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
to nourish the Lamps at which Defect the Multitude complained and grieved the Bishop also troubled commands the Officers to fetch Water out of the next Well and when it was brought he prayed over it then bad them pour it out into the Lamps and the Water changed into Oil and served the Lamps as Liquor of that Nature and a small Quantity was for the Miracles sake reserved by many of the Brethren a long while after This says our Author who wrote about Anno 340. is come to us by Tradition from one to another And being a Tradition so Ancient and of a Time reputed more Innocent than the Present is here repeated as an Evidence that the Power and Spirit of God did work did then work miraculously amongst them in the Church And except we see such Signs and Wonders we shall not be able to believe that any amongst us have the Spirit of God in such extraordinary Manner as the Apostolick Times and Men had it in a Manner perceptible to the Parties themselves or to any others who shall converse with them And this settles the Case betwixt the Author and me and shews where the Difference of Opinions sticks He intends the Church now hath that Power of the Spirit which is perceptible to the Party 's own self and to others such as was in the Apostolick Times and which I call Extraordinary This I deny and the Proof lying upon his Hand it seems he ought to make the same Proof of it in these Times that was wont to be made in those Times viz. Miraculous Operations such as are above the Power of Man's Nature of it self to perform Instead of which he endeavours to conclude upon us with Quotations of some Expressions taken out of St. Paul's Epistles sounding to his Purpose against which Records collected out of Scripture he says we may not aver To this I reply That those Epistles have in them some Things hard to be understood and which may be wrested to the Maintainance of Errors and it seems that divers such Places are wrested by applying to Future Times and our Times what was by that Apostle spoken of those Times in which he lived and so applied were pertinent and true and yet if applied to Future Times for which they were not intended they may very likely have another Appearance We have also before spoken of God's Ordinary Conduct given to Believers whose Natural Faculties his Spirit polishes leads orders and perfects moving and intercepting their Faculties and Actions and meliorating their Natures and Inclinations with so much Gentleness and Easiness as the Parties cannot themselves perceive any Violence of Motion no nor any Motion at all nor do they certainly know how far or how much the Spirit of God acts in their own Reformation or Amendment and how then should other People know the Spirit of God to act in them Why the Party and those who consider his Condition have all the same Means to know the Spirit is there and where it is it works they must derive their Knowledge from the Fruits These are are good and known Fruits of the Spirit and they cannot spring nor grow without Cultivation of God's Spirit and where those Effects are visible and known there the Cause and Presence of that Spirit may as certainly be concluded Now we say that by rightly applying the Expressions of St. Paul in his Epistles unto these two Grounds and Positions or to one of them as the Expression shall require all that Apostle's Expressions are solvable without any Need of Reason thence to infer that there must be in the Christian Church of all Times such a special perceptible Impulse of God's Spirit as there was in the Times when St. Paul wrote and which I have termed Extraordinary as given to and in that Time and not to be continually communicated to Future Ages And where God's continual Assistance and that of his Spirit is mentioned it may the most likely be intended the Ordinary Communications of God's Spirit which we doubt not are frequently and ordinarily to be perceived in our own Times and by the Means before prescribed So as the applying of these Texts out of St. Paul's Epistles to the one or the other of our proposed Positions will be able to answer and satisfie all those Texts and put a Reasonable and True Construction upon them without any need of Inferring from them a Necessity of having amongst Christians in all Future Ages such Endowments and Operations of God's Spirit as were in the Persons living in Apostolick Times or near unto them And that an Instance may be given of our propounded Manner for the expounding such of St. Paul's Texts we make Choice of a Place often urged upon Debates concerning the Necessity of being eminently endowed with God's Spirit in all Times and Places Christian viz. 1 Cor. 2.14 The Natural Man receiveth not the Things of the Spirit of God for they are Foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are Spiritually discerned This Text or Verse as it stands alone or by it self sounds as if Man's Nature and Reason were utterly useless in understanding