CHAPTER VI.

SIR MATTHEW HALE.

PERHAPS one of the most remarkable men this country ever produced was Sir Matthew Hale *. And he was remarkable in this, that whereas few men ever excelled him in the ability and integrity with which he was distinguished in his own profession; so also few, even of those who have made Theology the main study of their lives, ever surpassed him in the learning and exemplary piety with which he treated subjects connected with the principles and practice of our most holy religion. In one of his treatises he speaks thus of the future state of man.

The state of a Christian after death, and the privilege that with and by Christ he shall then re

Sir Matthew Hale was born in 1609, and was first raised to the Bench by Oliver Cromwell, who admired his profound knowledge and incorruptible integrity, though so strongly opposed to him both in politics and religion.

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ceive, these are secrets that never lay within the reach or discovery of the light of nature. more is discovered or discoverable unto us than what it hath pleased the God of Nature, in the Scriptures, to reveal and discover to us. So far we may go; farther than that we may not, cannot see. This is a learning that no other means can teach us than Divine Revelation; a continent that no other map can describe; nor any other light discover to us, but the Word of God himself. If we guide not ourselves by this thread, we lose ourselves in the discourse or contemplation of it.

Therefore, as to the state of body and soul after death, till the re-union of both in the resurrection; -First, the Word of God shews us the principles of man, his body and soul. Gen. ii. 7. "He ́formed man of the dust of the ground; and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." These two pieces of different extraction he so closely and wisely united together, that they made but one piece, and so advanced the corruptible part, the body, that it was endued with an actual incorruption, subject indeed to a translation, but not to a dissolution, corruption, or separation, but only by the means of sin. But sin entered into the world, and death by sin; natural death as well as eternal death. It deprived the body of that incorruption which the power of God

had annexed to it, though of it's own nature otherwise corruptible; and though it did not subject that immortal part, the soul, to corruption or annihilation, yet as it stood in relation to the body, and as the body and soul made but one man, so it subjected the man to a dissolution; a separation of those two parts which did constitute him one reasonable creature. The body became subject to corruption, not annihilation; the soul to the curse, not to corruption; and the body and soul, as constituting one man, to death or dissolution. So then, death separating these two constitutive parts of man, his body and his soul, we will consider how after death the state of either stands, as to such as are truly united to Christ Jesus, and to God by Him.

From the Scriptures of God we learn, that from the instant of death until the resurrection, there is a state of a separated soul, and that it hath an abiding being and subsistence, notwithstanding such separation; and this will most clearly appear by what follows.

The great hindrance to the thorough and perfect sanctification of the soul in this life, is principally by the adherence of the body unto it; and consequently of those lusts and passions that accompany the body. But by death the impediment is removed; the counter-motion of the flesh abolished;

the opportunity of temptation by it is taken away; and in the instant of dissolution the whole leaven of natural corruption is cleansed out of the soul; and he that is thus dead, is freed from sin." Rom. vi. 7. The day of death is, as it were, the birth-day of the soul; when it falls off as a seed that is ripe, and drops into a place of rest; and there it spends, as it were, it's infancy, till it be ready for the consummation of it's happiness in the resurrection.

The soul, immediately upon her separation from the body, is translated into a place of rest, and enjoys a condition free from all trouble, sorrow, and misery. Rev. xiv. 13. "They rest from their labours, and their works follow them."

But the soul doth not only enjoy a negative happiness, an absence of all misery, but in the very instant of it's dissolution is translated to a condition of blessedness commensurate to the capacity of the soul, and enjoys the vision of Christ in glory, in a place of glory and happiness. St. Luke xvii. 24. "Lazarus' soul was carried into Abraham's bosom," and there did rest before the last judgment; for the rich man's brethren were then upon the earth; which, though it be a parable, yet it imports the blessed state of a separate soul, even before the last judgment. And that this is so, our Saviour's words upon the cross to the crucified thief import,

St. Luke xxiii. 43. "Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in Paradise." Wherein we have the time-" To-day," before the resurrection; secondly, the place, "In Paradise;" which is the very place of the Blessed. That which in 2 Cor. xii. 2. is called the "third heaven," in ver. 4. is called "Paradise." Thirdly, the presence, "With me, in Paradise," where the glorious soul of Christ was. 2 Cor. v. 8. "We are confident, and willing to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." Parallel to which is Philip. i. 23. "Having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better." There is not a mean instant between the departure from the body and the local presence with Christ; and certainly the soul, enjoying the presence of Christ, cannot want the fulness of happiness. The soul must needs receive a continual irradiation from his glory; a continual stream of comfort and delight must needs flow into the soul from his presence; the clear manifestation of his love and favour. But yet according to the measure of the capacity of the soul to receive, must needs be the measure of what it receives. And, therefore, doubtless as the soul, in a state of separation, cannot have the same measure of perfection as it shall have in it's re-union in the resurrection, so consequently it cannot receive the like measure of blessedness as it

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