confidence waite for it and when it comes bid it welcome as our friend that comes to free our soul out of the prison of the body the sole impediment of it's perfection and to open the doore to let us into a better world and into a better life Thus of the Person to whom he makes his suit The Lord. 2. Now we are to consider of the Act Take away my soule How doth the Lord take away souls Not by annihilation or reducing them to nothing as at the first Creation Nor by laying them a sleep together with their bodies till the Resurrection the Opinion of the Arabians Nor by a Metempsuchosis transmitting them into some other body to informe them Nor by fixing them as Starrs in the Firmament Nor by sending them into purgatory as the Papists teach But thou that gavest it me take it unto thy self either by thine own immediate power and grace who art a Spirit and the God of the spirits of all flesh or by the Ministery of thy good Angells let them be ready to receive it at the parting of it out of my body as they did the soul of Lazarus and to carry it up to rest and glory Thus Lord take away my soule From hence note first That our souls are immortall they dye not with the body but when the body at the dissolution returns to the earth from whence it was taken the soul returns to God that gave it All the expressions of holy men dying imports as much Lord Jesus receive my spirit saith St. Stephen Father into thy hands I commend my spirit saith our Saviour Lord take away soul saith our Prophet all expressing their faith in this truth That their souls were immortal Feare not them that can kill the body and are not able to kill the soul saith our Saviour So then the soul cannot be killed Our blessed Lord disputing with the Sadduces concerning the Resurrection Mat. 22. tells them out of the Scriptures That God was the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob who were dead and buried a thousand years before and from thence concludeth the immortality of the soul inasmuch as God was not the God of who dead but of the living ver 32. their spirits did never dye their souls were still alive and in being and he was their God Vses First It is of Use to quiet our spirits and to satisfie our minds sometimes troubled upon the consideration of the perplexities of Providence in the cross dispensation of evill and good to the good and the evill here in this world the unravelling of this Clue of the souls immortality from the beginning to the end will guide us through this Labyrinth so that in the end we shall say The wayes of the Lord are right when a day shall come when it shall be said to the Epicures of this world which have had their portion in this life as in Luke 16.25 Sonne Rentember you have had your pleasure in your life time and my servants received pain now they are comforted and you are tormented 2. This Meditation is of Use to comfort and to confirme us against the fear of death either our own or our friends inasmuch as beleeving in the Lord me shall live though we dye And he that liveth and beleeveth in him shall never dye eternally Indeed we shall not dye at all totally for though we lay down our bodies into the earth to sleep yet our spirits shall not dye at all but being delivered from the burden of the flesh shall live with the Lord and be translated into a state of joy and feliâ—ity Et meliore sui parte superstesâ— erit The better part is still living and therefore the Scripture will hardly call it a death but a Sleep a Change a Dissolution a Departure a Translation 3. It is of use for the contempt of this world in which we have no surer footing and of the best things of this world of which we have no better hold nor longer enjoyment but for this short uncertain life 4. This Meditation of the immortality of the soul is of speciall use to teach and to admonish to prepare and to provide for that our future condition to lay up for our selves treasure in Heaven that we may have something to take to when we come into the other world when we shall leave this and all that we have in it behind us to make us friends of the Mammon of iniquity that when time comes they may receive us into the everlasting habitations to lay here a good soundation against the time to come that seeing our fouls are immortall and shall have an eternall being it may be in well being that seeing they shall live eternally it may be in bliss and happiness now is the time to provide for it O how miscrable will be the condition of those souls which having lost their time here when this life is ended shall be swallowed up into eternity and all that while shall live in woe and misery in pain and torment easeless endless and remediless How much better had it been for such if they had never been born Or being born that their souls had dyed with their bodies or living after them there had been some period of time wherein they might have been extinguished But when they must so continue for ever That the worme shall never dye nor the fire never goe out that they shall continue in torment to all eternity Who can conceive the misery of it That word eternity into what a deep bottomeless gulfe doth it swallow up the mind that thinks upon it Great wonder it is and a miracle indeed that a point of such great importance and high concernment should be no more heeded and regarded Some live as if they had no souls at all or if they have any that they are but as the souls of bruits which perish with their bodies and well were it with them if they did so they live as if they never thought to dye and dye as if they never thought to rise again they have no hope in their death nor any care of their immortall soules ever after To these I say no more but this Lord have mercy upon their poor miserable soules they will have time enough hereafter when it is too late to see their error and to repent of this their stupidity and security Secondly Note here the holy and heavenly expressions of the Saints and Servants of the Lord at their departure out of this life O Lord I have waited for thy salvation saith the Patriarke Jacob upon his death bed Gen. 49.18 Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace said old Simeon Luke 2.29 for mine eyes have seen thy salvation Saint Stephen the holy Martyr with these words breath'd out his soule Lord Jesus receive my spirit Acts 7.59 Our Lord himselfe upon the Cross giving up the ghost with these words breath'd his last Father into thy hands I commend