the Tenets and Duties pertaining to the Christian Faith and Profession but that all such Things must be left to Guidance of the Spirit and Direction of those who are thereunto inspired or that are reputed so to be In answer to this we say that for expounding this Text and all others the Context is very necessary to be well considered And to that Purpose we go upward to the sixth Verse of this Chapter There the Apostle says We speak Wisdom but not of this World Ver. 7. We speak the Wisdom of God in a Mystery Ver. 8. Which if the Princes of the World had known they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory Ver. 9. But neither Man's Senses nor his Vnderstanding can find out the Things which God hath prepared for those that love him Ver. 10. But God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit which searches the deep Things of God We ask What is intended by us and take us to signifie the Apostles and other inspired Disciples and Teachers of those Times and not extending to the later and suspected Pretenders of future or our Time since the Miraculous Manifestations of the Spirit ceased in the Church Ver. 11. 12. We received the Spirit which is of God viz. those Teachers received Ver. 13. And we speak this Mystery in Words not taught by Man's Wisdom but which the Holy Ghost teacheth comparing Spiritual Things with Spiritual Then comes our Text. Then Ver. 15. He that is Spiritual judgeth all things viz. He to whom God hath so communicated his Spirit as that thereby they were enabled to know the Thoughts and Intents of Mens Hearts as that impotent People had Faith to be healed And in the Conspiracy of Ananias and Saphira 1 Cor. 14.24 and Acts 20.23 before cited They knew not only Things present but Things to come and
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
Holy Ghost were examinable and being examined would firmly abide that Test all of it tended to Humility Piety Charity and Works esteemed good amongst Men and though the Mystery of it soared above Humane Reason and Comprehension yet they were not inconsistent with or contrary to the same For the Signs following they were very great and undoubted and very many not here to be recounted The Auditors convinced by all these Considerations might and did believe the Mysteries and accept and practise the Doctrines of Christian Religion upon good and convincing Grounds Natural and Rational and without any good or plain Reason to account them Foolishness The Men who then primely taught these Doctrines to Natural Men of their Times wrote them after for the Use of future Times and Ages and they being dead now speak to us by those Writings and still teach and convince the Natural and Rational Persons of our Times as they did those of their own to believe this great Mystery of the Redemption and other Mysteries of of our Religion and they did then and do still prevail over their Proselites to these Purposes even as they are Reasonable and Natural Men and without requiring or perceiving any eminent Motions or evident Operations of the Spirit in such Cases more than such as we have before specified and termed ordinary amongst Christians not to be evidently perceived by Motions and Operations but are as certainly to be known by the Fruits Effects and Products of it in the Course and Tenor of the Professors Lives And by this Application as to a dictum secundum quid we pretend to have avoided the extravagant Inferences deducible from this Text of St. Paul if it should pass for a dictum simpliciter we have fixed it to the most early Times of the Gospel as intended for them only and not reasonably to be generally or any farther extended and thus shall be ended our Exposition of this Text. And we proceed to other Texts fit and needful to be solved by applying them to the ordinary Effects of God's Spirit amongst Christians of our own and all former Ages Rom. 8.9 If any Man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his This we apply to the ordinary Operation of God's Spirit in Believers appearing in the Fruits of a holy Life Ver. 14. As many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God Ver. 26. The Spirit helps our Infirmities viz. this ordinary tacite Operation of the Spirit but that Spirit which makes Intercession for us with Groanings seems not within us but external to us 1 Cor. 3.16 Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you viz. in the ordinary Manner Chap. 12.13 We are all baptized and have been all made to drink into one Spirit This Spirit intends a Spirit external to us and our own Baptism and Communion Galat. 