313 / 674
WNW
SECT. 'IIL1
PROOF
OF
A
SEPARATE STATE.
293
also died,
and
was
buried, and
in
hell
he
lift up
his eyes,
being
in
torments,
and
said,
father Abraham, have
mercy
on me,
and
send
Lazarus
to
my
father's house,
that
he may
testify'
to my brethren,
lest
they come
also
into
this
place
of
torment."
I
grant,
that
this
account
of
the rich
man and
the
beggar,
is
but a parable, and
yet it
may
prove the existence
of
the rich.ánan's soul,
in
a place
of torment, before the
resurrection
of the
body.
]. Because
the
existence
of
souls,
in.
a
separate state,
whilst
other
men
dwell
here
on
earth,
is
the
very
founda-
tion
of
the
whole
par
able,
and
runs through the
whole
of
it.
The
poor
man died, and
his
soul
was
in
paradise.
The
rich
man's
dead body
was
buried,
.
and
his
soïl
wag
in
hell,
while his
five
brethren
were
here
on earth, in
a
state
of
probation, and
would
not
hearken
to
Moses
and
the prophets.
Q.
Because the very
design
of
the
parable
is
to
shew,
that
a ghost sent
from the
other
world,
whether heaven
or
hell,
to wicked
men, who
are
here
in
a state
of
trial,
will
not
be sufficient to
convert
them
to
holiness,
if
they
reject
the
means
of
grace,
and
the
ministers
of
the
word,.
The
very design
of
our
Saviour
seems to be lost,
if
there
be
no souls
existing
in
a
separate
state.
A ghost,
sent
from
the other
world, could
never be supposed
to have
any
influence to
convert sinners
in this world,
even
in
a
parable,
if
there
were no such things as ghosts
there.
The
rich man's
five
brethren could
have no
motive to
hearken
to
a
ghost,
pretending
to come from
heaven or
bell,
if
there
were nò
such things
as ghosts,
or separate
souls,
either happy
or miserable.
Now, surely,
if
pares=
ides can prove any
thing
at
all, they
must
prove these
propositions,
which
are both the foundation,
and
tilt
de-
sign
of
the whole
parable.
3.
I
might add yet
further,
that it
is
very strange,
that
our
Saviour
should
so
particularly speak
of
angels
carry-
ing
the soul
of
a man, whose body was
just
dead,
into
-heaven,
or paradise, which
he calls
Abrahams bosom;
if
there
were no
such
state, or
place,
as
a
heaven for
separate souls;
if
Abraham's
soul
had no residence
there,
no
existence
in
that state; if
angels had never any
thing
to
do
in such
an
office.
What
would
the Jews
have said,
or
thought
of
a
prophet
come from
God,
who
had
taught