my spirit Luke 23.46 in sense the same with the Prophet in the Text Lord take away my soule With such holy expressions as these did holy Men dying take their leave of the World and breathe out their spirits I could instance in many more Bishops Martyrs Confessors and other holy men and Women dying some in my own hearing others in the hearing of other Men and recorded in the stories of their Lives and Deaths with the gratious expressions utter'd by them in their death-beds in words full of faith full of hope full of comfort much to the edification of all that were present and it is a great advantage to be present with such men at such a time for then are they most serious then are their soules loosing from the prison of their bodies and are prominentes as it were looking out before they take their flight then have they clearer Vision of things then they had before when they were in the close prison of their bodies the light breaks in at the chinks and at the doores and windows opening to let out the soule then have many of the Saints had rare Discoveries and Revelations by which they have Prophesied of things to come and the words of dying men are much to be heeded and regarded But if you would have the Lord to draw neer unto you in these wayes when you are dying you must draw neer to God in his wayes while you are living You must acquaint your selfe with God and be at peace with him as Eliphas speaks in Job cap. 22.21 you must live in communion with him you must call upon his Name prayse him and give him thanks worship him and doe his will then will he own you and be mercifull to you at that time and draw neer unto you and have a care of your soule that it shall not miscarry but he himselfe will take it away But secondly If you would have the Lord to take away your soule you must keep your soul with all diligence and preserve it pure and undefiled that the Lord may own it and accept it and place it among the holy souls of his Saints and his redeemed ones The Lord our God is a holy God of pure eyes which cannot behold any thing that is impure but with indignation and there is nothing more odious to him then sinne and corruption nor which renders us more abominable in his sight Compared therefore to Leprosie to the Leopards spots to menstruous pollution If therefore our souls shall be presented unto him stained with sinne polluted with uncleanness defiled with spirituall leprosie of corruption spotted with noysome lusts and pleasures Will the Lord look at them will he own them will he accept them Can we desire the Lord or hope that he will take away such souls or imploy his good Angels to fetch them as he did to receive the soule of Lazarus and carry it into Abraham's bosome No there are other soule-gatherers ready to take away such souls even those which were imployed to fetch away the soule of the covetous rich Man in the Gospel Luke 12.20 If we would have the Lord to take away our souls we must present them pure unto him without spot and blameless They must be wash't cleane in the blood of the Lambe and cleansed by the sanctifying vertue of the holy Ghost our Consciences the highest faculty of the soule Must be purged from dead works to serve the living God We must purge our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit and grow up in true holiness in the feare of the Lord The Place which our souls are to goe to it holy the Company holy the exercises holy and so must our souls be also that they may be suitable to all the rest and then the Lord will take away our souls and place them amongst them in joy happiness and glory Thus of The Act. The Object followes My soule 2. Branch The soule is the spirituall part of Man the principall and essentiall part whereof Man doth consist the fountaine of life sense and motion which by the spirits vitall naturall animall the souls cursitors running into all the parts of the body actuates and informes it and useth it as an Organ or Instrument whereby to performe it's severall operations This soule of man is pretious in these seven respects First In respect of the Fountaine of it it proceeds originally from the immediate breathing of God himselfe For when God had made Man of the dust of the earth he breath'd into him the breath of life and Man became a living soul Gen. 2.7 Secondly In respect of the rare faculties of it the Understanding the Will the Memory the Affections Reason Judgement Wisedome Knowledge Conscience the highest of all the rest considered in both the parts of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the one The Treasure the other The Soules Controuller c. Thirdly In respect of the immortality of it it dyes not with the body but being taken out of the body is preserv'd unto Eternity Fourthly In respect of the Image of God once stampt upon it which though miserably defac't since by the fall yet not so utterly raz'd out but there are goodly lineaments of that Image yet left upon it