I Have but one thing more to clear, before I come to the Use of this doctrine: And that is, Whether this Rest remain till the resurrection before we shall enjoy it?1 Or whether we shall have any possession of it before? The Socinians and many others of late among us, think that the soul separated from the body, is either nothing, or at least not capable of happiness or misery. Truly, if it should be so, it would be somewhat a sad uncomfortable doctrine to the godly at their death, to think of being deprived of their glory till the resurrection; and somewhat comfortable to the wicked, to think of tarrying out of hell so long. But I am in strong hopes that this doctrine is false; yea very confident that it is so. I do believe, that as the soul separated from the body, is not a perfect man, so it doth not enjoy the Glory and happiness so fully and so perfectly as it shall do after the Resurrection, when they are again conjoined. What the difference is, and what degree of Glory souls in the mean time enjoy, are too high things ⟨p. 256⟩for mortals particularly to discern. For the great question, what place the souls of those before Christ,2 of Infants, and of all others since Christ, do remain in till the Resurrection? I think it is a vain enquiry of what is yet beyond our reach. It is a great question what Place is? But if it be only a circumstant body: and if [to be in a place▪] be only [to be in a circumstant bod•] or in the superficies of an ambient body, or in the concavity o• that superficies, then it is doubtful whether spirits can be properly said [to be in place] We can have yet no clear conceivings of these things. But that separated souls of Believers do enjoy unconceivable Blessedness and Glory, even while they remain thus separated from the body, I prove as followeth▪ (Beside all those Arguments for the souls Immortality, which you may read in Alex. Ross his Philosophical Touchstone, part l•st.)
I Have but one thing more to clear, before I come to the Use of this doctrine: And that is, Whether this Rest remain till the resurrection before we shall enjoy it?1 Or whether we shall have any possession of it before? The Socinians and many others of late among us, think that the soul separated from the body, is either nothing, or at least not capable of happiness or misery. Truly, if it should be so, it would be somewhat a sad uncomfortable doctrine to the godly at their death, to think of being deprived of their glory till the resurrection; and somewhat comfortable to the wicked, to think of tarrying out of hell so long. But I am in strong hopes that this doctrine is false; yea very confident that it is so. I do believe, that as the soul separated from the body, is not a perfect man, so it doth not enjoy the Glory and happiness so fully and so perfectly as it shall do after the Resurrection, when they are again conjoined. What the difference is, and what degree of Glory souls in the mean time enjoy, are too high things ⟨p. 256⟩for mortals particularly to discern. For the great question, what place the souls of those before Christ,2 of Infants, and of all others since Christ, do remaine in till the Resurrection? I think it is a vain enquiry of what is yet beyond our reach. It is a great question what Place is? But if it be only a circumstant body: and if [to be in a place▪] be only [to be in a circumstant bod•] or in the superficies of an ambient body, or in the concavity o• that superficies, then it is doubtfull whether spirits can be properly said [to be in place] We can have yet no clear conceivings of these things. But that separated souls of Believers do enjoy unconceivable Blessedness and Glory, even while they remain thus separated from the body, I prove as followeth▪ (Beside all those Arguments for the souls Immortality, which you may read in Alex. Rosse his Philosophicall Touchstone, part l•st.)
- 1Question.
- 2It is a doubt, whether to be in place only Definitive, & not Circumscriptive, do not contradict the definition of place.It is a doubt, whether to be in place only D•finitive, & not Circumscriptive, do not contradict the definition of place.
