Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/d_400.lzh/D_430.TXT

Text File | 1994-08-18 | 7KB | 130 lines

430                                 OF THE SEPARATE STATE OF THE SOUL.                                                     BOoK VII.

have been at a loss what choice to have made, whether
to live or die; whether to depart out of the world, or
to continue in it; he could have easily discerned, that
it was his interest to abide in the flesh, or in the present
state, in which he received much good for himself,
and did much for others; whereas, if he was not to
enter upon a state of happiness until the resurrection,
but remain unactive and useless; it certainly was much
more eligible to continue as he was. For,. -4. Most
certain it is, that it would have been better for the
churches of Christ, for the interest of religion, and
for the-glory of God, if he had remained ou earth to
this day, and so on to the second coming of Christ,
than to be sleeping in his grave, receiving no benefit
to himself, nor being of any use to others.
7thly, From Rev. xiv. 13. Blessed are the dead which
die in the Lord, &c.. . .. By the dead that dic' in the
Lord, are not meant merely, or only, the martyrs of
Jesus, who die for the sake of Christ, and his gospel;
but all the saints who die in union with Christ, in faith
in him, as the only Saviour and Redeemer; in hope of
eternal life by him; and in expectation of being for
ever with him; and whose faith, hope, and expectation,
will not fail, nor be disappointed.             2. Truly good
men are blessed now; they are blessed who trust in
the Lord, and make him their hope; they are happy
who dwell in his house, enjoy his ordinances, and are
employed in his service; who walk in his ways, and
keep his commandments: but they are much more
blessed at death; which would not be their case, if the
did not immediately enter into the presence of
and into the joy of the Lord. And,    3. This is the
blessedness inteuded here; for it commences from
.henceforth, from the instant of their death; and which
is confirmed by the testimony of the Spirit; Yea,
saith the Spirit; he says, they are blessed from that
time; which blessedness,.. 4. Lies in a rest from
their labours; not merely in a rest from the labours of
their bodies, much less in a cessation from the spiritual
exercises of their souls; but in inward everlasting
peace, joy, and comfort; and in their works following'
them, not only what they had done as witnesses of the
truth of grace, but what they were to do, and be em-
ployed in, until the coming of Christ; which leads to
con-ider the proof that may be given,
Secondly, That the souls of men, when separated
from theii' bodies by death, are not in a state otinsen-
sibility and inactivity. There are some, who, though
they do not deny the immortality of the soul, yet
think it sleeps with the body until the resurrection;
and this was the firm opinion of Soeinus, as he him-
self says {}, that the soul of man, after this life, does
not so Subsist of itself, as to be sensible either of re-
wards or punishments; or, indeed, as to be capable of
perceiving those things; and the same is held by some
Arminian writers {2}. But in opposition to this notion,
and some that Calvin calls Catabaptists, and who go
by the name of soui-sleepers with usa,
1st, I shall endearour to prove, that the soul is
operative, and in a state of action, when separate

from the body; and that insensibility is not to be con.
eluded from the absence of the body. For,
    1. The soul can and does operate without the use
of bodily organs in its present state, and in many things
st, ands in no need of them; the rational soul thiks,
discourses, and reasons without the u.,e of them; its
powers and facultics, the understanding and will, need
them not; the will is directed and guided by the un-
derstanding; and the understanding has to do with
objects in the consideration of which bodily organs
are no ways assisting; as in the consideration of God,
his nature and perfections; of angels and spirits, and
their nature; and of a man's own spirit, and the things
of it, which it penetrates into without the help of any
of the instruments of the body: it can consider of
things past long ago, and of things very remote and
at a great distance; and such objects as are presented
to it by the senses, it reasons about them without
.making use of any of the organs of the body; and if
it can operate without the body, it can exist without
it; for since it is independent of it in its operations,
it is independent of it in its being; and as it can exist
without it, it can act in that separate state of' existence
without it: wherefore since it dies not with the body,
it is not affected as to its operations by the absence
of it, nor at death becomes insensible as that is...
2. The case of persons in raptures, ecstasies and trances,
when the body is senseless and inactive, and as if it
was dead, and yet the soul is active and attentive, and
capable of receiving things communicated to it, shews
most clearly the soul can operate without the body;
and if in this state, much more in a more perfect one.
The apostle John was in the spirit, in an ecstasy, when
he saw and heard the various things recorded in the
Book of the Revelation; the case of the apostle Paul
is very remarkable, a particular account of which he
gives, though not knowing whether in the body or
out of it, '2 Cot. xii. 2--4. now though the apostle
was not certain whether his soul was in his body or not,
during his rapture; yet this appears most certain,
that it was his sentiment that a soul out of the body is
capable of seeing such things as he did; or otherwise
it would have been no difficulty with him to have de-
termined whether he was in or out of the body; for
if he could not hear and see such things as he did out
of the body, then he must without all doubt be in the
body when he heard and saw. them; but his way of
speaking clearly shews that he thought his soul was
capable of attending to these things, though it might
be out of it; and if this is the same with the trance re-
corded in Acts xxii. 17--21. as some think, it appears
that while he was in it, and his body lay senseless and
unactive, his soul had a sight of Christ, and a conver-
sation with him, and received a mission from him to
the Gentiles. Now if the soul is not in a state of in-
sensibility when the body sometimes now is, there is
no reason to believe it is in such a state when the body
is dead and separated from it; since the body in an
ecstasy is of no more use to it, nor the organs of it,
than if it was dead.           3. The soul, freed from the

Socin. Epist. 5. ad Volkelium inter opera ejus, tom. 1. p. 454.
Vid. Peltii. Harmon. Remonstrant. et Socin. art. '22. paragraph. S. p. S58.
Calvin. Assertin non dotmire sed vivere, &c. fol. til.