that Soul as well as it is in the Beasts With it and by it they live move and act With its Extinguishment they die and turn to immediate Corruption and Gradatim to their Original Earth and Dust So was it with Adam and his Soul and Body and from his Time hath so continued without Exception save in Enoch and Elijah by Divine Power or Miracle manifested in reviving Lazarus and some other dead Bodies by re-kindling in them the extinguish'd Flame of Life 2. He doubts not but that Eve's Soul was like Adam's and if his were created so was hers And this we grant as well the one as the other 3. Adam did not speak of her Soul but owned her Body of his therefore he knew not her Soul or what or whence it was Whence 't is not likely her Soul was made out of his but was a Creation from nothing I grant her Soul was not made out of his but made like his The Body Blood and Humours being prepared and fit the Flame of Life was kindled in her by the Divine Power and after her first Breath she lived by Respiration as Adam did so long as that Flame of Life continued unextinguished and she was made and so long she continued a Living Soul or rather a Living Compositum both of Body and Soul 4. If the Soul were generated there would be a subject Matter out of which it grew And then Solomon could not properly say it returned to God that gave it but it should rather return into such Matter as it was raised from He says Austin applied this Saying of Solomon only to Adam's Soul or the Orignal of Souls for that he would not oppose the Generation of Souls But the Author says it must doubtless be understood of all Souls Concerning this I say it appears as clearly that Solomon was not resolved concerning Humane Souls whether they went upward or downward or what became of them upon a Solemn Consideration and Argument Yet he doth after and without Argument summarily say the Spirit returns to God who gave it In both Places our Translators use the Term of Spirit and not of Soul The Breath Spirit and Life which is in Man goes not perceivably to Sense any whither Likely it is the common Opinion of his Time was for a Separate Subsistence of Souls For we read Saul applied himself to the Witch for bringing up of Samuel intending his Separately Subsisting Soul And the Devil favours this Opinion in pretending to be Samuel's disquieted Soul In these few Words of Solomon it may be conceived that unresolved in himself he thus expressed himself in Compliance with the Common Opinion of his Time and Country Also what is intended by Spirit Whether Breath and Life or Soul seems not very clear David says When God takes away Mens Breath they die and are turned again to their Dust Psal 104. But if he let his Breath go forth Men are made and the Face of the Earth renewed This Informing Breath first breathed into Adam leaves the Body at Death returns says Solomon to God who gave it But elsewhere says he knows not what to think of it whether it go upward or be extinguished with the Life as those of the Beasts are 5. and 6. Pag. 766. He cites Isa 57. Zach. 12. Exod. 21. That God makes the Souls And what Austin answers thereunto That it is by God that they come from the Parents He cites Theodoret That the Foetus in the Womb is first an unformed Embrion then becomes formed into the Perfect Shape of a Body and after That it first obtains a Soul Pag. 767. And if so How can the Soul rise out of the Seed or from Generation If says he you will say that in the Seed there is Vis Animae Parentis out of which the Infant 's Soul arises in due Time This he refuses by any means to admit of but why he doth not say because it is against Reason or Nature But because then it would follow that the Soul must be Corruptible and Mortal And to this Conclusion which he maintains with divers Arguments we do easily agree Pag. 771. See the same 7. The Soul of Christ was not from Generation Ergo other Mens are not so I say It seems Christ was born from the Seed of David and was the Seed of the Woman and being by Operation of the Holy Spirit upon her might be made and born in all things like to us except Sin For what he took by Generation from the Holy Spirit could not partake of Sin And it seems Temerity to affirm any thing concerning Christ's Soul which is not revealed as this Point is not for that neither the Manner nor the Matter can be traced or found out by the Powers of Humane Reason or the Dependance of Natural Causes to all which Proceedings this Birth is an absolute Mystery P. 769. He says both these Opinions viz. that of a continual New Creation of Souls and that of Propagating them by Generation have had great and many Abettors and Defenders in the Church For the New Creation of Souls he enumerates Greg. Nyssen Theodoret. S. Jerom Leo I. a Bishop of Rome S. Ambrose Hilary Says Flesh generates the Flesh but the Soul is the Work of God I say this is no absolute Denial of the Souls being generated as Austin hath said by God's Power and Providence For the Souls being generated with the Body held Tertullian Pag. 770. S. Augustin Greg. I. a Bishop of Rome he omits here Apollinaris and most of the Fathers of the Western Church before remembered The Opinions differed upon two Difficulties some would have a New Creation for that Generation concluded Souls to be Mortal others would have Souls generated with the Bodies because whole Man is involved in and put under the Guilt of Original Sin which if his Soul were Newly created by God can have no sound and reasonable Derivation upon it Our Author means to shew how New created Souls may be taken within the Guilt of Original Sin Pag. 772. He begins with Philsophers who have highly extolled the Soul and said it came from God Pag. 773. 1. Says Souls and Angels are of the same Nature Kind and Substance alike subsisting of themselves and as one Angel doth not generate another so it is for Souls they generate not I say this Parallel of Souls and Angels is bold but never granted 2. Says The Soul can understand and will without the Body or its Organs and therefore subsist without it I grant both alike and one as much as the other 3. The Soul is an Immaterial Spirit and cannot be propagated no not from another Soul and if it rise from another Soul it cannot be Immortal All but its Immateriality is granted 4. The Opposers say the Body cannot infect a New created Soul with Original Sin much less says he can it generate such a Soul nor can such a Substantial Immaterial Spirit proceed from Flesh and Blood a Spirit which
