weak people in this World and was thereat so much grieved that he breaks forth and says I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive yea better is he than both they which hath not yet been who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the Sun Chap. 9.3 The heart of the sons of men is full of evil and madness is in their heart whilst they live and after that they go to the dead for to him that is joyned to the living there is hope for a living dog is better than a dead lyon for the living know that they shall die but the dead know not anything neither have they any more a reward for their memory is forgotten their love hatred and envy are perished Ver. 10. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with thy might for there is no work nor device nor knowledge in the grave whither thou goest Thus we find Solomon expresseth himself much to the same purpose that Job before hath done declaring that Death and the Grave put an end to the doings and sufferings of Men without taking notice of any rewards or sufferings likely to befal men soon after their departures forth of this World which is in my apprehension a sort of evidence that his words The Spirit returns to God who gave it did not intend the going of Mens Souls to Judgment before God soon after their departures out of this Life I quote likewise in Corroboration of Solomons fore-cited Text and Opinion a Concurrent Evidence out of the Prophet Isaiah 38.18 where Hezekiah praying to god says The Grave cannot praise thee Death cannot celebrate thee they that go down into the Pit cannot hope for thy Truth The living the living he shall praise thee as I do this day Mr. W. hath quoted these Texts of Solomon and Isaiah and made out of each of them an Objection against his Opinion but I have made one Objection out of them both because I find them tend to the same purpose and do not so much labour to increase the number of my Objections as to fortifie and strengthen those which I make against him Mr. W. hath made the Text now quoted out of Isaiah his Tenth Objection against his Opinion and thereunto answers That Hezekiah 's meaning in these words is that Men after Death cannot praise God as they do whilst they are in this World and in the Congregations of Men but that still they can and do praise God after Death in Heaven Thereunto I reply He seems to make Hezekiah mean what himself pleases but that King's words seem plainly to declare That Men after Death neither do nor can celebrate or praise the Name of God without mention of such a meaning as he pretends or any need of such a meaning that I can perceive and therefore I read and take the plain Sense of his words to be as he hath delivered them In his Eleventh Objection he quotes the Text of Solomon The Dead know not any thing and thereunto answers That Solomon's meaning in these words is That Dead Men do not know any thing of what is done under the Sun after their Deaths I reply The words of the Text are general words The Dead know not any thing at all and therefore I cannot allow of his restraining them to Things done under the Sun which he hath excogitated on purpose to serve his Design in this Point Wherefore I leave this Exposition as a needless and erroneous Invention and proceed farther to consider the whole Objection now propounded against Mr. W's Opinion And we find that Solomon in the Texts of this Objection before quoted speaks of Death as of a Rest from Mens Labours and Sufferings and says There is no device nor knowledge in the grave whither thou goest the living know that they shall die but the dead know not any thing not any the most common or knowable thing not a thing so well known as that Men must die or that they must rise again These are things the most commonly known to Men when they are alive but when they are dead they know not any thing at all and to this King Hezekiah adds they cannot act any thing they cannot so much as Praise and Celebrate the name of God which Mr. W's Party will have to be the proper work of their good Souls departed Our Text tells us in absolute and plain Terms the Dead cannot do so comprehending under the name of Dead the Person and all that belong'd to the Composition thereof And from these Premisses I take leave to conclude that from these Texts is raised a strong Objection against the Souls Seperate Subsistence A Fifth Objection against Mr W's Tenet I raise from Eccless 11.8 If a Man live many Years and rejoyce in them all yet let him remember the days of Darkness for they shall be many and then he gives Liberty to the young Man to rejoyce in the days of his Youth and use his Liberty but withal bids him know that for these things God will bring him into Judgment so Chap. 12.14 After he had said the Spirit returns to God who gave it he adds Fear God and keep his Commandments for God shall bring every work into Judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil Here Solomon exhorts Men to remember the day and time of their Deaths The miserable as well pleased to rest under that dark Shadow and the young and joyful he exhorts to remember those times as days of Darkness and says that they shall be many subjoyning thereunto that after those days God will call Men to Judgment for all that they have done in this World tho' it be never so secretly acted and even for every idle word at the Day of Judgment an Account must be made and much more of Mens smallest Actions whether the same be good or whether they be evil by the days of Darkness which Solomon here mentions seem somewhat clearly to be intended the days which immediately succeed the death of the Person they are days of Darkness as Darkness it self covered and made dark with the shadow of Death and our Text says those Days shall be many and therefore he exhorts Men in their greatest Jollity to remember them but our Opposers contrary to the Tenor of this Text endeavour to perswade us that there are no days of Darkness at all in Death for that when the Breath of Man goeth forth or ceaseth in him his Substantial Intelligent and then Seperated Soul or Spirit either returns to God or goes before him to Judgment or is carried by Angels or is hurried by Devils into very different places concerning which I do not find they are well agreed among themselves but howsoever that may fall out they are all very well agreed that their Seperate Intelligent Spirit is at greater liberty and is more active and knowing than it was during its confinement to the
