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Tí3 ß WORKS OF THE REV. ISAAC WATTS, D.D. IN NINE VOLUMES. VOL. VII. CONTAINING THE WORLD TO COME ; LOGIC ; AND A DISCOURSE ON THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN AND YOUTH. .-.aii° ve.mm°a a+ LONDON : PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME AND IROWN, PATERNOSTER- ROW ; RAINES, ROBINSON AND SON, HARDCASTLE, AND HEATON, LEEDS: By Edward Baines, Leeds. 1813.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME VII. THE WORLD TO COME,, The Proof of a Separate State, ... 5 The End of Time, ... 46 The Watchful Christian Dying in Peace, 63 Surprize in Death, . 81 Christ Admired and Glorified in his Saints, 98 The Wrath of the Lamb, 1 IS The vain Refuge of Sinners, 128 no Night in Heaven, 141 A Soul prepared for Heaven, 156 No Pain among the Blessed, ... 179 Foretastes of Heaven, ... 208 Safety in the Grave, 227 A Funeral Oration, ... 245 The Nature of the Punishments in Hell, 217 The eternal Duration of the Punishment, in Hell, 275 LOGIC. PART I. OP PERCEPTION AND IDEAS. CHAPTER I. Of the Nature of Ideas 316 II. Of the Objects of Preception, 317 III. Of the several Sorts of Perception or Ideas, 328 IV. Of Words and their several Divisions, &c. ... ... 339 V. General Directions relating to our Ideas, ... 354 VI. Special Rules to direct our Conceptions of Things, ... 351 PART 71. 00 JUDGMENT AND PROPOSITION. CHAPTER I. Of the Nature of a Proposition, ... 395 II. Of the various Kin& of Proposition, 397 III. Of the Springs of false Judgment, or the Doctrine of PAGE; 420 IV. General Directions to assist me in Judging aright, ... 447 V. Special Rules to direct us in Judging of particular Objects, 453 PART III. OF REASONING AND SYLLOGISM. CHAPTER I. Of the Nature of a Syllogism and the Parts of which it is Composed. 473 IL Of the various Kinds of Syllogisms, with particular Rules relating thereto, 478
CONTENTS. PAGE. III. The Doctrine of Sophisms ... ... ... IV. Some general Rules to direct our Reasoning ... 502 ... 405 PART IV. OF DISPOSITION AND METHOD. Cuomo I. Of the Nature of Method Natural and Arbitrary, Syn- thetic and Analogical .. ... ... 510 II. Rules of Method, general and particular ... ... 516 ON THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN AND YOUTH. Introduction ... ... ... ... ... ... 529 SECTION i. Of Instructing Children in Religion ... ... 531 II. Exercise and Improvement of their Natural Powers 533 III. Self- Government, ... ... ... ... 539 IV. Arts of Reading and Writing ... ... ... 544 V. Of a Trade or Employment ... ... ... ... 546 VI. Rules of Prudence . ... ... ... ... 549 VII. The Ornaments and Accomplishments of Life ... 551 VIII. A Guard against Evil Iolluence from Persons and Things ... ... ... ... ... ... 556 IX. A Guard set on the Sports and Diversions of Children 560 X. Of the Proper Degrees of Liberty and Restraint in the Education of aSon, illustrated by Example ... 573 XI. Education of a Daughter .. ... ... ... 5Y4
THE WORLD TO COME ; OR DI SCOURS_E.S ON THE JOYS OR SORROWS OP DEPARTED SOULS AT DEATH, AND THE GLORY OR TERROR OF THE RESURRECTION WHERETO IS PREFIXED, .4.7V ESSAY TOWARD THE PROOF OF R SEPARATE STATE OF SOULS AFTER DE4TH, VOL. YIT. A
PREFACE Tö "THE WORLD TO COME." AMONG all the solemn and important things, which relate to religion, there is nothing that strikes the soul of man, with so much awe and solem- nity, as the scenes of death, and the dreadful or delightful consequents, which attend it. Who can think of entering into that unknown region, where spirits dwell, without thestrongest impressions upon the mind arising from so strange a manner of existence t Who can take a survey of the resurrection of millions of the dead, and of the tribunal of Christ, whence men and an- gels must receive their doom, without the most painful solicitude, " What will my sentence be ?" Who can meditate on the intense and unmingled plea- sure or pain in the world to come, without the most pathetic emotions ofsoul, since each of us must be determined to one of these states, and they are both of everlasting duration ?. These are thethings, that touch the springs of every passion, in the most sensible manner, and raise our hopes and our fears to their supreme exercise. These are the subjects, with which, our blessed Saviour and his apostles fre. quently entertained their hearers, in order to persuade them to hearken, and attend to the divine lessons, which they published amongst them. These were some of thesharpest weapons of their holy warfare, which entered into the inmost vitals of mankind, and pierced their consciences with the highest solicitude. These have been the happy means to awaken thousands of sin- ners, to flee from the wrath to come; and to allure and hasten them to eater into that glorious refuge, that is set before them in the gospel. It is for the same reason,- that I have selected a few discourses, on these arguments, out of my public ministry, to set them before the eyes of the world in a more public manner, that if possible, some thoughtless creatures might be rouzed out of their sinful slumbers, and might awake into a spiritual and eternal life, through the concurring influences of the blessed Spirit. I am not willing to disappoint my readers, and therefore I would let them know before-hand, that they will find very little, in this book, to gratify their curiosity about the many questions relating to the invisible world, and the things, which God has not plainly revealed: Something of this kind, per- haps, may be found in " Two Discourses of Death and Heaven," which 1 , published long ago : But, in the present discourses, I have very much neg- lected such curious enquiries. Nor will the ear, that has an itch for contro- versy, be much entertained here, for I have avoided matters of doubtful de- bate. Nor need the most zealous man of orthodoxy, fear to be led astray into new and dangerous sentiments, if he will but take the plainest and most evi dent dictates of scripture for his direction into all truth. My only design has been, to set the great ant'e most momentous things of a future world, in the most convincing and affecting light, and to enforce them upon the conscience with all the fervour, that such subjects demand and require. And may our blessed Redeemer, who reigns Lord of the invisible A2
