writ this Epistle because the Apostle says there were things in Heaven reconciled by the Blood of the Cross But there are no such things in Heaven reconciled by the Blood of the Cross except they be the Souls of some Holy Men that went hence Then he expresses a Desire to know what Men can say to this Argument And therefore I say to it That by his own Expression it appears he says he knows not what for he says He knows not that there are any other things in Heaven which need Reconciliation to God by Christ except Men will take these things to be the Souls of departed Persons But if Men will not accept of this Meaning then he knows not what the Apostle can mean by things in Heaven reconciled to God by Christ Which intends no more than that he doth not otherways know what the Things in Heaven reconciled to God by Christ may mean Which I take for a Confession That he doth not know what Paul meant by these things in Heaven Secondly I conceive he doth not know that there are any Souls in Heaven because if he did he should be able to make such a Demonstration or Description of their Being and of their being there as other Men who are willing might be able to understand and conceive He hath taken Pains to write this Treatise and therein hath already produced Thirteen Arguments in Proof of this Tenet but very unsuccessfully as those who peruse these Observations will easily discover The Perusers of this Argument will I think easily find That Mr. W. must have Two Things granted him before he can pretend to prove any thing by this Argument First That there are no things in Heaven which need Reconciliation to God unless Men will admit that Humane Souls are there And therefore Secondly he would perswade Men to admit of his Position That there are Souls in Heaven But I think fit to reject both these Proposals and say First That there may be other Things in Heaven besides Souls which may need a Reconciliation to God by Christ And Secondly to conceive that possibly or even probably there are not nor ever were any Humane Souls in Heaven nor in any other Place in the World except in their own proper and peculiar Bodies Here Mr. W. puts another slight Objection against his own Opinion and answers it P. 102. Mr. W. demands If there be any things else in Heaven besides the Souls of Men which need a Reconciliation to God What are those things I Answer I do not know what those things are and alike Confession of his Ignorance concerning this Subject would better have become Mr. W. than his groundless Guesses at what is meant in this Text by St. Paul's Expression of Things in Heaven and the supplying his Ignorance therein by a bold but Erroneous Guess That by Things in Heaven St. Paul intended the Seperate Souls of Men of which the Text makes no mention at all and his Supposal that there were Seperate Souls hath no better Foundation than his own Supposal which hath very little Power to convince intelligent Persons That Humane Souls have any sort of Subsistence in a state of Seperation from the Body The Fourteenth Argument PAge 102. Heb. 12.23 We are come to the Spirits of just Men made perfect Mr. W. begins this Argument with somewhat a long Comparison between the Law and the Gospel which makes little to our Point and therefore I pass it over P. 104. Mr. W. says as he is very apt to do That the Souls or Spirits of Men are Immortal and therefore it is a very great Truth that they are Immortal And adds Those Souls which the Gospel reveals to be alive out af their Bodies are thereby proved to be Immortal but the Gospel reveals that the Souls of just Men are alive out of their Bodies therefore the Souls of Men are alive out of their Bodies therefore the Souls of Men are Immortal Mr. W. says The Gospel revealeth that the Spirits of just Men are alive out of their Bodies Because the Text says they were made perfect and there is no Perfection in Death P. 105. He says We have a Right to the Society of those Spirits of just Men mude perfect which we shall have in possession when we depart hence But I find neither such Words nor Things in his Text viz. That we shall come to that Society when we depart hence so as I must repute it his own Addition to the Words of the Text which doth not appoint the Time for our coming to that Society I find Mr. W. has only quoted so much of this Text as seemeth most to support his own Opinion and therefore I intend to quote it somewhat more largely Heb. 12.22 Ye are come unto Mount Sion and to the Heavenly Jerusalem or City of God to the Company of Angels to the general Assembly and Church of the first Born and to God the Judge of all and to the Spirits of just Men made perfect and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant Ver. 25. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh whose Voice at the giving of the Law shook the Earth but now he hath promised saying yet once more I shake not the Earth only but also Heaven and this signifies the removal of those things which are shaken and that we shall receive a Kingdom which cannot be removed The Words of our Text thus fully quoted do by no means import That Men or their Souls shall come to the enjoyment of those things at their Deaths as Mr. W. hath erroneously suggested but the words of the Text run in the present Tense Ye are come to the things which I here report to you viz. Ye are come to the City of the Living God the Heavenly Jerusalem to the Angels and to the general Assembly and Church of the First Born when not only the Earth shall be shaken but also Heaven and the things so shaken shall be