LORD's Words Luke 23.46 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I contend that the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this Text may and doth indifferently signifie sometimes Breath and sometimes Spirit according as may be required by the Subject matter of that Discourse wherein it is used And I do not blame our Translators for rendering it in this place by the English Word Spirit But then I intend that if it be so well rendred yet in this place it may have and likely hath a Tropical Signification by a very usual Synecdoche Partis pro toto by the Word Spirit intending his whofe Person now Dying he knew very well that his whole Person Body and Soul were to rise again upon the Sunday Morning after his Crucifixion which was finished upon the Friday in the Evening after Three of the Clock according to which we Read he was so raised on Sunday Morning at the very break of Day in his whole Person both Soul and Body the very same that Died was then Raised by Divine Power Whence I Collect our Lord recommended to his Father all that was after to be Raised viz. His whole Person Soul and Body signified and intended by the Word or Term of Spirit Mr. W. quotes further Acts 7.57 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which might well enough have been thus Translated Lord Jesus receive my Breath spent in the last moment of my life in maintaining the truth of thy Gospel Altho' I do not deny that our version by the Word Spirit is likewise a good Translation of the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but then I pretend it must be taken in the like Figurative Signification as it was intended before in our Lords Ejaculation Mr. W. says in both these places he takes the Word Spirit to signifie that Spirit fore-kind which God breathed into Man at first when he became a Living Soul or Person and so do I take it but our difference is about what sort that Spirit was which God breathed into Adam whereby he became a Living Person I pretend it to be no more than a moderate Portion of the Ambient Air which by facing the Blood and Humours then turgid and fitted for that Operation might kindle the Flame of Life amongst them and should after by Respiration keep the same in a glowing or flaming Condition or circulation so long as the life of the Person should endure but Mr. W. pretends That God breathed into Adam's Nostrils a Newly Created Entire Substantial Intelligent Spirit which had a Subsistence of its own before its being breathed into Adam's Nostrils and shall have a like Subsistence of its own again at or after the Dissolution or Death of the Person At the beginning of this Fourth Proposition he promised and I believe intended to prove the Seperate Subsistence of his sort of Soul He hath not yet to my understanding performed it but how well he hath aquitted himself of that Design or Intention by his Mediums of proving recited in this Proposition shall be left to the Judgment of our indifferent Readers P. 23 Mr. W. delivers his Fifth Proposition which is That the Souls of Men seperated from their Bodies by Death are in Joy or Misery And for the Proof of this Assertion he quotes two and but two Passages out of the Bible the first of which is our Lords Promise to the Thief upon the Cross That he should be with him that Day in Paradise Upon which he says neither Jesus nor the Thief were that Day in Body there therefore they must be there in Soul only Upon which I observe a disagreement in my Mind from that which he first affirms conceiving it probable That their Bodies and Souls might both be present in Paradise that Day but then I do not confine the Term of that Day to the signification of an Artificial or Natural Day the first continuing but during the Light of one Day and the other containing the space of Twenty four Hours only and no more Psal 95 8. David says To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your Hearts Heb. 3.13 Exhort one another daily while it is called to day And there quotes Davids To Day as if it intended the Forty Years Travel in the Wilderness Luke 19.42 Christ wept over Jerusalem and said If thou hadst known even thou at least in this thy day the things which belong unto thy peace And Peter says A thousand Years with God are but as one Day And the Prophets often denoted the space of a Year by one Day More like Testimonies might be Collected out of Scripture to prove that when God himself or by his Prophet speaks of a Day they do not tye up the Signification thereof to the precise time of an Artificial or Natural Day but do intend that within a competent short time such things shall come to pass and I do not pretend to prolong the Signification of our Lords to Day in Mr W.'s quoted Text beyond Sunday for they were Crucified upon Friday in the Evening and the one Died and the other might well enough rise up on Sunday Morning and that Morning our Lord appeared first to Mary Magdalene and John 20.17 In Discourse said unto her Touch me not for I am not yet ascended to my Father Vers 19. The same day at evening being the first day of the week came Jesus and stood in the midst of his Apostles and shewed them his hands and his side Luke 24.38 Says the Disciples were afraid of our Lord 's appearing And he said unto them Why are ye troubled and why do thoughts arise in your hearts Behold my hands and my feet that it is I my self handle me and see for a Spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have From these Relations I Collect That after our Lords appearing to Mary Magdalene he did Ascend to his Father and might then also go to that Paradise intended for the Thief and that in the Evening of that Day he appeared in the Assembly of his Disciples and said to them Handle me and see or perceive for a Spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye may feel me have Hence I infer That our Lord had been in Heaven or Paradise on the very Day of his Resurrection and after his return from thence offer'd himself to be handled and felt by his Disciples altho' before his Ascending thither he would not suffer Mary Magdalene to touch him And this I think proves our Lord to have been in Paradise in so short a time after his Promise to the Thief as might well be called to Day Concerning the Thief I observe That he Died likewise upon Friday Evening and that from thence to Sunday Morning his Body might remain apparent without liklihood of being tainted We read Matt. 27.52 The Graves were opened and many Bodies of Saints which slept arose and came out of the Graves after our Lords Resurrection and went into the holy City and appeared unto many Arguendo from these
Go thy way and as thou hast believed so be it done unto thee St. Luke relates it thus This Centurions servant was ready to die and when he heard of Jesus he sent unto him the Elders of the Jews beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant And they came to Jesus desiring him to do this Kindness for the Captain because he was a worthy Person and a Lover of the Jews and Jesus went with them towards the Captain's House and when he was not far from thence the Centurion sent Friends to him saying unto him Lord trouble not thy self for I am not worthy that thou should'st enter under my Roof wherefore neither thought I my self worthy to come unto thee but say in a word and my Servant shall be healed And Jesus thereupon turn'd him about and discours'd with those that followed him and they that were sent returning to the House found the Servant whole that had been sick Upon reading these two Relations I think it plainly appears That either this Centurion came Personally to our Lord to request his Servant's Cure or he did not come Personally to Christ for that purpose but sent the Elders of the Jews to request that favour upon his behalf Without that himself came either to Sight or Speech of our Lord upon that occasion I find no ground or reasonable guess which of our Texts deliver the absolute Truth in this Circumstance of the Fact which they relate but from this Variance and the other Instances before recounted I think it may reasonably be collected That Men are not bound to take and