BOOK IV.

OF THE FINAL STATE OF MEN.

OF THE DEATH OF THE BODY.

THE things to be enquired into, are, What death is? who are the subjects of it? what the causes of it, and its properties?

I. What death is. To say what it is, is difficult; we know nothing of it practically and experimentally, though there are continual instances of it before our eyes. We know nothing of death but in theory: what it is, is chiefly to be known from the scripture, by which we learn, 1. That it is a disunion of the soul and body, the two constituent parts of man; the one consists of flesh, blood, and bones, of arteries veins, nervés, &c. the other is a spiritual substance, immaterial and immortal, and goes by the name of spirit. Death is a dissolution of this union; The body without the spirit, separate from it, is dead, James ii. 26. 2. It is a dissolving this earthly house of our tabernacle, 2. Cor v. 1. in allusion either to military tents, or those of shepherds, which were removed from place to place for the sake of pasturage for their flocks, Isai. xxxviii. 12. 3. It is signified by a departure out of this world to another; the death of Christ, and of some others is expressed in such language, John xiii. 1. 2 Tim. iv. 7. it is like going from one house to another: with the saints it is a departure from their earthly house, to an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens; from houses of clay

which have their foundation in the dust. It is like loosing from the port, as the sailor's phrase is, and launching into the ocean, and sailing to another port. 4. Death is expressed by going the way of all the earth; so said Joshua when about to die, Josh. xxiii. 14. and so said David, 1 Kings ii. 2. so Christ describes his death, Luke xxii. 22. 5. Death is called, a returning to the dust and earth of which the body is formed, Eccl. xii. 7. 6. Death is frequently expressed by sleeping, Dan. xxii. 2. John xi. 11. and is so called because sleep is an image of death; in sleep the senses are locked up, and after sleep a man rises: so is death to the saints; it is a rest unto them, and they will rise in the morning of the resurrection. II. Who are the subjects of death. Not angels, for they being simple, uncompounded, incorporeal and immaterial, are incapable of death; they die not, Luke xx. 36. but men, even all men, a few only excepted, as Enoch and Elijah, under the Old Testament. Persons of every sex, male and female; of every age, young and old, small and great. great. Persons of every character among men; it may be seen and observed in instances without number, that wise men die, and also the fool and. brutish person. Persons of every character in the sight of God, wicked men and good men; The prophets do they live for ever? they do not, Zech. 1. 5. Yet,-5. Their death is different from that of wicked men; they die in Christ, in union to him, and so are secure from condemnation; they die in faith, and their end is peace. 6. The reason of which is, death is abolished as a penal evil, and is become a blessing to them, for blessed are they that die in Christ.

III. The causes of death, on what account it comes upon, men, and to whom and what it is to be ascribed. 1. The efficient cause is God, who is the sovereign disposer of life and death; it is he that gives life and breath, and all things to his creatures; he that gives life has a right to take it away; I kili and I make alive, Deut. xxxii. 39. No man has a right to take away his own life, nor the life of another. Satan, though he is said to have the power of death, Heb. ii. 14. yet this is not

to be understood as if he had a power and right to inflict death at pleasure on men; for if so, such is his malice and rooted enmity to men, that the race of mankind would have been extinct long ago. The case of Job shews that he lies under the restraint of God in this manner. Death of right is of God only; it is he who threatened with it in case of sin; and made it the sanction of his law. Whatever are the means of the death of men, whether extraordinary or ordinary, they are all of God, and under his direction; every disorder, disease, and sickness, are servants sent by him to execute his pleasure. 4. Death is by his appointment; it is the statute-law of heaven. The grave is the house appointed for all men living, Job xxx. 23. All the circumstances are according to the determinate counsel and will of God. Nor can any live longer than the appointed time; The time drew nigh that Israel must die, Gen. xlvii. 29. Says Job, of man, his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee; thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass, Job xiv. 5. physicians may make life a little more easy and comfortable while it lasts; but they can. not protract it one moment. 11. The procuring cause of death, is sin; The body is dead because of sin, Rom. v. 12. the threatening was, In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. 11. The instrumental causes, or means of death are various. Angels are sometimes made use of to inflict it, 2 Kings xix. 35. Multitudes are cut off by the sword of jus, tice, and God has his four judgments, sword, famine, pestilence, and wild beasts, by which sometimes great havock is made among men; the ordinary means are disorders of the body. IV. The properties of death, which serve to lead into the nature, power, and use of death. 1. It is but once; It iş appointed unto men once to die, Heb. ix. 27. There have been some instances in which men have died, and have been raised again to a mortal life, as it should seem, and then have died again; but commonly men die but once, as Christ the Saviour did. 2. Death is certain; Israel must die, and so must Nothing is more certain than death, as all expe