therefore this Expression shall be past here but for a Quibble fit to serve the turn of this indiscerptible or undividable Soul as our Author here calls it And the same may be said for the Creando infunditur Infundendo creatur it may pass for a Riddle and both of them for Mystical Expressions concerning a Mysterious Imaginary Soul and both intended rather to amuse than to instruct the Auditors Here again he recites Solomon's Text The Spirit returns to God who gave it I have shewed before that by far the greatest part of Humane Souls go to the Devil and this he doth not deny Pag. 17. But says That before going to the Devil it goes first to God to give an account of it self to him and receive its Judgment from him This Assertion say I is meerly arbitrary and precarious but very necessary for the maintenance of that sense which he would put upon Solomon's Text He adds The Soul must appear before the God of the Spirits of all Flesh as Arbiter and final Judge intended before it go to the Devil or Hell It seems strange to me that our Author should be so positive and certain in this Assertion as he is without offering any sort of Proof concerning the truth of it If this were true it would put a period to all farther dispute upon the Difference now in Discourse amongst us That this may be done there must be a Separate Subsistence of Souls first granted or supposed and this methinks should have minded him of the great need there was of making the best and strongest Proof that was possible for the maintenance of it but of that sort there is not a word here neither from Scripture Reason nor Experience but a bare supposal of our Author drawn for ought appears out of his own Imagination and let him prove such a going of the Soul to God as he hath here asserted or that there is any Intermediate Judgment given upon Souls between Death and the day of General Doom or Judgment or let any other Man make Proof of either of these Points convincing or somewhat clear and I am ready to submit and confess my present Opinion to be an Error Whence it seems our Author did not enough consider the Importation of what he pretends here to impose upon the meer Credit and Power of his ipse dixit Pag. 18. Says The Ingress of the Soul is obscure and so the Egress And I grant it so much as the one and other are hardly credible He says That the Radical Moisture or Balsam is the Oyl that maintains the Natural Heat or the Bridle which restrains the Flame of Life from departing and such departure is the Cause of Natural Death And this I grant having before said the same thing and very near the Words viz. That the Radical Moisture maintains the Flame of Life this Moisture must be maintained by Food and the Flame in the Blood fanned by Breath and the Extinguishment of this Flame is Death What he says more of the Soul here is suppositis non supponendis Pag. 17. He had said The Soul is a Created Rational Spirit conscious to it self of Moral Good and Evil I say it is not the Soul alone but the Man together that is so conscious to himself and that not from bare and uncultivated Nature but assisted by Rules derived from God Education Precepts or Opinions Pag. 19. He calls Vnderstanding a Faculty of the Reasonable Soul I call it a Faculty of the Man who is a Contexture of Soul and Body The Soul cannot understand without the Brain and if that be crazed or spoiled the Soul cannot understand And hence all here said is answerable by applying what he says of the Soul to the Rational Faculty in Man Pag. 20. He allows that Humane Discretion or Judgment is the Guide of the Soul and of the Will and that the Will follows the Dictates of the Judgment as I have before said and attributes all to the Soul which belongs to the Rational Faculty in Man and cannot be acted without the Brain and but according to the condition and temper of that Organ Pag. 21. Says The Power of Cogitation is in the Soul I say in the Brain acted by the Soul He sets out the great Power of Conscience which he says Is the Judgment of a Man upon himself And I agree it and that it belongs to the Understanding Part or Faculty He says It is potent and terrible And I grant it and say that terror is Grounded in fear of Suffering and the Erroneus Conscience as potent and terrible as the best Grounded when the Memory Judgment and Passions fail as in Death they all do perishing with their proper Organs Conscience fails with them when all Mans thoughts and his very Faculty of thinking perishes none of them ever to return till the time of our Resurrection and then they shall all return and be revived as formerly He Pag. 20. called the Discretion the Guide of the Soul and Will but here Pag. 23. He makes it but a Counceller to the Will I hold with the former and say The Will follows the Guidance of the Judgment in all Deliberate Acts yet acts freely viz. with such a freedom as is natural to it a Promptitude and Inclination to that compliance is led and yet runs freely as he says who words it is drawn and runs freely I say guided or directed and runs freely Pag. 25. He says The Will can Command the Body absolutely I say no otherwise than as the Judgment guides the Will viz. by a Natural and Easie Compliance Pag. 27. He magnifies the Power of the Will which I say cannot act deliberately but by Direction of the Judgment and that must naturally act by chusing bonum apparens magis bonum and cannot naturally chuse or direct the Will to act that which is malum apparens to the state or benefit of the Party acting Pag. 28. That which he calls here a Struggle of the Soul is a Struggle of the Rational Faculty against the Sensual desires Pag. 29. His Pondus or Inclination of his sort of Soul to the Body is but Invention and hath neither Ground nor Proof Pag. 30. Says Angels have Assumed Bodies I say not of Flesh and Blood which shews not any Affection in them to be im-bodied as he seems to pretend He says He hath proved the Soul Immortal and hath as such an Inclination to the Body I say such Inclination of an Immaterial Spirit to a Body himself Pag. 7. calls an Astonishing Mystery and I think it very incongruous to Reason and common Sense yet he says he hath proved the Soul to be Immortal and that as such it hath an Inclination to the Body I say proved both alike viz. neither the one nor the other except his saying may pass for proving Pag. 31. He calls God's breathing into Man the Breath of Life the Infusion of a Newly Created Soul into him This I have denied and
Competitors sharing in the Command and Government and this sine fine The Contest hath no Determination but by Dissolution of the Compositum and this proves the Thing to be of Nature and so doth the Universality of it there being not a Humane Soul rightly constituted wherein this Contest is not fully evident Our Author hath well foreseen that his Definition of the Souls being a true Spiritual Incorporeal Substance would be easily granted But his Word Immaterial was that which would make the Boggle and therefore he promised diligently to prove the same but in this Argument we meet not with any Mention of that Quality and therefore conclude we are not at all pressed by it Pag. 710. He propounds Three Rules upon Material Forms 1. That they act not but when they are Forms of some Body 2. They are that Principle by which the Compositum is acted and do not work to Effect but by the Compositum 3. They are limited in their Extent not reaching farther than the Subject in which they are And to these we do also agree He argues the Humane Soul is not only the Cause that the Man doth understand but such Soul doth understand by her self For this he cites Arist De Anima Lib. 3. Cap. 4. I have searched that Chapter but do not find it there and however do not grant or believe the Thing to be true 2. He argues The Senses take Harm by an over-vehement Force of their Objects but the Intellect doth not so This he hath from Aristotle Hence he concludes the Soul to be Immaterial which we pass for an apparent non sequitur 3. He argues The less our minds are employed in External Things the more apt and ready they are to work This I deny and say the more exercised and practised the more apt and ready they are for those Things be they