perhaps ought not to take every Saying or Sentence which they find written in the Scriptures to be an irrefragable Truth and the very Word of God And I am ready to apply this Tenet to the Sayings now in dispute with Mr. W. viz. Are not able to kill the Soul and have no more that they can do We find an apparent Variance between these Two Sayings and that the Words of St. Luke are adaequate and answerable to the Intent of our Lord's Doctrine in this place whereas those of St. Matthew have a double Aspect and look as it were two ways For one way it insinuates that Persecutors can do no more harm after they have killed Another way it seems next to an Assertion that Mens Souls live and subsist in a state of Seperation from their Bodies I do not by the Context or any other ways conceive that our Lord did speak or had any Intent to speak of the state of Men after Death in this Doctrine whence the Words Are not able to kill the Soul in that Prospect of intending to teach the state of Men after Death seems quite besides our Lord's Meaning in this Doctrine and if not quite out of it yet very plainly collateral to it And yet from this side-wind the Maintainers of Seperate Subsistence draw the strongest Proof which they can find for maintaining their Opinion of the Seperate Subsistence I think that upon perusal of this Argument it will appear the strength of this Proof is much weaken'd and abated and will be found to be of much less force than it seems to have at the first reading or hearing thereof and in this state of debilitation I leave it to prosecute my Observations upon Mr. W's Pages as I did before P. 64 Mr. W. pretends to take the disputed Words as Comments one upon another and says that by Construction they may be made to intend one thing And I am ready to grant that by Construction they may both of them be made to serve the Meaning of our Lord in this Doctrine but then in our Collateral Point which St. Luke doth not meddle with there is a very great Variance between these two Expressions for that the one proves strongly the Soul 's Seperate Subsistence and the other proves it not nor meddles with it at all Which proves that our Lord's Doctrine did not intend to speak of that Point in this place And therefore our Question thereupon is In what Words our Lord delivered this Doctrine And the Conclusion is That if he delivered this Doctrine in the Words of St. Matthew then they are a strong Proof of the Souls Seperate Subsistence but if his Doctrine were delivered in the Words of St. Luke then there is no Proof at all in it of the Souls Seperate Subsistence And I have before enough Argued on the side of St. Luke and for the Probability that his Text sets forth to us the very Words wherein our Lord delivered this Doctrine Mr. W. confesses That Luke expresseth less than Matthew but says He never meant less Which I think intends that the Meaning of Luke in his Text was That those who kill the Body are not able to kill the Soul Which Meaning doth not at all appear in the Words of Luke's Text which do not say so And how then Mr. W. should come to know that he meant so I do not understand and therefore I reject this Gloss upon that Text as Mr. W's own Invention or Fiction The Fifth Argument PAg. 65. Mr. W. raises an Argument for the Soul 's Seperate Subsistence from the Appearing of Moses and Elias and discoursing with our Lord upon Mount Tabor and says That Moses could not appear there in his Person Soul and Body because Deut. 34.6 says Moses died in the Land of Moab and He the Lord buried him in a Valley there over-against Beth-Peor but no man knoweth of his Sepulchre unto this day P 66. Mr. W. discoursing upon this Text says That Moses appearing at Mount Tabor must be either alive in Spirit only or else his Body was raised Adding I know that some conjecture that his Body was rais'd but they cannot prove that Conjecture from Texts of Scripture And therefore he thinks it more likely that Moses appeared in Spirit only intending I suppose in his Soul subsisting in a state of Seperation after Death Which I think to be no more than a Conjecture which he is not able to prove by Texts of Scripture any more than the former Conjecture can be so Proved And to these Two Conjectures I pretend to add a Third viz. That Moses may not have died in the Mount but might be translated or transported to Heaven in Person as Enoch and Elias had before been Which I offer to Prove by his Appearing with Elias at Mount Taber It seems they appeared both after a like manner and the one as much in Person as the other Mr. W. grants that Elias did appear in Person and Arguendo a simili it appears most likely that Moses did so too As to the Text which says Moses died and was buried I think fit to consider by whom this Book of Deuteronomy might be written and if the Promises thereof might be written by Moses or his Direction yet this closing Passage of it about his own Death and Burial it seems could not be so It appears not from whence the Opinion
writ this Epistle because the Apostle says there were things in Heaven reconciled by the Blood of the Cross But there are no such things in Heaven reconciled by the Blood of the Cross except they be the Souls of some Holy Men that went hence Then he expresses a Desire to know what Men can say to this Argument And therefore I say to it That by his own Expression it appears he says he knows not what for he says He knows not that there are any other things in Heaven which need Reconciliation to God by Christ except Men will take these things to be the Souls of departed Persons But if Men will not accept of this Meaning then he knows not what the Apostle can mean by things in Heaven reconciled to God by Christ Which intends no more than that he doth not otherways know what the Things in Heaven reconciled to God by Christ may mean Which I take for a Confession That he doth not know what Paul meant by these things in Heaven Secondly I conceive he doth not know that there are any Souls in Heaven because if he did he should be able to make such a Demonstration or Description of their Being and of their being there as other Men who are willing might be able to understand and conceive He hath taken Pains to write this Treatise and therein hath already produced Thirteen Arguments in Proof of this Tenet but very unsuccessfully as those who peruse these Observations will easily discover The Perusers of this Argument will I think easily find That Mr. W. must have Two Things granted him before he can pretend to prove any thing by this Argument First That there are no things in Heaven which need Reconciliation to God unless Men will admit that Humane Souls are there And therefore Secondly he would perswade Men to admit of his Position That there are Souls in Heaven But I think fit to reject both these Proposals and say First That there may be other Things in Heaven besides Souls which may need a Reconciliation to God by Christ And Secondly to conceive that possibly or even probably there are not nor ever were any Humane Souls in Heaven nor in any other Place in the World except in their own proper and peculiar Bodies Here Mr. W. puts another slight Objection against his own Opinion and answers it P. 102. Mr. W. demands If there be any things else in Heaven besides the Souls of Men which need a Reconciliation