a real and clear Difference between the Souls of Men and Beasts He doth constantly acknowledge a great Assimilation of the one of them to the other and shews a great Inclination to raise the Nature of the Souls of Brutes above that which ordinary Opinions have allowed them to the Intent that a Separately Subsisting Soul of Man might the more easily pass and be assented unto or with fewer Difficulties and Exceptions And to this I say that he labours in vain to perswade that Souls of Beasts are Self-subsistent It seems a Phancy either derived from Dr. More or out of his own Brain He doth not alledge a Revelation of the Spirit for it and if he had such Allegation could not support that Opinion We say That Souls of Brutes are Material Spirits living and acting in their Blood and Humours and preying upon them as their Natural Support and Nourishment inflamed by the continual Fanning of their Breath and when for want of Breath or other Nourishment the Flame of those Natural Spirits is totally extinguished or that by other Violence such total Extinguishment happens the Beast dies and these Natural or Vital Spirits cease to work and be and can no more revive than a Fire clean gone out or put out can rekindle it self without fresh Fire applied to that Purpose And for the Beasts we have no notice or Proof that ever such a Reviver or Rekindling shall be given them But concerning Men we have very clear undoubted and undeniable Revelations that there shall be a Resurrection or a Reviver of them Heb. 9.27 It is appointed unto Men once to die but after this the Judgment And Chap. 11.35 Torments were endured not accepting Deliverance that they might obtain a better Resurrection For there will be a better and a worse both of the Just and of the Unjust And then shall Christ sit upon the Throne of his Glory distributing Crowns to his brave Soldiers the Martyrs laid up for them against that Day and awarding other Rewards and Glories to his faithful Servants and passing a dreadful Sentence upon his Enemies and specially Deserters Takers and Breakers of Holy Vows and Covenants of Fidelity in his Service for that they crucifie the Son of God afresh and put him to an open Shame From such a Resurrection Good Lord deliver us and rather may the Mountains fall upon us and the Hills cover us that we may never see the Frowns of Goodness and Love rejecting all Future Addresses and putting us over to the Masters and Company which living we chose and preferred before his Greatness and Glory his Goodness and Love testified by his Sufferings for us But living People have yet Time to prevent such heavy Consequences of the Resurrection And God give us all Grace heartily to
to such purposes 1. Making the Soul Tota in qualibet parte 2. Setting on foot a New Creation of Souls by God every day and for Adulterous Incestuous and Buggered Procreations where the Shape is Humane by a Creando infunditur 3. It immerses pure young innocent Souls newly created in the filth of Original Sin without any Cause given or Offence committed by them 4. St. Austin had thereby his Imagination confounded not knowing if such Soul was One and not Two or Two and not One or were at once both one and Two and made him think the last though a Paradox to be the most likely 5. Upon this Errour is grounded the Prae-existence of such Souls and the Consequences thereof viz. their hovering in the Air their attending New Procreations of Bodies that thence they may glide down into them and forsaking Dying Bodies return again into those Aiery Habitations 6. The Transmigration of such Souls from one Humane Body to another and some made the Transmigration Common between Men and Beasts as the Pythagorean Schools maintained at this day by the Eastern Indians and the Chineses 7. Hence have grown the Inventions of Mahomet's Paradises his Purgatories and his Gehenna's as formerly the Heathens had their Eliziums and Barathrums supposed Receptacles in the Bowels of the Globe of our Earth Such a Case we find argued in Salust betwixt Caesar and Cato Caesar calls Mortem aerumnarum requiem jam cuncta mortalium mala dissolvere ultra neque curae neque gaudio locum esse Cato answers that by this Speech it appears what Caesar thought of Death Credo falsa existimans ea quae de inferis memorantur diverso itinere malos à bonis loca tetra inculta foeda atque formidolosa habere 8. Hence hath arisen the Popish Purgatorium where his Holiness is allowed to have an absolute Command and by which he makes Profit accordingly 9. Hence hath grown the Errour of Praying for the Dead in the Romish Churches 10. Those Churches have upon this Errour followed the Heathen Practices of Adoring Dead Persons the one as Gods and the other as Saints Pliny in his Natural History lib. 7. cap. 55. says That the Body or Soul of Man hath no more Sense after Death than they had before their Nativity and yet the folly and vanity of Men says he is so great as that they imagine the Humane Soul extends even to future Ages and that they have Sense whereupon Men render them honour and worship making a God of him who is not so