4 PREFACE. world, pronounce these wordswith a divine power, to the heart of every man, . who shall either read, or hear them. If this volume shall find any 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 there in 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 destroy 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 chris- tianity : 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 christian would have but one persuasive of this kind re- maiuing, and the deist would have none at all. It is necessary, therefore, to be upon our guard, and to establish every motive, that we can derive, either from reason or scripture, to secure religion in the world. The doctrine of the state of separate spirits, and the com- mencement of rewards and punishment immediately after death, is one of those sacred fences of virtue, which we borrow from scripture, and it is highly favoured by reason, and therefore it may not be unseasonable to pub- lish sucharguments as may tend to the support of it. In this second edition of this small treatise, I have added several para- graphs and pages, to defend the same doctrine, and the last section contains 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 easy matter any way to evade the force of them. May the grace of God lead us on further into every truth, that tends to maintain 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 them will afford a divisioe near the middle, lest the service bemade too long and tiresome. 1739.
THE WORLD TO COME; OR Discourses on the Joys or Sorrows of departed Souls at Death, AND TH6 GLORY OR TERROR OF THE RESURRECTION. AN ESSAY Toward a Proof of a Separate State of Souls between Death and the Resurrection, AND T COMMENCEMENT OF THE REWARDS OF VIRTUE AND VIÇE IMMEDIATELY AFTER DEATH. SECTION I. The Introduction, or Proposal of the Question, with a Distinction of the Persons who oppose it. IT is confessed, that the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, at the last day, and the everlasting joys, and the eternal sorrows, that shall succeed it, as they are described in the New Testament, are a very awful sanction to the gospel of Christ, and carry in them such principles of hope and terror, as should effectually discourage vice and irreligion, and become a powerful attractive to the practice of faith, andlove, and universal holiness. But so corrupt and perverse are the inclinations of men, in this fallen and degenerate world, and their passions are so much impressed and moved, by things that are present, or just at hand, that the joys of heaven, and the sorrows of hell, when set far beyond death and the grave, at some vast and unknown distance of time, would have but too little influence on their hearts and lives. And though these solemn and important events are never so certain in themselves, yet being looked upon as things a great way off make too feeble an impression on the conscience, and their distance is much abused to give an indulgence to present sensualities. For this we have the testimony of our blessed Sa- viour himself ; Mat. xxiv. 4B. The evil servant says, my Lord delays his coming ; then he begins to smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken: And Solomon teaches us the same truth ; Eccles. viii. 11. £ecause sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily ; therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in then to dó evil. And even the good ser- vants, in this imperfect state, the sons of virtue and piety, may A 3
THE PROOF OF A SEFARATE STATE. be too much allured to indulge sinful negligence, and yield to temptations too easily, when the terrors of another world are set so far off, and their hope of happiness is delayed so long. It is granted, indeed, that this sort of reasoning is very unjust ; but so foolish are our natures, that we are too ready to take up with it, and to grow more remiss in the cause of religion. Whereas, if it can be made to appear, from the word of God, that, at the moment of death, the soul enters into an un- changeable state, according to its character and conduct here on earth, and that the recompences of vice and virtue are, in some measure, to begin immediately upon the end of our state of trial ; and if, besides all this, there be a glorious and a dreadful resurrection to be expected, with eternal pain or eternal pleasure, both for soul and body, and that in a more intense degree, when the theatre of this world is shut up, and Christ Jesus appears to pronounce his public judgment on the world, then all those little subterfuges are precluded, which mankind would form to them- selves, from the unknown distance of the day of recommence : Virtue will have a nearer and strongerguard placed about it, and piety will be attended with superior motives, if its initial re- wards are near at hand, and shall commence as soon as this life expires ; and the vicious and profane will be more effectually affrighted, if the hour of death must immediately consign them to a state of perpetual sorrows, and bitter anguish of conscience, without hope, and with a fearful expectation of yet greater sor- rows and anguish. I know what the opposers of the separate state reply here, viz, that the whole time from death, to the resurrection, is but as the sleep of a night, and the dead shall awake out of their graves, utterly ignorant and insensible of the long distance of time that bath past since their death. One year; or one thou- sand years, will be the same thing to them ; and