to God What are those things I Answer I do not know what those things are and alike Confession of his Ignorance concerning this Subject would better have become Mr. W. than his groundless Guesses at what is meant in this Text by St. Paul's Expression of Things in Heaven and the supplying his Ignorance therein by a bold but Erroneous Guess That by Things in Heaven St. Paul intended the Seperate Souls of Men of which the Text makes no mention at all and his Supposal that there were Seperate Souls hath no better Foundation than his own Supposal which hath very little Power to convince intelligent Persons That Humane Souls have any sort of Subsistence in a state of Seperation from the Body The Fourteenth Argument PAge 102. Heb. 12.23 We are come to the Spirits of just Men made perfect Mr. W. begins this Argument with somewhat a long Comparison between the Law and the Gospel which makes little to our Point and therefore I pass it over P. 104. Mr. W. says as he is very apt to do That the Souls or Spirits of Men are Immortal and therefore it is a very great Truth that they are Immortal And adds Those Souls which the Gospel reveals to be alive out af their Bodies are thereby proved to be Immortal but the Gospel reveals that the Souls of just Men are alive out of their Bodies therefore the Souls of Men are alive out of their Bodies therefore the Souls of Men are Immortal Mr. W. says The Gospel revealeth that the Spirits of just Men are alive out of their Bodies Because the Text says they were made perfect and there is no Perfection in Death P. 105. He says We have a Right to the Society of those Spirits of just Men mude perfect which we shall have in possession when we depart hence But I find neither such Words nor Things in his Text viz. That we shall come to that Society when we depart hence so as I must repute it his own Addition to the Words of the Text which doth not appoint the Time for our coming to that Society I find Mr. W. has only quoted so much of this Text as seemeth most to support his own Opinion and therefore I intend to quote it somewhat more largely Heb. 12.22 Ye are come unto Mount Sion and to the Heavenly Jerusalem or City of God to the Company of Angels to the general Assembly and Church of the first Born and to God the Judge of all and to the Spirits of just Men made perfect and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant Ver. 25. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh whose Voice at the giving of the Law shook the Earth but now he hath promised saying yet once more I shake not the Earth only but also Heaven and this signifies the removal of those things which are shaken and that we shall receive a Kingdom which cannot be removed The Words of our Text thus fully quoted do by no means import That Men or their Souls shall come to the enjoyment of those things at their Deaths as Mr. W. hath erroneously suggested but the words of the Text run in the present Tense Ye are come to the things which I here report to you viz. Ye are come to the City of the Living God the Heavenly Jerusalem to the Angels and to the general Assembly and Church of the First Born when not only the Earth shall be shaken but also Heaven and the things so shaken shall be removed I conceive that the Description here made doth very properly denote the Time of the Resurrection and the great Day of Judgment For at that time we are instructed by the Scripture to expect the things here mentioned God and Christ attended by the Angels and the Church of the First Born consisting of Just Men made perfect both in their Spirits and in their Bodies to the City of God or the New Jerusalem which St. John tells us Shall come down from God out of Heaven as a Bride adorned for her Husband at or after the time of the Resurrection after Heaven and Earth have been shaken and are removed This I conceive to be the Time pointed at in this Text and I think these Descriptions are not applicable to any other Time nor hath Mr. W. mentioned any other Time for their Accomplishment saving that at Mens Death and for which he hath no Warrant from any words of this Text and as to the words in present Ye are come to these Glories I think
they are most apt to intend A coming to them by Faith whilst we are in this World Such a Faith as is the Evidence of things not seen but we have direction to hold fast our Hope and Expectation of them until the End when we may look for a Crown or Crowns of Life to be then distributed to all who love our Lords Second Appearing And then only I conceive may we hope to be made Partakers of all that Company and Happiness which in this Text are particularly recited And from this Exposition the Conclusion will be easily drawn That Mr. W's Fourteenth Argument hath very little force to prove the Subsistence of Mens Souls in a State of Seperation from their Bodies The Fifteenth Argument PAge 108. Heb. 11.39 40. These having all obtained a good Report through Faith received not the Promise God having provided some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect Hereupon Mr. W. says This seems a very obscure Text especially applied as a Proof of the Souls Immortality To this I Agree and Prognosticate That the Proof which it makes of the Soul's Immortality will fall out accordingly viz. That it will be both very obscure and weak Mr. W. further says It is evident the Apostle here speaks of some special Promise that the Patriarchs had recâ—iv'd the fulfilling whereof they never lived to see and which was made to appear to the Church at or before the writing of this Epistle So he will have this Promise to import the Manifestation of the Son of God in the Flesh And he then puts the Question How can it be said that they who died in the Faith of this Promise are made perfect with the then present Church by the fulfilling that Promise in the Manifestation of the Son of God And thereto he Answers That Angels did desire to look into and be better inform'd in this Mystery until Christ came in the Flesh and proved himself by Miracles to be the Messiah and then their Knowledge thereof was perfected And he says The Case was the same with the Spirits of those deceased Patriarchs in Heaven That there were Spirits of the deceased Patriarchs in Heaven he ought first to have proved as the very Point which is now disputed between us that he here offers to suppose it as a Truth seems to be a clear begging of the Question which I must refuse to grant him and then this whole Argument becomes Abortive and can proceed no farther P. 112. Mr. W. says Till you that oppose can give me a better Interpretation of this obscure Text I will Conclude that the Interpretation or Opinion is false and mine is true I Answer That Mr. W. may conclude what he pleases from his unproved and only supposed Premises but that can be no Argument to others for their Agreement with his Supposals And therefore I am very apt to Conclude That there is neither Truth nor Force in this Argument The Sixteenth Argument PAge 112 1 Pet. 3.19 20. By which also he went and preached to the Spirits in Prison which sometime were disobedient in the Times of Noah Hereupon Mr. W. says He waves the Interpretation which the Papists make of this Text And gives you another of his own which agrees better with the Reformed Churches and then says These