removed I conceive that the Description here made doth very properly denote the Time of the Resurrection and the great Day of Judgment For at that time we are instructed by the Scripture to expect the things here mentioned God and Christ attended by the Angels and the Church of the First Born consisting of Just Men made perfect both in their Spirits and in their Bodies to the City of God or the New Jerusalem which St. John tells us Shall come down from God out of Heaven as a Bride adorned for her Husband at or after the time of the Resurrection after Heaven and Earth have been shaken and are removed This I conceive to be the Time pointed at in this Text and I think these Descriptions are not applicable to any other Time nor hath Mr. W. mentioned any other Time for their Accomplishment saving that at Mens Death and for which he hath no Warrant from any words of this Text and as to the words in present Ye are come to these Glories I think
even down to latter times and the same Conception seems to have a Being and Substance in the Minds of some learned Persons until this time My Discourse concerning this sort of Spirit hath been deliver'd with intent to discover and evince That Solomon's Spirit returning to God who gave it was spoken and meant by him concerning this last sort of Spirit and I intend to recite some Arguments for the proving of this Construction First I Argue from the words or terms of the Text it self and say That it Solomon intended such a Soul as Mr. W. has described the Text it self seems not to be properly worded because I think nothing can be properly said to return to another thing except it had been a part or concomitant of that other thing before but Mr. W.'s sort of Soul seems never to have been a part or concomitant of God before its being put into the Body for the enlivening and acting of the Person I do not therefore well perceive how such a â—oul can be properly said to return to God but the Expression therereunto properly belonging should have been worded The Spirit goes to or goes before God with expectation to receive his Judgment and Sentence according to the demeanour of its Person upon Earth and I do not perceive how this Souls going to God for Judgment can be properly call'd a return to God who gave it Secondly I Argue I find not so much as one Text in Scripture which says the Souls of dying Persons go presently to God for Judgment nor any Text from whence this Opinion may be drawn by a rational Inference and that which makes nearest approaches to it of any that I know is the Parable of Dives where it is said the Begger died and was carried by Angels into Abraham's Bosom I know my Opposers will think it needless to ask them what is intended by the words The Begger was carried by the Angels into Abraham's Bosom and doubt not but they will soon make a bold Answer It neither was nor could be the Begger himself that was so carried in his whole Person Body and Soul into Abraham's Bosom and yet the Words of the Text seem to import that his whole Person Soul and Body was carried thither But if we shall grant their gloss upon this Text to be true that his Soul only was carried by Angels into Abraham's Bosom we may draw these inferences from that Relation either that his Soul was so ignorant as it knew not how to find a way to that Habitation or else was so weak and impotent as it was not able to pass thither without the Support and Ministry of Angels How then can we conceive that such a Soul as this should make its return to God presently upon the Death of its Person without mention of any other Assistance to be given it We hear nothing of Dives in the Parable but that being in Hell he lift up his Eyes and saw Lazarus in another place without mention of the means by which he came there and if we shall follow the common Conjecture that as Lazarus was carried to one place by Angels so Dives was hurried to the other by Devils it will appear very unlikely that Mr. W.'s sort of Soul is able to make its way and return to God at its Pleasure And here we Read the Begger 's Soul was carried by Angels into Abraham's Bosom without mention of its being carried or returning to God at all whence it seems probable that when Solomon speaks of the Souls returning to God he doth not intend such a Soul as Mr. W. hath described but rather such a Spirit as had first been a part oâ— parcel of the â—pirit of Nature or of God sent out for the enlivening and acting of a particular Person upon whose Death that Spark or Parcel of the Deity returns with a strong inclination to God who sent it out from himself for the enlivening â—nd acting of that particular Body and joyn'd it self again to its Totum as Water presently incorporates with Water and the particles of Air neither will nor can be seperated from the incorporating one of them with an other Thirdly I Argue That if Solomon had intended by the Words Returns to God who gave it a going of the Soul to God or before God for receiving the Doom of his intermediate Judgment it seems a matter of such great Moment as required a more full Discourse upon the same and giving us more Light in it than his very few words there do afford us And however it is very probable that he would not have immediately subjoyned to his Discourse which intimates an intermediate Judgment a Declaration and Description of the General Judgment for that would have been playing Judgment upon Judgment which must needs have past for false Heraldry We find in this Chapter that as soon as Solomon had writ the Words The Spirit returns to God who gave it