24 THE PROOF Of A SEPARATE STATE. I would only ask any reasonable man to determine, whether when St. Paul speaks of his being with Christ after his depar- tore from the flesh, he can suppose, that the apostle did not ex- pect to see Christ till the resurrection, which he knew would be a considerable distance of time, though perhaps it has proved many hundred years longer then the apostle himself expected it No ; it is evident, he hoped to be present . with the Lord immediately, as soon as he was absent from the body : otherwise, as 1 have hinted before, death to him would have been but of little gain, if he must have lain sleeping till the dead shall rise, and have been cut off from his delightful service for Christ in the gospel, and all the blessed communications of his grace. The objection, which may arise here also, from supposing this to be a peculiar favour granted to the apostles, is answered just before. VII. Heb. xii. 22 -24. Ye are come to the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly, and Church of the first -born, which are written, or 'registered in heaven to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, that is the gospel, or the christian state, brings good men into a nearer union and communion with the heavenly world, and the inhabitants thereof, than the Jewish state could do : Now the inhabitants of this upper word, this heavenly Jerusalem, are here reckoned up, God, as the prime Lord or head ; Jesus the mediator, as the King of his church ; the innumerable company of angels, as ministers of his kingdom ; the general assembly of Cod's favourites, or children, who are called the first -born, perr haps, this may refer, in general, to all the saints of all ages past, and to come, whose names are written in the book of life in heaven ; and particulary, to the separate spirits of just men, who are departed from this world, and are made perfect in the hea- venly state. The criticisms, that are used to put other senses upon these words, seem to carry them away so far from their more plain and obvious meaning, that I can hardly think they are the meaning of the apostle ; for it would be of very little use for a common christian, to read these verses of divine con- solation and grace, if he could take no comfort from them till he had learned those critical and distant expositions of such plain language. It has been indeed objected, against the plain sense of this text, that the spirits of the just, or good men, are not yet made perfect in heaven, because the same apostle ; Heb. xi. 30, 40. says, These all, that is, the saints of the Old Testament, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promises, God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us, should not be made perfect. Now these had been. dead for many generations, yet they received not the promises, nor were made perfect. Thus saith the objection.
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