fent with the Lord (z).-Or thofé? I am in a Strait betwixt two, having a Defire to depart, and to be with Chrift, which is far better (a).If Paul had not expected to enjoy Chrift till the Resurrection, why should he be in a Strait; or defire to depart? Nay, fhould he not have been loth to depart upon the very fame Grounds? For while he was in the Flefh, he enjoyed fomething of Chrift.-Plain enough is that of Chrift to the Thief. To-day fhalt thou be with me in Paradife (b).In the Parable of Dives and Lazarus, it feems unlikely Chrift would fo evidently intimate and fuppofe the Soul's Happiness or Mifery presently after Death, if there were no fuch Matter (c). Our Lord's Argument for the Resurrection fuppofes, that, God being not the God of the Dead, but of the Living (d), therefore Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob, were then living in Soul. If the Bleffedness of the Dead that die in the Lord (e), were only in refting in the Grave, then a Beaft or a Stone were as bleffed; nay, it were evidently a Curfe, and not a Bleffing. For was not Life a great Mercy? Was it not a greater Mercy to ferve God and do Good; to enjoy all the Comforts of Life, the Fellowship of Saints, the Comfort of Ordinances, and much of Chrift in all; than to lie rot-. ting in the Grave? Therefore fome farther Blessedness is there promifed.How elfe is it faid, We are come to the Spirits of juft Men made perfect (f)? Sure, at the Refurrection, the Body will be made perfect as well as the Spirit.Does not Scripture tell us, that Enoch and Elias are taken up already? And fhall we think they poffefs that Glory alone?Did not Peter, James, and John, fee Mofes also with Chrift

(2) 2 Cor. v. 6--8.
(c) Luke xvi. 19--31.
1) Heb. xii. 22. 23.

E 2

on

on the Mount? Yet the Scripture faith, Mofes died. And is it likely that Chrift deluded their Senfes, in fhewing them Mofes, if he should not partake of that Glory till the Refurrection?And is not that of Stephen as plain as we can defire? Lord Jefus, receive my Spirit (g). Surely, if the Lord receive it, it is neither afleep, nor dead, nor annihilated; but it is where he is, and beholds his Glory.That of the wife Man is of the fame Import. The Spirit fhall return unto God who gave it (h).-Why are we faid to have eternal Life; and that to know God is Life eternal; and that a Believer on the Son hath everlasting Life? Or how is the Kingdom of God within us? If there be as great an Interruption of our Life, as till the Refurrection, this is no eternal Life, nor everlasting Kingdom.--The Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are spoken of as fuffering the Vengeance of eternal Fire (i). And if the Wicked already fuffer eternal Fire, then no Doubt but the Godly enjoy eternal Bleffednefs. When John faw his glorious Revelations, he is faid to be in the Spirit, and to be carried away in the Spirit. And when Paul was caught up to the third Heaven, he knew not, whether in the Body, or out of the Body (k). This implies, that Spirits are capable of thefe glorious Things, without the Help of their Bodies.Is not fo much implied when John fays, I faw under the Altar the Souls of them that were flain for the Word of God (1)?When Chrift fays, Fear not them which kill the Body, but are not able to kill the Soul (m), does it not plainly imply, that when wicked Men have killed our Bodies, that is, have feparated the Souls from them, yet the Souls are ftill alive?The Soul of Christ was alive when his Body was dead, and

therefore

(i) Jude v. 7:
(1). Rev. v. 9.

therefore fo fhall ours too. This appears by his Words to the Thief, To-day fhalt thou be with me in Paradife; and alfo by his Voice on the Crofs, Father, into thy Hands I commend my Spirit (n).—If the Spirits of thofe that were difobedient in the Days of Noah, were in Prifon (0), that is, in a living and fuffering State; then certainly the feparate Spirits of the Juft are in an oppofite Condition of Happiness.-Therefore, faithful Souls fhall no fooner leave their Prisons of Flesh, but Angels will be their Convoy; Chrift, with all the perfected Spirits of the Juft, will be their Companions; Heaven will be their Refidence, and God their Happiness. When fuch die, they may boldly and believingly fay, as Stephen, Lord Jefus, receive my Spirit; and commend it, as Chrift did, into a Father's Hands.

(n) Lukexxiii, 46.

(0) Pet, iii, 19, 20.

CHAP.

£ 3

CHAP. V

The Mifery of thofe who lofe the Saint's Reft.

.

§ 1. The Reader, if unregenerate, urged to confider what the Lafs of Heaven will be. §2. (1) The Lofs of Heaven particularly includes, § 3. (1) The perfonal Perfection of the Saints; §4. (2) God himself; § 5. (3) all delightful Affections towards God; § 6. (4) the bleed Society of Angels and glorified Spirits. $7. (II) The Aggravations of the Lofs of Heaven: $8. (1) The Understanding of the Ungodly will then be cleared; $9. (2) alfo enlarged: 1o. (3) Their Confciences will make a true and clafe Application: 1. (4) Their Affections will be more lively: $12-18. (5) Their Memories will be large and Arong. $19. Conclufion of the Chapter.

I'

$1. 1.TF thou, Reader, art a Stranger to Chrift, and to the holy Nature and Life of his People, who are before defcribed, and fhalt live and die in this Condition, let me tell thee, thou shalt never partake of the Joys of Heaven, nor have the least Taste of the Saint's eternal Reft. I may fay, as Ehud to Eglen, I have a Meffage to thee from God (a); that as the Word of God is true, thou fhalt never fee the Face of God with Comfort. This Sentence I am commanded to pafs upon thee; take it as thou wilt, and elcape it if thou canft. I know thy humble and hearty Subjection to Chrift would procure thy Escape;

(a) Judges iii. 20.

he

he would then acknowledge thee for one of his People,
and give thee a Portion in the Inheritance of his
Chofen. If this might be the happy Succefs of my
Meffage, I fhould be fo far from repining, like Jona,
that the Threatenings of God are not executed upon
thee, that I fhould blefs the Day that ever God made
me fo happy a Meffenger. But if thou end thy Days
in thy unregenerate State, as fure as the Heavens are
over thy Head, and the Earth under thy Feet, thou
fhalt be fhut out of the Reft of the Saints, and receive
thy Portion in everlafting Fire. I expect thou wilt
turn upon me, and fay, When did God fhew
you the
Book of Life, or tell you who they are that fhall be
faved, and who fhut out? I answer, I do not name
thee, nor any other; I only conclude it of the Unre-
generate in general, and of thee, if thou be fuch a
one. Nor do I go about to determine who fhall
repent, and who fhall not; much lefs, that thou fhalt
never repent. I had rather fhew thee what Hopes
thou haft before thee, if thou wilt not fit ftill, and
lofe them. I would far rather perfuade thee to hearken
in Time, before the Door is fhut against thee, than
tell thee there is no Hope of thy repenting and return-
ing. But if the foregoing Defcription of the People
of God does not agree with the State of thy Soul, is
it then a hard Question, whether thou fhalt ever be
faved? Need 1 afcend up into Heaven to know, that
without Holiness no Man fhall fee the Lord; or, that
only the pure in Heart fhall fee God; or, that except a
Man be born again, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of
God? Need I go up to Heaven, to enquire that of
Chrift, which he came down to Earth to tell us; and
fent his Spirit in his Apoftles to tell us; and which
he and they have left upon Record to all the World ?
And tho' I know not the Secrets of thy Heart, and
therefore cannot tell thee by Name, whether it be