body, which is in his nostrils; a wind, a vapour, which appears for a little time, and then vanishes away; all expressive of the brevity of the bodily life of man.-3. From Psalm cxlvi. 4. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to the earth: which signifies the same as before, and relates to the body, which returns to the earth, from whence it came : but it follows, in which the strength of the objection lies, in that very day, in which the breath of his body ceases, and the body returns to the dust, that is, dies, his thoughts perish; and now, since the soul is, by some, defined a thinking substance, and the thoughts of it perish at death, then that must cease to be. But the meaning is, not that at the death of the body the soul ceaseth to think; but that all its former thoughts, schemes, projects, and purposes, concerning either civil or religious things, are then at an end, and cannot be carried into execution; as Job says, having death in view, as just at hand, My days are past; my purposes are broken off; even the thoughts of my heart! so that he could not perform what he had thought of, devised, and determined on, Job xvii. 11.-4. From the likeness of the spirits of brutes and of men, Eccles. iii. 19, 20. But then Solomon either, in these words, personates an atheistical man; or, if he speaks his own sense, he must be understood of the sensitive part of man, which he has in common with other animals; and it is plain he speaks of that part of man which is of the dust, and returns to it again, that is, the body, and of the breath of that; and in the next verse, clearly observes the difference between the spirits of brutes, and the rational souls of men, the one going upward to God, and the other downward to the earth, at death.

5. The immortality of the soul is objected to, from such passages which speak of man's going at death whence he shall not return; and as if it was not known where he was, Job x. 21, and xiv. 10. But these are to be understood, of his returning to his house, and former manner of living and employment of life, chap. vii. 10. And when it is asked, Where is he, when he dies? it is easily answered, His body is returned to the dust, and is laid in the grave; and his soul is gone to God, and is either in bliss or woe.-6. From those places which speak of the dead as not; Rachael was weeping for her children, because they were not, Jer. xxxi. 15. But this cannot be meant of nonexistence, either of soul or body; for the body, though reduced to dust, yet is, and is something; and the soul, that is either in heaven or in hell.

STATE OF THE SOUL UNTIL THE RESURRECTION, AND ITS

EMPLOYMENT.

THAT the soul exists in a future state, after the death of the body, has been abundantly proved in the preceding chapter; and the business of this is to show, that the soul, immediately after death, enters into a state of happiness or woe; in which it continues until the resurrection of the body: and that during that interval, it is not in a state of insensibility and inactivity; but that it is employed in various exercises; and what its employment is, will be pointed at.

I. That as soon as the body is dead, the soul immediately enters into a separate state of happiness or misery. The wise man, after a description of death, and the symptoms of it, in a most beautiful and striking manner adds, Then shall the dust return to the earth; the body, composed of dust and earth, at death returns to its original dust and earth, and is interred in it, where it sleeps until the resurrection; and the spirit, or soul, which is a spiritual, immaterial, and immortal substance, shall return, even immediately, as soon as the body is become a lifeless lump of clay, unto God that gave it; the former of the spirit of man within him, the giver of it to the sons of men, to whom it returns as soon as it leaves the body, as to the original proprietor of it; and to whom it is accountable for all actions done in the body; being summoned and gathered by him, or carried by angels to him; when a particular, personal judgment passes upon it; for after this, that is, death, comes judgment; that at once takes place; though the general judgment will not be until the resurrection of the dead; and according to the sentence passed on the soul, at its particular judgment, it is disposed of. The souls of the wicked are sent down to hell, and cast into it; to this prison they are committed, there to remain to the judgment of the great day: this has been the case from the beginning of the world, witness the spirits in prison, who were disobedient in the times of Noah; the wicked of all nations in the world, in all ages, as asserted by David; and that without respect to persons, rich or poor; the rich wicked man died, and in hell lift up his eyes, according to the parable of our Lord, Luke xvi. 22. And the souls of good men return to God at death, are retained by him, into whose hands, at death, they commit them: and are immediately admitted into his presence, and fulness of joy there; and so remain until the second coming of Christ, when he will bring them with him, raise their bodies and re-unite souls and bodies; and when in both, they shall be for ever with him: and whereas the immediate state of the wicked after death, is but sparingly spoken of in scripture; but that of good men more plentifully, the proof of the latter will be chiefly attended to, and which may be taken.