4.6 God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your Hearts crying Abba Father viz. God's Spirit in ordinary Manner Chap. 5.25 If we live in the Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit This is clear in it self to intend ordinary Operation Eph. 5.18 Be not drunk with Wine but be filled with the Spirit viz. live according to the ordinary Directions of God's Spirit soberly as well as righteously and godly in this present World These Texts and their like we expound by applying them to the ordinary Operation of God's Spirit in Believers not easily or likely to be discovered by the Parties themselves or by any other except only by the Fruits of a holy Life and godly Conversation Where these really are and appear plainly there is the Spirit of God the true Root and Original of them And where these do not appear and really are not there certainly the Spirit of God is not be the Leaves of Profession never so large fair or flourishing and though they make never so much Noise and Clatter when they are moved with such Winds of Doctrine and Trial as happen to blow upon them There is no doubt but that the ordinary Operations of God's Spirit are dispensed in divers Degrees of more or less Strength and Perfection Nor but that God can and will when he pleaseth in any present or future Times as well as the Primitive give and distribute to whom he pleases such eminent and perceptible Endowments of his Holy Spirit as he did to the Apostles and Disciples of their Times But we do not or will or cannot yet believe that so he hath done doth or will do without accompanying the same with such Signs following as shall plainly distinguish the Persons and give them an Esteem superior to that of other Men. 2 Cor. 12.12 Truly the Signs of an Apostle were wrought amongst yon in Signs and Wonders and mighty Deeds And whosoever shall lay Claim to the eminent powerful and perceptible Endowments of God's Spirit without those or the like Signs which did in Primitive Times accompany the same will it seems deserve and find very little Credit or Acceptance amongst Considerate Persons at this Day And we have thus done with our Considerations of the ordinary Operation of God's Spirit upon Believers As an Appendix to which we may observe that God is pleased to communicate the Assistances of his Spirit operating in Men upon Worldly Occasions and Accounts as well if not as much as in Occurence concerning Matters of Religion and in the Ordinary and Natural Manner before declared illuminating Mens Understandings and their Faculties of Perception inclining their Judgments and their Wills regulating their Affections and Passions elevating and perfecting their Natures Exod. 31.3 I have called by Name Bezaluel and have filled him with the Spirit of God in Wisdom and Vnderstanding Knowledge and all manner of Workmanship Ver. 6. So for Aholiab and other Men of Art I have put Wisdom in them that they may make all that I have commanded thee These Men had learnt their Arts and Trades in Egypt but the Spirit of God gave them further Degrees of Illumination and farther Perception concerning them than they had before attained directing to a more perfect and ready Practice than had been usual to them before like as in Matters of Religion the ordinary Operations of God's Spirit appear Things which People have read or heard before without a right Understanding or a true Feeling are by such Operation of the Spirit cleared up to them and fixed in their Hearts so as to intend the Observance of them introducing into them an Aversion from Evil and an earnest Desire to do Good and a Joy of Heart in the Performance also they may perceive Practices of Piety grow more easie to them both in Points of Learning and Performance These are evident Signs of God's Spirit present and working although no perceptible Motion be felt nor any other Evidence of the Presence of God's Spirit And no Testimony is given that these Artists did perceive or find
final And hence it seems St. Peter believed them not nor liked to build any thing upon them Some have Alledged 1 Pet. 3.19 to Prove the Separate Subsistence of Souls viz. That Christ was quickned by the Spirit by which also he went and preached to the Spirits in Prison c. Concerning this Text I have said before that I do not understand it If I should offer to prove by this Text it would be to prove what I know not by what I do not understand and what I would not offer I cannot agree to accept My desire is to have the Immateriality or Separate Subsistence of Souls proved by some Texts that I do understand and because I do not understand this Text I refuse to accept it as a Proof of the Separate Subsistence of Souls And proceed to observe in the Writings of St. John 1 Joh. 2.28 Little Children abide in him that when he shall appear we may have confidence and not he ashamed before him at his coming And Chap. 3.2 Beloved now we are 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 Both these Texts put all our Expectations after Death to the future Appearing or Coming of Christ and still without notice of any State or Thing Intermediate between Death and the Resurrection Jude Ver. 14. Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his Saints to execute Judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds and speeches spoken against him Referring all Judgment future to Life unto that of the Great or Last Day as we have found it done before by all the Apostles whose Writings are come to our hands with a Consent and Agreement amongst them much above ordinary and which Testifies they were leâ— by the same Spirit promised to lead them into all Truth We see this Promise actually and compleatly fulfilled in the Texts alledged out of all their Writings and wherein they all say the same things We now go on to the Search of the Four Evangelists according to our Lord's Direction Search the Scriptures Mat. 13.36 Christ Expounds his Parable of the Tares he will not have them weeded or rooted up in this World but suffered to grow here But Ver. 40. At the end of the world the Angels shall gather them and cast them into a Furnace of Fire Ver. 43. and then shall the Righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father Without Mention or Notice of an Intermediate Judgment or State Chap. 19.28 Ye who have followed me in the Regeneration when the Son of Man shall fit in the Throne of his Glory ye shall sit on Twelve Thrones judging the Twelve Tribes of Israel and every one who hath suffered for my sake shall receive an Hundred Fold and shall inherit Everlasting Life Observe Peter Ver. 27. had asked our Lord what Rewards they who had forsaken all for his Sake should have therefore Christ gives the abovesaid Answer But if he had intended or known of an Immediate going to Heaven of Souls upon Death of Parties it seems that in this place he could not reasonably have omitted the Mention of it Whence likely he neither intended it nor knew of it Chap. 16.27 The Son of shall come in the Glory of his Father with his Angels and then he shall reward every Man according to his Works The Words And then he shall reward seem to import That this Second Coming of our Lord is the only known Time appointed for the distribution of Recompences future to this Life Mark 8.38 Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and my Words of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he cometh in the Glory of his Father with the Holy Angels Without notice taking of any Intermediate Time or State Luk. 12.8 He that confesses me before men I will confess him before the Angels of God and he that denies me before men shall be denied before the Angels of God Chap. 13.25 When the Master of the House hath shut the door those knocking without cannot come in but the workers of Iniquity shall go to the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth This seems the Effect of a General Judgment Chap. 10.14 It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the Day of Judgment than for you Ver. 12. More tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that City Chap. 14.14 Call to thy Feast the Poor Lame and Blind and thou shalt be blessed for they cannot recompence thee for thou shalt be recompensed at the Resurrecteon of the Just This seems plainly proving the Resurrection to be the Time and even the only Time for Expectation of Recompences and that deliver'd by our Lord 's own Mouth the highest Authority that Christians can expect or desire Job 5.28 All that are in the Graves shall hear his Voice and shad come forth they that have done good unto the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation Who shall hear his Voice in the Graves Not the Bodies or Souls but the dead Persons and they shall come forth at that Time only and be doomed and judged to Life or Damnation Chap. 6.39 My Father's Will is that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the Last Day Ver. 40. He that believeth on the Son shall have Everlasting Life and I will raise him up at the Last Day Ver. 44. He that comes to me I will raise him up at the Last Day Ver. 54. He that eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood I will raise him up at the Last Day In the 2d 3d. of the Revelations there are a great Variety of Rewards promised to him that overcometh but here the only Reward in our four Places is to be raised up at the Last Day to Life Everlasting as an abundant Recompence for all Faith Performances and Sufferings and shews that to be the only Time future to this World when they are to be warrantably and upon good grounds expected and hoped for by all true Believers Chap. 12.48 The Word that I have spoken the same shall judge a Man at the Last Day As Mat. 12.36 Of every idle Word that Men shall speak they shall give account at the day of Judgment If they had given such an Account of a Particular Judgment soon after Death What need can there be of bringing idle Words to Account over again at the General Judgment There seems no Probability in it Chap. 14.1 Let not your Hearts be troubled ye believe in God believe also in Me in my Fathers House are many Mansions and I go to prepare a Place for you and if I go and prepare a Place for you I will come again and receive you unto my self that where I am there ye may be also This shews when
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