Spirits in Prison which Christ preached to must be taken to intend the Souls of wicked Men in Hell Which I may not suffer to pass for a Truth before he have proved Three other Points First That there are such Seperate Souls of Men in rerum natura Secondly That there is in Being such a Local Hell as he supposes the Devils and wicked Persons now to be in and that such a Place there was in the Time of Noah Thirdly That our Lord in the Time of Noah did go into the Local Hell and preach to the Spirits there imprisoned And when these Preliminaries are well proved by him I will better consider his Argument and give him a further Answer to it In the mean time I quote to him 2 Pet. 2.4 God cast the Angels that sinned down to Hell and delivered them into Chains of Darkness to be reserved into Judgment Jude 6. The wicked Angels God hath reserved in Chains of Darkness unto the Judgment of the Great Day I do not know any other Text of Scripture which speaks of Spirits in Prison but these Two which also tell us what these Spirits were and where their Prison was but takes no notice of any Souls that were there nor doth any other Text of Scripture make mention of any Seperate Souls being there The Parable of Dives speaks of his Soul being there but not in Soul only for there he is described as in his Person having Eyes Mouth Tongue and Hands for which Reason it must pass not for a History but for a Parable as it doth And the force of proving by it is now as before rejected I do not know why the Preaching here mentioned may not be intended to the lapsed Angels remaining under Chains of Darkness And however that may fall out I conceive it cannot be applied to the Seperate Souls of Men because I have not yet met with any sound and good Proof That such Souls ever did or can naturally subsist in a State of Seperation from their Bodies The Seventeenth Argument PAge 115. Rev. 6.9 c. I saw under the Altar the Souls of them that were slain for the Word of God and they cryed with a loud Voice saying How long O Lord Holy and True doest thou not avenge our Blood on them that dwell on the Earth And white Robes were given to every one of them and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season until their Fellow Servants also and Brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled Mr. W. says Learned Men do differ about this Altar some take it for the Altar of Incense and some for the Altar of Burnt-offerings which I take to be a Dispute de Lana Caprina .. And he confesses it makes not much to our Business whether the one or the other He says It is as clear That John saw the Souls of them that were slain And I think as clear That John did not see the things here mentioned but that they were represented to him in a Trance or Transport of his Mind and it would have made much to the ending of our Dispute if he had declared to us what manner of things those Souls were which he saw what were their Shapes their Substances and their ordinary Cloathing as well as the Place of their Abode P. 116. Mr. W. says That by the Souls under the Altar are intended the Martyrs dead Bodies And pretends in Scripture Souls are divers times taken for Dead Bodies which I see no Cause to agree with He himself thinks it very improper to present the slain with white Robes whilst under the Altar and therefore he
Body so as instead of those days of Darkness which Solomon mentions the Spirit or Principle of Life in Man enjoys a greater light activity and freedom than it had before the Death of that Party whom it formerly inliven'd and acted And this if it be true seems directly contrary to that which Solomon in this Text hath affirmed There are days of darkness and many of them says the Text of Solomon Mr. W. says That at the death of the party or soon after good mens souls enjoy much more light liberty and glory than every they had before so as they seem to say the souls of good men have no dark days at all and therefore men that are jovial and merry need have no regard to such days of Darkness as Solomon in this Text gives them warning of And yet such men do not use to deny that a Solemn and General Judgment shall appear after those many days of Darkness shall be consummate and finished and therein they agree with Solomons Opinion altho concerning his days of Darkness they seem very much to differ from him but if his Opinion may prevail in this Case it offers a strong Objection against the Souls Seperate Subsistence Thus far Objections have been drawn out of the Old Testament and we now proceed to draw like Objections from the New A Sixth Objection thence to be raised I take from John 14. 2 In my Fathers House are many Mansions I go to prepare a place for you and if I go to prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you again to my self that where I am there ye may be also Luke 21.26 The powers of Heaven shall be shaken and then shall they see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory and when these things begin to come to pass then look up and lift up your heads for your redemption draweth nigh viz. rewards for the Saints Col. 3.4 When Christ who is our life shall appear then shall ye appear with him also in glory 1 John 3 2. Beloved now are we the sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is The Apostle knew whilst in this life that we are the Sons of God but he did not know what we shall be after death nor was that likely to be known till Christs appearing at his Second Coming and then he knew that the Saints should be made like Christ and appear with him in glory as Paul hath above asserted 2 Tim. 4.7 Paul says I have finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but to them also that love his appearing The Crown it seems was laid up for him even whil'st he was alive but was not expected to be given him till the time of Christs second appearing and then it would also be given to all those who love and desire that appearing 1 Tim. 1.10 The Lord give mercy to the house of Onesiphorus the Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day He doth not pray that his Friend may find mercy at the time of his Death or at an Intermediate Judgment but at that great and last Day All these Texts have been quoted to give Evidence of the Time when Rewards and Punishments after Death are warrantably to be expected They all express the time thereof to be at our Lords Second Coming and the last Great Day of Judgment thereupon ensuing but make no mention of Recompences warrantably to be expected soon after the times of mens Death or in any Intermediate State between Death and the Resurrection Nor hath the Scripture that I find any mention in other places of Recompences to be distribuâ—ed in such an Inâ—ermediate State except in Parables and Trances only I have in this Objection repeated two Texts out of which Mr. W. made Objections singly against his own Opinion but I have linked them together and strengthened them with other Texts of Scripture of the like import quia vis unita fortior Concerning Mr. W's Texts I pretend here to examine the Answers which he hath singly given to each of them To the Text of our appearing with Christ in Glory he answers and grants That the appearance here spoken of intends that of the Last Judgment for till then the Saints cannot be said to appear in Glory with