much as a Man as if the manner of Mens breathing differed from that of other Creatures And thus hath the Popish World practised to make them Images and to believe their Personal Appearances as Saul believed the Soul of Samuel appearing in the Witches Specter and to it Saul stooped with his face to the ground and bowed himself so worshipping the Devil instead of the Prophet as the Papists do instead of their Saints who likely have no manner of being nor shall have until the Resurrection at the Last Day You say That a Separate Subsistence of Souls doth not infer Purgatory And I grant it but it is the causa sine qua non of that Opinion for if no Separate Subsistence then no Purgatory nor no Prayers for or to Persons departed this life and returned to the dust from whence they were taken Farther to evince a Sparate State of the Soul you offer to raise Evidence out of a Collect in the Office of our Burial Praying That we and those departed may have a perfect consummation of Bliss in Eternal Glory I say this Consummation of Bliss is to be intended after the Resurrection without necessarily supposing any Intermediate State unless it be to such as are before-hand perswaded that there is such a State In the close of your 6th Paragraph you say That your Zeal against the Opinion of the Materiality is grounded upon your own apprehensions that this conceipt would introduce an inundation of Atheism and Prophaneness Looseness and Sensuality To me these Consequences do not appear at all likely Not of Atheism for that it asserts God the Creation Generation and Resurrection all acted by Divine Power Nor of any the other three for that it approves and maintains the extreamest Recompences dispensable in a Future State after the Resurrection And my Apprehension is That although in your Future Ministration you should never insist more upon the Souls Immortality but inforce your Exhortations pertaining to Future Recompences from the Certainty and Concernment of the Resurrection the Last Judgment and Execution of the same your Auditors would not thereby become any whit more Atheists than they were before or more Sensual Loose or Prophane upon that Occasion but probably would continue to act and live as formerly they have done without that any alteration would thereupon be visible or consequent And for the Intermediate State you say The Fathers owned a Middle State which was neither Heaven nor Hell and because they either could not tell what that State was or not agree about it we seem left at liberty by them to think as we may concerning it We have not found any Text of Scripture positively asserting the Separate Subsistence nor such a Doctrine concerning it as that the principal aim and intent of it was to teach this Assertion for a Truth The Fathers Opinions about it are disagreeable to one another and unknowing of what was the clear Truth in this Poin. You say They thought Souls were neither in Heaven nor Hell I have quoted to you Mr. Baxter's Book p. 398. where he tells us That many of his friends holy persons were gone to Heaven and that is spangled with their spiritual stars the place is honoured with them and they with it This his Opinion of going to Heaven or Hell upon Death I take to be the most commonly embraced amongst us and I shall be glad to receive your particular Opinion thereupon but these Uncertainties concerning the Separate State the Manner and Places thereto belonging make me more to question the Verity of it and to conclude upon it rather in the Negative You quote to me a Saying of Cicero That if the Opinion of the Immortality be an Errour libenter erro this you translate the Opinion pleaseth me well it is an innocent Disception as if the liking of an Opinion and the innocency of it were the same thing whereas it is evident Men like and chuse sometimes false and harmful Opinions before those which are tried innocent and beneficial as I doubt not but you think I do in this Point not sub nomine erroris but by a deceived heart carried and drawn away by pride conceitedness contumacy and disobedience to the Ordinance of God as you word it and yet you do not cite one Ordinance of God to which the Opinion of the Materiality is contrary but I desire you will do it in your next Return You say You do not require an implicit
Scripture the Context is always well and throughly to be considered and all the parts so be understood and construed as may make the several Parts and Expressions of it stand and agree together and with the true and sober Rules of common Sense and Reason To make such an Exposition of these two Verses and the Words and import of them it seems to me the Expounders of them should begin from the next preceding Chapter viz. Chap. 4.8 there Paul begins to recount his Sufferings Vers 14. But after all He who raised the Lord Jesus shall raise us up also by Jesus and shall present us with you And therefore we must look aâ— things not seen and Eternal in comparison of which the present Affliction is but short and light Chap. 5.1 c. For we know we have a Building of God a