he ceases to speak any further concerning the State of Man after Death till he come to the 14th or last verse of the Chapter where he sayes as a conclusion of his whole matter Fear God and keep his Commandments for God will bring every work into Judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil I think it not reasonable to conjecture that Solomon by his Returning of the Spirit to God who gave it did intend such a returning to God to be a going to him or before him for an intermediate Judgment for that if he had so intended he would not have immediately have mentioned and related the Certainty and Effect of the General Judgment as in this we see plainly he hath done and thus I leave Solomon's Words and the descant upon them to the further Consideration and Judgment of the Intelligent Reader Mr. W. goes on to quote Eccl. 3 20. Where he saith Solomon affirms that the Spirit of a Man goeth upward when he dieth adding that Solomon brings it in with an Intrrogation Who knoweth Not as if he doubted it for he cannot be said to doubt it since he delivered it most positively in the other verse intending as I conceive the Text last before quoted out of his 12th Ch. Hereupon I again declare I am no way satisfied with the manner used by our Author in his Quotations of Scripture The Text which in this place he quotes says thus Who knoweth the Spirit of Man that goeth upward and the Spirit of the Beast that goeth downward to the Earth Which to my understanding hath the same signification as if he had said Who knows the certain Truth of this Opinion That the Spirit of Man goeth upward and the Spirit of the Beast goeth downward to the Earth Or who knows whether this difference between the Spirits of Men and Beasts be real and true or not And further it seems to me that this Interrogation is Pregnant with a Negative and seems to have the same sense as if had said
and bringing me into Captivity to the Law of Sin in my Members In this Text St. Paul as I conceive declares the true State of the Person and says That he in his Mind or Rational Faculty was convinc'd that such Actions were good and that he ought to do them and therefore had a will to do them but that at the same time there was a Law of Sin in his Members which withstood the good Inclination and Will of his Rational Faculty and against the Will and Power of his Rational Faculty bringeth him into Captivity to the Law of Sin in his Members If I might Paraphrase this Text I would do it thus Our Apostle was convinc'd in his Understanding that such Actions were good and ought by him to be done and therefore he had a Will to do them but his Sensual Affections and Lusts strongly opposed the Performance thereof and had such Power over the Person as to prevail against the Dictates of his Reason and the Inclination and Bent of his Will and bring him under such a Submission to the Law of Sin as he neither did nor could do that which his Reason told him was his Duty to do but brought him under such a State of Captivity to the Law of Sin as to make him do that which in his mind he condemned and was contrary to his own Understanding the Dictates of his Reason and the Bent of his Will And the course of Proceeding deliver'd by St. Paul in this Text is undeniably verified by the daily Experience of Men and with so much Advantage on the side of our Sensual Affections that where we find one Man guided and govern'd by the Dictates of his Rational Mind we may find perhaps an Hundred who suffer themselves to be hurried by the Bent of their Affections and Lusts into such Actions and Practices as their own Understandings and Reasons disapprove and condemn and sometimes seek to resist tho' more often in vain than otherways So as we may say of these two Faculties in Man as Men use to do of Presumption and Despair The Reasonable Faculty of Man governs its Thousands and the Sensual Affections their Ten Thousands And I think it is made appear by this Argument that the Power of Reason in Man is neither Absolute nor Monarchical but rather is a Power Co-ordinate with that of the Affections and Passions and generally so unsuccessful in its Contests with them for Government that where one Man is truly govern'd by the Dictates of his Reason perhaps an hundred are hurried and let away by the Attempts and over-ruling Power of their Affections and Passions against the clear Dictates and often against the Will or Rational Desire of the Person And I think this Proves what hath before been said that the Regiment of Reason in Man is not Monarchical but Co-ordinate and Swasive only It is able to Perswade powerfully but not to Compel Obedience to its Directions and therefore I conceive Mr. W. was mistaken when he said That the Power or Regiment of Reason in Man was both Monarchical and Absolute P. 35. He discourses much concerning the Nature and Essence of a Spirit and the Life of it amongst which there are Sayings which I do not well understand Nor doth all his Discourse make me understand what is the Nature of a Spirit a thing which I am apt to conside himself did not know and because I think it gives little light in our present Question it shall here be pass'd over P. 36. He pretends here That the Soul hath Life in her self as a Spirit before he hath proved to my Understanding that there is such a Soul in Man I think it needs no proving that a thing which is not neither hath nor can have Accidents Adjuncts or Attributes and the Being of his sort of Soul which is neither granted nor proved cannot be conceived to have Life in it self Mr. W. says Thirdly That