Neither is it so irrecoverable but that by the spirit of grace and the grace of sanctification it may be so repaired and renewed as that the soule may be and is said still Thereby to be made partaker of the Divine Nature 2 Peter 1.4 not in the substance of the Deity but in holiness and righteousness wisedome knowledge goodness love and light which are as the beames of the Image of God shining upon it Fifthly In respect of the purchase of it It is the price of blood not of Bulls and Goats but of the Divine blood of Jesus Christ our Redeemer 1 Peter 1.19 Sixthly The pretiousness of souls may appear by the pains and cost that Satan and his Instruments will be at to gaine a soule they will compass Sea and Land to gaine a soule give a Kingdome for a soule Mat. 4.8 All the Kingdoms of the world with the glory of them Omnia haec tibi dabo All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me ver 9. Seventhly By the great care that Almighty God hath taken to preserve souls and to save them from perishing he hath given his Word to direct them his Ministers to instruct them his Sacraments to confirme them his Spirit to guide them and his Angels to guard them and all this to preserve them and to save them from perishing In all these respects it appears that souls are pretious Our blessed Lord which well knew the price of souls lays one soule in one ballance and the whole world in the other against it and upon the tryall tells us That one soule weighs downe the whole world in the other scale What shall it profit a Man to win the whole
hollowness of them What is it that sustains the Clouds in the Aire infinitely greater and more weighty then they so as they fly to and fro but as bottles in the Aire as Job speaks or like bladders full of winde that they fall not down in great dashes enough to make another Deluge but the hollowness of them That such a hollowness there is in them appears by the Lightning the Thunder and the Thunder-bolts and the spirituall vapour that proceeds out of them when they break of such force that it penetrates and burns and breaks and tears in peeces all that it lights upon And who can deny but it is agreeable to reason that there may be such a hollowness in the heart of the earth whereby it may by the power and providence of the Creator be susteined in the place which he hath appointed for it and also be a fit receptacle of evill spirits where they may be secured as in a Prison and reserved unto the Judgement of the great day In the Apostolicall Creed we profess to beleeve That Christ descended into Hell And St. Paul tells us He descended 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the lower parts of the Earth This cannot be understood of the descent of his body by his buriall that scarce went into the Earth at all but was layd in the Sepulchre which Joseph of Arimathea had made for himselfe in his Garden which was above the ground or at least the most part of it if any part at all of it were under or within the ground it was not so low as that we may say of it It was in the lower parts of the Earth How then will you understand this Article of our Lords descent into Hell except you understand it of his Soule and of his Spirit And where will you finde this Hell more agreeable to Scripture and Reason then as I have described it and that by his Spirit he went to Preach to the spirits in prison there The third vast Prison wherein the evill Angells are secured unto the day of the generall Judgement is The Sea for there are Sea Spirits as well as Land Spirits or Aeriall Spirits When the Disciples being in a Ship saw Christ coming towards them walking upon the Sea the Text sayes They were troubled and thought they had seen a Spirit Mat. 14.26 whereby it appears That there were Spirts that did appear in the Sea as well as on the Land And in St. Mathew 8. we reade That the Devills being cast out of the man which they had possessed entred into an Heard of Swine and carried them headlong into the Sea by which it seems there was their abode And in Mark 5. which by many circumstances seem not to be the same story with this of St. Matthew we reade Of a whole legion of Devills entring into a Heard of no less then two thousand Swine and carrying them with great violence into the Sea these were Sea Spirits whose abode was in the Sea which is the third Prison wherein these evill Angells are secur'd and confin'd unto the Judgement of the great day and with them the souls of wicked men both to be brought in and judged at that general Assizes which though they be not till then cast into the Lake of everlasting burnings yet is their condition in the mean time woefull and miserable 'T is miserable to consider how wilfully they have forsaken their own mercy and what opportunity they have lost of preventing this their misery never to be recovered nor recalled 'T is miserable to lye in Prison in such a Prison and for such Crimes of which they know themselves they shall be found guilty at that day and condemn'd to suffer the vengeance of everlasting sire 'T is miserable to see Hell open before them and ready to receive them 'T is miserable in the mean time to lye under the wrath of the Almighty and under the torments of a wounded soule Yet neither are the torments of the souls of wicked men during this time of their separation from their bodies all aequall as neither shall they be after the generall Judgement as shall be shewed in the sequel of this Treatise but in the mean while having shewed you the state of the souls of wicked men It now rests that I should shew you What is the state of the souls of just men from the time of their separation from their bodies till the time of their re-union