house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens desiring to be cloathed upon with our house if so be that being cloathed we shall not be found naked For we do groan not for that we would be uncloathed but cloathed upon that Mortality might be swallowed up of Life Therefore we knowing that whilst we are at hone in the Body we are absent from the Lord and are willing rather to be absent from the Body and to be present with the Lord therefore we labour that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him For we must all appear before the Judgment seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his Body according to what be hath done whether it be good or bad To accord the Words absent from the Body and present with the Lord to the rest of the Context it seems we must take Body in this place for the Natural Body as it is distinguished from the Spiritual Body expected at the time of Christ's Second Coming Those who are raised to Happiness shall be raised Spiritual Bodies as 1 Cor. 15.44 and those who are alive at that time shall be changed viz. their Natural Bodies into Spiritual Bodies For Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God Whilst therefore we are at home in the Natural Body we are and must be absent from the Lord and do wish rather to be absent from this Body viz. have it changed into a Spiritual Body that this Mortal might put on Immortality and Death may not have Power over us but be swallowed up in that Victory Our Text is parallel hereunto we know we have an house eternal in the Heavens desiring to be cloathed upon with this house viz. the Spiritual Body that Mortality might be swallowed up of Life Therefore he desires not to be Uncloathed not to Die or put off this Tabernacle but to be Cloathed upon to pass to Life without passing the Gates of Death be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye for till a Resurrection or such a change we are like to be absent from the Lord Therefore he desires to be Cloathed upon with this house from Heaven that he may not continue in the Natural Body and thereby absent from the Lord He speaks as if he might live to that time says We shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed And of absence from the Body by this change it seems St. Paul speaks in my Text which you have quoted and not of any thing to be done or expected after Death or betwixt that and the Resurrection The whole Tract recited seems to me intended for Comfort in times of Worldly Afflictions founded upon the Resurrection Chap. 4.14 and terminated in it Chap. 5.10 desiring whether absent in the Natural Body or present in the Spiritual to be accepted by Christ that we may come to that great Audit with Confidence as 1 Joh. 2.28 and not be ashamed before him at his coming but may rejoyce at it with joy unspeakable and full of Glory that the wicked rising or found alive at Christ's Coming shall be so changed or have Spiritual Bodies I do not find Written and it seems as likely that they may still remain in their former state of Nature sensible of what they suffer as in their first Life The difficulty thereupon will be how they should be able to dwell in Everlasting Burnings without being consumed But I pretend not to solve all Difficulties but shall leave this to farther Consideration and conclude my self Your obliged humble Servant 10. Nov. 93. In a Postscript to a Letter from my Opponent He says I can by no means consent to the making any thing of mine Publick but if they will serve you in Private you may keep them by you Dated Nov. 6.93 And to my Reply Dated 10. Nov. 93. His Answer was That he sent back my Papers without rejoyning to them foreseeing that the effect of his Rejoynder would be but another Answer from me and a fruitless trouble to us both He warned me to forbear Publishing my Opinion as new singular dangerous and false and likely to produce great inconveniences to my self from the ill treatment I might find from others who if they thought me considerable enough to be Answered were likely to give me Answer in Terms less civil than he had used towards me Dated Nov. 21. Anno 93. And thus finished the Intercourse betwixt me and my Learned Neighbour upon the Point before disputed Whilst I was employed upon this Argument with my said Neighbour there came to my hand a Sermon of Dr. Bentley's treating upon the same Subject and Intituled Matter and Motion cannot think Wherein he Undertakes or promises to prove That the Humane Soul is an Immaterial Intelligent Spirit and because I thought he fell short in his performance of that promise I made Observations in Nature of a Refutation upon that Sermon as far only as concerned that Point These Observations I sent to London as my Opposer says he had notice with intent to have them Printed but hitherto an Imprimatur hath not been obtained for them In them I press Dr. Bentley to a better performance of that his promise than I think he hath made in that Sermon and do desire him to take that promise to heart and perform it to the uttermost of his Power as a Work worthy of his Endeavours and requisite and very needful for the times we live in but when that my demand may arrive to him in the way which I intend I do not yet perceive but as I was musing a Friend Minister brought me a Book which he said had given him great Satisfaction in the Point thus far disputed and he thought it might probably do the same to me I found it Printed Lond. 1685. in 4o. Intituled A Treatise of the Soul of Man by John Flavel Minister late of Dartmouth upon perusal I found his Design the very same with that which I had prest Dr. Bentley to Undertake viz. to prove that the Humane Soul is an Immaterial Immortal Intelligent Spirit and that the Author was Learned Judicious and Industrious and