therefore they should be as careful to prepare for the day of judgment, and the rewards that attend it, as they are for their entrance into the separate state at death, if there were any such state to receive them. I grant, men should be so in reason and justice : But such is the weakness and folly of our natures, that men will not be so much influenced, nor alarmed by distant prospects, nor so solicit- ous to prepare for an event, which they suppose to be so very far off, as they would for the same event, if it commences as soon as ever this mortal life expires. The vicious man will indulge his sensualities, and lie down to sleep in death with this comfort, " I shall take my rest here for a hundred, or a thousand years, and, perhaps, in all that space my offences may be forgotten, or some- thing may happen that I may escape ; or, let the worst come that can come, I shall have a long sweet nap before my sorrows
SECTION L i, begin;" Thus the force of divine terrors are greatly enervated by this, delay of punishment. I will not undertake to determine, when the soul is dismissed from the body, whether there be any explicit divine sentencé passed, concerning its eternal state of happiness or misery, ac- cording to its works in this life ; or whether the pain or pleasure, that belongs to the separate state, be not chiefly such as arises, by natural consequence, from a life of sin, or a life of holiness, and as being under the power of an approving, or a condemning conscience : But it seems to me more probable, that, since the spirit returns to God that gave it ; Eccles. xii. 7. to God, the judge of all; with whom the spirits of the just made perfect dwell ; Heb. xii. 24. and since the spirit of a christian when absent from the body, is present with the Lord, that is, Christ ;" 2 Cor. v. 8. I am more inclined to think, that there is some sort of judicial determination of this important point, either by God himself, or by Jesus Christ, into whose hands he has committed all judgment ; John v. 22. It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment; Heb. ix. 27. whether immediate or more distant, is not here expressly declared, though the immedi- ate connexion of the words, hardly gives room for seventeen hundred years to intervene. But if the solemn formalities of a judgment be delayed, yet the conscience of a separate spirit, reflecting on a holy, or a sinful life, is sufficient to begin a heaven or a hell, immediately after death. Amongst those who delay the season of recompence till the resurrection, there are some, who suppose the soul to exist still, as a distinct being from the body, but to pass the whole interval of time, in a state of stupor, or sleep, being altogether uncon- scious and inactive. Others again imagine, that the soul itself has not a sufficient distinction from the body, to give it any pro- per existence when the body dies ; but that its existence shall be renewed at the resurrection of the body, and then be made the subject of joy or pain, according to its behaviour in this mortal state. I think there might be an effectual argument against each of these opinions, raised from the principles of philosophy : I shall just give ahint ofthem, and then proceed to search what scrip- ture has revealed in this matter, which is of much greater im- portance to us, and will have a more powerful influence on the minds of christians. I. Some imagine the soul of man to be his blood, or his breath, or a sort of vital flame, or refined air or vapour, or the composition and motion of the fluids and solids in the animal body. This they suppose to be the spring and principle of his intellectual life, and of all his thoughts and consciousness, as well as of his animal life. And though this soul of man dies together with the body, and has no manner of separate existence
S THE PROOF OF A SEPARATE STATE. or consciousness, yet, when bis body is raised from the graves they suppose this principle of consciousness is renewed again, and intellectual life'is given him at the resurrection, as well as a new corporeal life. But it should be considered, that this conscious or thinking principle having lost its existence for a season, it will be quite a new thing, or another creature at the resurrection ; and the man will be properly another person, another " self," another I or " he ;" And such a new conscious principle, or person, cannot properly be rewarded, or punished, for personal virtues or vices, of which itself cannot he conscious by any power of memory or reflection, and which were transacted in this mortal state by ano- ther distinct principle of consciousness. For if the conscious principle itself, or the thinking being, has ceased to exist, it is impossible that it should retain any memory of former ac- tions, since itself began to be but in the moment of the resur- rection. The doctrine of rewarding or punishing the same soul or intelligent nature, which did good or evil in this life, necessarily requires that the same soul, or intelligent nature, should have a continued and uninterrupted existence, that so the same conscious being, which did good or evil, may be rewarded or punished. II. Those who suppose the soul of man to have a real dis- tinct existence when the body dies, but only to fall into a state of slumber, without consciousness or activity, must, I think, suppose this soul to be material; that is, an extended and solid substance. If they suppose it to be inextenìded, or to have no parts or quantity, I confess I have no manner of idea of the existence, or possibility of such an inextended being, without consciousness or active power, nor do they pretend to have any such idea, as I ever heard, and therefore they generally grant it to be extended. But if they imagine the soul to be extended, it must either have something more of solidity or density than mere empty space, or it must be quite as unsolid and thin as space itself : Let us con- sider both these. If it be as thin and subtle as mere empty space, yet while it is active and conscious, I own it must have a proper existence; but if it once begin to sleep, and drop all conscious- ness and activity, I have no other idea of it, but the same which I have of empty space ; and that I conceive to be mere nothing, though it impose upon us with the appearance of some sort of properties. If they allowthe soul to have any, the least, degree of den- sity above what belongs to empty space, this is solidity in the philosophic sense of the word, and then it is solid extension, which I call 'matter; and a material being may indeed be laid asleep ; that is, 'it may cease to have any motion in its parts ; but