again with their bodies at the day of the Resurrection And in answering to this inquiry the Scripture gives us some light in foure expressions When the body returns to dust from whence 't was taken the spirit returns to God that gave it saith Soloman Eccles 12.7 The Angells receive it and carry it into Abraham's bosome saith St. Luke cap. 16.22 It is layd under the Altar saith St. John Rev. 6.9 It is carried into Paradise saith our Saviour to the penitent theese upon the Crosse Luke 23.43 All these are most comfortable and heavenly expressions setting forth the blessed and happy estate of the souls of the just which they enter into when they are delivered from the burden of the flesh the great impediment of their perfection yet they doe not all amount to this That upon their separation they pass into the highest Heaven and into the fruition of the immediate vision of God and that fulness of joy and glory that they shall enter into at the last day when it shall be said unto them Come ye blessed of my Father enter into the inheritance of the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world For we cannot imagine that these words are spoken onely in reference to the bodies then newly raysed out of their graves but to the whole man body and soule united together and so to the entire persons of them Come ye blessed enter into the Kingdom For that of Solomon That the soule returns to God that gave it it is true that is It is taken up into the higher Heavens and is in neerer communion with God then it was before it is admitted neerer into his presence it is taken into his more immediate care to dispose of it in a place and state of bliss and felicity of joy and glory even presently upon the separation of it from the body For that of Saint Luke That the Angells received the soule of Lazarus the meaning is That he was gathered unto the rest of the faithfull of which Abraham is said to be the Father and carried to a place of rest intimated by Abraham's bosome Sinus Patriarcharum recessus quidam est quietis aeternae Ambr. For that of St. John Rev. 6. Where he sees the souls of the Martyrs under the Altar the meaning is That they were in a place of security where no evill should touch them as in the third of the book of Wisedom The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God and no evill shall touch them v. 1. The Altar
world and to lose his foule Vse 1. It should teach all men to value their souls according to the worth of them and not to destroy them nor to pass them away so carelesly and inconsiderately as ordinarily men doe to their eternall undoing Some desperately wound them to death by desperate willfull and presumptuous sins Heale my soule for I have sinned against thee implying that by sinne he had wounded it Some sell their souls and that for triflles that are worth nothing for pleasures of sinne which are but for a season for treasures of wickedness which profit nothing for satisfying some sinfull lusts which are worse then nothing Some give away their souls for nought for sins in which there is neither pleasure nor profit as Cursing Swearing idle and lewd Communication and the like these make the worst bargains of all Others pawne their souls they will give themselves liberty to walk in the sight of their own eyes and in the wayes of their own heart and to serve their lusts but for such a time and then they will take up and repent and recover themselves and their souls again as if it were in their own will and power to come in when they will All these make ill bargains and pass away their pretious souls for a thing of nought which all the Kingdoms of the world cannot buy again We see this we heare it and we condemne them for it yet are there dayly amongst us that are guilty of the same folly and by Covetousness Voluptuousness Ambition Malice Perjury and the like sell themselves and their souls for less and pass them away upon worse termes then they have done Adam sold himselfe for an Apple Esau for a Mess of Pottage Achan for a Wedge of Gold Ahab for a Vineyard Judas for thirty pieces of silver How many are there to be found amongst us which for less matters will lye will sweare will forsweare will steale deceive cheate and cosen and what not That to satisfie their base sinfull and unreasonable lusts and humours will part with a good Conscience forfeit the favour of God their hope of Heaven their interest in Christ and in the Gospel sell themselves and soules and all for less then a Mess of Pottage The resolution of Balaam was good and honest just and religious if he had kept it as well Numb 24.13 If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold I would not goe beyond the Word of the Lord to doe more or less Let it be the resolution of every soul and God give us grace and power to keep it 2. Are souls so pretious Then let us look to them carefully preserve them charily as we would doe our chiefest Jewells Keep thy soule with all diligence examine the state of it see it want nothing of that which should be for the happiness and the prosperity of it Our care is much for the body What shall we eate what shall we drinke wherewithall shall we be clothed in the meane while the soule is neglected set by and least look't after but as our Saviour saies in a like case Mat. 6.25 Is not the body better then the rayment So say I Is not the soule better then the body Is there any comparison between the Jewell and the Cabinet that it is layd up in It was Martha's reproofe That she cared for many things more then she needed And for the one thing that was more necessary less It is our just reproofe in this case We enquire after the health and welfare of our friends and after