every man.

rience in all ages testify; and yet nothing more uncertain than the time. 3. Death is mighty. No man has power over his spirit, to retain the spirit one moment, when it is called for. 4. Death is insatiable; it is one of those things that is never satisfied; though sometimes thousands are slain in one day, it never has enough. 5. Death is necessary ; not only by the appointment of God, which must be accomplished; but for the truth of God, in his threatening with it, in case of sin, it is also necessary to the saints, for their good. 6. Though death is formidable to nature, it is desirable by good men; they are willing rather to be absent from the body that they might be present with the Lord

OF THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL.

THAT the soul of man is immortal may be proved,

I. From the consideration of the soul itself, its origin, nature, powers, and faculties. 1. From the original of it; it is not of men; it is the very breath of God;, God breathed into man the breath of life, and he became a living soul, immortal and never dying, Gen. ii. 7. 11. The immortality of the soul may be proved from the nature of the soul; which is, 1. Spiritual, of the saine nature with angels, spiritual substances, and so not die, Heb. xii. 9. 23. 2. The soul of man is simple and uncompounded; it is not composed of flesh and blood; a spirit has none of these. 3. It is immaterial, it is not composed of matter and form. Matter is incapable of thought, reasoning, and discoursing, willing and nilling, as the soul is. Matter is divisible, discerpible, may be cut to pieces: not so the soul; it is out of the reach of every slaughtering weapon; the sharp arrow cannot penetrate, nor the two-edged sword divide it. 4. The soul has no contrary qualities, which, when one is predominate, threatens with destruction; it is neither hot nor cold; nor has it any such tender part which will not bear 5. The soul of man is made after the image ofGod; it bears a resemblance to the divine nature, particularly in its immortality: this is given by Alcmæon as an argument of it;

and so Plato, the soul is most like to that which is divine, immortal, intelligible, uniform, indissoluble, and always the same. 111. The immortality of the soul may be proved from the powers and faculties of it, its understanding and will. 1. Its understanding. There is a spirit, or soul, in man : and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding, Job 32. 8. an intellective power and faculty of understanding things, which distinguishes men from brutes. The understanding of man can take in, things spiritual, and incorporeal, immaterial, incorruptible, and eternal: it has knowledge of eternity itself; though it may be observed, there is great difference of an eternity past, and of that which is to come; when it considers the former, it is soon at a loss, like a bird that attempts to take flights it is not used or equal to. But when the soul fixes its thoughts on an eternity to come, with what pleasure does it roll over millions of ages. The reason of this difference is, because the soul itself is not from eternity. The knowledge which the mind and understanding of man has of things in the present state, is very imperfect, through the brevity of life; and therefore it may be reasonably concluded, that there is a future state, in which its knowledge of things will be more perfect; it has been a constant and continual complaint of the sons of learning and science, ars longa, vita brevis; art is long, and life is short. Besides the knowledge the mind of man has of things now, is not in proportion to the powers that he is possessed of. How many are there that die in infancy? how many in childhood and youth? These powers are not bestowed upon them in vain. There must be then an after state, in which the soul exists. 5. Let a man know ever so much in this present life, he is desirous of knowing more. Now this desire of knowledge is not im planted in man, by the author of nature, in vain; wherefore the soul must remain after death: this was the argument Socrates used, to prove to his scholars the immortality of the soul. With respect to truly good men, the argument receives farther strength. Gracious and earnest desires are not im.