Christ and yet says he they may be in Glory with Christ tho' they do not appear in such Glory to Men. I reply That tho they do not appear in such Glory to Men yet if there be truly such a thing as he maintains they do appear in Glory before God and the Angels and Spirits of Just Men made perfect and therefore may truly be said to appear in Glory which St. Paul says they do not till Christs second Coming and appearing in Glory Mr. W. says His sort of Souls may appear in Heaven in Glory before that time but it lies upon him to make some proof that they do so which he neither offers nor I think is able to perform and therefore I think his Answer to this Text is of small weight The other Text to which he makes an Answer is that of Paul's expecting a Crown to be given him at that day or the time of the Last Judgment and he grants that the time intended by the word That Day is that of the Last Judgment and says thereupon What then It follows not thence that therefore there are not Souls in glory before that time for Kings may reign before they receive their Crown and Scepter and so shall we be Kings and Priests in our Souls unto God in the Heavens This Mr. W. pretends to say out of his own fruitful Invention without offering any Proof of our being Kings and Priests in Heaven to God in our bare and naked Souls only for neither any of our before quoted Texts do mention such things nor are they to be found in any other Text of Scripture whatsoever except the Vision appearing to St. John when he was intranced for the Parable of Dives makes no mention of being in Heaven or the Preferment of being Kings and Priests to God or in his presence and therefore I am ready to reject this device or fancy of Mr. W's brain and to conceive that all our quoted Texts are true according to the common sense of their words Mr. W. father says There are no words or syllables in this Text that deny intervening Rewards to the Saints before that day which it must have done before it could serve his Opposers purpose Thereunto replying I say there seems to be no need of such a Denial for that if God or Man promise to give Rewards or Punishments at an appointed time
there is no need to express they will not give such things at other times nor can there be a warrantable expectation of them at other times except such a thing be also expresly declared which is not done in this or these Texts or any other 〈◊〉 Texts of Scripture which I can find and therefore I think Mr. W's Answer to this Objection is clearly insufficient and as such I leave it and proceed further to object against Mr. W's Opinion from all the Texts last before quoted I say then that all these Texts concur strongly in their Evidence That the Resurrection and Last Judgment are the time when all men may warrantably and certainly expect to be rewarded or punished according to their Works and Actions in this World because that is evidently declared by a strong concurrence of Scripture Testimonies and because there is no other time plainly declared in any other Text of Scripture when men may warrantably expect such recompences after their Departures out of this World and thence I conceive the Texts before quoted are a strong Objection against the Expectation of Rewards or Punishments being given to the Souls of Dead Persons immediately after their Departures out of this World A Seventh Objection I make in the same manner that Mr. W. hath put his Seventh Objection against his own Doctrine Where he says If the Souls of Men past their Tryal as soon as they are dead what needs any other day of Judgment Will Christ try Men after Sentence To this Objection Mr. W. says I have proved already The Souls of Men cannot be kill'd and so cannot die and that the Souls of Men at death do return to the Lord and other things relating to its partial Judgment which it shall receive To this I reply His proof of the Souls not dying remains sub judice his Text that the Soul returns to God proves not its going before him for Judgment and for proof of his partial Judgment he hath produc'd no Text of Scripture at all nor do I think a Text that so proves can be quoted out of the Bible Mr. W. proceeding asks Who art thou that reasonest against God wilt thou teach God how he shall govern the World or what Judgments he shall use upon Men It is enough that God hath intimated his Will there shall be such Judgments and we are humbly to believe he hath reason for his so doing although our shallow brains cannot comprehend it To this I reply That I am ready to do as Mr. W. directs viz. That if God do declare to us his mind and intnet to have divers and different Trials and Judgments of Men I am ready to submit to the belief thereof altho I am not able to apprehend the congruity or reason thereof But Mr. W's Answer sets out no proof at all of Gods design or meaning to pass such several Trials and Judgments upon Men as he supposes nor doth his whole Book give us good proof thereof and himself doth not require men to believe that God proceeds in ways not congruous to the Reasons of Men except God doth somewhere declare that he doth or will do so Whereas Mr. W. hath no otherways proved Gods Will so to do then from his own Expositions Collections Inferences and Conclusions which all seem to be the proper fruits of his own Invention Upon which the Old Rule must take hold Posito quolibet sequitur quidlibet and so if we suffer him to lay the Cards he will always deal them to his own advantage but I have no inclination to bear with such dealing and therefore do reject his Answer to this Objection as infirm and insufficient Well but then says Mr. W. If this Answer will not satisfie you I doubt not but the righteous Judge will satisfie you of the reason of that Great Day notwithstanding particular judgments upon Men and the spirits of Men before that Day I find no manner of proving force in these words of Mr. W's they seem rather a Threat than a Proof and a product rather of his own Will than of his Knowledge or a reasonable Inference from any Text of Scripture Lastly he bids his Opposers be silent least God reprove them And having made this Reply to his Answer I am content to be silent and proceed no father thereupon but as to the Incongruity charg'd by the Objection upon Mr. W's Opinion I say that it seems very incongruous to my Reason that God should call Men to a Solemn Tryal at their Deaths and there pass Judgment and award Execution thereupon and after they have long continu'd in this condition then to call them to a new Tryal and give another Judgment upon them with a like award of Execution on as before this seems a very unlikely Proceeding of God towards Men and yet if Mr. W. or any of his Partakers have proved or can prove from any plain or clear Text or Texts of Scripture that God will use this Course of Proceeding amongst Men I am ready to submit my own reason and opinion thereunto but not to the many words or conjectures which Mr. W. farther offers in his Answer to this Objection We read Mat. 25. Our Lords Sentence at the Last Judgment runs thus Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels not saying Return ye blessed unto the happy Mansions of Heaven from whence ye came or Return ye cursed into those dark and dreadful Regions where ye were before but come ye and go ye to such Places and