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A80811 The magistrates authority, in matters of religion; and the souls immortality, vindicated in two sermons preach'd at York. / By Christopher Cartvvright, B.D. and Minister of Gods Word there. Cartwright, Christopher, 1602-1658.; Leigh, Edward, 1602-1671. 1647 (1647) Wing C692; Thomason E401_32; ESTC R201801 22,915 44

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it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. to stand or appear in judgment before him to be judged and sentenced by him For it is appointed unto men to dye once so after this the judgment Heb. 9.27 That gave it that created it and infused it into the body see Gen. 2 7. The words being sufficiently explained I come to the Observations to be gathered from them Observ 1 And the first is this That the body is mortal Then shal the dust i. e. the body return to the earth as it was The Apostle cals the body in respect of its condition here mortal body Rom. 6.12 and so Rom. 8.11 It s called a Tabernacle 2 Pet. 1.13 14. 2 Cor. 5.1 A Tabernacle hath no foundation as a house hath only is made fast with cords and stakes but the cords are soon loosed and the stakes pluckt up and so the Tabernacle dissolved It s said Iohn 1.14 that the word was made flesh and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we read it See Beza dwelt among us but the word signifieth to abide in a Tabernacle it imports that Christ had a mortal body But how comes it to pass that the body is mortal did God make it so at first No had man continued such as God first made him he had never died His body indeed being compacted of corruptible matter was naturally apt to be corrupted but by a supernatural power it should have been preserved from corruption Augustine speaking of man as he was at first created of God saith wel mortalis erat conditione corporis animalis immortalis beneficio creatoris i. e. In respect of the natural constitution of his body he was mortal but through the goodness of his creator he was immortal It was sin that brought mortallity What day soever thou dost eate thereof viz. of the forbidden fruit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dying thou shalt die i. thou shalt certainly die so God threatned Adam Gen. 2.17 Not that immediatly upon his transgression his soul should part from his body but immediately he should become mortal and subject to death as Symmachus did wel interpret it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. thou shalt be mortal In this sense are the very same words used 1 King 2.37 It shal be said Solomon to Shimei that on the day thou goest over and passest over the brook Kidron thou shalt know for certain that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dying thou shalt die i.e. thou shalt certainly die Shimei died not that very day but then immediately his life was forfeited and he made himself liable to death Whensoever Solomon should please to inflict it upon him And thus it was with Adam upon his eating of the forbidden fruit presently the sentence of death passed on him dust thou art and to dust shal thou return Gen. 3.19 Thus Adam by his transgression made himself mortal Yea and not himself only but all his posterity also For all were included in him and his sin was the sin of all and so in him all became mortal In Adam all die 1 Cor. 15.22 viz. because in Adam all did sin By one man namely Adam sin entred into the world and by sin death and so death went over all c. Rom. 5.12 Obser 2 I pass to a 2. Observation viz. this That the soul is immortal the spirit doth not go to the earth as the body but doth return to God that gave it True it is there is a death of the soul a death in sin Ephes 2.1.5 And a death for sin Revel 20.6 It is there called the second death because there is another death for sin before it viz. The death of the body which death as hath been shewed came by sin and for sin but after this comes a second death for sin if sin be not remitted through Christ viz. The condemnation of the soul first and afterwards both of soul and body The first death is but temporal but the second death is eternal But this death of the soul whether in sin or for sin is but metaphorically and improperly called death The soul dies not so as to cease to be that substance which it was before in this respect it is immortal The bodie turns to dust but the soul subsists and remains for ever One in these times hath set forth a book purposely to prove the soul to be mortal in like manner as the body is mortal maintaining that when a man dies his soul dies as wel as the body A most gross opinion and directly contradictory to the Text in hand and to many other places of Scripture which by no art or subtilty can be eluded He would evade this Text that we have in hand by saying that it imports no more then what is said Psal 104.29 Thou takest away their breath they die and return to their dust But these places are not so parallel as he supposeth For the taking away of the breath which the Psalmist speaketh of is a cause of death and therefore at least in order of nature before death for so the cause is ever before the effect because God takes away from his creatures their breath therefore they die but here the spirits going to God is a consequent of death First a man dies and then as his body goes to the earth so his soul goes to God This clearly argues a subsisting of the soul when a man is dead and that the soul doth not die together with the body Test 2 So elsewhere in the Scripture the Spirit of God is plain and plentiful in asserting the souls immortality This day said Christ to the repenting and beleeving malefactor shalt thou be with me in Paradise How should he be that day with Christ in Paradise Not in respect of the body for so Christ himself was not that day in Paradise but in the grave And in respect of the body the impenitent theif was as much in Paradise as he to whom Christ made this promise Therefore it was in respect of the soul that he should be that day in Paradise and consequently the soul dies not with the body but subsists separated from the body The answer which the adversary gives to this place is to this effect for it is somewhat intricate that therefore Christ told the penitent thief that he should that day be with him in Paradise though it should not be until the resurrection for he grants that the body shal rise again and then the soul shal be re-united to it but wil have neither soul nor body to live until the resurrection because there is but as it were a moment betwixt death and the resurrection for that while a man is dead be it never so long he perceives no continuance of time being altogether without sense and feeling But what if a man be not sensible of time is there therefore none for that The 7 sleepers that are said to have slept from the time of Decius to the time of Theodosius about 200 years by this reason may be