Jesus shall God bring with him and the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout with the Voice of the Archangel and with the Tromp of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first then the Elect living Persons shall be Translated and caught up to the Clouds and both sorts together shall meet the Lord in the Air and so shall they ever be with the Lord. Here we may perceive or collect That St. Paul directs to look after the Resurrection for Comfort at or immediately after the Death of the Party Had he known or believed a Separate Subsistence of Souls and a going to Heaven of the good immediately after Death of the Party Our Author gives it us in these Words Pag. 326. Little says he do Believers think what Visions of God and Ravishing Sights of Christ the Souls of their Friends have when they are closing their eyes with tears It seems strange St. Paul did not know any thing of this delightful Scene and pity it is doubtless that he was ignorant of such Ravishing Enjoyments and the quick attainment of them Acts 20.20 He kept nothing back that was profitable to his Auditors Ver. 27. But declared to them all the Council of God Had he known or believed the Separate Subsistence or the particular Judgment or the immediate going to Heaven by Angels or the Ravishing Sights and Joys so soon accruing he would not have kept back all or any of them from his Proselites the Thessalonians But we have Reason to think he would fully and freely have communicated the same to them and have raised Edifying and Comfortable Exhortations if he had found or known of sound ground to erect them upon Our Ministers and People fetch not their Comforts so far as the Resurrection but fetch them from Heaven immediately and hope with as much likelihood that all their Friends Souls go thither by the Conveyance of Angels But because St. Paul here gives us no Encouragement to believe them for my Part I cannot do it but fix my self for Comfort in such Cases upon the Rocky Ground which our Apostle here gives us the Certainty and Assurance of a General Resurrection and Judgment Our Apostle's former Text 1 Cor. 15.32 says thus What shall all the Afflictions that I have undergone profit me if the dead rise not But if the-Case be so Let us eat and drink for to morrow we die and there 's an end casting the whole Expectation of Recompences future to this Life upon the Resurrection without mention or regard of any Intermediate State Rom. 2.5 Thou treasurest up unto thy self Wrath against the Day of Wrath and Revelation of the Righteous Judgment of God Ver. 6. Who will render to every Man according to his Deeds Honour and Immortality to some but Indignation and Wrath Tribulation and Anguish to all who work evil c. to Ver. 16. In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ Plainly the Day of the Last Judgment so as Recompences shall then be distributed according to what Men have done here and only then for any thing that appears in this Text without mention or regard to an Intermediate State 1 Cor. 1.7 8. Ye come behind in no Gift waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus who also shall confirm you unto the end that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Plainly intending his Second Coming to Judgment as the only known Time for the Expectation of future Recompences 1 Cor. 4.5 Judge nothing before the time until the Lord come who both will bring to light the hidden Works of Darkness and manifest the Counsels of Hearts and then shall every deserving Man have Praise of God Plainly denoting the Resurrection as the Time of Judgment and Recompences 2 Cor. 5.10 We must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his Body whether good or bad Still without hinting any other Time or Place for future Recompences Philip. 