Worldly or Contemplative 4. He argues The Soul understands and knows it self its Powers and Actions and that it is a Substance differing from the Body All this I deny 5. Argues The Intellect can apprehend all Finite Things but if it were Material it could not discern one Matter from another nor know their Differences This I say the Beasts do easily perform 6. Argues The Intellect perceives Abstracted Things and Immaterial as God Angels Universals and Mathematical Notions therefore it is Immaterial We answer Universals and Notions are derived from Particulars and Materials and what Men know of God and Angels comes from Revelation and Sense of all which a Material Spirit acting in and with fit Organs is enough capable 7. Argues Quicquid recipitur fit ad Modum recipientis but the Intellect turns all into Universals and Immaterial Notions This I deny can do it I grant It is capable both of Particulars and Universals seems alike capable not one more Natural than the other whence the Modus recipiendi is first of the Particular by observing and Correction of which Rules are framed and Notions raised by ordinary Proceeding in a Rational Intellect not needing or to me proving an Immateriality of the Soul 8. Argues The Outward Senses convey the Species of their Objects to the common Sense that transmits them to the Phantasie thence there must be Organs to convey them to the Intellect but once come thither the Intellect orders them and judges of them without Help of any Organs at all This if he can maintain by good Proof Erit Apollo and shall have the Garland but till that be done we are where we began 9. Pag. 713. His Ninth Argument seems to be a Ramble Pag 716. His Tenth Argument is taken ex non Concessis 11. Argues God is the Souls Chief Good Therefore the must necessarily have Means to attain to him but that she cannot do whil'st she is in the Body obstructed by Sensual Powers therefore she must have a Subsistence out of the Body in which she may arrive to that Enjoyment I answer this beggs the Question or presumes the Case determined that there is such a She as our Author promised to prove and now brings her to stand upon a bare Supposal with as little Firmness as when he began his Argument The Subsistence in Separation is continued to be denied and till that evinced to be Erroneous this Argument is very Vanity 12. Argues That which doth really move and act it self must be Immaterial But Mens Souls do so and have a free Will and Choice to do or not to do I demand if these Things be not in Beasts He says the Elements do not move because they are Material I demand how he disposes of the Fire which the World takes to be always in Motion and that Naturally He says the Beasts can make no Resistance to their Appetites but must needs follow them yet every day affords us Proofs that Beasts can and do resist their Appetites A Setting-dog hath a great Desire to run and his Mouth will work and his Chaps water and yet he contains himself and sits still in sight of his Game for a long time together 13. Argues Pag. 717. Men have Power to chuse Loss of their Blood and Lives and that shews their Souls Superior and not dependent upon their Bodies And we agree the Soul to be all that and that the Intellect hath a swasive Power over other Faculties and sometimes prevails with them to suffer Pains and Present Death in expectation of believed future Rewards and this by a Power of Discretion in the Intellect without Dependence upon the body or Immateriality in the Soul Pag. 718. Says If the Soul were Material it would languish with the Body suffer in its Sickness feel its infirmities and weaken as the Body grows weak And all this we say it doth Sequitur Temperamentum Corporis and that is a Proof of its Materiality He says Mens Minds in Sickness and at Death are more lively sensible of their Sins than in Health that grows from Tear of approaching Danger of being taken away in a State of Sin for which Punishment is undoubtedly to be awarded at the Resurrection without Means or Hopes of any Alteration in the Space intermediate betwixt Death and that and not from a Quickness of Mind more than or above ordinary but from the nearness and greatness of the Concern He says When Men forsake Worldly Business they are made more apt for Contemplation And it is agreed that there are outward Helps as Abstinence and Retiredness which may advance the Intellective Faculty of the Soul and strengthen it against the Passionate and Sensual Faculties and so it may be assisted by Purging Bleeding or other Physick so by good Air good Company and even by good News which all are Tokens of the Souls Participation with the Body and induce to apprehend its Material Subsistence with and in the Body Our Author concludes he hath enough proved the Souls Immateriality but we still deny that he hath enough done it and how much he hath done towards it shall be left to common
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
and therefore we are willing rather to be absent from this Body to have it changed into a Spiritual Body and therein to be present with the Lord And however in the one Body or in the other we labour present or absent to be accepted of God for we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ sooner or later that every Man Body and Soul may receive the Things done in his Body viz. when he was alive according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad And this seems to apply all that he had before spoken as designed a Relation to the Resurrection and the Last Judgment and not to make or afford any Proof of the Separate Subsistence of a Soul after Death of the Body Philip. 1.21 For me to live is Christ and to die is Gain what I shall chuse I wot not for I am in a strait between two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better Nevertheless to abide in the Flesh is more needful for you This sounds as if upon Death of the Body something were still left in such a State and Being as should immediately thereupon go to be with Christ and this can be no other but the Man's Soul subsisting in a State of Separation We read Rev. 14.13 Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord for they rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them 2 Tim. 1.10 Christ abolished Death and brought Life and Immortality to Light through the Gospel Whence Death now to the Godly is but a Sleep or Resting in Christ Acts 7.60 Stephen cried Lord lay not this sin to their charge and when he said this he fell asleep 1 Cor. 15.6 Christ risen was seen of five hundred Brethren of whom then some were fallen asleep Ver. 18. If there be no Resurrection then they who are fallen asleep in Christ are perished Ver. 51. We shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed 1 Thess 4.15 We who are alive at our Lord 's coming shall not prevent them who are asleep Ver. 14. But those who sleep in Jesus shall God bring with him 2 Thess 1.6 It is righteous with God to recompence Tribulation to them that trouble you and to you who are troubled Rest with us when Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels seems this Rest with us must be future to this World and most likely in Death Heb. 4.3 We who have believed do enter into Rest Ver. 9. There remains a Rest to the People of God Ver. 10. A ceasing from our own Works as God did from his and