their prosperity how they thrive in this world but without any regard to their spirituall estate and the wellfare and prosperity of their souls St. John in his Epistle to Gaius with a more spirituall salutation hath a more speciall eye to the prosperity of his soule Beloved I wish chiefly that thou doe prosper as thy soule prospereth 3 John 1.2 David did more rejoyce in the good the Lord had done for his soule then for all the good he had done to him and for him in his body in his estate or in any other his relations Hearken to me saith he all you that feare God and I will tell you what the Lord hath done for my soule The Lord had done great things for him otherwise and he could have given them a large narrative of them but in his remembrance of his great favours to him he passes by all these and mentions the other as farr greater then all the rest I wil tell you what the Lord hath done for my soul So the care of all those holy men dying which I have mentioned was chiefly for the safety of their souls Lord Jesus receive my spirit Acts 7.59 Father into thy hands I commend my spirit And in the Text Lord take away my soul Though the bodies of the Saints dying are not to be neglected but decently to be inter'd as in hope and expectation of a blessed Resurrection as the body of St. Stephen was and the body of our blessed Lord yet the care they had of their souls swallowed up all the care of their bodies so that it is not so much as mentioned by them nor by our Prophet in the Text but onely his soul Lord take away my soul 3. Are souls so pretious Then this is a severe admonition to us that have undertaken Curam animarum the care of souls to look well to our charge as such as must give an account of the greatest trust in the world even the souls of Gods people committed to our charge I cannot but tremble when I reade St. Paul giving up his account to God to his Peoplae and to his own Conscience in this matter Acts 20.26 I am free from the blood of all Men. What blood doth St. Paul here speak of he was no Sword Man there was no fear of his shedding any mans blood by violence How comes he to clear himself from blood Bel. the blood here meant is more pretious then the life-blood of man can be it is the blood of souls implying That if he had not faithfully and conscionably performed the duties of his Pastorall charge amongst them he had been guilty of the blood of souls Oh let this sink deep into our hearts that we may not become guilty of the blood of souls How earnestly ought we to endeavour the salvation of our people as of our selves and at the hour of death to Pray That the Lord would be mercifull to them and take away their souls Quest But here now ariseth a great question a grand inquiry not without great caution and sobriety to be resolved Touching the state of souls separated and taken out of the body What becomes of them afterward Whether upon their separation they doe presently enter into that state in which they are to remain and continue during this vast space of Eternity without all change or alteration of their condition Ans I answer no For the soule of man
from the time of it's first being in him whether by Creation or by infusion or by traduction generation I dispute not nor of the praeexistence of it before an Opinion that hath great Patrons too especially among the Philosophers the Gymnosophists of Egypt the Brachmans of India the Magi of Persia and the Jewish Cabalists and among them some Christians also Origen for one but I wave that dispute too But I date my discourse from the souls first being in the body from that beginning it passes it's immortality under three conditions or a three-fold estate every one of them different from other The first is the state of the foule during the time of it's being in the body which it doth actuate and informe The second is the state of it between the time of the separation of it from the body by dissolution and there union of it again with the body at the Resurrection the day of Judgement And the third is from that day to Eternity and for ever after That these three states of the soule are different one from the other is evident enough Of the first of these we have experience in this life while our souls are in our bodies which are given unto us to actuate and informe them and to use them as Organs or Instruments for glorifying God by them and doing good Glorifie God in your bodies and in your spirits for they are his 1 Cor. 6.20 this is done by giving up the faculties of the one and the parts of the other Not as members of unrighteousness to unrighteousness but as instruments of righteousness unto holiness and accordingly as we have so done shall we give an account unto God in the day of account For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ to render an account for the things done in the body whether they be good or evill 1 Cor. 5.15 Therefore now is the time of working now is the time of doing our selves good now is the time of laying a good foundation for the time to come now is the time of laying up that which may be for the furtherance of our account then now in this first estate of the soule while it is in the body must we provide for the well-being of it in the second estate and in the third and to Eternity Now as this first estate of the soule in the body is different from the second estate of it as it is separated from the body so is that second estate of it out of the body different from the third estate of it when it shall be re-united to the body again and put into that estate in which it shall remain for ever and to all Eternity It is the generall Opinion of men but withall a generall mistake That as soon as ever the