Regions as it seems probable they were not acquainted with before whence it seems inferrable that those Intermediate Tryals Judgments and Executions which Mr. W. maintains have something of the Chimerical and Imaginary without having that real truth in them which Mr. W. and his Party endeavour to maintain and the Objection before made against them seems strong enough to shake and oppose their Pretensions An Eighth Objection I raise from 1. Cor. 15.12 If Christ be Preached that he rose from the Dead how say some among you that there is no Resurrection of the Dead but if there be no Resurrection of the Dead then is Christ not risen and if Christ be not risen then is the Christian Religion both vain and false vers 18. and then they also which are faln asleep in Christ are perished vers 32. If after the manner of Men I have fought with Beasts at Ephesus what advantageth it me if the Dead rise not Let us eat and drink for too morrow we die Then the Apostle finds fault with Communications which call in Question the Belief of the Resurrection of the Dead vers 52. At the last Trump the Dead shall be raised Incorruptible and we who are then alive shall be changed and then shall Death be swallowed up in Victory vers 58. And therefore my beloved Brethren be ye
upon parting from their Bodies either return to God who gave them and are received into Heaven and Happiness or they shall be carried by Angels into Abraham's Bosom and there enjoy at least a blessed Rest from their Labours and all future Sufferings I doubt not but that the Divines of our time would readily have administred such Comforts as these to the Friends of dead People or even to the dying Persons themselves but in our quoted Text we find St. Paul did not so proceed with his Correspondents upon this like Occasion for the only Comfort which thereupon he propounds to them is drawn from the Doctrine of the Resurrection which in this Place he somewhat at large delivers as knowing that to be sufficient for Mens Comfort in such Cases without remembring or believing our late comfortable Doctrine or Opinion of the Souls going to Heaven immediately after Death and hereupon I conclude that this Doctrine was either not known to him or not believed by him and that therefore it is an Error and no certain Truth or the very Truth of God A Tenth Objection against Mr. W's Opinion I raise from the concurrent Testimonies of many Scripture Texts referring the expectation of future Rewards or Punishments looked for after this Life unto the time of the Resurrection of the Dead and the Last Judgment without finding and such Expectation at the time of Men's Deaths referred to or mention'd in any Text of Scripture In the Catalogue of Mr. W's own Objections he hath made this the Sixth and propounds it thus The Scriptures say my Opposers do frequently make mention of the Great and General Day of Judgment and refer all the Rewards of the Saints to that Day and so all the Punishments of the Wicked therefore the Souls of Men die with their Bodies as being uncapable of Rewards or Punishments till then To this Objection he answers concessively and says I do partly acknowledge the first part of what ye say that Scriptures do frequently make mention of that great Day and again that the greatest Rewards and Punishments are reserved to that Day but I deny the later part of what ye say because the Scripture speaks of the Spirits of just Men made perfect and of the Soul of the Thief being in Paradise that day he died and of the Spirit of every Man returning to God at Death to be dealt with according to what they did in the Body and this he says is enough to blunt the edge of his present Objection And hereunto I reply That what he hath said concerning the Spirits of just Men made perfect hath before been answered and so hath that of the Thief 's Soul being in Paradise that day and proved to be invalid Testimonies of the Souls Seperate Subsistence His Third Testimony of the Spirits returning to God seems to be mis-recited for the Text doth not say it returns to God to be dealt with according to what they did in the Body which Words he adjoins with as much Confidence to the Text as if they might be there found written and were part of the Text it self so as unwary and unexamining Readers might soon be mistaken thereupon In what manner and to what purpose Solomon might intend this return of Souls to God hath been before disputed and I still confide that Mr. W. and his Party will not be able to prove that these words of Solomon intended the Souls of dead Persons going before God to Judgment as here he hath without any hesitation deliver'd it And therefore I conclude that his Answer hath very little blunted the edge of our present Objection I observe it as an Art in Disputing that it may be advantageous to grant in an easie and transient fashion such Objections as Men find themselves utterly unable to answer and I think Mr. W. hath used this Art in transiently granting the first part of this Objection viz. That the Scriptures do frequently refer the expectation of Rewards or Punishments after this Life and unto the Resurrection and the Day of Judgment and whereas I have said before that there is no mention in Scripture of such Expectations at or soon after the time of Mens Deaths he gives us here three of the most pregnant Instances which he could find in Scripture for proving that Rewards and Punishments are bestowed by God at the time of Mens Deaths but the force of these Instances hath before been obstructed by those Answers which have been severally given them in their proper places I am not without some Temptation of drawing out of the Scripture a Catalogue of such Texts as do with great Evidence and Strength set forth and prove that the time of the Resurrection and the Day of Judgment are not alone the principal but the only times whereat or wherein Recompences future to this Life are warrantably and certainly to be expected by Mankind but because I have said much and quoted divers Texts of Scripture upon that Subject before and am now willing to save my self and my Reader the tedium of such a long Repetition I will refer the Examiners of this Objection unto those Texts which have before been quoted to that purpose and to such others as themselves may meet with upon the perusal of the Scripture And with this round number of Ten the Objections which I make against Mr. W's Opinion out of Scripture shall be finished Yet I farther intend to add thereunto two or three Objections against Mr. W's Opinion derived from Natural Reason and the Experiences of Men. And first I begin from the Nature and Composition of the Humane Person and thereupon I observe that there are three things principally and absolutely necessary for the Subsistence and Life of the Humane Person viz. Blood Breath and Nutriment and thereupon do agree with Moses that the Life the Animals is in the Blood or that the Blood is the Life thereof whose inflamed Particles are the Spirits which act the Person and as well the Head as the Members so long as Life continues in the Body Next to which the Breath hath a Principal and absolutely necessary Faculty and Power of fanning and inflaming such Particles of the Blood as are imployed in every part of the Body and for refrigerating the internal parts of the Body with a perpetual Refreshment which keeps the Paristaltick Motion always in action amongst the inward and most vital parts of the Body whence daily Experience assures us that by stopping of the Breath but for some few Moments the Spirit of Life in Man becomes absolutely suffocated and extinguished and without Breath no Humane Art or Power can prolong the Life of the Person or other Animal whatsoever Concerning Nutriment it is only so far necessary to the Life of the Creature as the Blood thereof wastes and is consumed by the Circular Continual Motion and the Inflammation thereof In some long continuing and weakening Diseases the Motion of the Blood hath been so weak and the Inflammation thereof