we must labour to enter into this Rest seems properly a Dying in the Lord. And Job testifies There the weary are at Rest Upon the Evidences thus quoted by us it seems our Proving Text may be construed in this manner I know that to die is Gain and for me to depart out of this world and to be at rest in Christ and in expectation of a joyful Resurrection is far better but for me to abide in the Flesh is more needful for you And this Consideration puts me into a Strait between two Things so as what I shall chuse I wot not and doubtless it is better and far more easie and desirable for a godly Man to sleep and be at rest in Christ than to be in the Troubles Temptations and Persecutions of this World as S. Paul was when he was in it Daniel 12.13 the Angel says to him Go thy way till the End be for thou shalt rest and stand in the Lot at the End of the Days And this hath been the Lot of the Godly in all Ages and the Wisdom of the World hath been able to teach that the Day of a Man's Death is better than that of his Birth and if generally how much better then must it needs be for a good Christian to depart and be at rest in Christ Lying down in a sure Faith and stedfast Hope of a joyful Resurrection when the Lord himself shall defend from Hevean with a shout with the voice of the Archangel and the Trump of God for then the Dead in Christ shall rise first and be caught up into the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air and so shall they ever be with the Lord. What Earthly Thing can be compared with such a State so much Joy and so great an Assuranee No wonder then that our Apostle calls his Death a Gain being then in a Condition so to die and so he continued as he says 2 Tim. 4.7 I have kept the Faith 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 But it seems he did not expect it before that Day the Day of Christ's Second Coming to reward every Man according to his Works And we conclude the Apostle in our Proving Text intended rather a going to rest in Christ than a going into Heaven to him in the State of a Separated Soul Heb. 12.22 Ye are come to an innumerable Company of Angels and to the Spirits of just Men made Perfect to God the Judge and to Jesus the Mediator and to the heavenly Jerusalem Some have raised an Argument of the Souls Separate Subsistence from this Text. The Words Ye are come in the present Tense spoken unto living People cannot be literally intended unless the Words be intended of the Doctrine viz. You are come to a Gospel or Doctrine which teaches to believe and expect such Things in future Times or you are come to such Things in Faith which is the Evidence of Things not seen better things than appeared at Mount Sinay So 2 Pet. 3.12 Look for and haste unto the Coming of the Day of God wherein all shall be burnt up as in Noah 's Time it was drowned But we look for new Heavens and a new Earth wherein dwells Righteousness And seeing ye look for such Things what manner of Persons ought ye to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness without spot and blameless This expounds how we come to the Heavenly Jerusalem viz. to that Doctrine Faith and Expectation to be fulfilled and enjoyed at the Coming of the Day of God without any mention at all of a Soul in the State of a Separate Subsistence or discoverable Intention concerning it 1 Pet. 3.19 Christ was quickned in the Spirit by which also he went and preached unto the Spirits in Prison when Noah prepared the Ark. To this we say the Text is very mystical and obscure and so every Part and Sentence of it And what is here meant by the Spirits in Prison or the Preaching to them we humbly confess Ignorance and that we do not know Therefore the Text and Consequences of it shall be left to Consideration of the more Learned better versed in the Writings of Fathers and Commentators but till the Meaning of it
therefore might judge all things But we cannot allow the present Pretenders amongst us to apply this to themselves or to any of theirs Ver. 16. Says We have known the Mind of Christ viz. by Revelation of the Spirit not only by the Letter Nay from the Spirit in them by whom the Letter of what we call Gods Word was dedicated and framed Eph. 3.3 Ye have heard of the Grace of God given me and that by Revelation God made known unto me the Mystery viz. that Mystery intended in our present Chapter Col. 1.26 Even the Mystery which hath been hid from all Ages and Generations But was then made manifest to the Saints of that Time Eph. 1.17 I pray that God will give you the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation the Eyes of your Vnderstanding being enlightened that ye may know the Hope of his Calling and the Riches of his Glory Galat. 1.16 It pleased God to call me by his Grace and to reveal his Son in me that I might preach him Ver. 12. I neither received the Doctrine of the Gospel from Man nor was I taught it but by the Revelation of Jesus Christ Nor did he then consult with other Apostles or his own Flesh and Blood about it but went into Arabia far from other Teachers Acts 8.26 The Angel of the Lord spake to Philip saying arise and go towards the South with other Directions Ver. 29. The Spirit said to Philip go near and join thy self to this Chariot Ver. 39. When they were come up out of the Water the Spirit of God caught away Philip and the Eunuch saw him no more Act. 10.19 While Peter thought on the Vision the Spirit said to him behold three Men seek thee arise and go with them for I have sent them So Chap. 11.12 The Spirit bad me go with them nothing doubting Act. 13 2. As at Antioch they ministred to the Lord and fasted the Holy Ghost said separate me Barnabas and Saul for the Work whereunto I have appointed them Acts 16.6 Paul was forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the Word in Asia Ver. 7. And they essayed to go into Bithynia but the Spirit suffered them not These Texts have been quoted to evince and declare the Manner and Efficacy of God's Communicating his Spirit in those Times Of which sort our present Pretenders to Endowments of the Spirit have not a Face to challenge any thing We return now to Examination of our quoted Text and Chapter and say That the Wisdom of which St. Paul here speaks is the Wisdom of God in a Mystery ordained before the World unto our Glory called Eph. 1. The Mystery which had been hid from Ages and Generations but was made manifest to the Saints of that Time Mentioned Matth. 