a Spirit hath a Power of penetrating or gliding through the hard solid Bodies of Marble or Iron without finding or making any Cleft Chink or Cranny therein I doubt he delivers in these Words that which he doth not know to be true or is otherways able to prove He delivers other things in this Place concerning Spirits which I think other Men are not resolved of P. 37. He says The Jews could not keep Peter in such a Prison as the Angel which deliver'd him could not penetrate Whereas the Text doth not declare whether the Angel came into the Prison through the Walls or by opening the Doors but I count it certain that the Doors were opened for Peter to go out and therefore likely might so be at the coming in of the Angel also and as the Iron-Gate was that led them into the City He adds The Soul of a Man is truly a Spirit as an Angel is How truly is now in Dispute He says The Soul manifests her Presence more eminently in the Brain than in any other part of the Body And I Answer That the Rational Faculty is not only more eminently in the Head and Brain than in any other Part of the Body but that it resides and acts in the Head only without being communicated to any other Part of the Body because all the Organs of Understanding and Reason are by God the Creator placed only in the Head without any other Member having a share therein P. 38. He raises a Dispute Whether Light be a Body and compares it to the Penetration of a Spirit But I pass it over as little pertinent to our present Question Mr. W. further says That a Spirit and his sort of Soul is indivisible or indiscerptible not subject to Blows or Wounds nor to be consumed by the fiercest fire I think he should here have express'd how it can be tormented by fire and yet have no Parts or Particles of it consumed by the fervent Heat or by the violent Pain and Torment which it suffers P. 39. He quotes St. Matthew's Are not able to kill the Soul which is indeed the strongest Refuge of his Opinion referred here by me to a future Answer P. 40. Mr. W. says His sort of Soul must either be God or a Creature And thereupon I am apt to deny that it is either the one or the other and to pretend as I have often before done that there is no such thing or sort of Being in the World and therefore cannot be endued either with Sense or Reason as by saying he would perswade us it is He says That the Soul is the proper and immediate Seat of Sense And I Reply as I have often before It is not the Soul but the Person that is so P. 41. He says The Soul is endued with Reason and Vnderstanding I say that it is not the Soul alone but the Man that is so He says Reason is the most Noble Faculty of the Humane Nature by means of which we Men know God and hold a Communion with Him and do
they are most apt to intend A coming to them by Faith whilst we are in this World Such a Faith as is the Evidence of things not seen but we have direction to hold fast our Hope and Expectation of them until the End when we may look for a Crown or Crowns of Life to be then distributed to all who love our Lords Second Appearing And then only I conceive may we hope to be made Partakers of all that Company and Happiness which in this Text are particularly recited And from this Exposition the Conclusion will be easily drawn That Mr. W's Fourteenth Argument hath very little force to prove the Subsistence of Mens Souls in a State of Seperation from their Bodies The Fifteenth Argument PAge 108. Heb. 11.39 40. These having all obtained a good Report through Faith received not the Promise God having provided some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect Hereupon Mr. W. says This seems a very obscure Text especially applied as a Proof of the Souls Immortality To this I Agree and Prognosticate That the Proof which it makes of the Soul's Immortality will fall out accordingly viz. That it will be both very obscure and weak Mr. W. further says It is evident the Apostle here speaks of some special Promise that the Patriarchs had recâ—iv'd the fulfilling whereof they never lived to see and which was made to appear to the Church at or before the writing of this Epistle So he will have this Promise to import the Manifestation of the Son of God in the Flesh And he then puts the Question How can it be said that they who died in the Faith of this Promise are made perfect with the then present Church by the fulfilling that Promise in the Manifestation of the Son of God And thereto he Answers That Angels did desire to look into and be better inform'd in this Mystery until Christ came in the Flesh and proved himself by Miracles to be the Messiah and then their Knowledge thereof was perfected And he says The Case was the same with the Spirits of those deceased Patriarchs in Heaven That there were Spirits of the deceased Patriarchs in Heaven he ought first to have proved as the very Point which is now disputed between us that he here offers to suppose it as a Truth seems to be a clear begging of the Question which I must refuse to grant him and then this whole Argument becomes Abortive and can proceed no farther P. 112. Mr. W. says Till you that oppose can give me a better Interpretation of this obscure Text I will Conclude that the Interpretation or Opinion is false and mine is true I Answer That Mr. W. may conclude what he pleases from his unproved and only supposed Premises but that can be no Argument to others for their Agreement with his Supposals And therefore I am very apt to Conclude That there is neither Truth nor Force in this Argument The Sixteenth Argument PAge 112 1 Pet. 