Watts - BX5200 .W3 1813 v.7

SECTION V. 43 be a gradual advance of their happiness beyond what they enjoy- ed before in the separate state. Objection XI. Though man is often said to be a compound creature of soul and body, yet in scripture he is represented as one being : it is the man that is born, that lives, that dies, that sleeps or wakes, and that rises from the dead. This is evident in many places of scripture, where these things are spoken of; and it seems to be the law of our nature or being, that we should always act and live in such a state, as souls united to bodies, and never in a state of separation. Answer. Though there are several scriptures which repre- sent man as one being, viz. soul and body united, yet there are many other scriptures, which have been cited in the former parts of this essay, wherein the souls and the bodies of men are repre- sented as two very distinct things : The one goes to the grave at death, and the Other, either into Abraham's bosom, or to a place of torment ; either to dwell with God, to,be present with Christ the Lord, and to become one of the spirits of the just made per- fect, or to go to their own placé as Judas did. Now, those texts, where man is represented as one being, may be explained with very great ease, coasideriug man as made up of two distinct sub- stances, viz. body and spirit, united into one personal agent, as we have shewn before: But the several texts, where the soul and body are so strongly and plainly distinguished, as has been before represented, there is no possible way of representing these scriptures, but by supposing a separate state of existence for souls after the body is dead, which makes it necessary that this expo- sition should take place. Objection XII. How comes death to be called so often in scripture, a sleep, if the soul wakes all the while ? Answer. Why is the repose of the man every.night called sleep since the soul wakes, as appears by a thousand dreams? But as a sleeping man ceases to act in the businesses or affairs of this world, though the soul be not dead or unthinking ; so death is called sleep, because during that state, men are cut off from the businesses of this world, though the soul may think and act in another. Objection XIII. The scripture speaks often of the general judgment of mankind at the last great day of the resurrection, but it does not teach us the doctrine of a particular judgment which the soul is supposed to pass under when every single man dies; why then should we invent such a supposition, or believe such a doctrine, of a particular judgment in a separate state Answer. It is evident in many scriptures, as we have shewn before, that the souls of men after death, are represented as enjoying pleasure or punishment in the separate state. The soul of Lazarus in heaven, the soul of Dives in hell, the soul

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