The Christian's charter showing the privileges of a believerThe Christian's charter shewing the priviledges of a believer

4. The souls of the Elect shall enter upon possession immediately after death, 2 Corinth. 5. vers. 8. We are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. There are some that say, the souls of the Elect sleep in their bodies; but the Apostle here confutes it; for if the soul be absent from the ⟨p. 139⟩body, how can it sleep in the body? There is an immediate transition and passage from death to glory, The soul returns to God that gave it^*: Christs Resurrection was before his Ascension; but the Saints Ascension is before their Resurrection. The body may be compared to the bubble in the water, the soul to the wind that fills it: you see the bubble riseth higher and higher, at last it breaks into the open air: so the body is but like a bubble^*, which riseth from infancy to youth, from youth to age, higher and higher; at last this bubble breaks, and dissolves into dust, and the spirit ascends into the open air: it returns unto GOD that gave it.

4. The soules of the Elect shall enter upon possession immediately after death, 2 Corinth. 5. vers. 8. We are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. There are some that say, the soules of the Elect sleep in their bodies; but the Apostle here confutes it; for if the soule be absent from the ⟨p. 139⟩body, how can it sleep in the body? There is an immediate transition and passage from death to glory, The soule returnes to God that gave it^*: Christs Resurrection was before his Ascension; but the Saints Ascension is before their Resurrection. The body may be compared to the bubble in the water, the soule to the winde that fills it: you see the bubble riseth higher and higher, at last it breakes into the open aire: so the body is but like a bubble