16.17 Peter says to his Master thou art Christ the Son of the living God And Jesus answered Flesh and Blood hath not revealed this unto thee but my Father which is in Heaven The Redemption of the World by Christ and that Jesus preached to the People was Christ was the Mystery of St. Paul intended in this Text. The Princes of this World had no Knowledge of this Mystery for had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory This was not a Thing that could enter into the Senses or the Heart of Man to conceive But God had then revealed it by his Spirit to the Holy Apostles and Disciples of that Time who had received the Spirit of God that they might know this Mystery as a Thing freely given to them of God of which they spake in Words taught by the Spirit But the Natural Man or the Reason of Man could not find out or were not capable of receiving this Mystery by any Helps of Nature or Reason for this Mystery would be Foolishness to a Natural Man and could not be known by Natural Means or Grounds of Reason but must be Spiritually discerned by Revelation of God's Spirit For the Things of God knoweth no Man but the Spirit of God As our Lord to Peter Flesh and Blood hath not revealed this to thee but my Father hath done it A Thing which no other Means had Power to do Not Man's Nature or his Reason Nothing could discover this to Man but the Revelation of Gods Spirit Every Parcel of this Mystery is above the Natural Man's Capacity and Comprehension What Eye had ever seen or Ear heard or what Heart had ever conceived That a Woman should bear a Child without the Assistance of a Man The Virgin demands How can this Thing be seeing I know not a Man The Natural Man could not receive this small or least Part of the Mystery of Man's Redemption but it would appear Foolishness to him Not to speak of the Trinity and Second Person in it united to the Nature of Man and chusing to appear in the Form of a Servant to undergo Contempt Want Pain and Death and rise again by his own Power and that his so doing should be Expiatory for the Sins of Men and be so accepted in the Sight of God the Natural Man receives not cannot naturally receive the Things of this Mystery for they are Foolishness to him nor can his Reason know or conceive them because they are and must be Spiritually discerned viz. must come to be first known by the Revelation of God's Spirit only Our Apostle's Text thus applied is not only firm and true but also plain and clear intelligible and rational which Men take upon them to confound by taking a dictum secundum quid for a dictum simpliciter and applying what the Apostle speaks concerning this great Mystery and concerning the first and eminent Revelations of it to all Occasions Persons and Times without observing the Measures of Difference which ought to be made between them concerning which we say That although at the first Times of making this great Mystery known to the World there was no Way of Producing that Effect save the only Revelation of God by his Spirit and the same was performed accordingly Yet in a short Process of Time it came to pass that this Mystery was Taught Accepted and Believed by Natural Men upon Reasonable Grounds and without being counted Foolishness amongst them viz. when God by his Spirit had revealed this Mystery to Peter Paul and the rest of the rest of the Disciples of our Lord and other Christians Then they preached the same to other Men and declared this Mystery to them Mark 16.23 They went forth and preached every where the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with Signs following Their Auditors Natural Men had Reason to consider the Teachers the Doctrine and the Signs following The Teachers were Men Sober and Pious not seeking Worldly Interests ready to suffer for Justifying the Truth of their Doctrines and without Exceptions in the Course of their Lives The Doctrine was Sublime said to be revealed by God the Facts delivered of our Lord's Birth Life Death Resurrection Ascension and Descent of the
in us to will and to do by those Ordinary Operations before described improving our Reason to a right Apprehension and Understanding of them and our Discretion to a right Choice and Practice St. Paul tells his Corinthians I speak as unto wise Men judge ye what I say He doth not refuse the Judgment arising from the Reason or Wise Men. Let Men now tell a Quaker what the Words of Scripture are and what Consequence from thence must reasonably and necessarily follow his Answer is ready He cares not what either of them says for he hath a Light within him the very Holy Spirit of God which tells him and witnesseth with his Spirit That all which he believes and professes is true and the only salutary Way for his Soul and so for all other Mens if God will please to communicate to them the like Perceptible Illuminations and Special Impulses of his Holy Spirit which the World doth not cannot receive nor can the Natural Man do it but such Things are to him direct Foolishness and he cannot know them because they are Spiritually discerned and cannot be so by Reason or any Humane Power or Means whatsoever Now whil'st this Man is thus certainly perswaded in his own Mind and that he who is Spiritual viz. endowed with such Light within him judgeth all things and yet himself is judged of no Man nor will submit himself to be so He seems to be past all Conviction or Cure by reasonable Remedies or Applications having thus passed beyond the Bounds of Humane Reason and Scripture he is become excentrick to all Humane Perswasion and Government and as incurable Phreneticks must be born withal so far as their Phantasies are only detrimental to themselves And it we may place all other Dependers upon Perceptible Extraordinary Motions of God's Spirit in a Form or Classis next below them differing in the Degrees of a like Infirmity all holding the same Original Ground and growing from the same Root and defending themselves in the same Fortresses and by like Weapons only the first Sort have passed to a farther Degree in the Distemper than the rest have hitherto done We must leave them upon this Account to the great Power of God who only can and in his Time may and perhaps will give them Convictions in a miraculous and powerful Manner and really such as they do now but pretend unto The Distemper it seems hath grown from the ill Digestion of some of St. Paul's Expressions wrested by Men both unlearned and unstable as other Scriptures may be to the Perverting if not the Destruction of themselves and their Proselites and to the great Disturbance of the Protestant Churches Pag. 278. Says God's Cures by his Spirit are wrought with great Pangs of Repentance I say That upon every notorious Sin committed these are rational and necessary Consequences as well at last as at first and no more to be enquired after in Youth than in Age nor in one Part of a Man's Life than in another But such Carriage ought to be both expected and performed whensoever there is a just and reasonable Cause for the so doing Pag. 280. Says God is all in all things It may pass for a Cloudy Expression And we agree That God and Christ are what Christians acknowledge and adore Also that we are generally under the ordinary Guidance of God's Spirit and are thereby led into all Truth directed therein by the Scriptures confirmed by Sacraments instructed and excited by sound Teaching and the Acts of God's Providence amongst us for us towards us the Convictions of Humane Reason and our sound Senses and the like usual and common Manuductions for establishing of our Faith and perfecting the Practice and due Performances of a holy Life That God can do this by eminent and perceptible Emotions of his Spirit in a Supernatural and Miraculous Manner is granted and certain And this was common in the Church during all the Time of St. Paul's Life But that God doth still continue those Supernatural Actings in his Church ordinarily and at this Day hath been and will be continually denied and that none can be saved who do not feelingly perceive in themselves such Impulsions or Emotions of God's Spirit working in them to such Purposes we not only deny but do condemn and explode as a great Instrument of Deceipt and a most pernicious Error Pag. 291. Says The