66 S E R MO N S upon the Serm. XI his Table with unmixed delights. In how much better Condition are we than drfam? Adam was in Paradice, we in Heaven : Adam was there among the Beafis of the Earth, we with God and his holy Angels: Adam wits thrown out of Paradice, we never out of Heaven. 'Fis no matter if the World leave us not a Room to live in among them, they raft us out many times, but Chrift will take us to himfelf. Again ifthis pretence of Chrift be no fmall part of our Happinefs, let us more delight in it. We injoy his .prefencein the Ordinances; this is to begin Heaven upon Earth. Therefore let us begin our familiarity here. a.. Do& That we are prefently with the Lord asfoon as the Saul. litteth out of the Body. This is one of the plaineft Texts to prove,That feparated Souls, as foon as they are out Of the Body, do injoy Blifs and Glory. There are a fort of men in the World who are fo drowned in fenfe, that they cannot believe things to come, either queftioning the Immor- tality of the Soul ; or elle, which is a ftep to ir, affertingthe fleep of it. And all becaufe they fo fancy it to be tyed tò the Body; as that it cannot exercife its fundions; and operations without it. Thofe that deny the being of the Soul,or the abiding of it,after the Body is diffolved,I !hall not handle that now.But to thofe that grant the abiding of theSoul, but in a deep fleep,without any fenfe and feeling of good or evil, I mull Phew the falfhood of this opinion, or elfe all that Jihad fay will be to no purpofe. Therefore I (hall handle thefe three things. r. That the Soul ù diflintlfromthe Body. 2.. That the Soulcan live andexercife its operations apart from the Body. 3. That the Souls of the Saints alfuallydo fo. r. That ,the Soul it diflinfl from the Body and is not meerly the vigour of the Blood, appearerh by Scripture,Reafonand Experience.! n Scripture we read,that`when mans Body was organized and framed, God breathed into him the Spirit of Life, Gen. z. 7. The Life of man is a diftin& thing from this mafs of flefh, that is proportioned into hands, and feet, head and belly, armsand leggs, bìnes and finews. And this life of man, what ever it be,'tis fuch a life as implieth Reafon, and a faculty of underftanding andwilling or oppofng. In him was life,and that life was the light ofinen, Sohn. 1, 4. It doth not only enliven this flefh, but difcourfe and choòfe things at its own pleafure. A life that hath light in it. 'Tis diftinét from the Body in its Nature, being a Subftance Immaterial, and not capable of being divided into parts, as the Body is,for'tis a Spirit not created of mat - ter,as the Body was. The Body was formed out of the duff of the ground, and therefore it can be refolved into its original, but the Spirit was Immediately Created by God out of nothing. Therefore the Scripture faith, Brel. s z. 7. ThenJhall.the duff return to the Earth as it was, and the Spirit !hall return unto God who gave it. .Where the Body is duft in its Compoltion, it Iliad be duft in its pifiolutien. There is defcribed the firft and laft Condition of the Body, in regard of its material caufe, and the Soul is defcribed in the kind of its being. 'Tis a Spirit, or an Immaterial fubflance, its Author, God gave it, he framed the Body too, but not fo immediately in ordinary generation. And our natural Fathers are diftinguiíhed from the Father of our Spirits, Heb. iz. 9. And by its difpofal when the Body returneth to duft, the Soul returneth'to God that gave it. When the mate- rial and paffive part is feparated from that inward and a &ive principle of its motions, the Scripture telleth you what becometh of the one and the other. The material part is refolved to duft again, but the Spirit returneth to God. So the Saints refign ú, Ads 7. 59. tlnd they fioned Stephen, calling upon God,and /crying, Lord 7efits, receive my Spirit. z. 'Tzs lifting in its fupports. The Body is fupported by outward means, and the help of the Creature, but the Soul is fupported without means, by the Immediate Hand and Power of God himfelf. The Body is patched up with daily fùpplies from without. As it wasmade out of the Earth, fo is its food brought out of the Earth, Pfa. 104. a4. And itsclothing too ; but the Soul needeth not theft things. 3. 'Ts du/inll in its operations. There are certain operations of the Soul, wholly inde- pendant on the matter,as underfanding and willing,for they agree toGod andAngels,who have no Bodies ; and there is no proper Inftrument in the Body, by which they lhould be exercifed,as fight by the Eye, hearing by the Ear, nay it underftands, not only corpo- real things,which are received by the miniftry of the fenfes, but Spiritual things, as God and Angels, who have no Bodies. And it can relle& upon its felf ; therefore it bath ope- rationsproper and peculiar to its felf, So that it doth not depend on the Body. 4. 'Tis
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