soule is separated from the body it passes immediately into that estate either of joy glory or of misery and torment in which it shall remain for ever without any alteration True it is That at the separation of the soule from the body there is a particular judgement passes upon it by which it is made known to it what shall become of it Eternally and is presently put into the beginnings either of the one or the other and into a state previous to that third estate in which it is to remain for ever without alteration but that either the souls of wicked men are immediately upon their separation from the body cast into that extremity of misery and torment which is prepared for them Or that the souls of the just doe then pass into that heigth of joy and glory which God hath prepared for them I doe confidently deny and shall prove the contrary in both the parts of it And first for the souls of wicked men that they are not upon their separation from the body cast into that extremity of torment which is prepared for them I prove by an Argument à Majori thus The very Devills themselves are not yet cast into that extremity of torment that they are condemned unto Therefore the souls of wicked men are not immediately upon their separation cast into those torments The Consequence of this Argument is clear for no man will judge the state of wicked men to be worse then the state of Devills The Antecedent I prove by two clear testimonies of Scripture The first out of St. Mat. 8.29 where those fierce Devills which had possessed two men among the Gergesens seeing Christ comming towards them are stricken with terror at his presence and cry out What have we to doe with thee Jesus thou Sonne of God Art thou come to torment us before the time They knew they were condemn'd to torment but there was a time set when they should be cast into it but that time was not yet come and therefore seeing him comming towards them they cry out against him as if he came to antedate their misery by casting them into it before the time Art thou come to torment us before the time The other proofe is both a confirmation of the truth in hand and an illustration of this Text It is in the Epistle of Jude ver 6. The Angels also which kept not their first estate but left their own habitation he hath reserved in chains of darkness unto the Judgement of the great day where you have the time when they shall be cast into that extremity of torment unto which they are condemned at the judgement of the great day and the estate that they are in in the mean time they are reserv'd in chains of darkness the chains noting the safe keeping and securing of them that thus can no ways make their escape And the darkness noting their dismall and uncomfortable condition all that while They are reserv'd in chains of darkness unto the Judgement of the great day an expression borrowed from the state of condemned prisoners which after they are condemn'd are secured in chains or fetters and cast into the dungeon and there reserved unto the day of Execution And this is a sufficient proofe of the truth of this assertion in the first part of it as touching the souls of wicked men That the state of their souls from the day of their separation from their bodies untill the day of Judgement is not the same that it shall be after that day though it be a woefull estate too as will farther appear in the sequel of this discourse We are now to make good this Proposition in the other part of it Concerning the souls of the just that they enter not presently upon their dissolution into the fullness of joy and glory intended them and prepared for them And for that I alledge Rev. 6.9.10.11 where at the opening of the fifth Seale St. John sees under the Altar the souls of them that were killed for the Word of God and for the testimony which they maintained And they cryed with a loud voyce saying How long Lord how long holy and
their own mercy and putting from them the Kingdom of Heaven offered unto them and what happiness joy and glory the servants of God are arrived unto whom they despised to the greater aggravation of their sorrow and misery Therefore shall the sentence of Absolution be first pronounc't in these comfortable words Come ye blessed of my Father enter into the Inheritance of the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world Every word carries in it life and glory Come ye blessed ones take possession of a Kingdom Who and what are we that the Lord should doe so much for us may they well say as to give us a Kingdom That 's the day of which St. Paul writing to the Thessalonians tells them Jesus Christ shall be admired in all them that beleeve 2 Thes 1.10 not onely by them but in them by Men and Angells to see that the Lord hath exalted his poor humble and despicable servants to so high honour that he hath brought them hitherto Then shall the righteous shine as the Sunne in his brightness Wisedom 5.1 2 3 4. in the Kingdom of their Father After this shall the Judge turne himselfe to the wicked on the left hand and pronounce against them the sentence of condemnation in these words Ite maledicti Goe ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devill and his Angels Every word full of death and terror Goe and goe ye cursed and goe into fire and fire everlasting and fire prepared Isay 30.33 and prepared for the Devill and his Angels so these shall goe into everlasting torments and the righteous into life eternall And this is the third estate of of immortall souls and in this they shall abide for ever without alteration without end And so I end my Discourse upon this Subject in which I may truely say with Moses I have set before you life and death blessing and