SECTION Motion is not consciousness : And how either solid or unsolid extension, either space or matter, can have any consciousness or thought belonging to any part of it, or spread through the whole of it, I know not; or what any sort of extension can do toward thought or consciousness, I confess I understand not ; nor can I frame any more an idea of it, than I can of a blue motion, or a sweet - smelling sound. or of fire, air, or wa- ter reasoning or rejoicing ; and I do not affect to speak of things, or words, when I can form no correspondent ideas of what is spoken. So far as I can judge, the soul of man, in its own nature, is nothing else but a conscious and active principle, subsisting by itself, made after the image of God, who is all conscious activity; and it is still the same being, whether it be united to an animal body, or separated from it. If the body die, the soul still exists an active and conscious power or principle, or being ; and if it ceases-to be conscious and active, I think it ceases -to be ; for I have no conception of what remains. Now if the conscious prin- ciple continue conscious after death, it will not be in a mere conscious indolence : The good Loan, and the wicked, will not have the same indolent existence. Virtue or vice, in the very temper of this being, when absent from matter or body, will become a pleasure or a pain to the conscience of a sepa- rate spirit. I am well aware, that this is a subject, which has employed the thoughts of many philosophers, and I do hut just intimate my own sentiments, without presuming to judge for others. But the defence or refutation of arguments, on this subject, would draw me into a' field of philosophical discourse, which is very foreign to my present purpose : And, whether this reasoning stand or fall, it will have but very little influence on this con - troversy with the generality of christians, because it is a thing rather to be determined by the revelation of .the - word of God. I therefore drop this argument at once, and apply myself imme- diately to consider the proofs, that may be drawn from scripture, for the soul's existence in a separate state after death, and before the resurrection. SECT. II. Probable Arguments for the Separate State. There are several places of Scripture, in the. Old Testa- ment, as well as in the New, which may be most naturally, and properly construed to signify the existence of the soul in.a sepa- rate state, after the body is dead ; but since they do not carry with them such plain evidence, or forcible proof, and may possi- bly be interpreted to another sense, I shall not long insist upon them ; however, it may not be amiss just to mention a few of them, and pass away.
l0 THE PROOF OF A SEPARATE STATE. Ps. lxxfli. 24, 26. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and t terreard receive me to gloryy: My flesh and my heart fail- eth, but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. In these verses, receiving to glory, seems immediately to follow a guidance through this world ; and when the flesh and heart of the Psalmist should fail him in death, God continued to be his portion for ever, God would receive him to himself as such a portion, and thereby he gave strength, or courage to his heart, even iu a dying hour. It would he a very odd.and unnatural ex- position of this text, to interpret it only of the resurrection, thus, " thou shalt guide me, by thy counsel, through this life, and, after the long interval of some thousand years, thou wilt receive me to glory." Ec. xii. 7. " Then shall the dust return to the earth, as it was, and the spirit to God that gave it." It is confessed, the word spirit, in the Hebrew, is the same with breath, and is re- presented, in some places of scripture, as the spring of animal life to the body : Yet it is evident, in many other places, the word spirit siguillles the conscious principle in man, or the intel- ligent being, which knows and reasons, perceives and acts. The scripture speaks of being grieved in spirit Is. liv. 6. of rejoic- ing is spirit;. Luke x. 21. The spirit of a man knoweth the things ,of a man; .1 Cor. ii. 11. There is a spirit in man; that is, a principle of understanding ; Job xxxii. 8. And this spirit, both of the wicked and the righteous, at death, returns to God ; Ec. xii. 7. to God, who, as I hinted before, is the judge of all the world of spirits, probably to be further determined and dis- posed of, as to its state of reward or punishment. Is. lvii. 2. The righteous is taken away from the evil to come, he shall enter into peace, they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness." The soul of every one, that walked' uprightly, shall, at death, enter into a state of peace, while their body rests in the bed of dust. Luke ix. 30, 31. And behold there talked with him; that is, with Jesus, two men, which were Moses and Elias, who appeared in glory, and spoke of his decease, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. I grant it possible, that these might be but -mere 'visions, which appeared to our blessed Saviour, and his apos- tles : But it is a much more natural and obvious interpretation, -to suppose, that the spirits of these two great men, whereof one was the institutor, and the other the reformer of the Jewish church, did really appear to Christ, who was the reformer of the world, and the institutor of the Christian church, and con- verse with Brim about the important event of his death, and his return to heaven. Perhaps, the spirit of Elijah had his hea- venly body with -him there, since he never died, but was car- ried alive to heaven ; but Moses gave up his soul, at the call of