by the Parable of a draw-net Mat. 13.47 50. Thus the Doctrine being sufficiently confirmed and the Objections made against it answered let us come to the Uses of it Vse 1 And 1. It serves to convince and recliam if it may be those that are of the contrary opinion and to teach and admonish all to beware of that opinion It is an opinion injurious unto God injurions to his vicegerent injurious to his people 1. Injurious unto God opposing his ordinance 2. Injurious to Gods vicegerent the Magistrate devesting him of that power wherewith God hath invested him 3. Injurious unto Gods people depriving them of that benefit which they might and should have by the Magistrate and for want thereof exposing them to great and manifold inconveniences Vse 2 2. To confute the Papists who though they seem to give unto the Magistrate this power yet indeed they withhold it from him For they make him only a Vassal to the Pope and those of that Hierarchy to execute their Canons and Decrees to punish such as they have pronounced Hereticks and to cause that doctrine which they propound to be embraced and those rites which they enjoyn what ever they be to be observed Whereas if private persons must prove all things and hold fast that which is good 1 Thes 5.21 then much more must Magistrates do it Though they must not do things of themselves but must advise with godly and able Ministers and be instructed and directed by them out of Gods Word yet must they not tye themselves to the dictates of men but must have the book of God the holy Scripture continually with them and exercise themselves diligently therein and by it try things Deut. 17.18 19 20. before either they receive them themselves or cause others to submit unto them Vse 3 3. To stir us up to pray continually unto God in the behalf of our Magistrates that they may be enlightned by his Spirit to discern of things that differ that so they may be able to use their power aright to edification and not to destruction for the supporting of the truth not for the suppressing of it and that they may be incited and stirred up to do it Thus the Apostle exhorts and requires us to pray and make supplications as for all so more especially for Kings and those that are in authority that under them we may lead a peaceable and a quiet life in all godliness and honesty 1 Tim. 2.2 We may see and it is worthy to be observed that according as the Kings and Rulers of Gods people were good or bad so Religion either flourished or decayed under Asa Jehosaphat Hezekiah and Josiah it flourished Under Rehoboam Ahas Manasses c. it decayed Vse 4 4. To stir us up to praise and glorifie God for such Magistrates when any good doth accrew unto the Church by them As we must honour the Magistrates themselves so much the more by how much the more they put forth themselves and exercise their authority for the preserving and maintaining of Religion and for the procuring of the welfare and happiness of the Church as they did Jehoiada the high Priest who had been Tutor to King Joash in his non-age and carryed himself worthily in that place of dignity and power at his death they did him the honour to bury him among the Kings because he had done good in Israel both towards God and towards his house 2 Chron. 24.16 So chiefly our care must be to acknowledg the good hand of God upon us in vouchsafing to give us such Magistrates and to make them so instrumental to our good and to give him the praise and glory of all The King granted me said Nehemiah according to the good hand of my God upon me Nehemiah 2.8 So of Ezra it is said that the King granted him all his request viz. which he made in the behalf of Ierusalem and the service of God according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him Ezra 7.6 And having rehearsed the decree that the King had made and the commission that he had given him concerning the worship of God and the affairs of the Church he breaketh out into this doxology Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers who hath put such a thing as this in the Kings heart to beautifie the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem And hath extended mercy unto me before the King and his Counsellors and before all the Kings mighty Princes and I was strengthned as the hand of the Lord my God was upon me Ezra 7.27 28. ECCLES 12.7 Then shal the dust return to the earth as it was and the Spirit shal return to God that gave it IN the beginning of this Chapter Solomon bids Remember thy Creator in the daies of thy youth and he shews why every one ought to have this care viz. because in old age we can neither be so serviceable neither can our service be so acceptable this is signified in those words before the evil daies come and the years draw nigh wherein thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them the daies of old age are evil daies i. e. full of trouble and sorrow in which sense Iacob said that his daies were evil Gen. 47.9 Old age is subject to diseases and distempers Senectus ipsa morbus it is it self a disease And therefore also the years of old age are years wherein a man hath no pleasure see Psal 90.10 and 2 Sam. 19.35 And are we then in old age fit to do God service Or is it fit to put off the serving of God until old age Shal we think that God wil have pleasure in that service which we put off till those years come wherein we our selves have no pleasure Solomon having thus generally set forth in the first verse how unmeet it is and unreasonable to cast off the remembrance of God until old age come he goes on in the next five verses to describe old age and to set forth the troublesome and uncomfortable condition of it more particularly the description is very elegant but allegorical and therefore obscure I may not now stand to explain it but must come to the 7. ver which I am to insist on wherein he shews what old age tends to and what follows upon it viz. death and judgment Then shal the dust return c. Then viz. when old age hath worn and weakned the body and dissolved the frame and temperature of it Shal the dust i. e. the body which was made of dust Gen. 2.7 Return to the earth as it was According to that Gen. 3.19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the ground or earth for out of it wast thou taken for dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return And the Spirit i. e. the soul as the word Spirit is taken 1 Cor. 6.20 and so in other places Shal return unto God viz. as the Chaldee Paraphrast dothwel interpret