3.19 20. By which also he went and preached to the Spirits in Prison which sometime were disobedient in the Times of Noah Hereupon Mr. W. says He waves the Interpretation which the Papists make of this Text And gives you another of his own which agrees better with the Reformed Churches and then says These Spirits in Prison which Christ preached to must be taken to intend the Souls of wicked Men in Hell Which I may not suffer to pass for a Truth before he have proved Three other Points First That there are such Seperate Souls of Men in rerum natura Secondly That there is in Being such a Local Hell as he supposes the Devils and wicked Persons now to be in and that such a Place there was in the Time of Noah Thirdly That our Lord in the Time of Noah did go into the Local Hell and preach to the Spirits there imprisoned And when these Preliminaries are well proved by him I will better consider his Argument and give him a further Answer to it In the mean time I quote to him 2 Pet. 2.4 God cast the Angels that sinned down to Hell and delivered them into Chains of Darkness to be reserved into Judgment Jude 6. The wicked Angels God hath reserved in Chains of Darkness unto the Judgment of the Great Day I do not know any other Text of Scripture which speaks of Spirits in Prison but these Two which also tell us what these Spirits were and where their Prison was but takes no notice of any Souls that were there nor doth any other Text of Scripture make mention of any Seperate Souls being there The Parable of Dives speaks of his Soul being there but not in Soul only for there he is described as in his Person having Eyes Mouth Tongue and Hands for which Reason it must pass not for a History but for a Parable as it doth And the force of proving by it is now as before rejected I do not know why the Preaching here mentioned may not be intended to the lapsed Angels remaining under Chains of Darkness And however that may fall out I conceive it cannot be applied to the Seperate Souls of Men because I have not yet met with any sound and good Proof That such Souls ever did or can naturally subsist in a State of Seperation from their Bodies The Seventeenth Argument PAge 115. Rev. 6.9 c. I saw under the Altar the Souls of them that were slain for the Word of God and they cryed with a loud Voice saying How long O Lord Holy and True doest thou not avenge our Blood on them that dwell on the Earth And white Robes were given to every one of them and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season until their Fellow Servants also and Brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled Mr. W. says Learned Men do differ about this Altar some take it for the Altar of Incense and some for the Altar of Burnt-offerings which I take to be a Dispute de Lana Caprina .. And he confesses it makes not much to our Business whether the one or the other He says It is as clear That John saw the Souls of them that were slain And I think as clear That John did not see the things here mentioned but that they were represented to him in a Trance or Transport of his Mind and it would have made much to the ending of our Dispute if he had declared to us what manner of things those Souls were which he saw what were their Shapes their Substances and their ordinary Cloathing as well as the Place of their Abode P. 116. Mr. W. says That by the Souls under the Altar are intended the Martyrs dead Bodies And pretends in Scripture Souls are divers times taken for Dead Bodies which I see no Cause to agree with He himself thinks it very improper to present the slain with white Robes whilst under the Altar and therefore he
weak people in this World and was thereat so much grieved that he breaks forth and says I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive yea better is he than both they which hath not yet been who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the Sun Chap. 9.3 The heart of the sons of men is full of evil and madness is in their heart whilst they live and after that they go to the dead for to him that is joyned to the living there is hope for a living dog is better than a dead lyon for the living know that they shall die but the dead know not anything neither have they any more a reward for their memory is forgotten their love hatred and envy are perished Ver. 10. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with thy might for there is no work nor device nor knowledge in the grave whither thou goest Thus we find Solomon expresseth himself much to the same purpose that Job before hath done declaring that Death and the Grave put an end to the doings and sufferings of Men without taking notice of any rewards or sufferings likely to befal men soon after their departures forth of this World which is in my apprehension a sort of evidence that his words The Spirit returns to God who gave it did not intend the going of Mens Souls to Judgment before God soon after their departures out of this Life I quote likewise in Corroboration of Solomons fore-cited Text and Opinion a Concurrent Evidence out of the Prophet Isaiah 38.18 where Hezekiah praying to god says The Grave cannot praise thee Death cannot celebrate thee they that go down into the Pit cannot hope for thy Truth The living the living he shall praise thee as I do this day Mr. W. hath quoted these Texts of Solomon and Isaiah and made out of each of them an Objection against his Opinion but I have made one Objection out of them both because I find them tend to the same purpose and do not so much labour to increase the number of