SECTION II. 11 God, when no man was near him, and his body was buried by God himself. See 2 Kings ii. 11. and Deut. xxxiv. 1, 5, 6. and his spirit was probably made visible only by an assumed vehicle for that purpose. .John v. 24. " Whoso heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, bath everlasting life, is passed from death to life :" John vi. 47, 50, 51. " This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever." John xi. 26. " Whoso liveth, and believeth in me, shall never die :" To which may be added the words of Christ to the woman of Sa- maria ; John iv. 14. ".The water that I shall give him, shall be in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting life." 1 John v. 12. " He that hath the Son, bath life, &c." The argument I draw from these scriptures, is this. It is hardly to be supposed, that our Saviour, in this gospel, and John, in his first epistle, imitating him, should speak such strong language concerning eternal life, actually given to, and possessed by the believers of that day, if there must be an interruption of it by total death, or sleep, both of soul and body, for almost twe thousand years, that is, till the resurrection. Acts vii. 9. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Those who deny à separate state, suppose that Stephen, here, commits his spirit, Air principle of human life, into the hands or care of Christ, be- {sause the life of a saint is said to be hid with Christ in God; Col. iii. 3, 4. that he might restore it at the resurrection, and raise him to life again. But, I think, this is an unnatural force put upon these words, contrary to their most obvious meaning, if we consider the context : for Stephen here had a vision of the Son of man, or Christ Jesus, standing at the right hand of God, and the glory of God near him: see verses 55, 56. Whereupon Stephen, being conscious of the existence of Christ in that glo- rious state, desired, that he would receive his spirit, and take it to dwell with him in his Father's house : not to lie and sleep in heaven, for there is no night there, but to behold the glory of Christ, according to the many promises that Christ had made to his disciples, that he would go and prepare a' place for them in his Father's house, and that they should be with him there to be- hold his glory; John xiv. 3. and xvii. 24. which I shall have occasion to speak of afterward. Rom. viii. 10, 11. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteous- ness ; that is, if Christ dwelt in you, by the sanctifying influences of his spirit ; it is true indeed, your body is mortal, and must die, because it is doomed to death, from the fall of Adam, on the ac- count of sin, and because sinful principles still dwell in this
12 THE PROOF ` Or A SEPARATE STATE. fleshly body ; . but your soul or spirit is life, or, as some copies read instead of ¿as, your-spirit lives when the body is dead, And enjoys a life of happiness, because of the righteousness im- puted to you; that is, your justification unto life; Rom. v..17, 18, 21. I know there are several other ways of Construing the words of this verse by metaphors ; but the plain and most natu- ral antithesis, which appears here between the death of the body of a saint, because of sin or guilt, and the continuance of the spirit, or soul, in a life of peace, because of justification, or righteousness, and that even when the body is dead, gives a pretty clear proof, that this is the sense of the apostle. This is also further confirmed by. the next verse, which promises the re- aurrection of the dead body in due time. If the Spirit of him, that raised up Christ from the dead, dwell in you; he that raised up Christ from the dead, that is, God the Father, shall also quicken your niortal bodies, by his Spirit, that dwelleth in you. The spirit, or soul of the saint, lives without dying, be- cause of its pardon of sin, and justification, and sanctification, in the tenth verse; and the body, not the spirit or soul, shall be quickened, or raised to life again, by the blessed Spirit of God, which dwells in the saints, verse 11. 2 Cor. v.-1, 2. i0 For we know, that if our earthly, house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan earnestly, desiring to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven. Verse 4. We, in this tabernacle, groan being burdened, not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life." It is evident, that this house from heaven, this building of God, is something, which is like the clothing of a soul divested of this earthly tabernacle, verses 1, 2. or it is the clothing of the whole person, body and soul, which would abrogate the state of mor- tality, and swallow it up in life, verse 4. For though in verse 4. The apostle supposes, that the soul doll] not desire the death of the body, or that itself should be unclothed, and, therefore, he would rather cause to have this state of blessed immortality superinduced on his body and soul, at once, without dying ; yet, in the first verse, lie plainly means such á house in, or from heaven, or such a clothing, which may come upon the soul im- mediately, as soon as the earthly ,house, or tabernacle of his body is dissolved. And how dubious soever this may appear to those, who read the chapter only thus far, yet the 8th verse, which supposes good men to he present with Christ, when absent from the body, determines the sense of it, as I have explained it; of which hereafter. Perhaps, it is hard to determine, whether this superinduced clothing be like the shekinah, or visible glory, in which Christ,