said to have waked the same day that they fel asleep Yea grant this mans opinion of the souls mortality to be true and let the words of our Saviour be expounded as he would have them and what singular thing was promised to that penitent malefactor It might as wel have been said to Adam that that very day that he dyed he should be with Christ in Paradise though it should not be of I know not how many thousand years after as it was spoken by our Saviour to this Malefactor that was Crucified with him Test 3 Again 2 Cor. 5.8 We are confident saith the Apostle willing rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord. How I wonder are we present with the Lord when we are absent from the body if the soul do not remain seperated from the body certainly if the soul die with the body we are less present with the Lord after death which is meant by absence from the body then before Besides that very phrase of being absent from the body implyes that something of us which can be nothing but the soul hath a subsistance by it self out of the body and therefore dies not with the body To this place he answers that the Apostle meant nothing else but the estate after the resurrection But how could the Apostle mean that For is there then an absence from the body when as the body riseth again and the soul and it are again united Test 4 Again Phil. 1.23 the Apostle saith That he desired to be dissolved and to be with Christ which was better for him then to live stil here in this world And v. 21. that it was gain for him to die But except the soul be mortal how could this be how could death be gain to him How could he desire to be dissolved that he might be with Christ and so be in a far better estate then here he could enjoy if as his body died so his soul should die also and should be no more until the resurrection Surely then it had been far better for him to live stil yea if it were possible not to die at all but to remain until Christs 2 coming as some upon a mistake of Christs words supposed John should Ioh. 21.23 I wil add but one place more viz. That 2 Cor. 12.2.3 where the Apostle saith that he knew a man in Christ meaning without question himself who was caught up to paradise the third heaven whether in the body or out of the body he could not tell These words which the Apostle twice repeateth whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell to what purpose were they if the soul could not be separated from the body and subsist in a state of separation They necessarily imply thus much that the soul is a distinct substance from the body and may subsist out of the body And consequently it is not mortal it dies not with the body But some objections are made which must be answered Object 1 Man is mortal and therefore the soul being part yea principal part of man is mortal Answ I answer it doth not follow Totus homo moritur non totum hominis i. the whole man dieth but not the whole not every part of man it sufficeth that one part viz. the body dieth For quod convenit parti convenit etiam toti secundum illam partem i. That which agreeth to a part agreeth also to the whole in respect of that part It s said Gen. 2.7 that God formed man of the dust of the ground viz. because God formed the body of man of the dust As for the soul it was not formed thereof but infused as there it s said that God breathed into man i. mans body the breath of life If mans mortality did prove the mortality of the soul then because Christ died not only his soul but his divine nature should die also which I think this Author himself wil abhor to say or think for as man consisteth of soul and body so Christ of the divine and humane nature And therefore if Christ might die as he did and yet his divine nature be immortal then is there no necessity at all why because man dyeth the soul therefore must die also Object 2 Man became mortal because of sin but he sinned principally in his soul Therefore in respect of the soul he ought principally to die Answ The soul through sin becometh liable to such a death as it is capable of viz. an exclusion from God and from all happiness but it is not capable of such a death as the body is liable to viz. a deprivation of all sense and feeling and a corruption of the very substance of it for the soul is a spirit as in the Text and in other places it is termed and therefore of an incorruptible nature Object 3 In death there is no remembrance of God in the grave who shal give him thanks Psal 6.5 The grave cannot praise him death cannot celebrate him Isa 38.18 Answ The meaning is that the dead cannot so praise God as the living do viz. to the instruction and edification of others The living the living he shal praise thee as I do this day the father to the children shal make known thy truth saith Hezekiah there immediately after Isaiah 38.19 In this respect the godly have desired to live rather then to die that they may edifie the Church and to glorify God which being dead they could not do I wil not die but live saith David and why he adds and declare the works of the Lord Psal 118.17 See also Phil. 1.23.24.25 Object 4 Eccles 9.4.5 A living dogg is better then a dead Lion For the living know that they shal die but the dead know not any thing And Eccles 3.19.20.21 That which befalleth the sonnes of men befalleth beasts even one thing befalleth them as the one dieth so dieth the other yea they have all one breath so that a man hath no preheminence above a beast for all is vanity All go unto one place all are of the dust all turn to dust again Who knoweth the spirit of a man that goeth upward and the spirit of a beast that goeth downward to the earth Answ This is spoken in the person of carnal Epicures and Atheists who think there is no other life after this and therefore had rather live though never so basely then die though never so honorably Certain it is that the spirit of God means nothing less then that the worst alive are better then the best being dead For how then are they blessed that die in the Lord even whiles they are dead Apoc. 14.13 How is it gain to the godly to die and far better for them then to live Phil. ● 21.23 And that very question who knoweth the spirit of a man that goeth upward c. implyeth that in truth the spirit of a man dies not when the body dies as the spirit of a beast doth