my Objections as to fortifie and strengthen those which I make against him Mr. W. hath made the Text now quoted out of Isaiah his Tenth Objection against his Opinion and thereunto answers That Hezekiah 's meaning in these words is that Men after Death cannot praise God as they do whilst they are in this World and in the Congregations of Men but that still they can and do praise God after Death in Heaven Thereunto I reply He seems to make Hezekiah mean what himself pleases but that King's words seem plainly to declare That Men after Death neither do nor can celebrate or praise the Name of God without mention of such a meaning as he pretends or any need of such a meaning that I can perceive and therefore I read and take the plain Sense of his words to be as he hath delivered them In his Eleventh Objection he quotes the Text of Solomon The Dead know not any thing and thereunto answers That Solomon's meaning in these words is That Dead Men do not know any thing of what is done under the Sun after their Deaths I reply The words of the Text are general words The Dead know not any thing at all and therefore I cannot allow of his restraining them to Things done under the Sun which he hath excogitated on purpose to serve his Design in this Point Wherefore I leave this Exposition as a needless and erroneous Invention and proceed farther to consider the whole Objection now propounded against Mr. W's Opinion And we find that Solomon in the Texts of this Objection before quoted speaks of Death as of a Rest from Mens Labours and Sufferings and says There is no device nor knowledge in the grave whither thou goest the living know that they shall die but the dead know not any thing not any the most common or knowable thing not a thing so well known as that Men must die or that they must rise again These are things the most commonly known to Men when they are alive but when they are dead they know not any thing at all and to this King Hezekiah adds they cannot act any thing they cannot so much as Praise and Celebrate the name of God which Mr. W's Party will have to be the proper work of their good Souls departed Our Text tells us in absolute and plain Terms the Dead cannot do so comprehending under the name of Dead the Person and all that belong'd to the Composition thereof And from these Premisses I take leave to conclude that from these Texts is raised a strong Objection against the Souls Seperate Subsistence A Fifth Objection against Mr W's Tenet I raise from Eccless 11.8 If a Man live many Years and rejoyce in them all yet let him remember the days of Darkness for they shall be many and then he gives Liberty to the young Man to rejoyce in the days of his Youth and use his Liberty but withal bids him know that for these things God will bring him into Judgment so Chap. 12.14 After he had said the Spirit returns to God who gave it he adds Fear God and keep his Commandments for God shall bring every work into Judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil Here Solomon exhorts Men to remember the day and time of their Deaths The miserable as well pleased to rest under that dark Shadow and the young and joyful he exhorts to remember those times as days of Darkness and says that they shall be many subjoyning thereunto that after those days God will call Men to Judgment for all that they have done in this World tho' it be never so secretly acted and even for every idle word at the Day of Judgment an Account must be made and much more of Mens smallest Actions whether the same be good or whether they be evil by the days of Darkness which Solomon here mentions seem somewhat clearly to be intended the days which immediately succeed the death of the Person they are days of Darkness as Darkness it self covered and made dark with the shadow of Death and our Text says those Days shall be many and therefore he exhorts Men in their greatest Jollity to remember them but our Opposers contrary to the Tenor of this Text endeavour to perswade us that there are no days of Darkness at all in Death for that when the Breath of Man goeth forth or ceaseth in him his Substantial Intelligent and then Seperated Soul or Spirit either returns to God or goes before him to Judgment or is carried by Angels or is hurried by Devils into very different places concerning which I do not find they are well agreed among themselves but howsoever that may fall out they are all very well agreed that their Seperate Intelligent Spirit is at greater liberty and is more active and knowing than it was during its confinement to the
Body so as instead of those days of Darkness which Solomon mentions the Spirit or Principle of Life in Man enjoys a greater light activity and freedom than it had before the Death of that Party whom it formerly inliven'd and acted And this if it be true seems directly contrary to that which Solomon in this Text hath affirmed There are days of darkness and many of them says the Text of Solomon Mr. W. says That at the death of the party or soon after good mens souls enjoy much more light liberty and glory than every they had before so as they seem to say the souls of good men have no dark days at all and therefore men that are jovial and merry need have no regard to such days of Darkness as Solomon in this Text gives them warning of And yet such men do not use to deny that a Solemn and General Judgment shall appear after those many days of Darkness shall be consummate and finished and therein they agree with Solomons Opinion altho concerning his days of Darkness they seem very much to differ from him but if his Opinion may prevail in this Case it offers a strong Objection against the Souls Seperate Subsistence Thus far Objections have been drawn out of the Old Testament and we now proceed to draw like Objections from the New A Sixth Objection thence to be raised I take from John 14. 