SECTION IL 13 Moses, and Elias appeared at the transfiguration, and which some suppose to have belonged to Adam in innocency ; or whether it signify only a state of happy immortality, superinduced, or brought in upon the departing soul at death, or upon the soul and body united, as in this life, and with which those saints shall be clothed, who are found alive at the coming of Christ, accord- ing to 1 Cor. xv. 52 -54. -which will not kill the body, but swal- low up its mortal state in immortal life. Let this matter, I say, be determined either. way, yet the great point seems to be evident, even beyond probability, that there is a conscious.being spoken of, which is -very distinct from its tabernacle, or house, or clothing, and which exists still, what- ever its clothing, or its dwelling be, or whether it be put off, or put on ; and that when the earthly house, or vesture, is dissolved, or put off, the heavenly house, or clothing, is ready at hand to be put on immediately, to render the soul of the Christian fit to be present with the Lord. - 2 Cor. xii. 2, 3. " I knew a man in Christ, above four- teen years ago, whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell, God knoweth: how that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words." I grant, this ecstasy of the apostle, does not actually spew the existence of a separate state, after death, till the resurrection; yet it plainly manifests St. Paul's belief, that there might be-such a state, and that the soul might be separated from the body, and might exist, and think, and know, and act in paradise, in a state of separation, and hear, and perhaps, converse in the unspeakable language of that world, while it was absent from the body. . And, as I acknowledge, I am one of those persons, who do not believe, that the intellectual spirit, or mind of man, is the proper principle of animal life to the body, but that it is another distinct conscious being, that generally uses the body as a habi- tation, engine, or instrument, while its animal life remsins; so I am of opinion it is a possible thing, for the intellectual spirit, in a miraculous manner, by the special-order of God, to act, in a state of separation, without the death of the animal body, since the life of the body depends upon breath, and air, and the regu- lar temper and motion of the solids and fluids of which it is composed*. And St. Paul seems here to be of the same mind, * -It would be thought, perhaps, a little foreign to my present purpose, if I should aíay here to prove, that it is not the conscious principle in man that gives or maintains the animal life of his body. It is granted, that, according to the course of nature, and the general appointment of. God therein, this conscious principle, or spirit, continues its communications with the body, while the body has animal life, or is capable of ita natural notions, and able to obey the volitions of the spirit; and on this account, the uoion of a rational spirit to the body, and the animal life of. the body, are often represented as one and the same thing. But if we enter into a philosophical aoasideration of things, we should re -.
it TEE PROOF OF A SEPARATE STATE. by his doubting, whether his spirit was in the body, or out of the body, while it was rapt into the third heaven, and enjoyed this vision, his body being yet alive. Phil. i. 21. as For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." The apostle, whilst he was here upon earth, spent bis life in the service of Christ, and enjoyed many glorious commit. nications 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 (lie, 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 do any service for Christ, or receive any communications from him till the great rising - day. This text seems to carry the argument above a mere pro- bability. I Thess. iv. 14. " For if we believe, that Jesus died, and rose again, l even so them also, which sleep in Jesus, wilt 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 bin, 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 dead, of which the apostle speaks in the 6th verse : This, I say, is the most natural and obvious sense; other paraphrases of the words seem strained and unnatural. 1 Thess. v. 10. " Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whe- ther we wake or sleep, we should live together with him." Sleep- -is the death of good men, in the language of the apostle, in chapter iv. verses 13 -15. and sleep, in this verse, can neither signify natural sleep, as verse 7. nor spiritual sloth, as verse 6. therefore it must signify death here. Now they, who are asleep in Christ, in this sense, do still live together with him in their member, that animals of every kind, in earth, air, and sea, and even the m'nu- test insects, which swarm in millions, and worlds of them, which are invisible to the oaked eye, have all an animal life, but no such conscious or thinking prinniptes as is io man : And why may not the body of man bave the samesort of animal life quite distinct from the conscious spirit ? Besides, if this conscious principle give life to the body, medicines and phy. wicians, whose power reaches only to rectify the disordered solids or fluids of the body, would not be so necessary to preserve life, as an orator to persuade the spirit to continue in the body, and preserve its life. And, accordingly, we read of foreign ignorant nations, where the kindred persuade the dying person to live, and tarry with them, and not to forsake them; and, when the person is dead, they mourn and reprove him, " Why were ye so unkind to leave and forsake us ?" And indeed this conduct of those poor savages is asery natural inference front their supposition of the intelligent spirit giving animal life to the body.