Christian Church needs no Testimony of Miracles of new Upon this I demand What these Eminent and Perceptible Emotions of the Spirit are to be counted Natural they are not as their Defenders assert and we agree therefore they are Preternatural or Supernatural and they pass for Acts of the later Sort whensoever they do happen And our Opposers maintain they are very frequent and ought not only to be Common but Universal amongst Christians amongst whom every one should have a Taste and Feeling of them and consequently a daily Exhibition of New Miracles Pag. 308. Says Many of his Friends Holy Persons are gone to Heaven and that is spangled with these Spiritual Stars the Place is honoured with them and they with it We think our dead Friends are almost lost to us till the Heavenly Spirit tell us where they are and prepare us to desire our being there Observe from hence we may what our Author means by his Term of Heavenly Spirit viz. his own and his Followers eager and hot Phantasy or Conceipt For if he had obtained any Perceptible Spiritual Revelation concerning his dead Friends or any one of them we do very much assure our selves he would have made us acquainted with it For his Expression That Heaven is honoured with the Presence of the holy Persons his dead Friends it tastes of an arrogant Conceipt not warranted by Scripture or Reason but sutable to his Spiritual Vehemencies and Impulses Pag. 348. Says It is the Will of God that the Ministry and Testimony of Man shall be a Means of our Believing and he will use Man for the Instruction and Salvation of Man and not send Angels with every Message To this we agree and say the Perceptible Actings of God's Spirit may be as rare as the Ministry of Angels in our Times Page 353. Says Grace is not a Brutish Principle but works by Reason having also its natural inclining Force We account this Expression as one of our own extracted from him by inadverted Power of Truth Pag. 359. All true Believers are justified that consent to the Baptismal Covenant chusing God for their God Christ for their Saviour and the Holy Ghost for their Sanctifier though this be done with so great Weakness as neither ends Mens Doubts nor quiets their Minds It seems the Perceptible Actings of the Spirit are wanting in such Cases and he seems either to have forgot or to distrust the Necessity of that Assistance Pag. 368. Says The Soul hath no distinct Idea of its Future State out of the Body and we see not whither it is that we must go
and then condemned it His Son Constantius forbad it in places where he was or had full Power whence in that Empire this Practice fell to decay and in time became quite abolished The Christian Religion hath opposed and overcome it in all places of its Plantation and finally it is now come to be rooted out of all the known World And we know of no Nation in Europe Asia or Africa where shedding of Blood is used in Sacrifice to their gods Here is a great and evident Change of the most Antient and Universal Practice that ever was in the World concerning Religion and no Man will pretend to say that this Change was for the worse but for the better although it had God's Approbation by Moses and is not positively forbidden in any part of the New Testament The Apostles after Our Lords Death used it Acts 21.20 Thousands of Believing Jews were yet Zealous of the Law verse 26. Paul went to the Temple with the Four Men that had a Vow and attended till an Offering should be offered for every one of them And yet we see this Practice now utterly abolished and we give God thanks for the performance of it as I think there is great reason and by the change of this most Antient Universal Practice in Religion I pretend to have raised an eminent Impeachment to the force of our Authors Argument from the Antiquity and the Universality of the Immaterial Opinion We know the Papists Plead in like manner against the Reformation intended to be put upon their Errors though Antient and very generally received heretofore into the Christian Churches of the Dark Ages passing from Anno 600 even down to the Times of Luther and other Reformers then arising but we do not accept their Plea of Antiquity and Universality as sufficient for the Justification of their Errors I will but nominate Dr. Comber's Plea for a Divine Right of Titles by force of the same Argument because I have answered it in a particular Treatise not yet Published But upon the whole Matter I think it reasonable to conclude that an Argument drawn from the Antiquity and Universality of an Opinion is but an Argument to that Favour viz. that it ought to be well Weighed and throughly Considered before it be changed and not at all to be changed except there appear sufficient and convincing Proofs that the same ought to be done but not to be reputed of such Force or Power as to silence all Arguments which may be made against it or to stop all manner of Proceedings towards a Conviction thereupon To stop the Press from Publishing such Arguments I do not allow but the way fully to stop silence them is to make Rational and Substantial Answers to them which I profess my self now and ever willing to receive and embrace with all Sincerity according to the Merit which to my Understanding shall appear in them Thus far I have gone out of my ordinary Way of making Strictures upon our Authors Pages that I might make the more full Answer to this grand Argument of Antiquity and Universality offered on behalf of the Souls Immateriality Pag. 105. Says One Man is of more worth than all the Inferior Creatures This I do not grant Pag. 106. His Discourse here imports That there is no means of a Future State but by the Souls Immortality an Error which hath generally misled the World before him Pag. 107. I say to this The Resurrection will satisfie Mens Desires of Immortality if they be rightly Grounded Pag. 108. To it I say The return of Souls into Bodies once Dead seems the re-kindling of the Flame of Life by an Act of Divine Power He confesses That when Bodies have been restored to Life in this World as he here cites divers that there was no Sense or Apprehension in such Souls returned of the place or state they were in during their Separation but that there is a perfect forgetfulness of all that they saw and felt in a State of Separation He gives a Reason for this both Foreign to the purpose and weak but to me this seems a very likely Proof that in such their Separation they neither saw nor felt any thing at all but that rather they were in Death Extinguishable and in Life again re-kindled From hence to Page 117. is all answered by the Resurrection Pag. 117. He says He cannot But I suppose he will not imagine how there can be a Resurrection without a Soul once Separated entering into the same Body that died I say one shall be as much the same as the other shall be 1 Cor. 15.37 As Wheat growing out of Wheat sown so shall the Body be with a Flame of Life kindled in it sutable to its Powers and to that Flame which before was born with it He says If it be so the Sins of the Old Man cannot be put to the New Mans Account I say they may justly be so and the rising Person is so much the same with the dying Person as to be accountable for his Actions viz. effectually the same Body Members Flame of Life Senses Affections Phancy Understanding Memory and Judgment and shall so awake and