68 S E R M O N S upon the Senn. Xi. eftate it injoyed in this liFe,yea though you take in the end and ufe of life,yet his being with Chrift,upon his difolution,was more eligible and to be preferred before it. Is it not better(you will fay) to remain.here,and fervi,God, than to depart hence? It were fo if the Soul were in a fiate wherein we neither know nor love Chrift ; what profit would it be to be with the Lord,and not injoy his company. Prefent knowledge,fervices, tarts, expe. riences, are better than a ftupid Lethargy,and fleepy eftate,without all underftanding and will 'Tis better to a gracious man to wake -than to fleep, to be hard at work for God, than to be idle and do nothing, to ufe our powers and faculties than to lye in a fenfele(s Condition;'twould be far worfe with Paul to have his Body rotting in the grave, and his Soul without all fruition of God,if this were true. What is that preponderating happinefs 'which fhoiild fway his Choice ? Is it to be eafed of prefent labours and fuferings ? Gods people,who have totally refignedthemfelves to God,are wont to prefer & value their pre- Pent fervice and injoyment of God, though accompanyed withgreat labours and fufer- ings, before their own cafe. Surely .Paul would never bein a ftreight, ifhe were to be re- duced upon his diffolution into a Condition of ftupid fleep, without any capacity of glori- fying or injoying God. The moil afflidedCondition with Gods prefenceis fweeter to his people than the greateft Contentments with his abfence; if thou art not with us,carry us not hence.Better tarry with God in theWildernefs than live in Canaan without him;fure- ly it were abfurd to long for a diffolution ofthat dilate where we feel the love of God and Chrift in our Souls,which is unfpeakable and glorious, for a Condition wherein there is no tart nor fenfe. 3. The next place is, r Pet .3 ay!, By which alfo he went and preached unto the Spirits in prifon, which fometimes were difobedient, when ono the long fuffering of God waited in the days of Noah. There are many Souls of Men and Women who once flighted the Lords grace, and are now in hell as in a prifon. Their Souls do not go to nothing,nor dye as their bodies,but afoon as they are feparated from the Body,go to their place and ftateof torment Év cpuAuq, The plate of their everlafting Imprifonment. So Luke 16. z ;, 24. And in Hell he lift up bis eyes being in torment,and feeth Abraham afar off; andLazarus in his bofom. God is not more prone to punifh than to reward ; if the wicked be in their final Efate afoon as they dye, the Saints are in their happinefs prefent- ly upon their diffolution. On the other fide Heb. rz. zz. The Spirits ofjuft men made per. fell. The Souls ofmen unclothed and divefted of their bodys too,thefe come. How could thefe things be faid,if they did lye only in a dull fleep without any life,fight, joy, or any ad of love to God. Prefent fleepp'cis a burden to the Saints,as 'cis an Interruption to their Service,though a necefaryrefrefhment to their Bodys. 4. That Argument alto proves it, Col. 1. zo. That Chriji by thebloud'of his Crofs Koh reconciled all things to God, both in Heaven and in earth. He meaneth the univerfality of the Eled,whether already Glorifyed, or yet upon the Earth; it cannot be faid of the Eleft Angels, who never finned, and therefore were neverreconciled : Se nunquam cum matte in graham rediif/e,FSc.But only confirmed in grace,and put beyond all reach and pofibility of finning;and fo the things in Heaven which are reconciled are the Souls of the Godly,who departed in the Faith. q. That place alto proveth it, Luke vo. 37 , 38. Now that the deadare raiftd even Mo- fes(hewed at the'Bufh,wben he called the Lord the Godof Abraham, and the God of Ifaac, and the God of Jacob, For yé is not a God of the dead, but of. the living; for all live to him. The Sadduces denyed the/Immortality tithe Soul as well as theRefurrefion of the body,and fay, that there was no flare of life after this; Chrift difproveth both by a Notable Argu- ment: I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Ifaac, and the God of Jacob. For he is, not the God of the dead, but of the living, for they all live to him.' The words were fpo- ken by Mofes after their deceafing, not I was, but I am the God of Abraham, God laid af- ter their deceafe,that he was frill their God : And therefore thofe that are departed out of the World live another life. The Souls of the juft are already in the hands of God, and their Bodys are Pure to be railed up and united to them by thepower of God. 6. My next place (hall be, Luke 16. 9. And Ifay unto you, make to your felves friends of the unrighteous Mammon, that when. ye fail they may receive you into ever- lolling habitations. What is that time of failing ? 'Tis not meant of condemnation in the Judgment, for there is no efcaping or reverfing'thatfentence : therefore 'tis meant of the hour of death; then are we received into everlafting habitations, and ourEverla4inglia- bitation is Heaven, 7. And laftly from Luke 26.22. And it came to paf: that the Beggar dyed, and was earryed by the Angels into Abrahams bofom, By the Bofom of,Abrahamis meant Heaven, and
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