SECTION II. l souls, and shall live with him in their bodies also, when raised from the dead. This exposition arises near to a certainty of evidence. 1 Pet. iii. 18 - 20. " Christ was put to death in the; flesh, but quickened by the Spirit, by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison, which sometime were disobedient, when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah." I confess this is a text that has much puzzled' interpreters, in what sense Christ may be said to go and preach to those ancient rebels, . who were destroyed by the flood whether he did it by his Spi- rit working in' Nosh, the preacher of righteousness, in those days ; or whether in the three days in which the body of Christ lay dead, his soul visited the spirits of those rebels, in their sepa- rate state of imprisonment, on which some ground the notion of his descent into hell : But, let this be determined as it will, the most clear and easy sense of the apostle, when he speaks of the spirits in prison is, that the souls of those rebels, after their bodies were destroyed by the flood, were reserved in prison for some special and future design : And this is very parallel to the present circumstances of fallen angels in Jude, verse 6. " The angels, that kept not their first estate, he hath reserved in ever- lasting chains, under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day :" And why may not the spirits of men be as well kept, in such a prison, as angelic spirits ? Jude, verse 7. " Sodom and Gomorrah are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." It is evi- dent, that the material fire, which destroyed Sodom and Gomor- rah, was not eternal;. for a great lake of water quickly over- flowed, and now covers all that plain, where the fire was kind- led, which burned down those cities. It is manifest also, that the day of resurrection, and future punishment, being not yet come, they do not, at this time, suffer the vengeance of eternal fire in their bodies : Nor can this verse, I think, be well ex- plained, to make Sodom and Gomorrah an example to deter pre- sent sinners from uncleanness, but by allowing, that the spirits of those lewd persons are now suffering a degree of vengeance, or punishment, from the justice of God, which is compared to that fire whereby their cities and their bodies were burned, and which vengeance, at the last great day, shall continue their punish- ment, and pronounce it eternal, or kindle material fire, which shall never be quenched. The last text I shall mention is ; Rev. vi. 9. " I saw under the altar, the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimonywhich they held.» I confess this is a book of visions, and this place, amongst others, might be explained as a mere vision of the apostle, if there were no other text, which confirmed the doctrine of a separate state : But, since I
1D THE PROOF OF A SEPARATE STATE. think, there are some solid proofs of it in other' parts of the New Testament, I know not why this may not be explained, at least, something nearer to the literal sense of it, than those will allow who suppose the soul to sleep from death to the resurrection. Why may not the spirits of the martyrs, which are now with God, pray him to hasten the accomplishment of his promises made to his church, and the day of vengeance upon his irreconcileable enemies ? SECT. III. Some firmer or more evident Proofs of a Separate State. I come now to consider those texts, which do more ex- pressly and certainly discover the separate state, and which, I think, cannot, with any tolerable appearance of reason, be turned aside from their plain and obvious intention, to reveal and de- clare, that there is a separate state of souls. And such, in my opinion, are these that follow. 1. Matt. x. 28. "'Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul ; but rather fear him, who is able to de- stroy both body and soul in hell." Every common reader, as well as every man of learning, who reads this text with a sin- cere mind, and without prejudice, I think, will acknowledge at least, that the most obvious and easy sense of the words implies, that there is a soul in man, which men cannot kill, even though they kill the body. It is to very little purpose of writers to say, that the Greek word 441x+1, which we translate soul here, doth, in other places in scripture, and even in the 39th verse of this very chapter, signify life, and consequently here it may also signify the animal life, or the person of the man ; for it is manifest, that in this place it must signify some immortal principle in man that cannot die ; whereas, when the body is killed, the animal life dies too, and does not exist till the body is raised again : But the soul is a principle in this place, which men cannot kill, even though they destroy the life of the body : And whatsoever other senses the word ,41xn, may obtain in other texts, that cannot preclude such a sense of it in this text, as is most usual in itself, and which the context makes necessary in this place. Nor will it avail the supporters of the mortality of the soul to say that this scripture méans only, that men cannot kill the soul for ever so that it shall for ever perish,, and have no future life hereafter by a resurrection : for, in this sense, men cannot kill the body, so that it shall never revive, or rise again : But here is a plain distinction in the text, that the body may bekilled, but the soul cannot. And I think this scripture proves also, that, though the body may be laid to sleep in the grave, yet the soul cannot be laid to sleep ; for the substance of the body still exists, and is not utterly destroyed by killing it, but only laid to sleep
SECTION III: 17 for a time, as the scripture often describes death : But the soul Cannot be thus laid to sleep for a time, with its substance still ex- isting, for that would be to have no pre - eminence above the body, which is contrrry to this assertion of our Saviour. II. Luke xvi. 22 -28. " The beggar died, and was carried by angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man 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 ac- count of the rich man and the beggar, is but a parable, and yet it may prove the existence of the rich man's soul, in a place of torment, before the resurrection of the body. 1. Because the existence of souls, in a separate state, whilst ether men dwell here on earth, is the very foundation of the whole parable, and runs through the whole of it. The peor man dieci, and his soul was in paradise. The rich man's body was buried, and his soul was in hell, while his five brethren were here on earth, in a state of probation, and would not hearken to Moses and the prophets. 2. 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 hell, if there were no such things as ghosts, or separate souls, either happy or miserable: Now, surely, if parables can prove any thing at all, they must prove these propositions, which are both the foundation, and the design of the whole parable. 3. I might add yet further, that it is strange, that our Sa- viour should should so particularly speak of angels carrying the soul of a man, whose body was just dead, into heaven, or para- dise, which he calls Abraham's 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 his doctrines to the people in such parables, as had scarce any sort ,t foundation in the reality,' or nature of things. But you will say, the Jews had such an opinion current VOL. vu. B