3.20 Our Conversation is in Heaven from whence we look for the Saviour the Lord of Glory who shall change our vile Body and make it like his Glorious Body according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself Still no mention of any Expectation future to this Life till our Lord's Second Coming 2 Thes 1.7 It is right for God to recompence harm to them which trouble you and to you who are troubled Rest with us when the Lord shall appear from Heaven with his mighty Angels Chap. 3.5 The Lord airect your hearts into the Love of God and unto the patient waiting for Christ His Coming again 1 Tim. 6.14 Keep this Commandment until the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ which in his times he shall shew as the only time for Recompences 2 Tim. 4.8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but unto them also that love his appearing viz. his Second Coming And this applies Chap. 1.12 I suffer without being ashamed for I know whom I have believed and that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day And so Ver. 18. The Lord grant to Onisephorus that he may find Mercy of the Lord in that day Chap. 4.1 I Charge thee before God and Christ who shall Judge the Quick and Dead at his Appearing and his Kingdom All harping upon the same string viz. the Resurrection and General Judgment without one word mentioning a Particular Judgment or an Intermediate State Tit. 2.13 Teach to live soberly righteously and godly in this present world looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the Great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ No mention of the Hope of a Blessed Intermediate State Heb. 6.2 He will go on to the Doctrines of the main Duties to be performed in this world and to the Resurrection of the dead and that of eternal Judgment for the world to come as the only considerable things Chap. 9.27 It is appointed unto Men once to die and after that the Judgment The Last Day or Judgment Not Two one Particular and the other General No mention of more than One Chap. 11.35 Others were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain What Not an immediate going to Heaven of their Souls but a better Resurrection Chap. 12.22 Ye are come to the Heavenly Jerusalem to God and Angels to the General Assembly and Church and just Spirits made perfect And see that ye refuse not him that speaketh in the Gospel whose Voice then shook the Earth yet once more I shake not the Earth only but also Heaven which signifies the removing of them at the Last Day aad then we shall receive a Kingdom which cannot he moved And then enjoy the Heavenly Jerusalem God Christ Angels the Assembly of the Church perfected unto which things
we are now come in Faith Hope and Expectation having received a full and true Declaration of them We have thus traversed the large Fields of St. Paul's Epistles collecting Evidences concerning his Doctrine and Opinion touching the Future State of Mankind after a Death in this World The Texts of his which have been quoted treat particularly of such Future State and intend to teach concerning the same delivering thereupon according as in the said Quotations hath been expressed Before have been quoted on the other hand Four Texts of his said Writings alledged in Proof of the Immateriality viz. 2 Cor. 5. Ver. 6. 8. and Phil. 1.23 and Heb. 12.9 and Heb. 12.22 To these I say none of those Places treat particularly of the Future State of Mankind or intend to Teach or Examine what the same shall be Next I say that of these four Places none speak Provingly But Phil. 1.23 viz. His desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ I say the Question made thereupon is concerning the Meaning or Sense of the Expression of being with Christ It intends a State more desireable than that which at that time he enjoyed I take a sleeping in Jesus to be so viz. a more desireable State than that which at that time he enjoyed That this is a Blessed State we read Revel 14.13 after mentioning the Patience and Faith of the Saints under Persecutions the Text says Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord that they may rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them And that it is a State cared for by God and under his Protection appears Rom. 14.7 None of us liveth to himself and no man dieth to himself Ver. 8. For whether we live we live unto the Lord and whether we die we die unto the Lord Whether we live therefore or die we are the Lord 's Verse 9. For Christ died rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and living Ver. 10. We shall all stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ So Chap. 4.17 God who quickneth the dead and calleth those things that be not as though they were and so he is the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob for all live unto him though the Body turn to dust and the Soul expire yet neither of then are lost Joh. 11.23 Our Lord says to Martha Thy Brother shall rise again She Answers I know that he shall rise again at the Resurrection of the Last Day He Replies I am the Resurrection and the Life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live and whoso liveth and believeth in me shall never die Viz. So as to fall out of my Care or Protection or Knowledge thy Brother shall rise again speedily and for others Joh. 6.39 Of that which my Father hath given me I will lose nothing but will raise it up at the Last Day Ver. 40. All who believe in me shall have Everlasting Life and I will raise them up at the Last Day Which Paul to Tim. calls That Day So Ver. 44. 