cursing Heaven and Hell that so you may chuse the better and that you may doe it in time while remedy may be had That you may live and not dye that you may be blessed and not cursed that your Portion may be in Heaven and not in Hell Amen IT tests now that I should speak something 〈◊〉 the third part of the Text in these words For I am no better then my Fathers But an intervenient occasion makes me interpose a few Lines for the satisfaction of some of whom I heare they should say That in the former Discourse concerning the state of souls separated from their bodies I Preach't New Doctrine And ask't whereunto is was usefull Which exception hath two parts in it The first Concerning the newness of it And the second Concerning the uselesness of it To both which I must say something in way of vindication And as to the first The newness of it To pass by all that hath been Written by the Learned Schoolemen of the Romish perswasion because they were of the Romish perswasion and yet if we should reject all that is written by the learned of the Romish perswasion because they were of the Romish perswasion we shall doe our selves as much wrong as them but to wave them I could fill up my Page with the testimonies of Learned and holy men unexceptionable which have declared themselves of the same Judgement in this matter That neither the souls of the just nor the unjust doe immediately upon the separation of them from the body 〈…〉 the state of their ternall being but into a state intermediate and different from the third state at least in degree in which they doe remain untill the Resurrection and the generall Judgement The one in Prison the other in Paradise The one amongst the evill Angells the other among the good Angells The one in the mouth of Hell it selfe and in the beginnings of woe and torment in a great degree and the other in the very entrance into the highest Heaven in bliss and joy and happiness unspeakable and glorious I should make a long business of it here to cite and to recite the testimonies of the Ancients in this matter but to save my selfe and Reader that labour let me intreat him to consult the Writings of an eminent Divine well known and approved of in the Evangelicall Churches for Learned and Orthodox and Professor of Divinity in the University of Lausanna I meane Bucanus a man as directly opposit to Purgatory and Popery as Light is to Darkness in his Common Places Loc. 39 under the Title De Vita aeterna he proposes this very Question in these words First of the souls of the faithfull Anne anunae piorum nunc a corporibus separate perfecta tonsummata beatitudine fruantur Whether the souls of the faithfull separated from their bodies doe presently enjoy perfect bliss and consummate happiness Unto which he makes this Answer Satis sit nobis scire illicô à discessu è corpore spiritum redire ad Deum qui dedit illum Eccles 12.7 Esse cum Christo Philip. 1.23 In Paradiso Luke 23.43 In pace Sapien. 3.3 In requie Heb. 4.3 In consolatione Luke 16.25 In refrigerio Sap. 4.7 In securitate Job 11.15 In manu Dei ut minime attingit eum cruciatus Sapien. 3.1 In glorificatione Wisd 5.1 Thus Englished Let it be enough for us to know That presently upon the departure of it out of the body the spirit returns to God that gave it that it is with Christ that it is in Paradise that it is in Peace in rest in comfort in a place of refreshment in security in the hand of God so that no evill shall touch it that it is in glory all glorious expressions setting forth the happy state of the souls of the Saints which they pass into presently upon the separation of them from the bodies But then marke what follows he comes in upon all this with an adversitive tamen notwithstanding which in answer to the Question here proposed hath the force of a negative for thus it followeth Quia tamen resurrectionem corporum expectant fruitionem plenissimam omnium bonorum quae Deus promisit diligentibus ipsum non in perfecta jam consummata sed inchoata beatitudine versari dici possunt Englished thus Yet notwithstanding because they expect the resurrection of their bodies and the most full fruition of all those good things which God hath promised to them that love him they may be said to be not in the full fruition of their perfect and consummate happiness but in the beginning of it or their happiness inchoated and begun Thus Bucanus Com. Loc. 39. pag. 447. And for proofe of this he alleageth the same Text of Scripture that I have done Rev. 6.9 10 11. Vsque quo Domine How long Lord how long Aquinas brings in a another Scripture for proofe of this truth 2 Tim. 4.8 From henceforth is layd up for me a Crowne of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give unto me at that day At what day At the day
of his glorious appearing as it follows in the same Text When Christ shall appear in flaming fire to render vengeance 2 Thes 1.7 When the Sonne of Man shall come in the Clouds with power and great glory and all his holy Angels with him That 's the day of his appearing at that day shall St. Paul receive his Crowne not before till then it is layd up for him At that day shall those souls under the Altar before mentioned receive their Crowns of Martyrdome also for the present there were white Robes given to every one of them but not the Crowns till that day The same also doth he affirme of the state of the souls of wicked men separated from their bodies Sic puniri ut etiam reserventur in diem judicii longe aliis asperioribus paenis aeternis videlicet in corpore anima cruciandi That they are so punished here during the time of their separation that they are also reserved unto the Judgement of the great day then to be tormented in body and