IS THE PROOF OF A SEPARATE STATE. among them, though it was a very false one, and that this was enough to support a parable i I answer, what could Christ, who is truth itself, have said more, or plainer, to confirm the Jews in this gross error of a separate state of souls, than to form a para- ble, which supposes this doctrine, in the very design and moral of it, as well as in the foundation and matter of it ? III. Luke xx. 37, '39: Now that the dead are raised, even Moses sheaved at the bush, when he calleth the Lord, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, for he is not a God of the dead, but of the living; for all live unto him,- Some learned men suppose, that the controversy between Christ and the Sedducees, in this place, was about the " anastasis," which implies the whole state of existence after death, including both the separate state and the resurrection, because the Sáddu- cees denied both these at once, and believed, that death finished the whole exist ice of the man. They denied angels and spirits ; Acts xxiii. 8. that is, separate souls of men, and thought the rewards and punishments mentioned in scripture related only to this life. Upon this account they suppose our Saviour's design is to prove the existence of persons or spirits in the separate state, as much as the resurrection of the body. And when he says, that the Lord, or Jehovah, is described as the God of Abraham, &c. it supposes Abraham at the same time, to have actually some life and existence, in some state or other, for God is not a God of the dead, but of the living, for all that are dead, and gone out of this world, still live unto God ; that is, they have a present life, in the invisible world of spirits, as God is an invisible spirit, as well as they expect a resurrection of their body in clue time. How could God, in the days of Mo- ses, be called actually the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who were long since dead, if there was no sense in which they were now alive to God, since our Saviour declares, God is pro- perly the God only of the living, and not of the dead ? This part of the argument holds good, in whatsoever sense you con- strue the whole debate, and by whatsoever medium or connexion you prove the doctrine of the resurrection of the body ; and this is obvious to the honest and unlearned reader, as well as to the men of learning. IV. Luke xxiii. 42, 43. And he, that is, the penitent thief upon the cross, said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom: And Jesus said unto him, verily 1 say unto thee, to -day shalt thou be with me in paradise. The thief upon the cross believed that Christ would enter into para- dise, which he supposed to be Christ's kingdom, when he de- parted from this world, which was not his kingdom : And this he believed, partly according to the common sentiment of the Jews, concerning good men at their death, as well as it is agree-
SECTION III. 19 able to our Sabiotar's own expressions to God ; John xvii. 11. Holy Father, I am no more in the world, and I come unto thee; or, as he said to his disciples ; John xvi. 28. I leave the world, and go to the Father. And, according to these expressions ; Luke xxiii. 46. Christ dies with these words on his lips, Father, into thy hands I com- mend my spirit. Our Saviour taking notice of the repentance of the thief, acknowledging his own guilt, thus, We are tartly un- der this condemnation, and receive the reward of our deeds, and taking notice also of his faith in the Messiah, as a king whose kingdom was not of this world, when he prayed, Lord, remem- ber me when thou contest into thy kingdom. Christ, I say, tak- ing notice of both these, answers him with a promise of much grace, Feriiy, I say unto thee, to -day shalt thou be with me in paradise. The use of the word paradise in scripture and amongst ancient writers, Jewish and Christian, is to signify the happiness of holy souls in a separate state : And our Saviour entering into that state, at his death, declared to the dying penitent, that he should be with him there immediately. It is certain that by the word paradise, St. Paul means the place of happy spirits, into which he was transported ; 2 Cor. xii. 4. And this sense is very accommodate, and proper to this expression of our Saviour, and to the prayer of the penitent thief, and it is as suitable to the design of Christ, in his epistle to the church of Ephesus ; Rev. ii. 7. The tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God, which are the only three places where the New Testament uses this word. I know there have been great pains taken to chew that the stops should be altered, and the comma should be placed after the word to -day, thus, l say unto thee to -day, thou shalt be with me in paradise, that is, some time or other hereafter. As though Christ meant no more than this, viz. " thou askcst me to remember thee when I come into my kingdom : And I declare unto thee truly this very day, that some long time here- after thou shalt bewith me in happiness at thy resurrection, when my kingdom shall be just at an end, and I shall give it all up to the Father," as in 1 Cor. xv. 24. Can any one imagine this to be the meaning of our blessed Saviour, in answer to this prayer of the dying penitent ? I know also there are other laborious criticisms to represent these. words, to -day, in other, places of scripture as referring, to some distant time, and not to mean that very day of twenty-four hours: But rattler than enter into a long and critical del ate upon all those texts, I will venture to trust the sense of it in this place, with any sincere and un- learned reader. But, if we consult the learned, Dr. Whitby will tell us, that it was a familiar phrase of the Jews, to say on a just man's a 2
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