1. From Eccles. iv. 2, where the saints dead are preferred to living ones. 1. By the dead are meant the righteous dead; for though the righteousness of Christ, from which they are denominated righteous, delivers them from eternal death, yet not from a corporeal one; the righteous man perishes, or dies, as others do; though his death is different from the death of others, and is attended with happy circumstances; hence Balaam desired to die the death of the righteous, Numbers xxiii. 10.-2. By the living are meant, saints in the present state, who are distressed with a body of sin and death, and groan, being burthened with it; are harassed by the temptations of Satan, with which they are sorely grieved; are exercised with a variety of afflictions, from different quarters, and on different accounts; meet with various tribulations in the world, and are greatly oppressed with the persecutions of men, as in verse 1, which makes their present state uncomfortable at times. Now, 3. The righteous dead are delivered

from all these; they are freed from sin, and are out of the reach of Satan's temptations, and of the persecutions and oppressions of men. And, 4. Are in a state of fellowship with God, and Christ, and with angels and glorified saints in heaven, and so happy, and in a state preferable to living saints. But 5. If this was not the case, if they were in a state of insensibility, and without the enjoyment of the divine presence, they would not be happier then, nor so happy, as living saints, with all their sorrows, arising from within and from without; for they have their intervals of joy, peace, and comfort; have the love of God shed abroad in their hearts, by the Spirit, at times; and are indulged with fellowship with the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ; and besides, they have comfortable fellowship with the saints, in the word and ordinances; with whom they go to the house of God in company, and are there greatly delighted and refreshed the tabernacles of the Lord are amiable and lovely; a day in his courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. Wisdom's ways

:

are ways of pleasantness, and her paths, paths of peace; and therefore they are happier than the righteous dead, if they are not in the Divine Presence, and sensibly enjoying that, until the resurrection.

II. From Isa. lvii. 1, 2, The righteous perisheth, &c.-By the righteous and merciful, are meant such as are truly made so by the righteousness of Christ, and live righteously under a sense of such grace, and who have obtained pardoning mercy of God, and show mercy to others, the same with the good man, the godly, and the faithful, elsewhere, Mic. vii. 2, Psalm xii. 1.-The death of such is meant by their perishing, and being taken away; for persons so described can never perish eternally, only as to the outward man, and the transitory things of this world; out of which they are taken by death, and to God himself. And as soon as they are taken from hence, they are at once in a state of happiness; being not only taken from evil to come, from public judgments and calamities coming upon a nation; or from the evil of sin, and of error, by which they might have been ensnared and distressed; all which is a kind of negative happiness; but they have, besides this, at death, a real and positive happiness, which they are at once possessed of; signified by the following things, -1. They enter into peace: are not only freed from sorrow, disturbance, and distress, on any account whatever; but they are put into the possession of a peace which passeth all understanding, and can never be interrupted; they enter into it as into a house, where they are to dwell; and upon a land where there is no pricking brier nor grieving thorn. -2. They rest in their beds; not only their bodies rest in their graves, where their rest together is in the dust; but their souls in the bosom of Abraham, in the arms of Jesus; where they rest from all their toil and labour; and have continual and never-ceasing communion with all the heavenly inhabitants.-3. They walk in their uprightness; they walk, and so are not in a state of insensibility and inactivity; they have places given them to walk among those that stand by, to take their turns, and converse with angels and glorified saints; and with them they walk clothed in white, because worthy, through

the worthiness of Christ; in the righteousness of Christ, the fine linen, clean and white; and in spotless purity and holiness; and in the shining robes of bliss and glory.

