* Xqh aliam, sed ipsam priorem animam corpori martuo restitutdm esse, contra eos qui ouiaven.nt et bodie putant animam post mortem corporis nihil esse.
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Christian religion, upon which both our faith and comfort is found- ed; and consequently it undoes and ruins us as to all solid hope and true joy. The doctrines or principles it overthrows, are, among many other, such as follow.
1. It nullifies and makes void the great design and end of God's eternal election. The scriptures tells us, That from all eternity God hath chosen a certain number in Christ Jesus, to eternal life, and to the means by which they shall attain it, out of his mere good pleasure, and for the praise of his grace. This was (1.) An eter- nal act of God, Eph. i. 4. long before we had our being, Rom. ix. 11. (2.) This choice of God, or his purpose to save some, is im- mutable, 2 Tim. ii. 19. James i. 17. (3.) This choice he made in Christ, Eph. i. 4. Not that Christ is the cause of God's choosing us : For we were not elected because we were, but that we might be in Christ. Christ was ordained to be the Medium of the execution of this decree. And all the mercies which were purposed and or- dained for us, were to be purchased by the blood of Christ. He was not the cause of the decree, but the purchaser of the mercies de- creed for us. (4.) This choice was of a certain number of persons who are all known to God, 2 Tim. ii. 19. and all given to Christ in the covenant of redemption, John xvii. 2, 6. So that no elect person can be a reprobate, no reprobate an elect person. (5.) This number was chosen to salvation, 1 Thess. v. 9- No less did God design for them that glory and happiness, and that for ever. (6.) The same persons that are appointed to salvation as the end, are also appointed to sanctifi cation as the way and means by which they shall attain that end, 1 Pet. LI,*. 2 Thess. ii. 13, 14. (7.) The impulsive cause of this choice was the mere good pleasure of his will, 2 Tim. i. 9. Rom. ix. 15, 16. Eph. i. 9. (8.) The end of all this is the praise of his glorious grace, Eph. i. 5, 6. to make a glorious manifestation of the riches of his grace for ever. This is the ac- count the scripture gives us of God's eternal choice.
But if our souls be mortal, and perish with our bodies, all this is a mistake, and we are imposed upon, and our understandings are abused by this doctrine : For to what purpose are all these decrees and contrivances of God from everlasting, if our souls perish with our bodies ? Certainly, if it be so, he loses all the thoughts and counsels of his heart about us ; and that counsel of his will, which is so much celebrated in the scriptures, and admired by his people, comes to nought. For this is evident to every man's consideration, that if the soul (which is the object about which all those counsels and thoughts of God were emploved and laid out) fail in its being, all those thoughts and counsels that have been employed about it, and spent on it, must necessarily fail and come to nothing with it. The thoughts of his heart cannot stand fast, as it is said, Psal. xxxiii.
572 A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAtt.
11. if the soul slide, about which they are conversant. In that day the elect soul perisheth, the eternal consultations and purposes of God's heart perish with it. Keckerrnan tells us, that " * Albertus " Magnus, with abundance of art, and the study of thirty years, " made a vocal statue in the form of a man. It was a rare con- " trivance, and much admired; the cunning Artist had so framed " it, that by wheels and other machines placed within it, it could " pronounce words articulately." Aquinas being surprized to hear the statue speak, was affrighted at it, and brake it all to pieces ; upon which Albertus told him he had at one blow destroyed the work of thirty years. Such a blow would the death of the soul give to the counsels and thoughts, not of man, but of God, not of thirty years, but from everlasting.
If the souls of men perish at death, either God never did appoint any souls to salvation, as the scriptures testify he did, 1 Thess. v. 9. or else the foundation of God stands not sure, as his word tells us it doth, 2 Tim. ii. 19. So then this supposition overturns the eternal decrees and counsels of God, which is the first thing.
2. It overthrows the covenant of redemption betwixt the Father and the Son before this world was made. There was a federal transaction betwixt the Father and the Son from eternity, about our salvation, 2 Tim. i. 9- Zech. vi. 13. In that covenant Christ engaged to redeem the elect by his blood ; and the Father promised him a reward of those his sufferings, Isa. liii. 12. Accordingly he hath poured out his soul to death for them, finished the work, John xvii. 4. and is now in heaven, expecting the full reward and fruits of his sufferings, which consist not in his own personal glory, which he there enjoys, but in the completeness and fulness of his mystical body, John xvii. 24.
But certainly, if our souls perish with our bodies, Christ would be greatly disappointed : Nor can that promise be ever made good to him ; Isa. liii. 11. " He shall see of the travail of his soul and " be satisfied:" He hath done his work, but where is his reward ? See how this supposition strikes at the justice of God, and wounds his faithfulness in his covenant with his Son. He hath as much comfort and reward from the travail of his soul, as a mother that is delivered after many sharp pangs of a child that dies almost as soon as born.
3. It overthrows the doctrines of Christ's incarnation, death, re- surrection, ascension, and intercession in heaven for us. And these are the main pillars both of our faith and comfort. Take away
* Albertus Magnus statuam hmninis construxit, quee cum libramentis quibusdam, rotis atque aliis ?nachinis intra latentibuc peritissime comjwsitis, linguam quadam ratione et dis~ cipiina moventibus, articidata verba pronunciaret.
A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAN. 57$
these, and take away our lives too, for these are the springs of all joy and comfort to the people of God, Rom. viii. 34.
His incarnation was necessary to capacitate him for his mediato- rial work : It was not only a part of it, but such a part, without which he could discharge no other part of it. This was the won- der of men and angels, 1 Tim. iii. 16. A God incarnate is the world's wonder ; no condescension like this, Phil. ii. 6, 7.
The death of Christ hath the nature and respect of a ransom, or equivalent price laid down to the justice of God for our redemp- tion, Matth. xx. 28. Acts xx. 28. It brought our souls from un- der the curse, and purchased for them everlasting blessedness, Gal. iv. 4, 5.
The resurrection of Christ from the dead hath the nature both of a testimony of his finishing the work of our redemption, and the Father's full satisfaction therein, John vi. 10. and of a principle of our resurrection to eternal life, 1 Cor. xv. 20.