2 In my Fathers House are many Mansions I go to prepare a place for you and if I go to prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you again to my self that where I am there ye may be also Luke 21.26 The powers of Heaven shall be shaken and then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory and when these things begin to come to pass then look up and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh viz. rewards for the Saints Col. 3.4 When Christ who is our life shall appear then shall ye appear with him also in glory 1 John 3 2. Beloved now are we the sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is The Apostle knew whilst in this life that we are the Sons of God but he did not know what we shall be after death nor was that likely to be known till Christs appearing at his Second Coming and then he knew that the Saints should be made like Christ and appear with him in glory as Paul hath above asserted 2 Tim. 4.7 Paul says I have finished my course 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 to them also that love his appearing The Crown it seems was laid up for him even whil'st he was alive but was not expected to be given him till the time of Christs second appearing and then it would also be given to all those who love and desire that appearing 1 Tim. 1.10 The Lord give mercy to the house of Onesiphorus the Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day He doth not pray that his Friend may find mercy at the time of his Death or at an Intermediate Judgment but at that great and last Day All these Texts have been quoted to give Evidence of the Time when Rewards and Punishments after Death are warrantably to be expected They all express the time thereof to be at our Lords Second Coming and the last Great Day of Judgment thereupon ensuing but make no mention of Recompences warrantably to be expected soon after the times of mens Death or in any Intermediate State between Death and the Resurrection Nor hath the Scripture that I find any mention in other places of Recompences to be distribuâ—ed in such an Inâ—ermediate State except in Parables and Trances only I have in this Objection repeated two Texts out of which Mr. W. made Objections singly against his own Opinion but I have linked them together and strengthened them with other Texts of Scripture of the like import quia vis unita fortior Concerning Mr. W's Texts I pretend here to examine the Answers which he hath singly given to each of them To the Text of our appearing with Christ in Glory he answers and grants That the appearance here spoken of intends that of the Last Judgment for till then the Saints cannot be said to appear in Glory with Christ and yet says he they may be in Glory with Christ tho' they do not appear in such Glory to Men. I reply That tho they do not appear in such Glory to Men yet if there be truly such a thing as he maintains they do appear in Glory before God and the Angels and Spirits of Just Men made perfect and therefore may truly be said to appear in Glory which St. Paul says they do not till Christs second Coming and appearing in Glory Mr. W. says His sort of Souls may appear in Heaven in Glory before that time but it lies upon him to make some proof that they do so which he neither offers nor I think is able to perform and therefore I think his Answer to this Text is of small weight The other Text to which he makes an Answer is that of Paul's expecting a Crown to be given him at that day or the time of the Last Judgment and he grants that the time intended by the word That Day is that of the Last Judgment and says thereupon What then It follows not thence that therefore there are not Souls in glory before that time for Kings may reign before they receive their Crown and Scepter and so shall we be Kings and Priests in our Souls unto God in the Heavens This Mr. W. pretends to say out of his own fruitful Invention without offering any Proof of our being Kings and Priests in Heaven to God in our bare and naked Souls only for neither any of our before quoted Texts do mention such things nor are they to be found in any other Text of Scripture whatsoever except the Vision appearing to St. John when he was intranced for the Parable of Dives makes no mention of being in Heaven or the Preferment of being Kings and Priests to God or in his presence and therefore I am ready to reject this device or fancy of Mr. W's brain and to conceive that all our quoted Texts are true according to the common sense of their words Mr. W. father says There are no words or syllables in this Text that deny intervening Rewards to the Saints before that day which it must have done before it could serve his Opposers purpose Thereunto replying I say there seems to be no need of such a Denial for that if God or Man promise to give Rewards or Punishments at an appointed time
