,PREFACE. demand and require. And may our blessed Redeemer, who reigns Lord of the invisible world, pronounce these words with a divine power, to the heart of every man, who shall either read, or hear them. If this volume shall findany considerable acceptance among christians, there are several more discourses, on the same themes, lying by me, which may, in time, be communicated to the world. The treatise, which is set as' an introduction to this book, was printed several years ago, 'without the author's name, and therein a short preface, represented to the reader these few reasons of its writing and publication, viz. The principles of atheism and infidelity have prevailed so far upon our age, as to break in upon the sacred fences of virtue and piety, and to de- stroy the noblest and most effectual springs of true and vital religion; I mean those, which are contained in the blessed gospel. The doctrine of the resurrection of the body, and the consequent states of heaven and hell, is a guard and motive of divine force; but it is renounced by the enemies of our holy christianity: And shouldwe give up the recompences of separate souls, while the deist denies the resurrection of the body, I fear, between both, we should sadly enfeeble, and expose the cause of virtue, and leave it too naked and defenceless. The christianwouldhave but one persuasive of this kind remaining, and the deist would have none at all. It is necessary, therefore, tobe upon our guard, and toestablish every motive, that we can derive, either from reason or scripture, to secure re- ligion in the world. The doctrine of the state of separate spirits, and the commencement of rewards and punishments immediately after death, is one of those sacred fences of virtue, whichwe borrow from scripture, and it is highly favoured by reason, and therefore it may not be unseasonable to publish such arguments, as may tend to the support of it. In this second editionof this small treatise, 1 have added several para- graphs and pages, to defend the same doctrine, and the last section con- tains an answer to various new objections, which I had not met with when I first began to write on this subject. I hope it is set upon such a firm foundation of many scriptures, as cannot possibly be overturned, nor do I think it a very easymatter any way to evade the force of them. May the grace of God 'lead us on further into every truth, that tends to main- tain and propagate faith and holiness. Amen. Note, Where these discourses shall be used, as a religious service, in private families on Lord's-day evenings, each of themwill afford a division near the middle, lest the service be made too long and tiresome. 1739. T3
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