rise as if he had fallen asleep but a few hours before And his Supposition is but the proper Effect of his own mistaken Doctrine concerning the Creation of Souls for if that were true and the Old Soul did not subsist Separately there must be another viz. a New One be Created but my sort of Soul requires no such thing Pag. 119. Says There are Acts performed by the Soul whilst it is in the Body in which it makes no use at all of the Body He instances in Self-Intuition and Self-Reflection I say These Acts cannot be done without the Brain Phancy and Memory and for Raptures they are but Impressions upon and Revelations unto the common Sense Understanding or Phancy recorded upon the Memory Also that Phancy may be Transported to things without the Body and the limits of Reason yet act by the assistance of proper Organs without which the Soul cannot act any thing Life it self cannot be acted but by the Vital Organs and yet without Life there can be no Apprehension Self-Intuition or Reflection but all Mens Thoughts perish Pag 189. Cites Heb. 12.29 We are come to Angels and to God the Judge of all and to the Spirits of just Men made perfect and to Jesus the Mediator He bids us note these Words They are not says he shall come after the Resurrection or General Judgment I say not after our Deaths but intends we are come to them in Faith and Expectation to a Doctrine which declares such things to us and which we may believe and expect as surely as if we were now in the Possession of them but not a word of coming to them presently after our Deaths as he not only endeavours to Insinuate but expresly affirms And Pag. 192. He says These Enjoyments will not be deferred till the Resurrection but
be obtained presently upon the Death of the Body I say The Words mention neither the one time nor the other nor it seems do intend the one any more than the other for they import a present Being come to those Advantages and not a future He confesses here That Humane Wisdom cannot Penetrate into the Future State of Souls and that Men know but little of them I say can know just nothing of his sort of Souls Pag. 192. He cites 1 Joh. 3.2 It doth not yet appear what we shall be I ask whence that will appear the Text says it will appear at Christ's Second Coming that when he shall appear we know we shall be like him which intimates Men must stay till that time for such Knowledge Pag. 196. He says When Death comes the Soul disputes its Possession of the Body with him from Member to Member like Soldiers in a Stormed Garrison and at last loses the Royal Fort Intimating that his Soul 's Being is like that of Death's Being viz. no Real Subsistence but an Imagination Pag. 197. Says The falling asleep in Death or sleeping in Jesus must not be stretched to a length in respect of the Soul but offers no Proof of this I say That it concerns the whole Person Soul as well as Body and likely will strech it self to the very time of the Resurrection Pag. 202. Says Angels carry our Souls to God And for Proof cites the Parable of Dives his only Ground for that Opinion which I say is too sandy to support it for that here was no real Fact related but only a Similitude fitted to the common Jewish Opinion of that time Pag. 203. Grants there is no necessity of such Conveyance of the Soul but it is used for State or Decorum All this seems but his Phancy and he gives no other Proof either of the one viz. that there was such a Fact or of the other viz. that it is for State and Decorum Pag. 204. Says The presence of Angels or Spirits affright the Spirits not only of Men but of Beasts and thence the Soul of Man by consent But of such a Consent he offers no Proof nor that there is a Soul different from the Material which I say is of the same Nature both in Man and Beast which by the Production of like fears both in Man and Beast at the appearance of Spirits seems to me somewhat confirmed Pag. 205. Delivers but his own Phancy thereupon Pag. 206. He asks What Form Shape or Figure can the Phancy of Man cast his own Soul into as an help to understand its Nature I answer into none at all mine hath no certain Form of it self and of his may be said ex nihilo nihil fit But if such a Soul there be one may Form an Idea of it as well as of any other Spirit And for Raptures I have said the Understanding Phancy and Memory may be effectually Wrought upon and affected Pag. 214. Says The Souls of the Just go immediately to Glory from the time of the Persons Death And offers Proof Luk. 23.43 of the Thief also Luk. 16.22 of Lazarus being carried and Phil. 2.23 a desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ all cited and answered before Pag. 215. Speaks but his own Phancy and without Proof Pag. 225. Says Good Souls departed have a satisfying Apprehension though no perfect Comprehension of the Divine Essence and mentions the seeing God Face to Face Whereas St. John teaches We know that when he shall appear at his Second Coming we shall see him as he is Christ doth not say see God But the Author produces no Proof of any sort of seeing after Death Pag. 234. Says Those who went to Heaven before Christ's Ascension were fully at rest in God and yet upon Christ's Coming to Heaven their Happiness was advanced Cites to prove this Heb. 11.40 God having provided some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect To this I say it rather seems to prove a stay of Perfection till the whole Number be accomplished at the Resurrection as the Answer to the Souls in the Revelation also doth Pag. 243. Says It is too great a dificulty to trace the Soul beyond the limits of this World I say it is so to trace his sort of Soul in this World and I deny that his Text proves that Death perfects the Spirits of the Just which shall not be done till the Number be compleated at the Resurrection Pag. 244. Says We have more Acquaintance with Souls than with Angels He means with his sort of Souls and then I deny it for Angels and Spirits have appeared and been otherwise sensibly perceived to act but we know not that ever an Humane Soul by it self was known or perceived so to do Pag. 252. He says The Radical Moisture which is daily consuming by the Flame of Life must needs be spent ere long Here we agree Pag. 266. Says Separated Souls are capable af performing God's Commands as well as Angels are This I deny and he offers no Proof He says Some departed Souls have returned and appeared in this World Instances in Moses and Elias and the Bodies of Saints which appeared at Christ's Resurrection To this I say All these Appearances were of Bodies except Moses and of him it may be doubted what appeared Pag. 267. Says Apparitions as of Dead Persons are not indeed so but are acts of other sorts of Spirits To this I agree Pag. 273. Men oft meet a Mortal Enemy's Spirit in the disguise of a dead Friend Pag. 274. Says That after the Resurrection the Raised shall know one another and talk and converse but till that time Souls departed do converse only with God How proves he this not at all ergo it is a bare Invention Yes says he it must needs be so for if Souls could act thus before the Resurrection would be needless and to no purpose I say Souls going to Heaven and seeing and enjoying God and Heaven before that time makes the Resurrection of small value and little signification Pag. 284. Says 'T is confest that the Soul concerning it self singly is made perfect and enjoys Blessedness in the absence of the Body He tells us not who hath made this Confession He quotes Words of Alstedius here but they do not import such a Confession but whosoever did confess it I am sure that I deny it mente manu and he should prove it but doth not Pag. 285. Cites 2 Thes 4.15 It says Those which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him This says he must properly respect the Body for the Soul sleeps not I say as much as the Body doth Pag. 304. He says I should rather chuse to live meanly then to die easily and if both Parts were to perish no Man would die or desire it And the Opinion of the Immortality say I prevails not with those who live at ease to desire Death He says It would be a madness for