so faint as that in such Persons there need no Nutriment in a long time for restoring the waste of Blood in such Persons but in ordinary ways of living our Experience assures us that if the daily waste of Blood be not supplied by Nourishment sutable to the Consumption thereof the Person must diminish in his Strength and Vigor and finally perish and die for want of such sustenance as should restore the stock of the wasted Blood and furnish the several parts with such moisture and refreshment as thereunto shall be absolutely needful and required We find an Instance of this Condition in David's Acts when he came to Ziklag his Servants found an Egyptian in the Field starved and at the next Door to Death for he had neither eaten nor drink in three Days and Nights before but upon administring fresh Sustenance to his wasted Spirits they became restored in great measure to their former Activity which I conceive happen'd to him as it may do in the case of a Lamp whose Oyl is spent and exhausted the Light will first grow dim and be ready to fail and be extinguished but being refreshed by more Oyl administred to it it will soon recover the Flame and Light which it had before The Text says When this Man had eaten the Spirit came again to him In like manner it is related of Sampson his being ready to die for thirst but as soon as he had drank of the Water which issued from his Jaw-bone that Text says his Spirit came again and he revived I conceive those Places to be parallelled with that Text of 1 Kings 17.22 Where in raising the Widows Son Elijah prayed Lord let this Childs Soul come into him again and the Spirit of the Child came into him again and he revived I conceive that the coming again of these three Spirits as they are express'd in very like words so they were all of a like nature the Spirits of the two former were not quite extinguished as that of Elijah's Child was but upon the revival of them all it is said their Spirits came to them again which I think may signifie the rekindling or recontinuing of that Flame of Life in their Blood which we call the Vital Flame and whereby the Humane Machine or Microcosme is put in motion and acted so long as it pleases God to continue Life unto it in the Case of the Egyptian at Ziklag we may perceive that presently upon the coming of his Spirit to him again the Activity and Use of all his Sensations returned instantly to him so as he could not only move hear see c. but his Understanding and Memory became apt and ready for Service as before whence I think we may reasonably collect that the Original of Acting and Understanding may proceed from the Activity and Motion of the Blood and the inflamed particles thereof which together with Life and Motion produce the Sensations Affections Understandings and Memories of Men. And having thus propounded and in some measure proved that Blood Breath and Nutriment are all absolutely necessary for continuance of the Life of Man so as he cannot long abide in Life without the continual assistance of every one of them I pretend to apply them to those different sorts of Spirits about which we are now disputing and therein if we shall proceed and make application of them to the Extraneous telligent and Seperate Spirit which Mr. W. maintains to be the Spirit of Life in Man I think we must find that all these three Natural Incidents to the life of Man have no coherence at all with such a Spirit but are very incongruous with the Being and Nature of it because that forasmuch as we know concerning the nature of such a Spirit Nutriment seems not to be necessary for the Subsistence thereof and much less do Breath and Blood or the Spirits of it seem pertinent or appliable to the nature of such an Intelligent Spirit and therefore if such a Spirit were truly the Spirit of Life in Man the three materials before mentioned as natural and inseperable Incidents to the continuance of Man's Life should not be so absolutely necessary for that design as by daily Experience they are found to be but if we shall now turn to the other side and make Application to that Superfine yet Material and Unintelligent Spirit which before hath been described we must find that there will be a true and real necessity of the three before-named Natural Incidents for the Support Supply and Continuance of its Activity and of Life its self so as by this Hypothesis the Phaenomena of nature in Man are more clearly answered and may be better solved than can be done by applying these Natural Incidents to a Seperable Intelligent and Extraneous Spirit in Man and I therefore conclude it more probable that the Spirit of Life in Man is rather Material and Unintelligent than that it is an Intelligent and Seperable Spirit such as Mr. W. and his Partakers maintain the same to be A Second Objection from Nature against Mr. W's Opinion I raise from the further Consideration of the Humane Person and more particularly from the Bodily Organs thereof and say thereupon that God or Nature hath so framed and fitted every one of them as they are wonderfully apt for those Offices which they were intended to perform of which for Example we may name the Eyes and Tongue which are admirably framed and fitted for their several Offices so as the Spirit of Life is by means of these Instruments able to perform such Actions as Nature intended them for and yet the Perfection or Defects in those performances seem not so much to depend upon that Spirit which informs and acts them as upon the structure soundness and perfection of the Organs themselves Without such Organs the Man can neither see nor speak but when the Organs are sound and perfect the owner can use them as perfectly as any other can ordinarily do but if there be any Obstruction in the Optick Nerves or in those which act the Tongue the Spirit of Life in the Owner can act them no otherways than they are still capable of for the Tongue will lisp stammer stop struggle and blutter do the Man and his Spirit of Life what they can for the rectification of such Infirmities and so will the Eyes be purr-blind double or treble sighted weak dim and blindish do the Owner and his Spirit of Life what they can for the Recovery and rectifying of them so as the Spirit of Life can act the Organ to no higher a Degree of perfection than the soundness and rectitude of the Organ it self will bear nor act it in other manner than it is fit and capable at that time to be acted and I conceive that the principal perfection of the faculties of Secing and Speaking lies more in the sound State and activity of the Organ than in the power and energy of that Spirit which acts them and yet