in a condition of replying to this Examination and therefore I shall not need to express what Amendments or Additions I think needful to be made to his Treatise but I will rather content my self generally to say That if any Man will pretend to prove the Souls Seperate Subsistence from Grounds of Nature and Reason and to convince such as doubt thereof I think it needful for him to apply to those particulars which have before been put in Question concerning the same viz. 1. Quod sit Anima talis 2. Quid sit aut qualis sit 3. Vnde Oritur 4. Quando ingeditur 5. Vbi resedet 6. Quomodo Operatur 7. Quo Avolat post mortem Those that maintain the Souls Seperate Subsistence are at difference amongst themselves concerning divers of these particulars In the first of these they all agree that there is an Intelligent Self-subsisting Spirit in the Body which acts the Person and all his Powers but in the 2. or the Quid sit they differ some holding it to be Material and others thinking it to be Immaterial 3. Concerning the Vnde Oritur or from whence it derives its Original there are three different Opinions First That such Souls praeexists a mundo condito from the Creation of the World Others say That upon every Procreation of Mankind God creates a new Soul for every newly procreated Body as partly obliged thereunto by the Congruity of his Being requiring such things to be done for Support of Mankind and the World Others hold That the Soul is generated by the Parents together with the Body or that the whole Humane Person is generated as much and as perfectly as one Horse generates another 4. For the Quando Ingreditur or at what precise time the newly created Soul first enters into the Body the maintainers of this Opinion are not yet agreed whether it enter at the first Commixture of the Seed or at the Coagulation of it or whether during its Firmentation or during the time of the Fomentation thereof or at the first Commencement of its Vegitation or at the first Formation of Parts in the Embrion and some have thought that this sort of Soul doth not enter till the irruption or breaking forth of the Infant into the World 5. Concerning the Vbi or the place where this sort of Soul resides during its continuance in the Body the maintainers of it differ among themselves Des Cartes thought it a lucky Invention of his own when he found its Residence to be in the Glandula Penialis placed in a Passage between two parts of the Brain Others think the whole Brain to be the proper Residence thereof Some say it resides in the Heart or near about it and that thereby the Heart becomes Primum Vivens Vltimum Moriens Others with our Doctor in his Page before quoted think this Souls Residence to be in the Blood and commixed with the circulating Parts thereof 6. Concerning the Mode or Manner of this Souls Operation all the maintainers thereof confess their Ignorance and agree that they know not the manner of its Operation upon or in the Body 7. About the Quo avolat or what becomes of this Soul at its departure from the Body the maintainers of it are not agreed among themselves some of them say it returns to God who gave it but whether as a Part to its whole or as a Party going before the Judge for his Tryal is not known Others say That such Souls are carryed by Angels into Abraham's Bosom or by Devils into Hell or by Papal Officers into Purgatory or into the Limbo's Patrum vel Puerorum Some think that upon their departure from the Person good Souls are rapt up into Paradise as they think the Thief 's Soul was when it departed from the Cross Others have pretended that within and under the surface of our Earth there are pleasant places which they termed the Elysian Fields or Happy Shades for Souls that were good to live and converse in and places also within or under our Earth for Punishment or Torment of the wicked Some have invented as places of Happiness for good Souls the Island of Taprobana and other Islands which they termed Fortunate and where they believed good Souls departed forth of this Life obtained a state of Happiness for the future It seems our later Divines have not thought any of these Places a sufficient Reward for the Merits of their Prosylites or the desire they have to prefer them to places of great Happiness and therefore they tell them that immediately after Death their Souls shall be transported into Heaven and there enjoy the Happiness of Angelical Mansions and the ravishing Visions of God and Christ a Conversation with Angels and the Spirits of Just Men made perfect and whatsoever they find any where mention'd in Scripture to be bestow'd by God upon the Blessed at the time of the Resurrection and the last Judgment they apply to the state of good Men's Souls immediately after the time of their Deaths I do heartily desire that they both could and would give such an Account to the World concerning the Reasons and Grounds of their so doing as may give Satisfaction to such Doubting and Considering Persons who are willing and desirous to receive a satisfactory Account thereof that they might more heartily joyn with such predicated Opinions than at the present they find themselves able to do I find it not common to meet with Writers or Arguers who pretend to prove the Souls Seperate Subsistence from Grounds of Nature and Reason which it seems was our present Author's Intention to prove but I think he hath fail'd in his propounded Success of that Intention and that it may justly be said of him Magnis ecedit ausis but I should be very glad to see he had another able Person to succeed him in that Endeavour being my self very desirous to receive Instruction concerning this Point And in Expectation thereof I resolve to confine my Observations upon our Doctor 's present Treatise to what hath before been spoken concerning it without making any further Addition thereunto save my hearty Wishes for a clear and true Determination of this Question and therewithal I give my Intelligent Reader the Farewel FINIS