ESSAY XXV. On the State of separate Spirits; the Resurrection of the Body; Judgment; and Eternity. IT is the grand design of revealed religion, to draw off our attention and affections from things present and temporal, and to fix them on things future and eternal. Yet, such is the constitution of the universe, and such the plan of the gospel, that the regulation of our pursuits and actions, in subordination to the interests of the unseen state, tends to produce by far the greatest measure of happiness to individuals, and to society, which can possibly be attained in this present life. Whatever conjectures or discoveries the more rational of the heathen had made in this interesting concern, or whatever intimations God had given about it to the ancient church; it may with the strictest propriety be said, that "life and immortality have been "brought to light by the gospel." For the New Testament revelation elucidating and confirming that of the Old, has removed all doubt and uncertainly about a future state of existence, except what arises from our want of faith, or acquaintance with the holy Scriptures; it hath given every needful instruction on the important subject; and it hath annexed to it that authority, which is suited to render it influential upon our whole conduct. This decisive and complete information is of the greatest moment: for all error, obscurity, or uncertainty in a matter of such vast importance, must proportionably enfeeble and unsettle the mind; and deduct from the efficacy of those motives, which excite or animate the soul to vigorous exertion, selfdenying obedience, patient sufferings, or courageously meeting dangers, in adhering to the truth and will of God amidst the opposition of this evil world. Our concluding Essay, therefore, will contain some thoughts on the intermediate state; the second coming of Christ; the resurrection of the body; and the process, rule, and event, of judgment. The immortality of the soul is fully established by the uniform testimony of Scripture; which fully declares, not only that it is created capable of endless existence, but also that it is the unalterable purpose of the Creator it should exist to eternity. It is impossible in the nature of things, that this should be proved by any reasonings or arguments whatever; because the intention of God can be known by express revelation alone. The language of holy writ constantly implies, that the soul is capable of exerting its powers and faculties, in a state of separation from the body. The Apostle could not tell "whether," during his vision, "he were "in the body, or out of the body;"* and he spoke of 2 Cor. xii. 1-3. being "absent from the body and present with the "Lord."* We frequently read of "the things done "in the body:" which implies that the same agent is capable of doing things out of the body. "Our earthly "house of this tabernacle must be dissolved, that we may have a building of God, a house not made with "hands, eternal in the heavens."+"Then the body "shall return to the dust, and the spirit to God: "+ Accordingly we read of " the spirits of just men made perfect," as well as of "an innumerable company "of angels:" and even these brief hints may suffice to show, that the system of modern materialists cannot be supported, (any more than the other doctrines of the same school,) except by rejecting the word of God, and treating the sacred writers as men who espoused and propagated vulgar errors, whilst they professed to "speak as they were moved by the Holy "Ghost." The Scriptures likewise teach us, that both the righteous and the wicked, immediately on leaving the body, enter on a state of happiness or misery. Lazarus was carried, as soon as he died, into Abraham's bosom; and when "the rich man died and was buri"ed, in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments;" whilst his brethren, in his father's house, were following him to the same state of misery. Should it be urged, that this is a parabolical representation, we answer, that He who is the TRUTH itself would never have spoken those things, even in a parable, which have a direct tendency to mislead the reader, and to 2 Cor. v. 8. † 2 Cor. v. 1. ‡ Eccles. xii. 7. § Heb. xii. 22, 23. raise an expectation of a state which has no existence. But, indeed, our Lord was pleased to confirm this inference by his address from the cross to the dying thief, "This day shalt thou be with me in paradise;"* which could not have been the case, unless his soul had existed in a state of happiness, whilst his body lay • buried with that of the other malefactor. They, therefore, who deny this distinction between soul and body, must suppose our Lord, as well as his Apostles, to have been mistaken.-His answer likewise to the Sadducees, who cavilled about the doctrine of the resurrection, is equally decisive against those who deny the intermediate state; for " as God is not the God of the "dead, but of the living," how can he be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, if they have been wholly dead during so many revolving centuries?† The Apostle" had a desire to depart and to be "with Christ, as far better," than living on earth; but he would not have been any sooner with Christ for departing hence, if he were to lie entirely under the power of death, until the resurrection; nor could he "be present with the Lord, when absent from the body,” if never made capable of beholding him till his second coming. The souls of those, to whom Christ, by his Spirit in Noah, preached, during the term of God's long-suffering while the ark was preparing, are represented as being in prison at the time when Peter wrote; § and John was directed to write, "blessed are the dead, which die in the Lord, from • Luke xvi. 22-31. xxiii. 43. 2 Cor. v. 8, † Matt 22-32. § 1 Pet. iii. 19, 20. " henceforth, even so saith the Spirit."* Yea, he saw an innumerable company before the throne, who were crying for vengeance on their persecutors; but were required to wait till the rest of their brethren had finished their testimony; which, however interpreted, must precede the resurrection of the dead.† And here it may be proper to repeat the observation, that the God of truth and love would not arrange even the circumstances of a vision in such a manner, as directly tended in the most obvious interpretation to mislead men in so material a point. These are a specimen of those scriptural arguments, by which we are induced to expect an immediate entrance into happiness or misery, as soon as we leave this world, by an anticipation of that sentence which will be publickly pronounced at the day of judgment. Various absurd notions, and curious speculations, have been formed about this intermediate state; which the use of the word translated Hell, for the place of separate spirits, may have in part occasioned. Thus the Messiah, by the royal prophet, expressed his confidence in the Father, "that he would not leave his "soul in hell, neither suffer his Holy One to see cor"ruption." Many learned men, indeed, would explain both these expressions to denote the grave, by a very unnatural tautology; but scarcely any thing can be more evident, than that by Hell is meant the place of separate spirits, to which the human soul of Christ repaired, as soon as his body was laid in the their re-union at his glorious resurrection. grave, till Rev. xiv. 13. t Rev. vi. 9!]. Psalm xvi. 10. Acts ii. 27-31. VOL. V. |