III. From Luke xvi. 22, 23. And it came to pass that the beggar died, &c. The scope of this parable, as observed in the preceding chapter, is to be attended to: which is to set forth the immediate state of men after death, whether good men or bad men; for though it may have a principal respect to Christ, and to the Pharisees of his times, yet holds true of all good men, the members of Christ; and of all wicked men, whether under a guise of religion, or openly profane. — 1. The beggar, the good man, upon his death, is represented as under the care and convoy of angels, and by them seated in Abraham's bosom, a phrase used by the Jews, expressive of the heavenly happiness; in allusion to a feast, at which, according to the custom of the Jews, the guests lay upon beds or couches, about the table; so that he who lay below another, and next to him, leaned, as it were, on his breast, and lay in his bosom; and this denotes the intimate communion of the saints with each other, in the enjoyment of God.— 2. The rich and wicked man, he is said, upon his death, to be in hell, where he lift up his eyes, and saw the poor good man in great felicity and comfort, whom he had treated with neglect and contempt; which served to aggravate his misery; and where he found himself surrounded with the flames of hell, and filled with inward torments and horrors of mind.-3. The state of both these is summed up in a few words, 25, But now he is comforted, and thou art tormented; even now, immediately after the death of both. And, -4. That this respects the intermediate state between the death of the body, and the resurrection of it, is clear, from what the wicked man petitioned, on the behalf of his brethren in his father's house, in the state of the living, and having the means the law and the prophets; only he thought, if one were sent from the dead to them, it would strike them with greater conviction; when he was told, they would not be persuaded, though one rose from the dead; which shows the parable respects the state of men before the resurrection, and as taking place immediately upon death.

IV. From Luke xxiii. 43. And Jesus said unto him, the penitent thief, then suffering death; verily I say unto thee, which being thus solemnly affirmed might be depended on, to-day thou shalt be with me in paradise, in heaven! for,-1. By paradise is meant the third heaven, into which the apostle Paul was caught, 2 Cor. xii. 2, 4; the seat of the divine Majesty, and the dwelling-place of angels and glorified saints; so called in allusion to the garden of Eden, that earthly paradise, for the delight, pleasure, and happiness, of it.-2. Hither Christ himself, as soon as he expired on the cross, went; not in limbus patrum, to deliver the Old Testament-saints from thence; nor into the prison of hell, to preach to, and convert the spirits there, as say some, upon the mistaken sense of 1 Pet. iii. 19; but into heaven itself, having commended his spirit, or soul, into the hands of his divine Father, by whom it was received.-3. The happiness promised the thief, upon his request to him, to remember him in his kingdom, is, that he should

be with him in paradise; should enjoy all the happiness of that place, and his presence in it, in which the happiness of it lay.-4. He assures him, that this happiness he should enjoy immediately, that very day; This day thou shalt be with me, &c. to put the stop after to-day, and read it as connected with what goes before, I say unto thee to-day, is a mere shift, and gives a most trifling and jejune sense of the words.

v. From 2 Cor. v. 1-8. For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. In which may be observed,-1. That death is signified by a dissolution of the earthly body; that is called a tabernacle, or tent, set up for a while, and then taken down; and an earthly house, a house of clay, formed out of the earth, which has its foundation in the dust; and death is an analysis, or resolution of it, into earth and dust again.—2. Heaven is represented as another house of a different nature, not made with the hands of men; but what God is the maker and builder of; and it is not on earth, but in heaven; is eternal, will continue for ever; it consists of many mansions and apartments, prepared by Christ for his people.-3. Into which they are at once removed, when dislodged from their earthly house, the body; We know, that if, or when, our earthly house, &c. when we are warned out of that, we have another house immediately to be admitted into; saints are not, at death, turned adrift, as Adam, when driven out of Eden; nor are they without any certain dwellingplace, as sometimes the apostles were; they have a house ready for them to go into; as soon as they are ordered out of one, there is another prepared to receive them. - 4. This is no conjecture, but a certain thing; we know, from the provision God has made of it, from the preparations of Christ for it, from the right and title Christ's righteousness gives unto it, from the security of it in him, and from the testimony of the Spirit. 5. After which there are strong desires in the saints; they groan in the present tabernacle, being burthened, longing for a deliverance from it, and an admittance into their other house in heaven; being willing to quit the body, that they might enjoy the presence of God; which they would not be so pressingly desirous of, if they knew they should not be introduced into it immediately. — 6. But of this they have an earnest, even the Spirit of God; and therefore are quite confident, being wrought up by him for this self-same thing, by his power and grace, that when they are removed from hence they shall be with the Lord.-7. And this will be as soon as they are absent from the body, as they are at death, they shall be present with the Lord, and enjoy communion with him.

vi. From Phil. i. 21, 23. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain-for I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better! From whence it appears, 1. That the apostle believed, that upon his departure out of this world, by death, he should be immediately with Christ, and enjoy communion with him; which would be a real gain unto him, and be preferable to his continuance in this life, there being nothing here that could be a