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
Second Observation concerns an Objection which hath been and may be made against my pretence of the Souls Extinguishment at the Death of the Party It is demanded If the Old Flame of Life be extinguished in Death and a-new kindled at the Resurrection how can that which riseth be the same with that which died And if not so the new must be rather taken for a Creation than a Resurrection To this I answer by another Question concerning the Body How can that Body whose Flesh and Bones are eaten by Wolves or Dogs as Jezabel's was or burnt to Ashes and those scattered in the Wind or upon the Water rise the same again at the Last Day To this Query St. Paul 1 Cor. 15. gives an Answer which it seems will serve both Cases alike ver 35. How are the dead raised and with what Body do they come He answers That which thou sowest is not quickned except it die and thou sowest not that which shall be For Example Wheat the Grain sown first corrupts then fructifies and God makes the New grow out of the Old and God gives it a Body viz. to every seed it s own Body and thence Wheat rises from Wheat and Barly from Barly plainly declaring that in the Resurrection the New Body shall be the same with the Old in Substance Flesh and Blood Skin and Bone Head and Heart Brain and Breath Limbs Members Muscles and all Organs proportionable to the Old as one Grain of Wheat or like as one Egge to another This I take for the Sameness of Body which the Apostle here describes to us and such a Sameness will the Soul easily obtain viz. a Flame of Life as much the same with the former As a Flame in one part of a Fire kindles and produces a Flame in another part of the Fire singly there are so many Flames and yet all are but the Flame of the same Fire and may well enough be called the same Flame full as well as the Ear of Wheat and all the Corns of it may be called Wheat and the same Wheat with that which was sown And this Solution it seems may serve for the Souls as well as St. Paul's Wheat for the Body and one of them shall be as much the same as the other But to my Apprehension the Sameness intended in the Resurrection is not so much or properly applicable to the Soul or the Body as to the Person The Body suitable to the former and like it as one Grain of Wheat like and proportionable to that from which it springs So a Flame of Life of suitable force brightness and activity to the former and fit for that Body where it is kindled these will in the Person produce the same Faculties that were in the former Person viz. The same Vital Powers Sensitive Powers same Inclinations Affections Desires Natural the same Rational Powers Perception Understanding Phancy Judgment Memory Will Conscience And these will make the rising Person altogether the very self and same Person with that which died more the same than an Old Man is the same with what he was when Young or a Child Compare a Child of four years to a Man of fourscore they are known really to be the same Person by Collateral Evidences but none by having known the Child can expect by his Senses to discover the Old Man to be the same Person nor can the Old Man himself evidently know or make Proof by any thing in himself that he is the same Person so great Differences grow in time between the one Age the other But the Person rising at the Last Day may likely be as much the same with him that died as the Man waking after a long Sleep is the same with him that lay down to take his Rest There will be Body Soul and Person without difference and the same Powers Vital Sensitive Rational Inclinations Affections Cogitations and Knowledge all which make effectually and really the same Person and more the same than the Old Man is with the Young and yet those are really the same Person also 3. My Third Observation shall be concerning such Texts as those who maintain the Immateriality and Separate Subsistence of Souls do Alledge both out of the Evangelists and the Apostolick Writings for the Proof and Support of that Opinion Viz. Mat. 10.28 Are not able to kill the Soul Chap. 16.26 Gain the whole World and lose his own Soul Luk. 16.19 The Parable of Dives Chap. 23.43 To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Ver. 46. Jesus cried Father into thy hands I commend my Spirit And Acts 7.59 Stephen's Saying Lord Jesus receive my Spirit 2 Cor. 5. Ver. 6. 8. Absent from the Body and present with the Lord. Phil. 1.23 To depart and be with Christ is better but to abide in the Flesh is more needful for you Heb. 12.9 Ye have been obedient to your fleshly Fathers and shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of Spirits Ver. 22. Ye are come to Mount Sion God Christ and the Spirits of Just Men made Perfect 1 Pet. 3.19 He went and preached to the Spirits in Prison Rev. 6.9 The Souls under the Altar Here are 11 Quotations Alledged to Prove the Separate Subsistence of Souls and their Immateriality And some add to these Mat. 17. Moses and Elias appearing at the Transfiguration which makes them up a Dozen I have made and do make one General Observation upon them all viz. That they are all spoken or delivered in a transient manner not principally intending to teach the Immateriality or Separate Subsistence of Souls not in Places where the Contexts before lead to a Discourse concerning the Nature or State of Souls or what becomes of them after Death or between that and the Resurrection so as there is not a Design in any of these Texts principally to teach that Doctrine Nor any clear Intention apparent to teach at all this Belief For Instance The Absent from the Body and present with the Lord or the To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Or the Receive my Spirit Or the Be Obedient to the Father of Spirits Or the We are come to God Christ and his Church Or the Preaching to the Spirits in Prison Or the Souls under the Altar Or the Appearing of Moses and Elias at Tabor I demand what do these Texts of themselves teach concerning a Separate State or Subsistence of Souls There is no previous Discourse in their Contexts leading to speak of the State of Souls or inducing to teach concerning them nor apparent Intent in any of these Texts so to do But Men possest with an Opinion of the Separate Subsistence do draw and beat out of these Texts that which doth not naturally flow from them nor that they ever intended to teach so as the Doctrine squeezed out of these Texts for the Nourishment and Support of their Opinion tastes strongly of the Husk and Skins of them and are rather violently forced