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their own Bodies, if it be poffible; this thinking doubting Thing, which denies the Exiftence of all the reft, will ftill itself remain; nor can it confound itself with thofe of whose Existence it doubts. Laftly, the Soul which after this Manner is diftinguished from its own, and from every other Body, is to be accounted an incorporeal Subftance, as we faid at firft: Nor will it be diffolved at the Diffolution of the Body, nor perifh when that rifhes; but, poffeffing the Life that is proper to it, it remains furviving and immortal, capable of enjoying eternal Felicity, or feeling everlasting Mifery.

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CHAP. III.

What will be the future Condition of the Soul after the Diffolution of the Body; or of the Middle State of Souls in the Interval between Death and the Refurrection, as to the Degrees of Happiness or Mifery.

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HEREAS we have already proved, as well by Arguments drawn from Reafon and Nature, as by the most evident Doctrines and Teftimonies of facred Authors, that human Souls furvive the Extinction of their Bodies; we are next to en

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quire, what Kind of Life they are like to enjoy, or in what State they fubfift after they are feparated from their Bodies. The Question that naturally offers itself first, is, whether, after they are feparated from this Body, they are to inform another, of what kind foever it is? or whether they are to remain naked, disjoin'd, and abstracted from all Matter, even to the Refurrection? The Solution of this Question would lead us directly into the Knowledge of the future State of the Soul: But when there is another more general, and lefs obfcure, which inquires into the Degrees of Happiness or Mifery before the Day of Judgment, I am inclin'd, first, to examine by Way of Introduction, the Opinions of certain Moderns, who carry the Souls of Men, just after Death, immediately after they have left their Bodies, either directly up to Heaven, to the Height of Glory and the beatifick Vifion; or thrust them down into the Torments of Hell and unfpeakable Mifery. Either of which appears to me in its kind to be carried to too great an Extremity.

THERE are feveral of the Proteftant Divines who will allow of no middle State of Souls, through an Apprehenfion of Purgatory. Thus when we would avoid one bad Extream, fuch is the Folly of Mankind, we often run into another as vicious, and as blameable. "Tis fufficiently known, that the Papiftical Purgatory is a human Invention, adapted to

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I the Capacity of the People, and the Advantage of the Priefts; nor will we, through Apprehenfion of this Fantom, defert the Doctrine of the Ancients concerning the imperfect and unfinish'd Happiness or Mifery of human Souls before the Day of Judg-ment. But, as for what relates to the Mifery and Punishments of the wicked, we shall at present pass it by: It will be fufficient to fhew at prefent, that the Opinion of those who tranflate the Souls of the departed Righteous to the Kingdom of Heaven, and that fupreme Glory, which is call'd the beatifick Vifion, before the Refurrection of the Dead, and the Coming of Christ, is neither agreeable to the facred Writings, nor to the primitive Faith of Chriftians.

THEY who promise themselves, or others, that they fhall enjoy the beatifick Vifion immediately after their Deaths, ought in Reason to fhew us fome Promife in Scripture that may fuftain fo great a Hope: For in these and the like Matters, which flow not immediately from the Nature of Things, but from the Will and the Appointment of God, a Hope that is founded on no divine Promise, is a temerarious Hope. Tell me then the facred, the infpir'd Authors, who are the Sureties and the Guarantees of fo great a Hope, and of fo fudden and fo vaft a Felicity. In thofe Paffages of the facred Writings, which affure us that we shall one Day fee God, we are by no Means taught

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that this shall be immediately after any one's Mat. v. 8. Death. We are rather told, on the contrary, that this fhall not be till Christ shall appear, nor fhall it be made manifeft to the Sons of

I Cor. xiii.

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John iii.2. God, unless in the Refurrection.

Rom. viii.

19, 23. Col. iii. 4.

BESIDES, according to the fame facred Oracles, and the Apoftolical Writings, the Saints are not to obtain their Glory and their folemn Reward before the Coming of Christ, and the Refurrection of the Dead. St. Peter promifes a Crown of Glory to the faithEph. v. 4. ful Shepherds of Chrift, when the Prince of Shepherds fhall appear: Nor can I believe that

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the People will receive their Reward before their Paftor. St. Paul, who in the Chriftian 2 Tim. iv. Warfare is fecond to none, tells us, that he is not to receive his Crown till the Day of the Coming of the Lord, the rightful Judge; and that he is perfuaded that he shall then at laft receive from God the Soul which he has committed to him, together with eternal 2 Tim i. Life. I am perfuaded, fays he, that he is

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able to keep what I have committed unto him against that Day: As if he was of Opinion, that the Time that interven'd between the Day of Death, and that great Day, was to be esteem'd as nothing, being filent and inglorious; which that Holy Apostle would never have thought, if, in the mean while, he had been confcious to himself, that in that Interval of Time we were to enjoy the Fulnefs of Glory, and the beatifick Vifion. Laftly, when he prays to

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2 Theff. i.

God to have Mercy on any one, when he mifes Joys, or threatens Revenge and Torments, the Apostle to that Day is wont to 2 Tim. i. refer them all. And yet, if human Souls im- 18. mediately after their Departure were either to 7,8,9,10. be plung'd in unfpeakable Torments, or exalted to the Height of Glory, he ought to have referred both the Happiness and the Misery only to the Hour of Death.

1 Cor. xv. 6, 18, 20,

51.

We are moreover to observe, that whereas the Apostle, like to one who is about to lie down, and to take his Reft, deposited his Soul into the Hands of God, to be kept by him to that great Day; fo in the Style of the facred Writings, the Dead are faid to fleep, or to fall asleep, and to waken at laft on the Day of Judgment, and of the Refurrection. I know very well that thefe Theff. iv. Things are not to be understood in altogether 13, 14. a literal Senfe, much lefs are they to be underftood fo grofly, as if the Soul after Death were void of Life and of Action; for never can all the Power of thinking be driven from the Mind of Man; yet, nevertheless, this Manner of fpeaking can never be applicable to the Condition of those who are in Poffeffion of the beatifick Vifion, which both in Divinity and in Philofophy is efteem'd the most Perfect Operation of the Soul, and for that Reafon can never be compared to a Sleep, or a Dream, in which the Actions of the Soul are fo very far from Perfection.

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