soul with farr more sharp and grievous punishments for evermore But if you would see more of Antiquity in these matters and will be at the pains of it doe but consult Athanasius in an Epistle of his cited by Epiphanius Haeres 77. and in his Book De Incarnatione Verbi St. Cyrill De râ—â—ta side ad Theodosium OeÌ„cumenius and divers others who in their Expositions of that Text in St. Peter 1 Pet. 3.19 Who was put to death as concerning the Flesh but quickned by the Spirit By which Spirit he went and Preach't to the spirits which are in Prison We prove first Christs descent into Hell and upon the words following That he Preach't unto the spirits or souls detained in that Prison As Saint Jude saith of the evill Angells That they are in prison and bound in chains of darkness reserved unto the judgement of the great day The evill Angells and the souls of wicked men both in the same condition both secur'd in Prison both in chains both reserv'd unto the judgement of the great day And it will follow by the rule of opposits That if the souls of the Saints and Martyrs be not yet in the fruition of their perfect and consummate happiness then neither are the souls of wicked men in that exquisite torment which they are condemned unto and into which they shall be cast at the judgement of the great day but that there is an intermediate estate though that very wretched and miserable under which they lye untill that day And I think this is sufficiently proved in both the branches of it by Scriptures strong and cleere for it and by the jugdements of holy and learned men commenting upon them and so is a sufficient answer to the first Part of the exception and enough to free me from Preaching New Doctrine and to declare that I am not alone in this Opinion Of the intermediate estate of souls separated from the body both of the just and the unjust nor walk in an untroden path where no foot is gone before me The second Part of the exception lyes in this That it is useless That admitting these tenents be true yet they are useless It demands therefore Whereto they are usefull To which I Answer Sol. The knowledge of them is usefull to many speciall purposes particularly to these First It is very satisfactory to the minde of every man I think that hath a soule to know the state of it both present and future yea to know as much of it as is knowable Knowledge is pretious and a great delight unto the soule When wisedom entreth into thy heart and knowledge delighteth thy soule saith Solomon Prov 2.10 So knowledge is a delight unto the soule and the more high and excellent the object is about which it is conversant the more excellent and pretious is the knowledge But what more high and pretious object can there be next unto God and the Angells then the spirits and souls of men What more worthy to take up our most serious thoughts and diligent studies then the disquisition of those high things that doe concerne them What more satisfactory then the attaining of them in all those things that are knowable Secondly 'T is usefull for preserving of men against Atheisme that bruitish sinne which doth so spread it selfe in the world and invaded so great a part of the Sonns of men for though they doe not speak out plainly with their Tongues yet how many of them say in their hearts and lives There is no God nor Devill nor Heaven nor Hell nor Angells nor Spirits nor souls of Men and all through their ignorance of this Point That they cannot satisfie themselves what becomes of the souls of men separated from their bodies through so long a tract of time as two three foure or five thousand years intermediate between the time of their dissolution by Death and their re-union again at the Resurrection Thirdly 'T is usefull to confirme men in the assurance of the Immortality of the soule while it informes them what becomes of it where it is and what it does or suffers where is the place of it what the state of it what the imployments what the enjoyments Concerning all which being before ignorant and in the dark they could not tell what to think of the souls of men more then of bruits of which Solomon takes notice Eccles 3.20 21. speaking in their Language Who knoweth whether the spirit of Man ascend upward and the spirit of a Beast descend downward All goe to one place c. and therefore rann away in their own fancies and vain imaginations into divers errors concerning the souls of men dying some imagining they were annihilated and altogether extinguished Some that they were layd asleep as the bodies were till the Resurrection Some that they were transmigrated out of one body into another Some one thing some another in the midst of these doubtfull varieties they began to question whether there were any difference between the souls of men and of bruits as Solomon here intimates and for want of some more distinct knowledge in this matter lived at a venture Against all these errors and evills the truths here delivered are a sure and soveraigne remedy the vain imaginations in which men rann away in the variety of their own fancies concerning the extinction annihilation sleeping transmigration c. of the souls of men dying all dye before these truths here delivered and vanish away and mens minds are setled and confirmed in the assurance of the immortality of the souls while they doe distinctly informe them what becomes comes of them into what receptacles they are received upon their separation and in what severall states they pass their immortality Fourthly It is usefull for admonishing of all men while they are in the body to take care of their souls and to provide for their future condition to preserve them pure that upon their separation they may