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S$eT.

II.

PROOF

OF

A

KPARATE

STATE.

?99-

Paul

seems

here to

be

of

the

same mind,

by

his

doubt-

ing,

whether

his

spirit

was in

the body, or

out

of

the'

bedv,

while

it

was

rapt

into

the.

third

heaven, and

en-

joyed-this

vision, his

body being

yet

alive.

Phil:

i.

g1.

"

For

me

to

live is

Christ,'

and

to die

is

gain."

The

apostle, whilst

he was

here

upon

earth,

spent

his

life

in

the service

of

Christ,

and

enjoyed

many

glorious

communications from

him.

"

For

him

to

live

was

Christ."

And, on this

account,

he

was

contented

to

continue here

in life

longer:

yet

he

is

well

satisfied,

that

death

would

be

an advantage or gain

to him.

Now

we can

hardly

suppose, what gain

it

would

be

for

St.

Paul

to

die,

if

his soul

immediately went to

sleep,

and

became unactive

and

unconscious,

while

his.

body

lay

in

the

grave,

and

neither

soul

nor

body

could

da

any

ser-

vice

for Christ, or receive any

communications

from him

till

the

great

rising

-day.

This

text

seems

to carry

the

argument

above

a mere probability.

1

Thess.

iv. 14.

"

For if

we

believe,

that

Jesus

died,

and

rose again,

even

so

them

also,

which sleep

in

Jesus,

will

God

bring with him."

The

most

natural

and evident

sense

of

these words,

is

this,

that

when

the man

Jesus

Christ,

in whom dwells

the fulness

of

the

godhead, shall

descend

from

heaven,

in order

to raise the

dead bodies

of

those

that

died,

or went

to sleep

in

the faith of

Christ,

God

dwelling in

him

will

bring with

him

the

souls

of

his

saints,

who

were

in

paradise, down

to

earth,

to be

re

united

to

their

bodies, when

Jesus

raises them

from the

But

if

we

enter

into

a

philosophical consideration

of things,

we

shoulü

resnernber,

that

animals

of

every

kind,

in

earth,

air, and

sea',

and even

the

minutest

insects

which swarm

in

millions, and worlds

of them,

which are invisible

to

the

naked eye, have

all an

animal life, but

no

such

conscious or

thili

ing

principle

as

is in

man:

And

why may not

the body

of man

hive the same

sort of animal life

quite

distinct

from

the

conscious

spirit?

Besides,

if this

conscious

principle

give life

to.

the body,

medicines

and

physicians, whose power reaches only

to

rectify the disordered

solid's

or fluids of

the body,

would not be

so

necessary to preserve life,

as

an

orator

to

persuadethe

spirát

to.

continuein- the

body,

and

to preserve its

life. And,

accordingly,

we

read

of foreign ignorant,nations, where

the

kindred persuade the

dying,

person. to

lave,

and

tarry

with them, and not

to

forsake

them

;

and,

when

the

person

is

dead,_

they

mourn and

reprove

him,

"

why

were you

so

unkind

to

leave and

forsake

us

?"

And

indeed

this conduct of those poor savages

is

a

very natural inference

from

their

sup.position:of

the

intelligent spirit giving animal

life

to

the body.

VOL.

II.

ti