54. All speak of raising Believers up at the Last Day to receive Blessings and Rewards whereas the rising of the Wicked shall be attended with a Second Death This intends an Answer additional to Paul's Desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ And touching the whole Course of this Apostle's Writings concerning a State of Mankind after Death my Quotations make it appear That either he knew of no Intermediate State betwixt Death and the Resurrection or else he did not Acknowledge or Believe it For his Knowledge that there was an Opinion in the World of Souls Subsisting in a Separate State from their Bodies there are great Probabilities as that Solomon's Text The Spirit returns to God And St. Matthew's Text of Cannot kill the Soul And both Heathen and Jewish Opinions to that purpose it seems could hardly escape his Knowledge But most likely it is that he did not acknowledge or believe the Truth of that Opinion for that in any of his Writings upon that Subject he doth neither relate to it nor mention it much less doth he confirm or approve it but puts all Expectation of Rewards or Punishments Future to this World upon the Score and Account of the Resurrection And upon the foot of that Account I leave it with this Apostle intending to Examine what other Apostles have written to the same Purpose I proceed to the Epistle of St. James and quote out of it Chap. 1.12 Blessed is the Man that endureth Temptation for when he is tried he shall receive the Crown of Life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him In Words very like 2 Tim. 4.8 and of the same Import and that applies the receiving of the Crown to that Day or the Last Day So Chap. 5.7 Be patient Brethren unto the coming of the Lord. Ver. 8. Again Be patient for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh Gives no Expectatation of Recompences till the coming of the Lord. I go on to St. Peter 1 Pet. 1.4 You are begotten to an Inheritance incorruptible reserved in Heaven for you Ver. 5. Who are kept by the power of God through Faith unto Salvation ready to be revealed in the last time Does not say to be revealed at the times of your Death So Chap. 5.4 When the chief Shepherd shall appear ye shall receive a Crown of Glory that fadeth not away Agreeing with Paul and James just before Chap. 4.5 Those who speak evil of you shall give account to him who is ready to judge the quick and the dead This must intend the Resurrection for that no Judgment shall pass of the quick and the dead together till that time Ver. 13. Rejoyce in as much as ye are Partakers of Christ's Sufferings that when his Glory shall be revealed you may be glad also with exceeding Joy This proves to my understanding that the Ravishing Joys of a newly departed Soul were unknown to this Prime Apostle 2 Pet. 2.9 The Lord knows to deliver the Godly and to reserve the Vnjust unto the day of Judgment to be punished So Ver. 4. Evil Angels are delivered into Chains of Darkness to be reserved unto Judgment Jude Ver. 6. Those Angels are reserved in everlasting Chains under darkness unto the Judgment of the Great Day This shews what sort of Judgment was before intended Chap. 3.12 What manner of Persons ought ye to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God wherein all shall be burnt up but we look for new Heavens and Earth and seeing ye look for such things be diligent that ye may be found of him in Peace without spot and blameless Thus he exhorts to a Holy Life from the expectation of the Great Day of Judgment and Dissolution of the Earth Sky and Elements about it without a word of Separated Souls or a particular Judgment or an Intermediate State between Death and Judgment
cure or help such a misadventure but can only make it sound according to its present capacity so it is with a Mans Spirit and his Bodily Members and Organs if there be a Lisping or Stammering Tongue or a Sanded or Squinting Eye a Lame Hand or a Foot out of joynt the Soul cannot cure or help in any such Cases but can only act the Members and Organs as it finds them capable and the like if harm come to the Members or Organs by Diseases Wounds or any like Accidents the Soul hath no more power to help in such Cases then Wind can help Deficiencies in the Organ Thirdly If there be any Pipes quite spoiled broken or wanting in the Organ the Wind can make no Musick or Sound at all in those places and in like manner for Man if the Eyes be out the Soul cannot make the Man see nor speak without a Tongue c. As for the Understanding and the Memory which seem to be the most spiritualized the Soul cannot act them without their proper Bodily Organs and by Blows Wounds or Diseases in the Head spoiling those Organs such Faculties may he lost the Soul still able and continuing still to act the Vital Nutritive and Generative Powers and to keep the Man well enough alive Fourthly As upon ceasing of Wind in the Organ the Instrument loses all its Activity and Harmonical Sounds and becomes only a Dead Fabrick so when the Flame of Life in Man is extinguished the Body and all its Organs and Members become Dead and Cold even as the very Organ and his Pipes which without Wind are useless to those purposes for which they were contrived and intended And thus the real Matter of our present Simile shall be determined And yet is it not so finished but that still there may be some farther use made upon the Circumstantials of it viz. Those Ornamental Accoutrements wherewith we see the Organs in Cathedrals and other very Eminent Places embellished and curiously engraved painted varnished and gilded to such Degrees that with the Lillies they may be compared to Solomon in all his glory but if these Splendid Circumstances be taken off them they must be found in their own proper likeness or Bodies viz. Wood or some coarse or ordinary Mettal without Lustre or Gloss or any other Delight in the beholding The Shining Ornaments of our Organ we compare not only to the Robes of Solomons Glory and those of other Princes Magistrates and Prelates which are intended to produce an awe and reverence in the Beholders and Common People and are often times productive of their designed Effect but I also compare them to divers other Ornaments and Glories of the Humane Nature acquired and accumulated by the Labour and Industry of many Generations in Succession one after the other viz. Many Manual and other Arts and Sciences derived from one Man to another and by various Experiments and Degrees brought to that Perfection which hitherto they have attained Now those who behold the State of Man's Nature and contemplate it in the Glories of all these fresh Colours Varnishing and Gilding as the most Men do cannot easily forbear to wonder at those who do or can apprehend that the Brutal Nature should be so near related as to be next of kin to the Humane I will therefore use this Nature as before I have used the Fabrick of the Organ viz. Remove it s Acquired Ornaments which have so dazzled most Mens Eyes as to make the Great Princes and Persons or some of them thought and think themselves above or beyond the Common Condition and Nature of other Men and to despise the Ordinary Sort of People to so high a Degree as not to count them made of the same Stuff or Kind with themselves And not Princes and Conquerours only but divers amongst the Learned and Knowing and Men of Skill in Arts and Sciences are too often apt to contemn their ignorant and illiterate Brethren as fit rather to be ranked inter Oves Boves caetera Pecora Campi than to be placed in equal Degree and Honour with themselves Let us then imaginando remove these Ornaments which become the Occasions of such great Mistakes and consider Man and his Nature in their own Natural Robes and Colours And this may be done without the taking from our Grandees any of their Ornaments or Preheminences for the true State of this Nature may best be surveyed in the Lowest and Plainest Ranks that can be found amongst Men which sort of People if we shall consider from the Cradle to the Grave we shall easily perceive to be wholly employed and taken up with the Care and Endeavour to acquire Nourishment Warmth and the Means of Propagation and these are the very Things which the more Sagacious Brutes do universally attend The Diet of such Lowest Sort of People and their Fare is Gross and Coarse so as the Rich mens Horses Dogs and Monkeys are often better provided their Houses far meaner than the Stables Beast Houses and even Swine-cotes of the Rich Nothing so well clad or covered as a well kept Horse If the Politie of the Places they live in hath taught them some good Rules and Precepts they make ordinarily a shift in a competent time to forget or change them and are to be governed and kept in order as Brutal Creatures are by the only Expectation or Fear of Rewards and Punishments and these things are applicable to Men whom we know by a Continual and Daily Conversation But if we direct our Prospect towards the more Desart Countries North or South we may find in India and Arabia but most especially in Africa and America Nations and People who have only their bare Skins for a Covering they rob and prey upon others for a maintenance they live upon Raw Flesh and the very Guts and Entrails of such Creatures as they can get Flesh of Men Dogs Horses Serpents all goes down with them Now what do Beasts differ from such Men or they from Beasts Even Wild Beasts of the Forest for our Tame Cattle will not do so nor hardly any Beasts amongst us but hungry Dogs They discover no Effect of Rules or Civility amongst them save to forbear hurting one another as the Beasts do Saevis inter se convenit Vrsis but their Lusts are at as full Liberty as those of other Cattel Thus in general but to set forth Humanity in its most Simple Natural and Plain Colours Sir Kenelm Digby's Treatise of the Soul shall be cited fol. 247. where he relates and testifies this fact An Army coming to attack Liege the people of the next Villages fled into the Forest of Ardennes amongst whom a Woman and her Son of about five years old the Souldiers beat up into the Woods for Booty and frighted the People so as the Woman lost her Son and never found him after the Army departed and the People returned and about ten years after an extraordinary hard Winter hapned and the Wild